| Regimental number | 993 |
| Place of birth | Chicago, Illinois, USA |
| Occupation | Orchadist |
| Marital status | Married |
| Age at embarkation | 33.6 |
| Height | 5' 5" |
| Weight | 118 lbs |
| Next of kin | Wife, Rosa J. Stewart, Auburn Avenue, Northcote, Victoria |
| Previous military service | Nil (previously rejected on account of teeth, 'since fixed up) |
| Enlistment date | |
| Place of enlistment | Horsham, Victoria |
| Unit name | 38th Battalion, A Company |
| AWM Embarkation Roll number | 23/55/1 |
| Embarkation details | Unit embarked from Melbourne, Victoria, on board HMAT A54 Runic on |
| Rank from Nominal Roll | Private |
| Unit from Nominal Roll | 59th Battalion |
| Fate | Died of wounds |
| Age at death from cemetery records | 35 |
| Place of burial | No known grave |
| Commemoration details | The Ypres (Menin Gate) Memorial, Belgium The Menin Gate Memorial (so named because the road led to the town of Menin) was constructed on the site of a gateway in the eastern walls of the old Flemish town of Ypres, Belgium, where hundreds of thousands of allied troops passed on their way to the front, the Ypres salient, the site from April 1915 to the end of the war of some of the fiercest fighting of the war. The Memorial was conceived as a monument to the 350,000 men of the British Empire who fought in the campaign. Inside the arch, on tablets of Portland stone, are inscribed the names of 56,000 men, including 6,178 Australians, who served in the Ypres campaign and who have no known grave. The opening of the Menin Gate Memorial on 24 July 1927 so moved the Australian artist Will Longstaff that he painted 'The Menin Gate at Midnight', which portrays a ghostly army of the dead marching past the Menin Gate. The painting now hangs in the Australian War Memorial, Canberra, at the entrance of which are two medieval stone lions presented to the Memorial by the City of Ypres in 1936. Since the 1930s, with the brief interval of the German occupation in the Second World War, the City of Ypres has conducted a ceremony at the Memorial at dusk each evening to commemorate those who died in the Ypres campaign. |
| Miscellaneous information from cemetery records | Parents: John and Sarah STEWART; Wife: Rosa STEWART, Horsham, Victoria |
| Other details |
War service: Western Front Embarked Melbourne, 20 June 1916; disembarked Plymouth, England, 10 August 1916. Proceeded overseas to France, 16 September 1916; taken on strength, 59th Bn, in the field, 8 October 1916. Admitted to 8th Australian Field Ambulance, 16 November 1916 (influenza); transferred to 1st New Zealand Stationary Hospital, 17 November 1916; to Ambulance train, 21 November 1916, and admitted to 6th General Hospital, Rouen, 22 November 1916; transferred to No 2 Convalescent Depot, Etaples, 15 December 1916; discharged to Base Depot, 18 December 1916; rejoined unit from hospital, 1 January 1917. On leave to United Kingdom, 11 September 1917; rejoined unit from leave, 25 September 1917. Died of wounds received in action, 14 October 1917. Medals: British War Medal, Victory Medal |
| Sources | NAA: B2455, STEWART William |
Postal Address:
Po Box 7916
Canberra BC 2610, Australia
Street Address:
Northcott Drive,
Campbell, ACT 2600
