SERVICE PERSON RESEARCH
SERVICE PERSON DETAILS
Service Person’s
Name
William Charles Belson
Rank
Private
Service Number
Regiment/Unit or
Ship or Squadron
Date of Birth
Place of Birth
Family Details
218
9th Australian Infantry Battalion, B Company
1892
Newcastle, NSW
Parents:
BELSON, Charles Joseph Edwin
m 1891 – Lambton NSW (4712)
GRIERSON, Mary
Siblings:
BELSON, Joseph
b 9 December 1895 – Newcastle NSW (4291 of 1886)
BELSON, Elizabeth
b 1894 – Lambton NSW (17814)
m 1917 – Brisbane QLD (B20414)
AITKEN, Gilbert Elliot
BELSON, Anna Janet
b 1897 – Lambton NSW (13293)
m 1925 – QLD (C379)
DOULL, George Henry
BELSON, Albert Francis
b 1898 – Lambton NSW (31549)
BELSON, Arthur Thomas
b 29 August 1900 – Murwillumbah NSW (33478)
BELSON, Mary H
b 1902 – Murwillumbah NSW (24164)
BELSON, Jessie G
b 1904 – Murwillumbah NSW (5209)
Age at Enlistment
22
Place of Enlistment
Date of Death
Place of Death
Cemetery or
Memorial Name
Malanda, Queensland
25 April 1915
Gallipoli, Ottoman Empire
Lone Pine Memorial, Gallipoli Peninsula, Canakkale Province, Turkey
PHOTO:
No photo available
SERVICE PERSON’S STORY/EULOGY:
Prepared by Jessica Honan
William Charles Belson was born in 1892, in Newcastle, New South Wales. His parents were Charles Joseph
Edwin Belson, and Mary Belson (nee Grierson). William was the eldest of eight children. Joseph Belson, the
Belson’s second son, was born three years after William, in 1895.
Later that same year, the Belson family moved to Lambton, where in 1896 William’s first sister Elizabeth
was born. A year later came Anne Janet, and in 1898 followed the birth of Albert Francis. Sometime
between 1898 and 1902 the family moved again, this time to Murwillumbah, where Mary was born in
1902, and Jessie in 1904.
The family moved around a lot in the next few years, living in Townsville in around 1910, where William
served in the Senior Cadets, and the Rifle Club. He is also recorded as having attended Lismore Public
School in New South Wales.
Although it’s not clear when, the family moved again to the Atherton Tablelands in Far North Queensland,
my home. William volunteered for service in the army at the recruitment station in Malanda, on 25 August
1914, whilst living at Richmond Villa, Turbot Street in Brisbane, and working as an architect.
Two years after William enlisted, Joseph Belson, William’s younger brother, volunteered for the 9th
Infantry Battalion- 13 to 23 Reinforcements. Another year after that, in 1917, William’s youngest brother,
Albert Belson joined the 26th Infantry Battalion, 21st Reinforcement. Both of William’s brothers returned to
Australia in 1919.
At the age of 22, Private William Charles Belson, as a member of the 9th Australian Battalion, B Company,
travelled on the troopship Omrah to Egypt, where he underwent training.
On 25 April 1915, William was killed whilst attempting to take Constantinople in the Gallipoli campaign.
Like many, he has no grave, but is memorialised at the Lone Pine Memorial, at the Australian War
Memorial, and at a small cenotaph in the centre of my hometown, Atherton.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Anzac Centenary 2015, An ANZAC Story, http://anzaccentenary.vic.gov.au/embarkation/william-charlesbelson (accessed 16 January 2015)
Australian War Memorial 2015, Roll of Honour – William Charles Belson,
https://www.awm.gov.au/people/rolls/R1649810/ (accessed 16 January 2015)
National Archives of Australia 2015, Belson William Charles: SERN 218
http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/ViewImage.aspx?B=3071694 (accessed
20 February 2015)
Spirits of Gallipoli 2015, Families - Belson, http://www.spirits-of-gallipoli.com/families/files/BELSON-WCGen.pdf (accessed 16 January 2015)
The AIF Project 2014, William Charles BELSON https://www.aif.adfa.edu.au/showPerson?pid=19675
(accessed 16 January 2015)