WALKLEY, Sir WILLIAM GASTON (1896-1976), businessman, was born on 1 November 1896 at Otaki, New Zealand, son of London-born parents Herbert Walkley, draper, and his wife Jessie Annie, née Gaston. William attended several schools as the family moved from town to town in an arc surrounding Palmerston North. In middle age he rose at 4 o'clock and went to bed about 8 p.m., a habit formed in the dairying country of his youth.

On 12 April 1917 Walkley enlisted in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. He trained in England from February 1918, but had two spells in hospital and did not see action. In January 1919 he was promoted temporary warrant officer. At the register office, Andover, Hampshire, on 21 July that year he married Marjory Ponting, a schoolteacher; the marriage was to end in divorce. Returning to New Zealand, he was discharged from the army on 2 ...

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Australian Dictionary of Biography