Cliff Burge

Clifford Charles "Cliff" Burge (27 April 1892 – 14 August 1918) was an Australian rules footballer who played with Melbourne in the Victorian Football League.

He was killed in action in World War I in France.

Family Clifford Burge was the son of Charles Abraham Burge (1863–1939), and Emily Jane Burge, née Morris (1861–1947).

He had two brothers, Trevor Robert William Burge (1895–1953), and Maxwell Lewis Burge (1899–1976), and two sisters, Emily Blanche Burge (1894–1895) and Emily May Burge (1897–1989).

Education He completed his education at Melbourne High School, where he was a member of the school's First XVIII.

Football He played five senior games for Melbourne in 1914. He was already in the army by the start of the 1915 season.

In May 1919, an unidentified former Melbourne footballer wrote to the football correspondent of The Argus as follows:

Military service He enlisted in the First AIF on 19 February 1915. He was promoted to Second Lieutenant on 2 November 1917.

Death Having fought at Gallipoli, and having survived a German gas attack in June 1918, he was killed in action on 14 August 1918, aged 23, during fighting at Villers-Bretonneux, France, just three months before the end of hostilities.

His (temporarily buried) remains were exhumed in 1920, and he was re-buried at the Villers–Bretonneux Military Cemetery.