Today, with the incredible discovery of the first precious photograph, a face can finally be put to the name of Henry (‘Harry’) Chadwick.
By Tony De Bolfo
For more than 160 years, he was known by name only.
Today, with the incredible discovery of the first precious photograph, a face can finally be put to the name of Henry (‘Harry’) Chadwick – the first man elevated to the captaincy of the Carlton Football Club in its inception year of 1864.
The carte-de-visite of Chadwick, featured in formal attire with top hat and cane at the ready – was captured in the Swanston Street Australasian Studio of the photographer Charles Hewitt in October 1869. Credit for the discovery goes to Pete McLean, who for the past 18 years has voluntarily researched the club’s pre-VFL history for the much-patronised Blueseum website.
McLean recently sourced the Chadwick image from an Adelaide contact who prefers to remain nameless. The contact also provided McLean with a first photograph of David Adamson, Carlton’s Captain of 1867 – which means that each on-field leader for the past 161 years of club history is now represented by at least one portrait picture.
As McLean said: “I’ve been looking for photos of everyone who ever played for Carlton, but to be able to finally source images of Chadwick and Adamson – photos from so long ago – has been incredibly satisfying”.
Henry (‘Harry’) Chadwick, son of Henry sen., is thought to have been born in Manchester in 1845. He completed four years schooling at Scotch College from 1856 and a final year at Melbourne Grammar in 1860.
Chadwick was appointed Carlton captain in the club’s foundation year, and led the first teams onto the field through season 1865. The following year he shared captaincy duties with Theophilis S. Marshall, and in 1867 with Frank Hillsden, Jack Conway and Adamson – the same year he served the club as a committeeman.
In 1868, amid dissension in the ranks, Chadwick, James Byrne and Charles Forrester switched allegiances to the Melbourne Football Club.
The Chadwick photograph was captured four months after he married Hannah Skinner, at St Peter’s Anglican Church in Eastern Hill, and two months before the newlyweds relocated from Melbourne for Bacchus Marsh, where Henry would complete 12 years’ service as manager of the local branch of the National Bank of Australasia and help Hannah raise their seven children.
In early 1882, Chadwick accepted a transfer to manage the bank’s branch on the corner of Smith and Webb Streets, Fitzroy. In a ceremony at the Bacchus Marsh Courthouse prior to his departure, Chadwick was presented with an illuminated address, a silver tea and coffee service, and an engraved silver salver by the Shire Council President Thomas Cain, in recognition of his contributions to the local community. In making the presentation, Cain hoped Chadwick and his wife “would both be spared to a ripe old age to remember their friends in Bacchus Marsh”. But it was not to be for Henry.
The Chadwicks took up lodgings on the first floor of the bank’s imposing premises on Smith and Webb, but tragedy would befall Harry soon after. As the Bacchus Marsh Express reported on May 18, 1882:
“Bacchus Marsh people heard with regret on Monday of the death of Mr. Henry Chadwick, who recently left the managership of the local bank to take the same position in the National Bank at Collingwood. It appears that Mr. Chadwick over exerted himself on the 29th ult. in shifting a buggy, and broke a blood vessel. He took to his bed, and [was] thought to be recovering, but died on Monday morning last, leaving a wife and seven children.”
Harry Chadwick died of an apparent stroke at the age of just 37, leaving his wife and seven children to mourn his loss. He was laid to rest in Melbourne General Cemetery, not far from where he first led his fellow Carlton players out.
Twenty years later, Chadwick’s wife Hannah died in Ballan at the age of 52. She was laid to rest in her husband’s grave in Carlton.
In the pantheon of Carlton Football Club history, Harry Chadwick has long been acknowledged as the first of 20 captains of the pre-VFL years (1864-1896) – preceding the next 52 captains of the VFL/AFL years (1897-2025) from Jimmy Aitken through to Patrick Cripps.
At long last, Carlton can also put a face to Harry’s name.