Private William Williamson originally enlisted in the 6th Regiment at Leeds in May 1839, but transferred to the 41st Regiment in July 1841. Subsequently engaged in the Candahar, Ghuznee and Cabul operations of 1842, he returned to the U.K. with the Regiment in the Summer of 1844 and briefly served in Wales and Ireland before transferring to the 16th Regiment in October of the following year. Williamson was finally discharged at Aldershot in August 1860, following a spate of unhappy run-ins with authority during the 16th's postings to the Mediterranean, the West Indies and Canada.