Brigadier General William Meldrum CB, CMG, DSO, VD (28 July 1865 – 13 February 1964) was a New Zealand lawyer, farmer, military leader, magistrate and local politician.

[2] After completing his legal studies, Meldrum worked at the prominent law firm Whitaker and Russell and eventually became a barrister and solicitor in 1889.

[1][7] Meldrum was prominent in local affairs, being on the Hunterville Town Board for a period[2] and he was an unsuccessful candidate in the 1909 Rangitikei by-election, where he came third in the first ballot.

[8] In 1912, he sold his practice and from the profits bought land in the area which he farmed together with his wife, Nora, who he had married in 1894.

[2] On the outbreak of the First World War, Meldrum volunteered for the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (NZEF) being raised for service overseas.

He had extensive military service; he had formed a militia unit, the Hunterville Mounted Rifle Volunteers, in 1900 and by 1914 had risen to command of 6th (Manawatu) Mounted Rifles Regiment, with the rank of lieutenant colonel in the New Zealand Territorial Force.

[10] After departing for the Middle East, Meldrum oversaw the training of his command until it was called upon for service in the Gallipoli campaign as part of the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade, landing at ANZAC Cove on 12 May 1915.

He refused orders to mount a frontal attack on Turkish machine guns on one occasion and sought a retreat from vulnerable positions on another.

While the rest of the NZEF went to Europe for service on the Western Front, the ANZAC Mounted Division remained in the Middle East and served in the Sinai and Palestine Campaign, part of the efforts involved in protecting the Suez Canal from Turkish attacks.

[17] At one stage in 1916, Meldrum was called up to temporarily lead the Australian 2nd Light Horse Brigade when its original commanding officer was wounded.

After the battle, Meldrum was promoted to brigadier general and made commander of the New Zealand Mounted Rifles Brigade.

During the Second World War, he was involved in the Home Guard for the Greymouth and Westport area and for two years, from 1942 to 1944, chaired the Armed Forces Appeal Board.