The Follett family was a sprawling one, with six siblings being brought to Queensland in the mid-1850s, of which many would reside in Ipswich as adults. Here various members of the clan played football for teams such as Booval Stars and Raceview Royals.
William (Henry) ‘Billy’ Follett was a goalkeeper who played for Blackstone Rovers before moving to his local club Silkstone Montes. His Montes side narrowly lost the final of the 1908 Ipswich and West Moreton Premiership, though he won the club’s player of the season and was presented with a medal. The Silkstone team left soccer in 1910 to try Rugby League. On 25 June the team played against Starlights in a game touted by the Queensland Times as being played to give them a taste of the code. Silkstone beat their more experienced rivals despite Follett failing to convert a try scored by one of his relatives.
The next year Follett was back between the sticks in soccer, playing for Bundamba Rangers. Follett was 9 when his father Henry passed away in 1895. His mother Mary Ann Denman later remarried an L Gardiner – who appeared on Follett’s enlistment papers in 1916.
Follett departed Australia in March 1916, and was attached to the 2nd Pioneer Battalion in August. He fought with the unit until receiving gunshot wounds to both legs and his left arm in November 1917. At the time the 2nd Pioneers were fighting the tail end of the Third Battle of Ypres. He was evacuated to England and then on to Australia where he was discharged in February 1918.
Follett was welcomed home by the Silkstone Soldier’ Comfort Club, which saw the local Mayor present him with a gold medal for his service. Dancing continued until midnight. Later that year he married Maud Erskine. The pair and their children moved to Helidon below Toowoomba, where Follett worked as a tailor in the mid-1920s, before returning to Silkstone. Follett walked out of his marriage one morning in 1946, with a divorce granted to Maud three years later.
He passed away in Brisbane in 1957.