William Peck was associated with Dinmore Bush Rats before the war, having played for their title-winning junior-minor (youth) side in 1911. His Bush Rats career was overshadowed by his older brother David, who won the second-grade title with the Bush Rats the same year and went on to play with the senior side before joining St Helens by the end of the decade.
Peck was 21 when he enlisted in January 1916. He was allocated to the 23rd Company Army Services Corps, and later with the 3rd Divisional Train. Peck did not arrive in France until August 1917, where his service was regularly interrupted by illness. He was initially struck down with gastritis in September and though soon recovered was diagnosed with myalgia within a few weeks.
Peck would not rejoin his unit until January 1918. Three months later he was diagnosed with enteritis, an inflammation of the small intestine. Another recovery was followed by further illness in May and June. In all cases he was treated in France, and he would not return to England until a period of leave in August 1918.
Here Peck married Ada Ludford in October 1918 though would continue to serve until he was demobilised in mid-1919. Peck requested his discharge in England, despite being Australian born, and in contrast to most AIF soldiers who were discharged after returning to Australia. According to a letter to Base Records from the Pride of Dinmore Lodge, Peck was not planning to return to Australia any time soon. The Lodge, part of the Protestant Alliance Friendly Society, an early form of health insurance, were writing for confirmation of the discharge so they could “square his accounts.”
Peck and Ada were still in England in 1937 when his namesake father’s obituary appeared in the Queensland Times.