William Malone

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article is about the British army officer. For the American filmmaker, see William Malone (director).
William George Malone

Lieutenant Colonel William George Malone (born 24 January 1859 in London, England, died 8 August 1915 at Chunuk Bair in Turkey) served as a soldier in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. At the outbreak of World War I, Malone gained command of the Wellington Battalion of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force and deployed as part of the ANZAC forces. He saw extensive action during the Battle of Gallipoli and was killed in action on 8 August 1915. Popular belief held that a Turkish shell killed Malone, but research suggests that friendly fire felled him whilst he surveyed the battlefield to determine the best position for another regiment. (A British battleship shelled Chunuk Bair because the British believed that the Turks would have killed any remaining ANZACS there by that time.)

Prior to World War I, Malone had taken an active part in the community of Stratford in Taranaki, New Zealand. He helped found the Stratford County Council and served as its first clerk and treasurer from 1891 to 1900. In the 1908 general election he stood unsuccessfully as a candidate for the Taranaki seat. He also worked as a solicitor and a partner in a law firm dealing mostly with land transactions.

In recognition of his service to their community and his country, in 1923 the Stratford community placed a memorial in the form of white marble gates at the entrance to King Edward Park; New Zealand's largest war memorial commemorating an individual soldier. The New Zealand government erected a memorial in his honour in Wellington in 2005.

[edit] References

  • Pugsley, Chris. 'Malone, William George 1859 - 1915'. Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, URL: http://www.dnzb.govt.nz/
  • Malone, E. P. 'The diaries and letters of Lt Col W. G. Malone, August 1914--August 1915'. Turnbull Library Record 22, No 1 (May 1989): 41--49
  • ANZAC individual record for Lt. Col. William G. Malone
  • Ian Church: The Stratford Inheritance. Heritage Press, Stratford District Council 1990. ISBN 0-908708-17-3
  • David E. Walter: Stratford: Shakespearean Town Under The Mountain . Stratford District Council 2005. ISBN 1-877399-05-1