Tope bali biography of williams

William Tope was born c.1893 in Camberwell, Victoria.  He was the son of William Charles Tope and his wife, Alexandra Mary, nee Taylor.  The family moved to East Melbourne in 1909 when William snr bought the house at 110 Vale Street.

When he enlisted at Brighton, Tasmania, on 22 August 1914 William gave his occupation as bank clerk and stated that he had served for seven years with the Senior Cadets.  He gave his father as his next of kin citing the East Melbourne address.  He was appointed to ‘B’ Company, 12th Battalion, 3rd Infantry Brigade and was sent for training to the Brighton camp. 

He embarked from Hobart on 20 October 1914, aboard HMAT Geelong.  On 2 March he embarked from Alexandria to join the forces at Gallipoli.  The Australian War Memorial history of his unit states:

The 3rd Brigade was the covering force for the ANZAC landing on 25 April 1915 and so was the first ashore at around 4:30 am.