- Source: Harry Purdy (footballer, born 1867)
Henry Robert Purdy (28 August 1867 – 26 November 1922) was an Australian rules footballer who played with South Melbourne in the Victorian Football Association (VFA) and the Victorian Football League (VFL).
Family
The son of William Frederick Purdy (1834-1918), and Hannah Purdy (1835-1931), née Coates, Henry Robert Purdy was born at Learmonth, Victoria on 28 August 1867.
He married Louisa Hannah Seeley (1870–1937), at South Melbourne, on 27 February 1895. Their son, Henry Frederick Burnett Purdy (1898-1978), also known as "Harry", played nine games for South Melbourne in the 1910s.
Football
Originally from the South Ballarat Football Club, he moved to Melbourne in 1886.
The knee injury that he sustained in a charity game, against Fitzroy, on 20 September 1890, meant that he was unable to play in the 1891 season.
Purdy later played for Brighton in the Metropolitan Junior Football Association (MJFA), including in the club's 1902 grand final loss to Collegians.
Death
He died at Gardenvale, Victoria on 26 November 1922.
Notes
References
Holmesby, Russell; Main, Jim (2014). The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers: every AFL/VFL player since 1897 (10th ed.). Seaford, Victoria: BAS Publishing. ISBN 978-1-921496-32-5.
Pennings, Mark (2016), Origins of Australian Football: Victoria's early History: Volume 4: Tough Times: Victorian Football loses its Way, 1891 to 1896, Brunswick, Victoria: Grumpy Monks Publishing. ISBN 978-0-646-93604-8
South Melbourne Team (photograph), (Melbourne) Punch, (Thursday, 4 JUne 1903), p. 740.
External links
Harry Purdy's playing statistics from AFL Tables
Harry Purdy at AustralianFootball.com