Birth

Enlistment Information

Military Service

Embarkation Information

Military Awards

Death

Biographical Notes

Lyall John Wills was born on 15 September 1895 at Waimate, the eldest son of William John and Laura (née Presland) Wills. Lyall was educated at Waimate Public School where he did well and was voted most popular boy in 1908 and Waimate High School where he was awarded a junior scholarship in 1908. On leaving school, he was employed as a bank clerk. He was working in Auckland when he enlisted there on 15 May 1917. A clerk with the Union Bank, single and of Church of England affiliation, he named his father as next-of-kin – W. J. Wills, John Street, Waimate. He was serving with the 16th (Waikato) Regiment. He was a bank clerk at Hamilton when he was listed on the 1916 Reserve Rolls.

Rifleman L. J. Wills embarked with the New Zealand Rifle Brigade , departing from Wellington per the “Tahiti” on 16 November 1917 and disembarking at Liverpool, England on 9 January 1918. It was at Liverpool that he embarked on 2 December 1919 to return to New Zealand per the “Maunganui”, arriving on 12 January 1919. He was discharged on 9 February 1919, no longer physically fit for War Service (Internal Derangement of Knee), and was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. After his return, Lyall was stationed at Napier, then in Auckland. Lyall John Wills married Alma Nellie Hayhow on 8 October 1924 at St Augustine’s Church, Napier. Alma’s sister, Myrtle Hayhow, and Lyall’s cousin, Miss Zetta Wills, were bridesmaids, and Lyall’s brother, Bertram Wills of Waimate, was groomsman. Mr and Mrs Wills intended taking up residence in Christchurch. There they remained, Lyall still a bank clerk.

Lyall John Wills died at his Christchurch residence on 3 September 1938, less than two weeks before his 43rd birthday. He was buried in the RSA section of Bromley Cemetery, Christchurch. “The death has occurred of Mr Lyall John Wills, sub-accountant of the Union Bank of Australia at Christchurch, a returned soldier and keen cricket enthusiast. Mr Wills was born in Waimate in 1895 and was educated there. He entered the service of the bank in Waimate in 1911 and at various periods was attached to the Auckland and Napier branches, eventually coming to Christchurch in 1924. Mr Wills served in the Great War, leaving New Zealand with the 2nd Battalion. New Zealand Rifle Brigade, in 1917 and returning in January, 1919. He took a keen interest in most branches of sport and for a number of years was actively associated with the West Christchurch Cricket Club, holding office as a vice-president and devoting a great deal of time to the activities and welfare of the junior members. The funeral took place at the soldiers’ plot, Bromley Cemetery, on Tuesday. The pallbearers were Messrs F. S. Dyer, P. W. Miller, J. H. Campbell, D. C. Henderson, R. T. Marlow, and C. H. Morrison.” [Press, 8 September 1938.] “The death has occurred in Christchurch of Mr Lyall Wills, formerly of Waimate, elder brother of Mrs T. L. Hayman, Studholme Junction. Mr Wills, who was on the staff of the Union Bank at Christchurch, was well known in Waimate, where he received his education and commenced his banking career.” [Timaru Herald, 6 September 1938.] In April 1939, Mrs Wills moved away from Christchurch to Tauranga. She remarried in 1942.

Three McKay cousins of Lyall Wills served in World War One – Angus Douglas McKay who died of wounds in 1918 at the Somme, Donald (Daniel) Richard McKay and Kenneth John McKay. Richard Frank Wills (Frank), of Waimate, and Edward Sole (Ted), who were both killed in action in 1916 at the Somme, were respectively a cousin of Lyall’s father and a second cousin of Lyall.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [10 March 2025]; NZ BDM Indexes (Department of Internal Affairs) [11 March 2025]; North Otago Times, 22 December 1908, 18 February 1909, Lyttelton Times, 2 January 1919, Hawke’s Bay Tribune, 9 October 1924, Dominion, 10 October 1924, Timaru Herald, 6 September 1938, Press, 5, 6 & 8 September 1938 (Papers Past) [10 & 13 March 2025]; Bromley Cemetery record (Christchurch City Council) [13 March 2025

External Links

• Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph record
• Military personnel file

Related Documents

No documents available. 

Researched and Written by

Teresa Scott, SC Genealogy Society

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.