Sir William Herbert Ellery Gilbert, KBE, DSO (born Herbert Ellery Gilbert; 20 July 1916 – 26 September 1987), was a New Zealand military leader and intelligence service director.
[2] In 1956, he was tasked by Jack Marshall, then Minister of Justice, with setting up the New Zealand Security Service.
[1] He was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in the 1976 Queen's Birthday Honours,[3] just one month prior to his retirement.
At the Australian Royal Military College in Duntroon he was nicknamed Bill, and the name stuck.
After his retirement, he changed his name by deed poll to William Herbert Ellery Gilbert.