GILHAN, William Frederick
| Service Number: | 2396 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 11 March 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 12th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | Stawell, Victoria, Australia, 1888 |
| Home Town: | Coolgardie, Coolgardie, Western Australia |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Labourer |
| Died: | Perth, Western Australia, 9 July 1946, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Karrakatta Cemetery & Crematorium, Western Australia |
| Memorials: |
World War 1 Service
| 11 Mar 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 2396, 12th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 18 Jun 1915: | Involvement Private, 2396, 12th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '10' embarkation_place: Fremantle embarkation_ship: HMAT Chilka embarkation_ship_number: A51 public_note: '' | |
| 18 Jun 1915: | Embarked Private, 2396, 12th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Chilka, Fremantle | |
| 20 Dec 1918: | Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 2396, 12th Infantry Battalion, per HT Orontes | |
| 2 Apr 1919: | Discharged AIF WW1, Private, 2396, 12th Infantry Battalion |
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Add my storyBiography contributed by Chris Buckley
Private William Frederick Gilham (Service No:2396) enlisted in the AIF on 11 March 1915 and served with 12th Infantry Battalion in Gallipoli and France. Private Gilham embarked from Fremantle on 19 June 1915 on board HMAT Chikla A51. He was WiA on two occasions - GSW to the hand in 1916 at Gallipoli and GSW to the neck/back in 1918 in France. Private Gilham embarked for the RTA on 20 December 1918 on board HT Orontes and was Discharged on 2 April 1919. Sibling Richard (Private; Service No:2657) was KiA in France in 1917.
Born in 1888 at Stalwell in the Grampians in Victoria, Will was the seventh of ten children of Albert Thomas (aka Atherly) Gilham (b1855 in Stawell, Victoria) and Ann (Annie) Coles (b1858 at Mt Cole nr Stalwell, Victoria). Albert (a Mill Worker) and Annie married in 1876 in Stawell, Victoria and lived in Pleasant Creek, Fyan's Creek, and Cavendish in Victoria and Bordertown and Wellington in South Australia. In 1899 Albert went to Tasmania and enlisted in the Colonial Military Forces as a single man, serving in South Africa with the Tasmanian Mounted Infantry (Private; Service No:50). Following discussions with the Army, Albert agreed to payment of ten shillings weekly to Annie for support of his family. Albert was KiA in 1900, and following his death Annie walked with her children and several other families from Stawell to the Goldfields in WA. Annie ran an Eating and Boarding House in Coolgardie, where she remarried in 1905.
Will worked as a Bootmaker's Apprentice for one year in Coolgardie, then as a Mill Worker and Labourer. Following his Discharge in 1919 Will returned to Kalgoorlie where he worked as a Labourer and then moved to Perth where he worked as a Labourer. Will died in 1946.
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