George Fyfe Samson was a Scottish-born ironmonger who enlisted in August 1915. Samson had been living in Townsville, Queensland before the war, where he played for 1913 premiers Caledonians. A photo of the winning team was reprinted decades later by the Townsville Daily Bulletin on 21 May 1954, with all players identified.
On enlistment, Samson headed to Enoggera base in Brisbane, where he was picked for a game between the Military and the original Brisbane City club. Both the Daily Standard and the Telegraph on 1 October 1915 claimed Samson had played for Linlithgow Roses in Scotland. In December he was one of 70 soldiers who attended a dinner at Café Majestic in Brisbane for those who had enlisted from North Queensland, funded by lodges and individuals from the region.
Samson would not leave for Europe until May 1916. Shortly before his departure he married Emma Annie Shearman. Samson arrived in France with the 41st Battalion in November. Illness in early 1917 saw Samson in hospital for three months, then working at a depot base, until he finally rejoined his battalion in February 1918. He received a gunshot wound to the shoulder in August 1918 and evacuated to England, which ended his war. After recovering, Samson worked in non-military employment in the UK until returning to Australia in October 1919.
On his return, Samson and his wife had three children and moved to New South Wales. Samson became a commercial traveller – a traveling salesman – for a steel firm and it was while on a trip to Cootamundra he died. Samson had left his coat on the train, and in attempting to see if the coat was in any of the carriages of the now moving train he fell under the wheels, dying instantly.
His employers, William Atkins Limited, on behalf of Annie, wrote to the Base Records Office asking whether Samson had lodged a will with them during the war, a common practice among soldiers. Base Records replied that no such will could be traced. m