William Nairn Wishart was born on 28 November 1895 in the hamlet of Kingston, which lay in the parish of Longforgan, Perthshire. He was the eldest of six children born to George Rodger Wishart, a ploughman from Largo, Fife, and Isabella Grieve.

In 1901 the family were living in Inchyrn Village in the parish of St. Madoes and at Colin Farm Cottage in Scone ten years later. By 1911 William had left school and had joined his father in the fields as a ploughman.

After war broke out, William enlisted in Scone and joined the Army Service Corps, with whom he served until about 1917 when he transferred to the Tank Corps. He was posted to G Battalion, which formed part of the 1st Tank Brigade and first saw action on the Gheluvet Plateau near Ypres during August 1917. In November they were involved in the Battle of Cambrai and led the advance into Flesquieres and on to Anneux – eventually joining up with D Battalion to clear Bourlon Wood. The tanks were deemed to have been a great success, penetrating the enemy lines up to ten kilometres; however, much of the ground was subsequently retaken by the enemy.

By March 1918 G Battalion had been re-titled 7th Battalion and was in the Arras area at the time of the German spring offensive. In late August the battalion had been deployed North of the Somme and made an attack on the Hindenberg line on the 21st. The fighting was intense with heavy tank losses. It seems probable that during this action William was wounded and eventually succumbed to his injuries on 2 September.

William was buried in the Bagneux British Cemetery at Gezaincourt (grave V. E. 34.)

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