Francis Sinclair Burt

Francis Sinclair ‘Frank’ Burt was born in Perth on 15 February 1886, one of ten children to Septimus Burt and Louisa Hare. Ten years later his brothers Frederick and Archibald wrote a series of letters to local newspapers which inspired the formation of Western Australia’s first club, Perth BAFC, and the first league season.
Francis Burt began his education at Hale School in Wembley Downs before following in the footsteps of his brothers by studying at Repton School in Derbyshire, England. While abroad he was introduced to football but excelled at swimming, winning medals in 1901 and 1903.
The last of the Burt boys to take up football, Francis Burt made his debut for Perth in a 7-0 trouncing of Olympic in June 1904. He played six seasons for Perth, winning the Division one title in 1905 and named team vice-captain from 1907 onward. That same year he was voted treasurer of the WA British Football Association.
Francis Burt’s on-field talents saw him represent Western Australia against the touring England Cricket XI in March 1908. Two years later he “left for the Nor West”, joining brother Reginald in managing the family sheep station – Brick House – located on the Gascoyne River north of Carnarvon.
In May 1916, Francis Burt enlisted as a Gunner in the Howitzer Brigade. Seven weeks later his youngest brother, Theodore, was killed in action while serving in the British Army at Montauban in France. As a memorial to their fallen son, Septimus and Louisa commissioned the construction of Burt Memorial Hall on St George’s Terrace in central Perth.
Francis Burt arrived in England in December 1916 but within a week he’d been admitted to a London hospital suffering influenza. Promoted to 2nd Lieutenant and transferred to the 13th Australian Machine Gun Company, he proceeded to France on Christmas eve 1917. He was promoted again in March 1918, this time to Lieutenant.
Francis Burt was 32 when he “was killed in action near Villers-BretonNeux on night 24/25 April 1918 by enemy Machine Gun fire. Death was instantaneous” reads a note on his military service file. Buried unofficially “by a padre in a little cemetery NE of Hangard Wood”, his body was later exhumed and reinterred at Adelaide Cemetery, Villers-Bretonneux.
A memorial to Theodore and Francis Burt, made of Donnybrook stone and Australian marble, is mounted on the wall of the staircase well near the main entrance of Burt Memorial Hall, which was officially opened in June 1918.