Born in March of 1889, William Thomas Ardill was amongst the oldest of the Granville Rechabite players to enlist when he joined up in November of 1916, although having been previously rejected on medical grounds, due to “heart trouble”.
Assigned to the Field Artillery Brigades as a driver, Bill, a wood machinist by trade, did his basic training in Australia before setting sail for Europe in May of 1917. Little is known of his life during the war with his unit being employed at most major battlegrounds, or after his return in July of 1918, medically discharged with chronic synovitis of the left knee.
He and his wife Ellen moved to Auburn where they raised 3 sons and like so many others it seems the games of his youth would remain just that. He died in 1949, shortly before his 60th birthday.