Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Son of William Hallett Stockdale and Agnes Stockdale nee Heavy of WAllan, Victoria. Brother of Christopher Charles Stockdale, Margaret Stockdale, John Stockdale, Elizabeth Annie Stockdale, Peregine Joseph Stockdale, Bryan Stockdale, Leo Stockdale and Francis Gregory Stockdale

Medals: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal

William Hallett Stockdale became Registered Player Number 0500 at VFA club Port Melbourne in 1914 and went on to play in 2 senior game before enlisting with the AIF on 18 August 1914.

(Port Melbourne Football Club Heritage Museum)

William was born in Moranding, Kilmore in 1887, the oldest son of William Stockdale and Agnes Heavey. Agnes was also born in Kilmore, the daughter of Christopher Heavey and Elizabeth Carroll. 

William attended Christian Brothers Assumption Catholic College in Kilmore and worked as a farmer after leaving school. He enlisted at Victoria Barracks in Melbourne on August 18th, 1914, fourteen days after the start of the war and eight days after enlistment offices opened. He listed his place of residence as Wallan, about fifteen kilometres south of Kilmore, which was the address of his parents in all war correspondence.

The 6th Battalion was raised within a fortnight of the declaration of war in August 1914 and embarked just two months later. William left Melbourne on board the troopship “Hororata” on October 19th, 1914 and arrived in Alexandria, Egypt, in December. After a brief stop in Albany, Western Australia, the battalion proceeded to Egypt, arriving on December 2nd.

The battalion took part in the ANZAC landing on April 25th, 1915, as part of the second wave. In early May, the 2nd Brigade, including the 6th Battalion, was transferred from ANZAC to Cape Helles the southern-most tip of the Peninsula, to help in the attack on the village of Krithia. On May 6th British and French troops made an unsuccessful assault to take Krithia as part of the advance inland. As a result of this setback, the New Zealand Infantry Brigade and the Australian 2nd Brigade were transferred by sea from Anzac Cove to assist in a second attack. 

The assault on the morning of May 8th by the Wellington, Canterbury and Auckland Infantry Battalions failed. The bombardment was ineffective, and troops advanced in broad daylight across an open valley into gunfire from unseen, strongly held Ottoman positions. A further attack was ordered late in the afternoon. The 2nd Brigade and the Otago Infantry Battalion advanced into a hail of bullets to within four hundred metres of the Ottoman defensive lines. Little was achieved and the cost was heavy, with over one thousand Australian and around eight hundred New Zealand casualties. William Stockdale was killed on May 8th.

He is commemorated on the honour roll of the Australian War Memorial and on the Helles Memorial at Gallipoli and the Wallan War Memorial.

A letter to William’s parents by soldiers in his Battalion provides details of the battlefield at Gallipoli. William’s service record shows that he was initially reported as injured and there was a delay in notifying his parents of his death. His personal effects were unable to be returned to his family but his mother, Agnes, wore her mother’s badge with pride and in remembrance of her son.

Two of William’s brothers enlisted in the second world war, and two of his Madden cousins also served in World War 1 while a further five cousins served in World War 2.