Goalkeeper for Vulture Street Baptists in the Brisbane lower leagues during 1914, Ezra Pryke also played for the church’s cricket team, alongside his younger brother William.
Pryke was born in Brisbane in 1894. By the time he enlisted in November 1915, he was working as a bookbinder. Pryke reached France with the 25th Battalion in September 1916 though was soon transferred to the 31st. He received a gunshot wound to the cheek in November but remained in France and was fit again just before Christmas.
Pryke’s 1917 included a period of laryngitis and a stint at Pigeon School, as well as a period of leave in the UK. His war was otherwise uninterrupted until he received a gunshot wound to the head in April 1918, leading to evacuation to England and ending his war. Returning to Australia in August, back in Brisbane, he became captain of the Vulture Street Baptist’s cricket team in 1919. It appears the soccer team did not restart after the war.
The same year, his younger brother William died from illness. William had been a lieutenant in the local Oxley Regiment but had been rejected for active service overseas. Ezra married Violet Clara Young in 1921, and the couple went on to have three children. In February 1942, he again enlisted. At the time he was working as a watchman. He remained with the army full time until 1948, undertaking home service as a clerk with the Northern Command Headquarters.
He died in 1956.