Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

William Henry Wiseman was born in 1873 to James and Florence Wiseman in Sydney in the Colony of New South Wales. A sportsman from a young age, William partook in cycling, boxing, and athletics. In July 1895, he married Ann Evans and had two sons, William Fletcher Wiseman (served in the Great War, with the 20th Battalion, and the Volunteer Defence Corps in the Second World War) and Norman Dinyle Fletcher Wiseman. A serving member of A Field Battery (Artillery), William deployed with the unit to South Africa to fight in the Boer War, on the 17th of January 1900. He was at the Cape Colony, Orange River Colony and the Transvaal, before being invalided home on the 16th of November 1900. In a published letter he sent home, he talks about his experiences to a friend, Sydney Morning Herald, 06 April 1900, Page 6 –

“Your letter was received by the battery. Only about half a dozen letters were forwarded to the battery. The postal service here is very bad. On landing we went with the Victorians to a camp three miles outside Capetown on the Wednesday, and we left for the front on the following Sunday. It took two trains to take the battery. We travelled about 600 miles to the Orange River. We detrained at Belmont, where a battle was fought. It was 120 degrees in the shade. There was a stench from dead horses and Boers. The water was bad. The station was perforated with bullets. The roofs of the goods shed, and station were torn with shells. I went on top of the hill which the Boers held for eight hours, and the stench was terrible. Stones were thrown over the bodies of the Boers. You could see skulls, arms and legs sticking out. We stayed there two days, and marched on to Grasspan, where a battle was fought. The station and everything has disappeared. The graves are very nicely done with white stones built up on the red sand. We are thoroughly disgusted with the way we are being treated here. We are not doing anything. We thought we came to South Africa to fight, but if they keep us like they are doing we will not see a shot fired, let alone be in action. I suppose the papers in Sydney had it in print that the “A” battery had left for the front. I hope you will try and let them know how we are situated. It might do some good. We want to do something, for the honour of New South Wales.”

Ten months later, after the Federation of Australia, William is given a second chance to deploy to South Africa fight in the Boer War with the New South Wales Imperial Bushmen, which he takes and disembarks Australia on the 26th of September 1901. He returns to Australia, in 1902, for his services to the empire he is awarded the Queens South Africa Medal (with the Cape Colony, Orange River Colony and Transvaal clasps) and the Kings South Africa Medal (with the South Africa 1901 and South Africa 1902 clasps).

After the Boer War, William returns to sports and takes up many management roles within the clubs he is involved with. In 1905, he finds out his wife of ten years, was still technically married to her second husband at the time of their marriage, William requests that his marriage is nullified by the courts, which was done later that year. A year later in 1906, William marries Adeline Bruce, a union which lasts until her death in March 1954. In July 1916, his eldest son William deploys to France to fight in the Great War, he survives the war and returns to Australia in March 1919.

A man who always involved himself with the community, William became the honorary secretary of the Oatley School of Arts in August 1916, a position he held for many years. After a long and eventful life, William passed away in 1963, in his 90th year, having out lived both of his wives, he was survived by both his sons.

References –

NSW Births, Deaths and Marriages Website

NAA WW1 records Website

NLA Trove Newspapers Website

Ancestry Website

AWM Website

Sam Cox, PM, May 2023