Edward Boulton, known as Ted or Badger emigrated to Ipswich, Queensland as a 10-year-old with his large family in 1887. Soccer in Queensland was still in its infancy when he arrived but later he became best known for playing for Blackstone Rovers. Ipswich soccer came into its own in the early 1890s and it was during this time, Boulton’s brother David, some seven years older, played.
David first played for the short-lived Silkstone in the inaugural Ipswich and West Moreton competitions and then moved to the similarly short-lived Silkstone Stars. Edward was first seen playing football in 1894, appearing for Silkstone Montes in the second division. At the time David was playing for Blackstone Rovers, but his career was cut short when he was killed in a mining accident at Aberdare Colliery in October, leaving behind a new wife and daughter.
David’s death was the last in a series of tragedies for the Boulton family over the previous decade. Older brother John died in Ipswich in 1888, aged 22, while Boulton’s namesake father Edward died in 1891 of heart issues. A sister had previously died in infancy. With his eldest brother never leaving Wales, Boulton became the only male in his household at age 17. He shared the house with several younger and older sisters, and his mother Margaret.
Boulton became a miner, and continued to play soccer throughout the decade, mostly with Blackstone Rovers. He played as late as 1899. Boulton continued to live with his mother for many years.
He was 38 when he enlisted in November 1915. He joined as part of the “Dungarees”, a recruitment march from Warwick to Brisbane enticed 122 enlistments, with over 40 coming from Ipswich. Given his occupation, he was placed in the Mining Corps, part of which became the No. 1 Tunnelling Company. The Company dug both defensive tunnels as shelters from artillery, and offensive tunnels underneath enemy lines, always risking the danger of collapse from accidents and enemy explosions. Its effectiveness waned as the armies became more mobile later in the war.
Boulton reached Marseilles in May 1916, but little is known of his service until he was diagnosed with arteriosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, in early 1918. After a period in hospital, Boulton was discharged as medically until and sent back to Australia.
Boulton returned to live in the family house with his mother and continued to do so after her passing in 1928. A cousin was a pallbearer, and it appears at least another branch of the family had moved to Ipswich at some stage.
Boulton never returned to soccer, but it seems the wider family continued to have a relationship with the sport through the 1920s. An 18-year-old E. Boulton, likely a cousin’s child, played in 1921 for Blackstone Rovers and is presumably the same player appearing later in the decade. His sister-in-law Jane, David’s widow, married Joseph Marsh, a widower, and a member of long-standing Ipswich soccer family.
Boulton never married and passed away in 1953.