GALE, William Henry
| Service Number: | 154 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Private |
| Last Unit: | 1st Queensland Mounted Infantry |
| Born: | Rockhampton, Queensland, Australia, 1869 |
| Home Town: | South Brisbane, Brisbane, Queensland |
| Schooling: | Not yet discovered |
| Occupation: | Police Officer, Salesman |
| Died: | South Africa, cause of death not yet discovered, date not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: | Not yet discovered |
| Memorials: |
Boer War Service
| 1 Oct 1899: | Involvement Private, 154, 1st Queensland Mounted Infantry | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 Nov 1899: | Embarked Australian and Colonial Military Forces - Boer War Contingents, Private, 154, 1st Queensland Mounted Infantry, AWM Boer War Unit Details, Murray p. 448 notes 1st QMI embarked 1 Nov 1899 aboard Cornwall arriving Cape Town 13 Dec 1899. | |
| 23 Jan 1901: | Discharged Australian and Colonial Military Forces - Boer War Contingents, Private, 154, 1st Queensland Mounted Infantry, AWM Boer War Unit Details, Murray p. 449 notes 1st QMI embarked 13 Dec 1900 returning to Australia aboard Orient arriving Brisbane 17 Jan 1901, disbanded 23 Jan 1901. |
Help us honour William Henry Gale's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Claude McKelvey
When William Henry Gale enlisted in 1899 in the 1st QMI and his details were published with the rank and file in The Queenslander, 18 Nov 1899, he was recorded as Private W. H. Gale, single, care of Mrs. Thompson, Merivale Street, South Brisbane. In the Boer War Service Paybooks for the 1st QMI his contact details were updated to c/- Mrs. Thompson, 'Enderley', Clayfield.
The service paybooks note he, like a number of the men, was seconded to the South African Police between 1 May 1900 and 4 Nov 1900. He served the full tour of the 1st QMI returning to Brisbane where he was discharged on 23 Jan 1901.
On his Boer War Dossier discharge paper, held by National Archives, his address post discharge was noted as Post Office, Pretoria, indicating that at some point he had returned to South Africa.
A newspaper article "Shipping Telegrams" in The Brisbane Courier, 13 Mar 1901, reports that he was a guest in attendance for the send-off for the officer in charge of a local police station at Woolloongabba who had resigned to move to South Africa. It also noted "Several other toasts were honoured, and the health of Private W. H. Gale (a returned Queenslander who is again proceeding to South Africa) was drunk with musical honours".
William Henry Gale was born about 1869 at Rockhampton and married Catherine Mary Maher on 5 Feb 1901, and shortly after relocated to Pretoria where they had at least one child.
Further information on his time in South Africa was obtained form a posting by a person on the Forum page of the AngloBoerWar.com website who was asking members for some clarification on William Henry Gale's Boer War medals that he had purchased at an auction. He had researched William and attached a copy of his obituary published in an un-named newspaper that is transcribed below. Unfortunately, there was no date of publication, or date of passing in the article, but it is estimated he passed about 1948/49.
Obituary- Gale
Mr. William "Bill" Gale, a former copy-holder on the Cape Times, an Australian who served in three wars, died in his Sea Point home yesterday. He was 76.
Mr. Gale was born in Rockhampton, Queensland. He emigrated with his family to South Africa as a young man and served in the South African War. Later he was to serve in World Wars I and II.
Mr. Gale worked, among other things, as a member of the Rhodesia Police Force, a furniture salesman and an insurance salesman. He worked 16 years for the Cape Times before retiring due to ill-health.
(source- AWM Boer War Nominal Roll, Murray p. 453; National Archives Australia- Boer War Dossier; Qld State Archives- Boer War Service Paybooks 1st QMI, Bk 1 p. 44; Obituary).
Click images to start slideshow.