William Leihy was born in Fitzroy in 1888. He was the eldest of the five sons of Andrew Richard Leihy and his wife Marion, née Eivers. Andrew was a French polisher and in 1916 was president of the Furniture Trade Union. He was also a member of the Total Abstinence Society and in 1920 was vice-president. The family moved to 1209 Hoddle Street, East Melbourne in 1901. The rate books describe it as a brick house of three rooms on land 20 by 90 feet. It must have been a tight fit. Andrew remained there until his death in 1932.
When he enlisted on 5 January 1915 William described himself as a warehouseman. He was 5ft 7ins, had a fair complexion, blue eyes and fair hair. He was appointed to the 8th Battalion, 4th Reinforcements at Broadmeadows.
He embarked on 13 April 1915 aboard the Wiltshire. He joined the 8th Battalion at Anzac on 26 May 1915. He served in Gallipoli and France in between several bouts of illness, and a number of misdemeanours such as disobedience, absent without leave, loss of kit, absent from hospital in hospital garb, all resulting in loss of pay.
On 25 July 1916 he proceeded overseas to France from England to join his unit. On 7 August he was posted to Machine Gun Base Depot for training and taken on strength of 2nd Australian Machine Gun Company on 5 November 1916. On 1 April 1918 he was transferred to 1st Machine Gun Battalion.
On 14 April 1918 he was wounded in action with a shotgun wound to chest and arm. He was invalided to England two weeks later. After discharge he was appointed to training depots before returning to his unit in France on 5 October 1918. He returned to England on 2 January 1919 and left for Australia 9 March 1919.
After the war William returned to the family home in East Melbourne and his work as a warehouseman. He died in 1947.
City of Melbourne Rate Books, Albert Ward, 1901-1932