History

History and humanities
Volume 171 - Issue 11

The suicide of Thomas Wentworth Wills

Med J Aust 1999; 171 (11): 656-658.
Published online: 6 December 1999
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History

The suicide of Thomas Wentworth Wills

Thomas Wentworth Wills was the most important Australian sportsman of his time. He captained the Victorian colony at cricket and was the first hero of Australian Rules football. Although his picture now adorns the conservative Melbourne Cricket Club, he died in 1880, an isolated, destitute alcoholic, after stabbing himself in the heart. Wills embodied a tradition, as prevalent today as it was over 100 years ago, that weds sport with alcohol in Australian culture.

Gregory M de Moore

Thomsa Wentworth Wills

MJA 1999; 171: 656-658

Introduction - Alcohol abuse, delirium tremens and suicide - Acknowledgements - References - Authors' details
- - More articles on History

Illustration: an 1870 oil painting of Thomas Wills.

References

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  2. Steel AG, Lyttelton RH. Cricket. London, 1888.
  3. Point. Thomas Wentworth Wills. The Leader May 8, 1880: 13.
  4. The late T W Wills. The Melbourne Evening Herald May 3, 1880: 2.
  5. Wills T W. Bells Life July 10, 1858.
  6. Perrin L. Cullin-La-Ringo: The triumph and tragedy of Tommy Wills. Brisbane: Les Perrin, 1998.
  7. Neild JE. Victoria and its metropolis. Past and present. Vol. II. The colony and its people in 1888. Melbourne: McCarron, Bird & Co., 1888.
  8. Gregory A. The ever open door. A history of the Royal Melbourne Hospital 1848-1998. South Melbourne: Hyland House, 1998.
  9. Attwood H, Forster F, Gandevia B, editors. Patrick Moloney. Murphy LJT. Occasional Papers on Medical History Australia. Melbourne: Medical History Society, Australian Medical Association (Victorian Branch) and Medical History Unit, University of Melbourne, 1984: 1-33.
  10. Dr Patrick Maloney [obituary]. The Catholic Advocate Oct 1, 1904: 15.
  11. Letter, E.S. Wills to H.S. Wills May 9, 1880. Lawton Cooke [grand-nephew of T W Wills], family correspondence, Melbourne.
  12. Moloney P. Casebook, No. 21 Ward, Melbourne Hospital, 2 January 1880 to 1 May 1880.
  13. Inquest. Thomas Wentworth Wills, May 3, 1880. Victorian Public Records Office, VPRS 24/Unit 406/File 366.
  14. Patel V, de Moore GM. Harakiri: a clinical study of self-stabbing. J Clin Psychiatry 1994; 55: 98-103.
  15. Black J. On delirium tremens. Australian Medical Journal April 1856; 119-124.