William was born in Westminster,
the son of Dr William Reid and Elizabeth Holmes. The 1901 Census records the family, including
older sister Elizabeth, living in St. James with a governess, housemaid,
parlour maid and cook to look after them. He attended Prep. School in York
before registering at Gresham’s in January of 1904. He boarded in Woodlands, where he later
became a prefect, playing both rugby and cricket for House and School. William also did well in the junior
steeplechase, and performed in two plays, ‘The Tempest’ where he was ‘splendid’
as the jester, and as Sir Toby Belch in ‘Twelfth Night’ in which he was
described as ‘quite first rate’. An
obituary in the OG Magazine reveals that he was a keen and accomplished boxer
and swordsman as a young man.
He leaves the School at Christmas
of 1909 and in the following year is mentioned in the honours lists for
admission to Sandhurst where he also continues his rugby playing. In 1911 he is commissioned into the Royal Welsh
Fusiliers and is listed as serving with them as 2nd Lieutenant in
1914. William was wounded twice during
his service in France, Belgium and Italy, and received the DSO & Bar in
1917, when, “During the final stages of the fighting he was the soul of both
defence and offence,” and “it was mainly due to his gallantry and dash that the
enemy counter-attack was defeated.” He
also won the Italian medal for valour and was mentioned in dispatches four
times. Continuing his army career after the War, William is promoted to Colonel
in 1933, and in 1937 becomes the youngest Major-General. In WWII he commands the Territorial Army’s 42nd
Infantry Division in France, going to North Africa after Dunkirk as
Lieutenant-General. Between 1943 and 1945 he is in command of the IXth Army in
Palestine. After his knighthood in 1945
he retires to a ranch in Arizona.