It is always sad when parents outlive their children, and such was the case when John & Elizabeth Doughan lived to see their son William die on September 26th, 1917.
William Roy Doughan was born in Granville on 14 January 1895, and baptized into the Roman Catholic Church in Glen Innes on the northern NSW tablelands a fortnight later. William’s father John had served in the Boer War, first with the Queensland Mounted Infantry and then with the 6th Imperial Queensland Bushman. It appears serving was in William’s blood.
The younger of two sons, William was a devout Catholic and a member of the Granville branch of the Australian Holy Catholic Guild, having moved back to Sydney where other members of the Doughan clan were making their names.
He enlisted on 20 March 1916 and was posted to the 55th Battalion of the AIF, embarking aboard HMAT Suevic on 11 November the same year. He joined his unit at the end of April 1917 and was admitted to hospital with a gunshot wound a month later. After some time in hospital in England he re-joined his unit on 2 August.
Private Doughan was killed on the first day of action in the Battle of Polygon Wood in Belgium. He died instantly due to a shell blast and was buried by his comrades. Doughan was remembered as one of the 43 Granville Rechabites players who enlisted, their names appearing on the honour board.
Just how he came to the game is a mystery as the first club in Glen Innes only appeared after the war. One can only surmise that he was recruited by work colleagues at the Postmaster General’s Department in Sydney where he worked as a clerk.