William Gladstone Thorp was the son of Thomas Thorp and his wife, Mary nee Burton. He was born in London in 1870. At the time of his enlistment on 31 July 1915 he said he was in the boot trade and had been apprenticed to C Gillespie of Goulburn, New South Wales. He was married to Daisy Winifred Thorp, nee Carpenter, and was living at 56 Grey Street, East Melbourne. He had had five years military experience with the Militia, Goulburn fourteen years previously. He was appointed to the 7th Battalion, 13th Reinforcements as a private and was sent to Broadmeadows for training.
He embarked on 29 December 1915 aboard HMAT Demosthenes. He served briefly in France but was admitted to hospital in Etaples on 25 June 1916 suffering from influenza and transferred to England. He was then posted to No 2 Command Depot, Perham Downs, interrupted by further periods in hospital with bronchitis.
On 1 August 1916, suffering from asthma, he embarked on NZHS Marama for discharge in Australia.
In December, according to his pension statement, his address was 102 Grey Street, East Melbourne, By December 1917 he was living at 5 Green Street, Westgarth when the family pensions were doubled: his own went from 15/- to 30/- per fortnight; his wife’s increased from 7/6 to 15/-; and that of his son, William Thomas, went up from 5/- to 10/-.
He died 6 May 1951 at Heidelberg.