William (Bill) Ham was born in Ireland on 14 April 1892 and emigrated to New Zealand with his parents and brothers in 1900. The family originally settled in Gisborne but later moved to Nelson.
At the time he enlisted at Nelson on 15 August 1914 he was employed as a labourer by the Waimea County Council. He embarked from Wellington with the Canterbury Infantry Battalion (part of the Main Body) on HMNZT 11 (the “Athenic”, the same ship that had transported him and his family to New Zealand) and departed for Egypt on 16 October 1914.
When Private Ham died from his wounds on 5 February 1915 he became the first member of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force to die as a result of enemy action. At the time he was wounded on 3 February his company was part of a New Zealand force defending the Suez Canal (near Ismailia) against Turkish attacks. He was hit in the neck, breaking his spine, by a bullet that ricocheted off his rifle.
His brother, Thomas Henry Merrick Ham, also served in WW1 and survived, only to die of illness on 1 February 1942 whilst serving (Captain) in the New Zealand forces in Fiji. His mother’s second husband, Cyril Montague Bartlett, enlisted in 1916 and was killed in action at Ypres on 15 December 1917.
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