Stanley Howard was born at Darragh St, Kangaroo Point, two kilometres north of the Gabba, where he kept goals for Brisbane City in the 1920s. He enlisted in February 1917 at the age of 22. Howard had six years naval training before enlisting and needed special permission from the Naval Office to do so.
A machinist, Howard joined the 1st Pioneer Battalion, a unit whose duties included engineering and construction tasks in the field. He didn’t leave Australia until late 1917, having spent time at the School of Instruction in Enoggera where he qualified as a Signaller.
In England he undertook further training at the Jellalabad Barracks in Taunton. Howard did not reach France until after armistice, serving there between January and May 1919. He returned to Australia in July. Howard was awarded not only the British War Medal and the Victory Medal, but also the 1914/15 Star, which had been issued to members of the AIF up until 31 December 1915. The Star was also awarded to all naval personnel who mobilised during that time and served at sea. This suggests Howard played an active part in the war effort before his enlistment with the AIF.
Naval duties probably explain why Howard was not seen playing soccer in Brisbane before his enlistment, though this could merely be because the majority of teams were underreported in the newspapers at the time.
Howard played for Returned Soldiers after the war from 1920, then with Brisbane City where he played in goals or defence until the end of the 1924 season. He married Althea Perry in 1920, and they had three children. The marriage ended in divorce.
Curiously, the Colonial Mutual Life Assurance Society Ltd placed a notice in the Courier-Mail on 15 January 1947, stating, “It is the intention of the Society after one calendar month of the date hereof to issue a Special Policy in place of Policy Mo. 507657 on the life of Stanley Lyster HOWARD, which Is stated to have been lost.”
It may be presumed that policy 507657 was lost, not Howard’s life, as he married Minnie Long-Wilson in 1954.