Jim Tarbotton
Australian rules footballer
James Harold Tarbotton, a.k.a. Tarbolton (5 May 1899 – 4 April 1997) was an Australian rules footballer who played with Fitzroy in the Victorian Football League (VFL).
Family
The son of James Thorpe Tarbotton (1856-1942), and Mary Stuart Tarbotton (1857-1946), née MacLaurin, James Harold Tarbotton was born at Bradford, England on 5 May 1899.
He married Nita Agnes Banks (1901-1946) in 1923.
World War I
Tarbotton, then living in Sydney, enlisted to serve in the Australian Army in July 1916, falsifying his mother’s signature on his enlistment papers and lying about his age. When his mother discovered his deception, she wrote to the War Office and he was discharged in December 1916. In March 1917 Tarbotton re-enlisted the 1st AIF and served in the Middle East during the later stages of the war.
Football
Tarbotton came to Fitzroy from the Railways club in Sydney. He was on a half back flank for Fitzroy in the 1923 VFL Grand Final, which they lost to Essendon.
World War II
Tarbotton later served in the Australian Army during World War II.
Notes
References
Holmesby, Russell; Main, Jim (2007).
The public source identifies “Jim Tarbotton” as australian rules footballer. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Tarbotton, Australian and rules.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Jim Tarbotton”, the useful work is to connect “australian rules footballer” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 29, 2024. The linked authority identifier is Q16073215. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1899, 1997, 1856 and 1942.
Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Jim Tarbotton”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Jim Tarbotton primary sources, Jim Tarbotton archive and Tarbotton research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Jim Tarbotton”?
- How has the subject’s reputation changed across later accounts?
- Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Jim Tarbotton” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.