Preston Football Club – 1940 Team Photo

The 1940 photo, courtesy of Australian Sports Museum

Back Row: Ingy Norman, Alby Morrison, Jack Norman, Bill Maslen, Bill Seedsman, Bob Taylor, Alf Roach

Middle Row: Kevin Brown, Bert Minney, Lou Sleeth, Jack Clarke, Arthur Sleith, Fred Beaumont, Ken Watkins

Front Row: Frank Dowling, Clarrie White, Les Ross, Phil Dunstone

1940 Preston Football Club photo, taken at Port Melbourne during Round 10, 22 June 1940.

Port Melbourne 17-15-117 def Preston 13-10-88

Game Details and players – The VFA Project

The journey began in 2020, to try and identify as many of the faces standing alongside my Grandfather, Alf Roach, in the only two team photos that I had at the time, which was one from 1938, along with a 1939 photo taken at Prahran.

Subsequent photos came to my attention along the way, including this one, which was taken in 1940 at Port Melbourne.

After much searching, many findings, the occasional contact with actual direct descendants, as well as a mistaken belief or two corrected, the identifications currently appear as above.

As always, happy to hear of any corrections, confirmations, or absolutely anything of interest in relation to the photo, and the people pictured in it.

While this post is in the process of being completely updated (as at May 2026), a bit of a history of how all this began, as well as how it unfolded, can still be found in these posts –

Part 3

Part 2

Part 1

Ingwald William Bernard ‘Ingy’ Norman – 20*-4-1911 – 7-7-1990. Preston 1940 (11 games^). Fitzroy 1938 (1 game)

*From a scanned document on the National Archives of Australia site, and listed on several football related sites. Wikipedia, however, along with ‘Find a Grave’ (no photographic evidence), states 2-4-1911.

^The VFA Project site incorrectly states that Ingy was at Preston in 1939 and 1940, when in fact, it was his brother Jack, who had moved across in 1939. Ingy did not arrive until 1940, with his game tally for that year listed as eleven. But with two brothers being there at the same time, it may not be completely accurate.

Back row, far left.

1940 Preston team photo, and 1938 Fitzroy seconds team photo.

Albert George Henry ‘Alby’ Morrison – 29-1-1909 – 24-9-1997. Preston 1939-40 (39 games). Footscray 1928-38, 1941-42, 1946 (224 games).

Back row, second from left.

1939 (at Prahran and Preston), and 1940 Preston team photos.

1929 Victorian team photo, 1942 Footscray team photo, and enlistment photo.

John ‘Jack’ Norman – 2-8-1909 – 23-3-1994*. Preston 1939-41, 1945-46 (66 games^). Fitzroy 1938 (1 game).

*Date of death found on ‘Australian Football.com’ site.

^On the VFA Project, Jack’s brother, Ingy, is credited with Jack’s 1939 games at Preston. Ingy didn’t arrive at Preston until 1940. With two brothers being there at the same time, there could be other discrepancies in their game tallies.

Back row, third from left.

1939 (at Prahran and Preston), and 1940 Preston team photos.

1941 Preston team photo, and enlistment photo.

William Batt ‘Bill’ (Also known as ‘Socks’) Maslen – 1-1-1916 – 8-10-1974. 173cms. Preston 1935-41, 1945-49 (172 games). St Kilda 1939-40 (20 games).

Back row, fourth from left.

1937, 1938 and 1940 Preston team photos.

1941 Preston team photo, and 1944 Preston Seconds team photo.

William James ‘Bill’ Seedsman – 18-9-1914 – 10-10-2001. Preston 1939-41, 1945 (60 games). Hawthorn 1936 (1 game). Collingwood 1942 (1 game).

Back row, third from right.

1939 (at Prahran and Preston) team photos.

1940 and 1941 Preston team photos.

Robert Daniel ‘Bob’ Taylor – 30-4-1918 – 27-3-2000. Preston 1940-41. (23 Games).

Back row, second from right.

1940 Preston team photo, 1937 Prahran team photo, and enlistment photo.

Alfred Dennis Stephen ‘Alf’ Roach – 22-4-1918 – 25-8-2012. Preston 1938-41 (60 games).

Back row, far right.

1938 and 1939 (at Prahran and Preston) Preston team photos.

1940 Preston team photo, and caricature from a 1940 VFA Recorder.

Kevin John Brown – 23-9-1915 – 18-2-1980. Preston 1935-40 (57 games).

Middle row, far left.

1937 and 1938 Preston team photos.

1940 Preston team photo, and the Premiership photo with Preston CYMS, following the 1933/34 cricket season.

Albert Edward ‘Bert’ Minney – 7-1-1914 – 20-5-1999. Preston 1940-41, 1945 (45 games). Fitzroy 1938-39 (18 games).

Middle row, second from left.

1940 and 1941 Preston team photos.

1945 Preston team photo, and 1938 Fitzroy team photo.

Louis David ‘Lou’ Sleeth – 26-2-1916 – 29-11-1990. Preston 1940 (14 games). Richmond 1937-38 (20 games). Box Hill – 1929-34, 1936, 1941-48.

Middle row, third from left.

1940 Preston team photo, and 1938 Richmond team photo, from The Argus newspaper, courtesy of Trove.

Jack Clark – 18-11-1911 – 27-12-1980. Preston 1935-41 (104 games).

Middle row, fourth from left.

1938 and 1939 (at Prahran and Preston) Preston team photos.

1940 and 1941 Preston team photos.

1933 South Gambier team photo and enlistment photo.

Arthur Joseph Sleith – 22-12-1917 – 17-12-2008. Preston 1937-41, 1946 (57 games). Carlton 1942-43 (5 games).

Middle row, third from right.

1939 (at Prahran and Preston), and 1940 Preston team photos.

1942 RAAF team photo, and enlistment photo.

Fred Beaumont* – Preston 1939-41 (46 games).

Middle row, second from right.

*From the information found below, in all probability, Fred Beaumont’s more complete details look like this –

Frederick Alexander ‘Fred’ Beaumont – 15-12-1911 – 12-9-1994. Preston 1939-41 (46 games).

While the location of ‘Fred’ in this photo had been known for quite some time, due mainly to the 1941 photo and the process of elimination, he was still just ‘Fred Beaumont’.

Following him back from Preston had given up the Brunswick connection, which led to the discovery of the Brunswick seconds team photo.

Prior to Brunswick, ‘F. Beaumont’ had been at Newport, having been cleared in March 1935, which came after a stint at Newmarket in 1931.

Not a lot there, but while at Newport, a mention of an ‘L.’ Beaumont was also found.

With still no second initial mentioned in any of the clearances, it was off to Births, Deaths and Marriages, to see if that haystack needle could be found.

The end result was far from positive.

There’s a ‘Frederick Alexander Beaumont’, born 1912, which sounds promising, but the place of birth, Port Albert, which required me to use Google, is far from encouraging.

With nothing else, a fairly haphazard, and what, for a fair chunk of the time, felt like a total waste of time, trawl around the internet began, to try and see if Frederick Alexander Beaumont was our man.

The following of his extended family was a slow process, and one that often sent up information that didn’t seem to make sense.

That resulted in more searching, and of course lots more time, however it also revealed interesting snippets along the way, which probably deserves a dedicated piece.

But, as it went, there was enough found to believe that ‘Frederick Alexander Beaumont’, was highly likely to be ‘Preston’s’, Fred Beaumont.

I just couldn’t categorically prove it.

More searching, more time…..

I had a date of birth, a date of death, I know his parent’s names, his stepfather’s name, his wife, and when they got married, as well as their final resting places, along with a whole heap of other stuff.

It really does feel like stalking, at times…..

But in amongst that ‘other stuff’, was the finding of his brother; Lennox Lewis Beaumont, born in May 1910; which potentially helped to align with that ‘L.’ Beaumont at Newport, in the early 1930’s.

More digging, fortuitously resulting in the discovery of a National Archives Australia digitised file for Lennox.

And in it, not only the naming of Lennox’s and Fred’s step father as next of kin, but an address of Wilkins Street, Newport!

While no ‘F. A.’ Beaumont could be found amongst the several clearances, the connection with F. and L. Beaumont at Newport, coupled with the Newport address, as well as the appropriate years of birth, suggest to me that Preston’s Fred Beaumont, is actually Frederick Alexander Beaumont.