Daldy was born on 20 April 1816 in
Rainham, Essex, England. He started going to sea aged 16 on the
Mayflower, a ship belonging to his father Samuel Rootsey Daldy, an
Ilford coal merchant. His seafaring first brought him to Auckland in July 1841. On 10 December 1840 he sailed from
Liverpool in his schooner
Shamrock, arriving in Auckland in July 1841, but remained a seafarer. In 1847 he started timber milling near Auckland. From 1849 he was a partner in the shipping firm Combes and Daldy. In April 1864 the Daldy family sailed to London and in 1865 he became the English agent for the Province. Walter Combes died in 1870. Captain Daldy was the first chairman of the
Auckland Harbour Board from 1871. He was also a
Justice of the Peace,
Auckland Chamber of Commerce council member,
Bank of New Zealand auditor,
Auckland City Council member,
New Zealand Insurance Co. director and volunteer fire brigade captain. She died on 3 December 1877. They had 4 children, Frances Catherine Wrigley (25 April 1842 Maryanne Maria Mee Davies (7 August 1848 – 24 June 1926), Edith Crush Daldy (1850 and William Crush Daldy Jr (14 February 1852 William married
Amey,
née Hamerton, on 17 March 1880. Amey was president of Auckland branch of the
Women's Franchise League and of the
National Council of Women, and William gave a speech saying, "that men were cowards for not extending the franchise to women". Amey died in 1920. Daldy died in
Ponsonby, Auckland, on 5 October 1903. He was buried at
Purewa Cemetery. == Political and military career ==