McCALLUM, William Archibald
(Service number 4/2105)
| First Rank | Lance Corporal | Last Rank | Sapper |
|---|
Birth
| Date | 2 September 1888 | Place of Birth | Temuka |
|---|
Enlistment Information
| Date | 15 December 1915 | Age | 27 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Address at Enlistment | Greymouth | ||
| Occupation | Railway clerk (NZ Railways) | ||
| Previous Military Experience | |||
| Marital Status | Single | ||
| Next of Kin | Mrs D. McCALLUM (mother), care of W. Trigance, Temuka | ||
Military Service
| Served with | NZ Armed Forces | Served in | Army |
|---|
Embarkation Information
| Body on Embarkation | New Zealand Expeditionary Force | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Unit, Squadron, or Ship | 11th Reinforcements, New Zealand Field Engineers, No. 1 Field Company | ||
| Date | 1 April 1916 | ||
| Transport | Tahiti or Maunganui | ||
| Embarked From | Destination | Suez, Egypt | |
| Other Units Served With | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Last Unit Served With | NZ Field Engineers | ||
Military Awards
| Campaigns | Egyptian Expeditionary Force; Western European | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Service Medals | 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 | 12 December 1971 | Age | 83 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Place of Death | Nelson | ||
| Cause | |||
| Memorial or Cemetery | Crematorium; ashes interred Marsden Valley Cemetery | ||
| New Zealand Memorials | |||
Biographical Notes
William Archibald McCallum was born on 2 September 1888 at Temuka, the son of Daniel and Agnes Ann (née Cant) McCallum. He had an older sister Mary and a younger brother James. Starting at Temuka in February 1894, he left school to work in a shop. He was a railway clerk at Greymouth when he enlisted on 15 December 1915 at Trentham. Single and Presbyterian, he named his mother as next-of-kin – Mrs D. McCallum, care of W. Trigance, Temuka. William Trigance married Mary McCallum in 1911. Daniel McCallum had died in November 1899 at Temuka.
Lance Corporal W. A. McCallum embarked with the New Zealand Field Engineers of the 11th Reinforcements, departing on 1 April 1916 and disembarking at Suez, Egypt on 20 May. Embarking at Southampton on 28 August 1918, he transferred to the Hospital Ship “Maheno” at Marseilles. The ship was due in the Dominion in October. McCallum was discharged on 11 March 1919, in consequence of being no longer physically fit for War Service on account of wounds received in Action. For his service in Egypt and Western Europe, he was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal.
William Archibald married Ida May Stoddart in 1921. He died at Nelson on 12 December 1971, aged 83 years. He was cremated; his ashes interred at Marsden Valley Cemetery. Ida had died in March 1956, her ashes interred at Wakapuaka Cemetery. William’s brother James was killed in action on 16 August 1917 in Belgium.
Sources
Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [19 March 2025]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [20 March 2025]; Timaru Herald, 15 October 1918 (Papers Past) [19 March 2025]; Marsden Valley & Wakapuaka cemeteries records (Nelson City Council) [20 & 24 March 2025]
External Links
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Researched and Written by
Teresa Scott, SC Genealogy Society
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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