WORLEY, William Meredith
| Service Number: | 6175 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 21 September 1916, Enlisted in Adelaide |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 27th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | London, England, 21 October 1885 |
| Home Town: | Adelaide, South Australia |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Warehouseman |
| Died: | Killed in Action, France, 18 July 1918, aged 32 years |
| Cemetery: |
Adelaide Cemetery Villers-Bretonneux, France Plot I, Row C, Grave 11 |
| Memorials: | Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour, Lower North Adelaide War Memorial WW1, North Adelaide Saint Cyprian's Anglican Church Roll of Honour, The South Australian National War Memorial |
World War 1 Service
| 21 Sep 1916: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 6175, Enlisted in Adelaide | |
|---|---|---|
| 6 Nov 1916: | Involvement Private, 6175, 27th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '15' embarkation_place: Adelaide embarkation_ship: HMAT Afric embarkation_ship_number: A19 public_note: '' | |
| 6 Nov 1916: | Embarked Private, 6175, 27th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Afric, Adelaide |
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William Meredith Worley was born in Islington, London, England on the 21st of October 1885. His parents were Caroline Sophia Worley and Edward Worley, and he had two brothers, Edward Thomas Worley being the oldest, William being the middle child and Henry Arthur Worley was the youngest. His family were Church of England.
William and his wife Ethel Eliza Worley had one child at the time of his enlistment, and they lived at 13 Mann Terrace, North Adelaide, South Australia.
Before enlisting in the war, William worked as a warehouseman and had also been rejected as unfit for His Majesty’s Service back in London. His eventual attestation papers described him as 5’,7” tall, with blue eyes, brown hair and a medium complexion.
William enlisted in Adelaide on September 21, 1916 at 30 years of age. He joined the 27th Infantry Battalion with his rank on enlistment being Private.
William embarked from Adelaide on November 7, 1916, then disembarked at Plymouth on the January 9, in 1917, eventually arriving at Rollestone, a military training camp.
It was soon into his training that he was sent to hospital and then transferred to Fargo Military Hospital suffering chronic appendicitis. A month later he was discharged on July 31 to resume duty.
He proceeded overseas to France from Rollestone in September, arriving in Harve, France on the 26th of October and taken on strength with hi unit to Belgium. Whilst in Belgium, he became ill again and was taken to hospital on November 5th and moved to the 49th Divisional Rest Station He rejoined his battalion again on the 18th of November.
However, a month later on December 18, William was wounded in action with shell wound in his right calf. After initial treatment in Belgium, he went to England again to the First Western General Hospital for further treatment on his injured calf.
In early 1918, he was transferred to the 1st Auxiliary in Harefield and had a furlough, which is an extended period of absence. Upon returning in March, he was reported to Number 1 Civil Defence in Sutton Veny. He was with a training brigade there and he eventually rejoined his unit in Etaples in May. William rejoined his Battalion in France on the 15th of May and continued to fight in the war.
Two months later on July 18, 1918, William Worley was then killed in action in Villers Bretonneux, France, at only 32 years old. There were multiple eyewitness reports of William’s death.
All who said that they saw him east of Villers Bretonneux in the trenches, just as it was getting daylight where he was then killed by a shell fire which fell on the dugout which William was in. They said he was killed almost instantly and was left in a bad condition. They all seemed to know him well, with A. E. Robinson saying that William had shown him a photo of his wife and youngster the night before his death. William was killed alongside two others, Henry and Allan. He was later taken on a stretcher by the Bearers. The eyewitnesses were James Gilbert Robertson, Alfred Russel, Andrew Thompson, Alfred William Read, Alfred Ernest Robinson, Colin Yates and William Henry Underwood.
William is buried in the Adelaide Cemetery Villers-Bretonneux, France Plot I, Row C, Grave 11. On his grave, his wife left the inscription ‘IN LOVING MEMORY OF MY DEAR HUSBAND LINKED BY LOVE'S MEMORY’ William also received two medals during his time in war, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. After his death, his wife Ethel then moved to Southgate, England to live with her parents as a widow.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
- (No date) FamilySearch.org. Available at: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:X96M-2WB?lang=en (Accessed: 26 November 2025).
- (No date). Available at: https://images.slsa.sa.gov.au/sarcib/SRG76_1_4978.pdf (Accessed: 26 November 2025).
- (No date). Available at: https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=3443861&S=8&R=0 (Accessed: 26 November 2025).
- (No date). Available at: https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/159072# (Accessed: 26 November 2025).
- ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF TRADITIONAL CUSTODIANS (no date) Views | Australian War Memorial. Available at: https://www.awm.gov.au/learn/glossary/p (Accessed: 26 November 2025).
- Private William Meredith Worley (1885-1918) - Find... (no date) Find a Grave. Available at: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/15606478/william-meredith-worley (Accessed: 26 November 2025).
- Private William Meredith Worley (no date) Australian War Memorial. Available at: https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/P11068965 (Accessed: 26 November 2025).
- William Meredith Worley (no date) William Meredith Worley | Australian War Memorial. Available at: https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/R1679785 (Accessed: 26 November 2025).
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