Edwin Rudolph Boutle was a Cairns-based clerk who played for local club Rangers before enlisting in March 1916. In June, Boutle played for “Signallers”, made up of recruits from the Chermside camp, against a Brisbane select team from the Queensland British Football Association, which resulted in a 4 all draw.
Boutle departed for England in October and reached France the following April with the 26th Battalion. A month later his active service ended when he received a gunshot wound which fractured his lower jaw and was evacuated to England. This led to an eventual return to Australia and discharge in mid-1918. While Boutle was en route to Australia, word was received his younger brother Laurence had died in action aged 19.
Boutle returned to Cairns after the war where he married Margaret Naughton in 1927, with the couple having several children. Boutle passed away in 1962.