GILLON, William
(Service number 62966)
| First Rank | Private | Last Rank |
|---|
Birth
| Date | 24 March 1882 | Place of Birth | Dunlop, Ayrshire, Scotland |
|---|
Enlistment Information
| Date | Age | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Address at Enlistment | Central Hotel, Ashburton | ||
| Occupation | Ploughman | ||
| Previous Military Experience | |||
| Marital Status | Single | ||
| Next of Kin | Robert GILLON (brother), Pot-office, Waimate | ||
Military Service
| Served with | NZ Armed Forces | Served in | Army |
|---|
Embarkation Information
| Body on Embarkation | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Unit, Squadron, or Ship | |||
| Date | 21 November 1917 | ||
| Transport | Maunganui | ||
| Embarked From | Wellington | Destination | Liverpool, Merseyside, England |
| Other Units Served With | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Last Unit Served With | Otago Infantry | ||
Military Awards
| Campaigns | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Service Medals | |||
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 | 8 June 1960 | Age | 78 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Place of Death | Christchurch | ||
| Cause | |||
| Memorial or Cemetery | |||
| New Zealand Memorials | |||
Biographical Notes
William Gillon was born on 24 March 1882 in Scotland, at Dunlop, Ayrshire, the son of John and Jennett (Janet) Gillon. William was a scholar at home with parents, John Gillon and Janet née Hamilton, at Woodside Cottage, Kippen, Stirlingshire in 1891. There too were brothers Robert and James. By 1901 William was a servant ploughman at Brael Farm, Dunipace, Stirlingshire. William had come to New Zealand about 1907 and worked as a ploughman. On enlisting with the New Zealand Forces, he named his brother Robert Gillon, Post-office, Waimate, as next-of-kin. He embarked per the “Maunganui”, departing from Wellington on 21 November 1917 for Liverpool, England.
He embarked per the “Tahiti” at Liverpool on 3 December 1918 for the return to New Zealand, where he was one of about eighteen Waimate men expected mid-January 1919. William married Mary Bennett in 1922. He died on 8 June 1960 at Christchurch. His brother James also served with the New Zealand forces, also naming Robert as next-of-kin. Robert was listed on the Reserve Roll, a married man with two children.
Sources
Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [04 September 2021]; Waimate Daily Advertiser, 7 January 1919 (Papers Past) [04 October 2020]; NZ Electoral Roll (ancestry.com.au) [04 September 2021]; 1891 & 1901 Scotland Census returns (ancestry.com.au) [May 2018; 3 September 2021]
External Links
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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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