Bill Stormont
English-New Zealand rugby league footballer (1898-1925)
William Stormont (25 August 1898 – 4 June 1925) was a New Zealand rugby league player who represented New Zealand. His parents were John Stormont (1 Aug 1863 – 23 September 1936), a pastry chef and baker, and Annie Stormont nee Brownlie (7 July 1871 – 7 Dec 1944).
Playing career
Stormont played for Marist in the Auckland Rugby League competition. He represented Auckland and was first selected for the New Zealand national rugby league team in 1920 following Aucklands 24-16 win over the touring English team. Stormont was the first member of the Marist club to be selected for the Kiwis. He played in all 3 tests in the #10 prop position against the touring England team in 1920. New Zealand lost the 3 matches 7-31 at the Auckland Domain, 3-19 at Lancaster Park, and 10-11 at the Basin Reserve. Film of Stormont playing for Auckland against the 1924 touring English team can be seen at the Ngā Taonga Sound and vision archive.
Military career
Stormont enlisted in the New Zealand Defence Force on 11 May 1917 aged 18 using a false birthdate (25/4/1897). At the time, recruits were required to be 19 to be posted overseas.
“Bill Stormont” enters the record as english-New Zealand rugby league footballer (1898-1925). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Bill, Stormont and English-New can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Bill Stormont” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Bill, Stormont and English-New provides the most credible route into that argument.
Biographical claims are most persuasive when dates, appointments and relationships can be traced to records created close to the events described. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 28, 2025. The linked authority identifier is Q4911021. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1898, 1925, 1863 and 1936.
Public reputation and documentary evidence do not always develop together; absence from a summary is not evidence of historical absence. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Read biographical claims against dates, named institutions and the cited references. Distinguish a subject’s later reputation from evidence produced during their lifetime.
- Establishing names and roles
- Building a first chronology
- Locating cited institutions
Personal papers, civil or court records, institutional files and the scholarship cited by the source.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Bill Stormont”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Bill Stormont primary sources, Bill Stormont archive and Bill research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Bill Stormont”?
- Which primary records establish identity, chronology and institutional ties?
- Which claims depend on a single source or contested interpretation?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Bill Stormont” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.