WILLSTEED, William Bennett
(Service number 8/2371)
| First Rank | Private | Last Rank | 2nd Lieutenant |
|---|
Birth
| Date | 18/04/1892 | Place of Birth | Darfield, Canterbury |
|---|
Enlistment Information
| Date | Age | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Address at Enlistment | 116 Church Street, Timaru | ||
| Occupation | Clerk (NZ Railways) | ||
| Previous Military Experience | |||
| Marital Status | Single | ||
| Next of Kin | William Ernest WILLSTEED (father), Darfield, Canterbury | ||
Military Service
| Served with | NZ Armed Forces | Served in | Army |
|---|
Embarkation Information
| Body on Embarkation | (1) Samoan Advance Party; (2) 4th Reinforcements | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Unit, Squadron, or Ship | (1) Otago Infantry Battalion | ||
| Date | (2) 17 April 1915 | ||
| Transport | (1) Moeraki or Monowai; (2) Willochra or Knight Templar or Waitomo | ||
| Embarked From | Destination | ||
| Other Units Served With | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Last Unit Served With | Otago Infantry Regiment | ||
Military Awards
| Campaigns | Australasian (Samoa); Egyptian; Balkan (Gallipoli); Egyptian Expeditionary Force; Western European | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Service Medals | 1914-1915 Star; British War Medal; Victory Medal | ||
Award Circumstances and Date
No information
Prisoner of War Information
| Date of Capture | |
|---|---|
| Where Captured and by Whom | |
| Actions Prior to Capture | |
| PoW Serial Number | |
| PoW Camps | |
| Days Interned | |
| Liberation Date |
Death
| Date | 10 November 1967 | Age | 75 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Place of Death | Christchurch | ||
| Cause | |||
| Memorial or Cemetery | Waimairi Cemetery, Christchurch | ||
| New Zealand Memorials | |||
Biographical Notes
William Bennett Willsteed was the first-born of William Ernest and Elizabeth (née Smith) Willsteed; he had two younger sisters. He was born on 18 April 1892 at Darfield, Canterbury. William Willsteed was a clerk with the railways, stationed at Timaru, when he enlisted on the outbreak of war and departed with the South Island Railway Contingent for the Front. “Warlike preparations have developed with somewhat startling suddenness during the past couple of days.” [Otago Daily Times, 11 August 1914.] Sergeant Willsteed was in the first of the volunteers to leave Timaru by train on 10 Aucgust 1914. After returning from Samoa, Willsteed set out for the Front. In all he gave four years and 179 days of overseas service, seeing action in all theatres of war. In 1919 he married Elizabeth Louise Thomson. Elizabeth died in 1928, and in 1931, William married Beatrice Ellenor Greenfield.
Sources
Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [07 October 2020]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [08 October 2020]; Waimairi Cemetery records [08 October 2020]; Otago Daily Times, 11 August 1914, Timaru Herald, 11 August 1914 (Papers Past) [06 & 08 October 2020]
External Links
Related Documents
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Researched and Written by
Teresa Scott, SC branch NZSG
Currently Assigned to
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Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License unless otherwise stated.
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