In 1709, at the purported age of eighty-nine, he fought at the Battle of Malplaquet and was believed to be the oldest soldier on the field.

[1] The baptism of a William Hasland is recorded at Bishops Cannings, Wiltshire, on 15 April 1628, with no details of his birth.

[3] Amid the War of the Spanish Succession, Hiseland was one of the seasoned campaigners the Duke of Marlborough took into Flanders in June 1709.

[6] Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond, rewarded Hiseland's long service with a pension of one crown a week, and this was matched by Sir Robert Walpole,[1] until in recognition of his claimed eighty years of service to the Crown Hiseland was given a place as an in-pensioner of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea.

The inscription on Hiseland's tomb in the Royal Hospital's burial ground reads as follows: Here Lies WILLIAM HISELAND A Vetran if ever Soldier was Who merited well a Pension If Long Service be a Merit Having served upwards of the Days of Man Antient but not Superannuated Engaged in a series of Wars Civil as well as Foreign Yet not maimed or worn out by either His Complexion was fresh & florid His Health hale & hearty His Memory exact & ready In Stature He exceeded the Military size In Strength He surpassed the prime of Youth and What rendered his Age Still more Patriarchal When above one Hundred Years Old He took unto him a Wife Read Fellow Soldiers and Reflect That there is a Spiritual Warfare As well as a Warfare Temporal Born vj of August 1620 Died vij of Feb. 1732 Aged 112[7][10]In this instance, "1732" refers to what is now called 1733, as at that time the calendar year began on Lady Day, 25 March, and not on 1 January.