Stanley Spencer Reid (12 July 1872 – 29 June 1901) was an Australian rules footballer with the Fitzroy Football Club from 1894 to 1898.
Soon after his retirement from VFL football, he became an ordained minister of the Presbyterian Church.
He also, later, became a member of the Imperial Forces in the Anglo-Boer War, firstly as a trooper in the Second Western Australian (Mounted Infantry) Contingent (2WAMI) in 1900, and then as a commissioned officer in the Sixth Western Australian (Mounted Infantry) Contingent (6WAMI) in 1901.Royal Australian Armoured Corps Association: Australian and Colonial Units of the Boer War
He died in active service in the Anglo-Boer War.
Early life
Stanley Spencer Reid was the third child of Rev. John Bentley Reid (1843–1910) and Sibyl Rose Reid, née Drury (1849–1943).Sibyl's family name sometimes appears as "Drewry". He was born in Swan Hill, Victoria on 12 July 1872, and was one of their five sons and two daughters.The Reid's seven children were Sybil Mary Ethel Reid (Born 1868, Edinburgh), Reginald Bentley Reid (born 1871, Stirling), Stanley Spencer Reid (1872), Francis Bentley Reid (1874), John Cecil Drury Reid (1876–1917) – who worked as a surveyor in the early days of Canberra and the Federal Capital Territory,Heritage Objects Register Citation (page 6), who won the Military Cross,Recommendation for John Cecil Drury Reid to be awarded a Military Cross and who died of wounds sustained in action in World War I,Australian War Memorial Honour Roll: Lieutenant John Cecil Drury Reid MC – Winifred Mona Reid (1885), and William Bremner Reid (1887). Rootsweb Item: John Bentley Reid and Sibyl Rose DrewryLost Medals Australia: Betty Dow
The Reids had arrived in Australia in 1871 on the Hampshire, and moved straight to Swan Hill, Victoria where Rev. John Reid became its first Presbyterian minister. He was ordained as soon as Swan Hill's first Presbyterian Church, The John Knox Church, was completed in December 1872.Swan Hill Genealogical and Historical Society: Swan Hill at the time of Federation.
After spending some time in Victoria Rev. John Bentley Reid moved to Western Australia. He was the joint minister of both the Leederville and the Subiaco Presbyterian churches in 1899.The West Australian, 30 September 1899. He died on 10 August 1910, in Victoria, aged 68.Deaths, The Argus, (Thursday, 11 August 1910), p. 1
Education
He attended Caulfield Grammar School, Scotch College, and the University of Melbourne, where he was a resident of Ormond College.Main & Allen, D., (2002), p. 7; Webber (1981, p. 311) has the following in his Register of Students 1881–1981: "Reid, S.S. 1886—?"; he attended Scotch College from 1886 to 1890 (Scotch's first 66 VFL players, Great Scot, (September 2010), 15. Stanley Spencer Reid).
He graduated from Melbourne University with a Bachelor of Arts in 1896.He graduated at the Annual Commencement of the University of Melbourne, held at the university's Wilson Hall on Saturday, 21 March 1896, that was attended by the Governor of Victoria, Sir Thomas Brassey. He was one of the 21 students conferred Bachelor of Arts on that day (Commencement Day: A Brilliant Ceremony: Address by the Governor, The Argus, (Monday, 23 March 1896), p. 6)
School sports As well as playing football whilst he was at Scotch CollegeSporting Intelligence: Football: Scotch College (25) v. University, The Argus, (Thursday, 25 April 1889), p. 7; Sporting Intelligence: Football, The Argus, (Thursday, 13 June 1889), p. 7; Football: Scotch College v. Church of England Grammar School, (Thursday, 20 June 1889), p. 10 – he played for the Scotch College First XVIII in both 1889 and 1890Scotch's first 66 VFL players, Great Scot, (September 2010), 15. Stanley Spencer Reid – he also played cricket.Sporting Intelligence: Cricket: Church of England Grammar School v Scotch College, The Argus, (Saturday, 23 March 1889), p. 10; Sporting Intelligence: Cricket: Scotch College v. Melbourne Grammar School, The Argus, (Thursday, 12 December 1889), p. 12 In a match against Wesley College in 1888, he took 7 wickets for 16 runs in the first innings.Cricket: Scotch College v. Wesley College, The Argus, (Thursday, 29 November 1888), p. 9
He also competed in, and came second in the open age pole vault and the running high jump at the Scotch College School Sports in 1888.School Sports: Scotch College: Open Events, The Argus, (Saturday, 24 November 1888), p. 15
University sports In 1893 and 1894, whilst attending Melbourne University, he participated in a number of lawn tennis tournaments. He won the high jump championship at the 1897 Melbourne University sports meeting, representing the Arts faculty, with a jump of 5 ft. 5in; was captain of the Ormond rugby teamOrmond V. Trinity, The Argus, (Wednesday, 10 July 1901), p. 6 and, also, came second in the 120 yards hurdles championship race.Sporting Intelligence: The University Sports, The Argus, (Wednesday, 14 April 1897), p. 6
Football
VFA footballer (1894–1896) Reid made his debut for Victorian Football Association (VFA) team Fitzroy, as a backman, on Saturday 9 June 1894, at the Richmond Cricket Ground. It was Fitzroy's seventh game for the 1894 season, and Fitzroy won 10 goals 7 behinds to Richmond's 3 goals 11 behinds.The Football Season: Fitzroy v. Richmond, The Argus, (Monday, 11 June 1894), p. 6; The Football Season: Fitzroy v. Richmond, The Age, (Monday, 11 June 1894), p. 6; Sporting Notes, Fitzroy City Press, (Friday, 15 June 1894), p. 3 He had been selected, earlier in the year, in the Fitzroy team to play in a practice match against the junior teams Austral (23) on Saturday 21 April 1894 (Sporting Intelligence: Matches Today, The Argus, (Saturday, 21 April 1894), p. 15)
In its match report The Argus commented that "The Fitzroy captain [viz., Tom Banks] was immensely pleased with the high marking of Reid, a former Scotch College boy".The Football Season: Fitzroy v. Richmond, The Argus, (Monday, 11 June 1894), p. 6 In its report, The Age, noting that "it was his first game in the maroons' ranks", and that "he is a decided acquisition to the team", remarked that "Reid, among the backs, played almost perfect football throughout".The Football Season: Fitzroy v. Richmond, The Age, (Monday, 11 June 1894), p. 6
He played a number of senior VFA games for Fitzroy between 1894 and 1896,Sporting Notes, Fitzroy City Press, (Thursday, 24 September 1896), p. 3 and came to be considered as one of the game's best defenders.Main & Holmesby (2002).
VFL footballer (1897–1898) By the start of 1897, when the Fitzroy Football Club left the VFA and took part in the inaugural VFL competition, Reid was already well established as a defender,Premiership Matches, Fitzroy City Press, (Thursday, 6 May 1897), p. 3 and had gained a reputation for his strength, his high making and his long kicking.Of Reid in 21 May 1898 (second round) match against Collingwood, The Argus reported "among the backs, Reid of Ormond College, was as sure as a rock in the teeth of the goal" (Football: A Grand Game at Fitzroy, The Argus, (Monday, 23 May 1898), p. 3In the sixth round (11 June) match of the 1898 season, a torrid, rough match between Fitzroy and Carlton, at the Brunswick Street Oval, which Fitzroy won by four points – 5.7 (37) to 4.9 (33) – the match report in The Argus, spoke highly of Reid's performance in the last line of defence: "Reid's marking being magnificent and his kicking, if possible, better than his marking" (Old Boy, "Rough Game at Fitzroy", The Argus, (Monday, 13 June 1898), p. 7). In its report of the same match, when speaking of the Fitzroy defenders all of whom, it reported, had been "very solid", The Age singled out Reid, for "his splendid marking and kicking" (Follower, "The Football Season: Close Match at Fitzroy", The Age, (Monday, 13 June 1898), p. 3).
He played a total of 24 senior Victorian Football League (VFL) games; eight in 1897, AFL Player Statistics (Round by Round): Fitzroy Football Club 1897 and sixteen in 1898.AFL Player Statistics (Round by Round): Fitzroy Football Club 1898
In his first VFL match, at the Brunswick Street Oval, on Saturday 29 May 1897, Reid played an outstanding defensive game – "Reid was playing a sure and fast game";The Football Season: Day of Surprises, The Argus, (Monday, 31 May 1897), p. 5 "Reid marked beautifully and invariably got in a splendid long low kick"Sporting Notes, Fitzroy City Press, (Thursday, 3 June 1897), p. 3 – in a team that was unexpectedly very soundly beaten by a very inexperienced Essendon side, 6.6 (42) to 2.8 (20); the three-quarter time score had been 5.5 (35) to 1.3 (9).The Football Season: Day of Surprises, The Age, (Monday, 31 May 1897), p. 6
Representative team (1897) In June 1897, in the first season of the new V.F.L. competition, the Victorian Football League arranged a match between a combined team of V.F.L. players and a combined team from what was, perhaps, the second strongest competition in Australia at that time, the Ballarat Football Association.In 1897, with the VFA shattered by the defection of the eight VFL teams, the Ballarat competition was, perhaps, the strongest in Australia outside of the VFL. Whilst the selected team was listed as "Melbourne", and the match spoken of as the Ballarat v. Melbourne match, all of the contemporary newspaper accounts indicate that most people referred to them as "The Metropolitans" (by contrast with the "Country" team from Ballarat). There is no record of the team ever being referred to as either the "Victorian" team or the "V.F.L." team.
The representative match was originally proposed to take place at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Saturday, 12 June 1897; however, for some trivial reasons, relating to the question of the free admission of V.F.L. delegates to the Members' Reserves,Follower, "The Football Season: The League Beaten by Ballarat", The Age, (Monday, 14 June 1897), p. 3 the Melbourne Cricket Club refused to allow the V.F.L. to use its pavilion facilities, and the V.F.L. decided well before the match to transfer the game to the Brunswick Street Oval in North Fitzroy.Ross, (1996), p. 38; note that Ross has the wrong date for the match.
Reid was not selected in the original team, which contained players from Melbourne, Essendon, South Melbourne, Fitzroy, Geelong, Carlton and St Kilda.Football: Today's Matches, The Argus, (Saturday, 12 June 1897), p. 12 However, for reasons that were never made quite clear, six of the selected twenty players, Firth McCallum and Henry Young from the Geelong Football Club, Bill McCulloch from the Melbourne Football Club, and Jim Anderson, George Vautin and Harry Wright all of the Essendon Football Club failed to turn up for the match.
The match did not start on time, and there was a rush to find last minute replacements. Eventually, Ernie Walton from the Carlton Football Club, Joe O'Grady from the St Kilda Football Club, and Tom Banks, Bill Cleary, Bill McSpeerin, and Stan Reid, all from the Fitzroy Football Club took the field in place of the absentees in the Metropolitan team.Observer, "The Football Season: Ballarat Players in Melbourne: A Creditable Victory", (Monday, 14 June 1897), p. 6 Thus, Stan Reid played for the first combined Victorian Football League side that ever played in metropolitan Melbourne – earlier in that same week, a far weaker combined V.F.L. team had travelled to Bendigo, and played a combined team there, winning the match 14.14 (98) to 9.4 (58).Football: Melbourne v. Bendigo, The Argus, (Thursday, 10 June 1897), p. 7