William Inglis was elected vice-president of the Toowoomba British Football Association in 1914, having previously played for Corinthians.
He enlisted at the age of 33 in October 1915. Married with a child, Inglis requested part of his pay be sent to his wife Williamina. Inglis was assigned to 3rd Sanitary Section of the Australian Medical Corps, which was responsible for hygiene in the field. The section received lengthy training in Brisbane before departure. According to an interview with Edward Smout, another of the 27-strong Section, the men were trained in a range of skills from first aid to creating a smallpox vaccine from a cow’s mucus. The group included carpenters who could build latrines, plumbers and qualified food inspectors. Inglis had been a grocer before enlisting. The Section reached England in 1916, and was deployed to France in November. Here the 3rd Sanitary Section would visit camps and order sanitary improvements. Occasionally they acted as stretcher bearers during battles. Inglis, though, would not arrive until 1917 due to a secondment to the 16th Field Ambulance in England.
In early 1918, Inglis was transferred from the 3rd to the 2nd Sanitary Section. He returned to Australia in June 1919.