Profile

WILSON, William
(Service number 41063)

Aliases Bill
First Rank Private Last Rank Private

Birth

Date 11 December 1893 Place of Birth Milburn, New Zealand

Enlistment Information

Date 10 November 1916 Age
Address at Enlistment 95 Vogel Street, Dunedin
Occupation Telegraph linesman
Previous Military Experience
Marital Status Married. One child (born 1915 at Timaru)
Next of Kin Mrs W. WILSON (wife), care of Mrs CULLEN, Milton
Religion Methodist
Medical Information

Military Service

Served with NZ Armed Forces Served in Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation New Zealand Expeditionary Force
Unit, Squadron, or Ship 22nd Reinforcements, Otago Infantry Regiment, D Company
Date 16 February 1917
Transport Aparima
Embarked From Destination Plymouth, Devon, England
Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With Otago Regiment

Military Awards

Campaigns
Service Medals
Military Awards

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

Discharge

Date Reason

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

Post-war Occupations

Railway employee

Death

Date 8 November 1977 Age 82 years
Place of Death Waimate
Cause
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery Andersons Bay Cemetery, Dunedin
Memorial Reference Block SC 7, Plot 2
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

William Wilson, named for his paternal grandfather and known as Bill, was the older son of Scottish born Alexander Wilson and his New Zealand born wife, Maria née Cossgrove. Born on 11 December 1893 at Milton, Otago, he was educated at Tokomairiro School, Milton, and went out to work at the age of 14½. His father died in 1911 and sometime after his mother moved to Timaru. William married Katherine Cullen in April 1915 and their first child was born later in 1915 at Timaru. He was medically examined at Timaru in December 1915 and was rejected because of slight deafness. He was in Dunedin when he enlisted on 10 November 1916.

Residing at the Waimate Hotel, William Wilson died at Waimate on 8 November 1977, aged 83 years, and is buried at Andersons Bay Cemetery, Dunedin, his grave marked with a services plaque. His wife was a victim of the Seacliff Asylum fire on 8 December 1942, which climed the lives of 37 women. Bill’s brother, Harry, also seved in World War I and three sons of Bill served in World War II – Alexander William Henry, Stanley John and Richard Westall. His youngest sister married a Timaru ex-serviceman, William Michael Direen.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [23 June 2020]; NZ BDM Indexes (Depratment of Internal Affairs) [24 June 2020]; School Admission record [24 June 2020]; Andersons Bay Cemetery headstone image & burial record (Dunedin City Council) [24 June 2020]

External Links

Related Documents

No documents available. 

Researched and Written by

Teresa Scott, SC branch NZSG

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 Logo. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License unless otherwise stated.

Tell us more

Do you have information that could be added to this story? Or related images that you are happy to share? Submit them here!

Your Details
Veteran Details
- you may attach an image or document up to 10MB