Henry Coulson arrived in Perth with his parents from Gateshead, England, just before the outbreak of the war. In 1915 he was playing for Perth’s junior team, Perth City, when he enlisted as a bugler in August of that year. He gave his age as 17 years and 3 months when he was actually a year younger. Although underage, he was accepted due to vacancies for buglers in the battalion.
On 20 July 1916 he received a severe gunshot wound to the left forearm which necessitated his transfer to England. A few months later he was discharged from hospital where he he went AWL on three occasions. The third time being the most serious when he was absent from 29 January 1917 to 13 May 1917. Coulson was court martialled and sentenced to 184 days detention on top of the 25 days he was imprisoned awaiting trial. After remittances he was detained for a total of 104 days and returned to camp in England. In April 1918 he was sent back to France where he saw out the remainder of the war.
There is no record of Henry’s involvement with the game post war. He passed away at the age of 70 in Adelaide, on 9 May 1969.