Lt Henry Walter Edward Morris



Lt Henry Walter Edward Morris M.C

1875-1917

HWM1 IMAGE HERE

Figure 1

Lt Henry Walter Edward Morris M.C

HWM2 imager here

7th November 1875 – 15th August 1917

“A Fine officer of great Courage”

Lt Henry Walter Edward Morris

Dedication

This is a tale that could be told of a great number of other young, and not so young men, who joined the call to arms to fight in the “Great War for Civilisation”. Please be under no impressions, this is not intended to be a detailed historical work, and I will freely admit, that my native tongue is not my strongest point in its written form. But it is my own humble attempt to remember one of the fallen, one of my family and a shared ancestor.

I would also like to thank the following for their help, thoughts and support. My gratitude and thanks to Bernard and Andrew K Stone, Sheri Mason, and Pamela Male, also to my own immediate family, Siobhan, Georgina and Charlotte for allowing me the time out from family to compile this research and accompanying me on various trips to battle fields and war graves in France. To my mother and father, Rosemarie and Terry, to Carol and Hazel and Roy who at some stage have all helped with various recollections on family, Floyd Low for helping to decipher the war diaries and producing the maps, and lastly to Steven Stother for allowing the use of Carman Stothers dairy

To my family, both close and extended I dedicate this “Book”

Contents

Introduction

My first knowledge of Lt H.W Morris was on my 21st Birthday (1985.) I was asked to call round and see my Grandmother Dorothy (Wife of Cyril Ernest Stone, who was the only Son of Gilbert Alfred Oday Stone).

When I arrived I was given a small brown plastic box containing a selection of Victorian coins and a small slightly battered leather covered box. The coins, it was explained, had been given to my Great Grandfather Gilbert by his mother, Ellen, on his 21st Birthday, and it had been his wish that they should be handed to me on mine (Gilbert had died a few months before I was born in 1964).

What I found more intriguing was the small leather box, slightly dog-eared, faded black and with a small gold embossed crown on the lid. Inside was a tarnished silver cross on a purple ribbon, engraved on the reverse with the words Lt H.W. Morris M.C and his service number, also in the box was a gold picture fob. The pictures were on opposing faces of the fob, on the one was handsome young man in Army Uniform, and on the reverse a rather dapper looking chap in his Sunday best, sporting a flower on his lapel and a handsome moustache.

Dorothy explained that the medal and picture were of my Great Grandfathers Half Brother who was, in her own words “Blown to pieces in World War 1”, and the other was of my Great Grandfather, Gilbert, but she new no more than that; I naturally assumed that the chap in uniform was H.W Morris, Gilbert Stone’s half Brother.

Now, I found all this very interesting, on a business trip up to London some time after, I took the medal to a world-renowned dealer in Medals, Spinks & Sons.

It was they who told me that the medal was a Canadian Military Cross, Which, as it transpired some 20 years later was not to be the case. I cannot believe that Spinks would have identified the medal in error so I must have misheard what I was told. The medal and coins were eventually confined to safekeeping and generally forgotten about.

Around the late 1980’s I was introduced to Bernard Stone (A cousin of my father Terry) and Grandson of William Stone, the eldest son of Edwin and Ellen. Bernard had been researching the Stone family tree for many years, I copied some of his notes in the brief time we met and I took up an interest in family history. However time passed and my own family and work commitments led to my research slowing and then halting altogether. I also managed to loose contact with Bernard.

I cannot really recall what happened to re spark the interest in family history,

But in about 2005, we took a family holiday in France and as luck or design would have it, we found ourselves in the Pas de Calais, the area of France that borders onto Belgium and where most of WW1 was fought out.

My mother (Rosemarie Anne Ware) had lost two uncles in the Great War, (George and Francis) and every November when I was younger we went to the village war memorial in Tilehurst to pay our respects to them and other men of our village, who had gone on what must have seemed at the time like a great adventure, but who, like so many others of their generation, were never to return.

HWM3 IMAGE HERE

Fig 1 -The Photos From the Locket

Left - Originally presumed to be HW Morris, now known not to be – Definitely a Stone, Possibly Gilbert, the uniform is British, the cap badge has been identified as possibly that of the Army Service Corps, The gentleman bears a striking resemblance to the lad on the far right front row of the Stone family picture (See Fig 3)

Centre - The Canadian Memorial Cross – originally identified in error as a Canadian Military Cross. The memorial cross was issued to mothers and widows of Canadian soldiers killed in WW1

Right - HW Morris? Is this the half Brother referred to by Dorothy Stone in her note? From what I can remember being told either taken on his wedding day or 21st birthday

The Search Begins

Using the Commonwealth War Graves Commission Website, I had managed to locate the graves of both my Mothers uncles and of H.W Morris. So in the summer of 2005 we visited the cemeteries of North Eastern France, laid flowers and took photos.

My interest in these three men had been re awakened and I decided to see what further research I could carry out. Unfortunately a large proportion of British Service records were destroyed during the blitz on London in the second world war so searching for my mothers uncles service records is proving much harder, but when it came to H.W. Morris there was a lot more information on the internet just waiting to be unearthed not in the UK but in Canada.

I had managed to locate his battalion’s war diaries, and found mention of his name and the record of his death, but no immediate record was apparent of what he had achieved to be awarded the military cross, and so the search continued.

Around September 2006, I was looking at the Genes Reunited web site when a post from an Andrew Stone caught my eye, he was searching for information on Edwin and Ellen’s Stones family, when I first read the post, I thought it must have been one that I had left on the website sometime past and forgotten about, it was only when I read through the posting again that I realised that this was another Andrew Stone asking for information on our family. One thing led to another and it transpired that this Andrew (Andrew Keith Stone) was the Grandson of the youngest of Edwin and Ellen’s Children, George Albert Stone (born 1892), and it was through this chance contact made in a moment of boredom in the office, that Andrew put me back in contact with Bernard.

Now there were three of us searching for all sorts of varied information on our shared ancestors, we exchanged our thoughts and notes on the family but H W Morris was proving to be real quandary. I had managed to download from the National Canadian Archives website his sign up papers or Attestation. These were signed on the 25th September 1914 at Camp Valcartier, Quebec.

The attestation papers give the following information.

Henry Walter Morris,

Born Oxford, 18th August 1881,

Trade electrical engineer,

Unmarried,

Next of kin, Mrs Ellen Morris of 127 Belmont Road, Reading, England.

Previous Military Service – Gordon Highlanders

Apparent Age – 33 years and 1 month.

Everything seemed in order, a half brother, whose father was undoubtedly Mark Morris, Ellen Stone’s second husband.

Simple or so it would seem

Mark & Ellen Morris

Edwin Francis Stone had married Ellen Pratt on the 22nd October 1872 in the church of St Paul, Oxford. Edwin was the only son of Francis Stone and Elizabeth Cooper; he had followed his father’s trade of wheelwright and builder and had eventually set up as a retailer of beer at the Royal Standard in Headington, whilst running his building and Wheelwrights business from a yard at the rear of the pub. They had quite a large family, 10 children in total.

Edwin died on 27th October 1892 at the age of 50; leaving Ellen a widow, with a predominantly young and large family to look after, She remained as landlady of the Royal Standard and also it is thought continued to run the building business along with her eldest son William.

On the 1st July 1895 at Holy Trinity Church, Reading, Berkshire, Ellen was remarried to a Mark Richard Morris, himself a widower, and then living at 27 Caroline Street, Reading.

Mark Morris gave his age on the marriage certificate as 37 and Ellen states her age as 38, although she was actually 44 at the time.

Mark and Ellen Morris had a son, Cyril Montague Morris, baptised in Headington on the 15th March 1896, having been born on the 11th December 1895. At the time of her marriage to Mark, Ellen was four months pregnant. Perhaps this is why they married in Reading.

It is believed that Ellen was made to leave the Royal Standard by the brewery because she did not inform them of her relationship with Mark Morris. After leaving the Royal Standard around the year 1895/96 they both moved to Reading and on the 11th May 1897 they were granted tenancy of the Anchor Public House, which stood on the corner of London Street, and London Road (Demolished in 1911). Mark Morris must have been running the Anchor before the tenancy was formally transferred to him because on the 17th January 1897 he was convicted of selling adulterated whiskey and fined £5 plus costs.

Prior to marrying Ellen ,Mark Morris, was a bricklayer. He was born in Headington Quarry, Oxford, in 1858. So it is feasible that he may have worked for or with Edwin, or was even a patron of the Royal Standard. Mark Morris died in Reading in the year 1901 from rheumatic fever. Ellen continued to run the Anchor until 1909 when the licensing Justices refused renewal of the licence. She then moved and lived at 127 Belmont Road, along with her younger Sons Gilbert, Arthur and George and her daughter Ethel all from her marriage to Edwin, her son from her marriage to Mark, Cyril Montague Morris and Marks other children from his previous two marriages. 127 Belmont Road is the same address given some 5 years later by Henry Walter Morris as the address for his mother in his attestation papers.

Mark Morris had been married twice before, his first marriage being to a Clara Bateman (1857-1881), the second to Susannah James Barlow (1854-1894) by which ladies he had 6 children. But no child by the name of Henry Walter is listed in any records in Oxford. Certainly no Morris births for that particular name in 1881 as the was given on Henrys attestation papers, Perhaps his birth was not recorded, Marks second wife Susannah Jane had died in 1894, so could she have been his natural mother?

More questions

The more we tried to look into Henry Walter’s life; the more questions were being raised than were actually being answered. There was the note left by my Grandmother, which described Henry as Gilbert`s Half Brother, his attestation papers giving a birth date of 1881 but no records could be found for the birth of a Henry Morris on this year. The Morris connection seemed to fit, Mark Morris could be his father, but why had he never recorded his birth, an odd occurrence as all his other children’s births and baptisms were recorded. He gives his mother as Ellen living at 127 Belmont Road; perhaps he named Ellen as his mother because his own mother and now his father were deceased. My father Terry also confirmed the Belmont Road connection as he remembered relatives living in Belmont Road.

In 2006 I finally resolved to obtain Henrys full military records from the National Archives of Canada, in the hope that these may shed some more light on his past. After a few months wait these duly arrived, consisting of around fifty plus foolscap copies of the pages from his service record, the majority of which were pay ledgers, The records gave a little insight into what he had done, there were references to his movements, but no real insight into who he was.

I transcribed odd bits from the records and then decided that I would try to find out more about his actual war service, it was, the Canadian Archives, once again that came up trumps, over next few years I down loaded both the Battalion and Brigade records. Now I had a very good idea of what Henry had been up to during the time he was with the 75th Battalion Canadian Infantry, from the time when he joined them in the “Field” during the April of 1917 until his death in August of the same year.

It was whilst conveying some of these notes and thoughts backwards and forwards via e-mail to Bernard and Andrew that I noticed something that I had partially overlooked before.

In the service records Henry had left a will, in the favour of a Miss Elizabeth Kirby, which had been subsequently amended to Mrs Elizabeth Morris. It would appear that Henry had married in Canada. Furthermore there was reference to the records having been searched by Henrys daughters, a Mrs Yates and a Mrs Mary Laycock. It was with these two names that Andrew subsequently managed to contact surviving members of Henry’s Family in Canada.

The Final Breakthrough

Whilst Andrew was trying to make contact with any surviving relatives in Canada, It was Bernard, who while researching the First World War service of his father, William Francis Stone (1898-1969), noticed something in a letter (Fig 2) written to William by his mother Kate, whilst William was recovering in France after being gassed. It was this discovery that solved once and for all the mystery as to who Henry Walter Morris actually was and why he had been so hard to trace.

The letter dated Sept 24th 1918 shed the light on why Henry Walter Morris did not appear in any records in Oxford. Kate wrote as follows:

" I am sorry I cannot tell you where your uncle Harry lived in Canada as we asked your Grandma twice for his address + she never gave it to us, so we could never write. I believe he was an electrician on the Trunk Railway + I believe he went in the name of Morris it will soon be a year since he was killed he had a commission."

So the mystery was finally solved - Henry Walter Morris as well as being known as Harry, was in fact Henry Walter Edward Stone and had changed his surname at some time following the death of his father Edwin, and his mother Ellen remarrying Mark Morris.

For what reason he did this, I doubt if we will ever know, Bernard believes that Ellen remarrying Mark Morris possibly caused a split in the Stone family, perhaps for this reason Henry changed his name to that of Morris to show solidarity with his mother and her new husband. Perhaps in doing so, he also became something of an outcast, possibly disowned by his immediate family; perhaps this is what led him to eventually emigrate to Canada.

Meanwhile, Andrew had made outstanding progress making contact with surviving members of Henrys family still living in Canada, Pamela Male, one of Henrys Granddaughters, and Sheri Mason, a Great Granddaughter of Henrys, both of whom are descended from the children of Henrys first marriage.

[pic]

[pic]

Fig 2

Kate Stone’s Letter To her son William September 24th 1918 (Courtesy Bernard Stone)

Henry Walter Edward Stone (Morris)

The Early Years

H.W Morris (I will, for the sake of clarity refer to Henry by his chosen name of Morris and not that of Stone) was born in Headington, Oxford, in the year 1875; the son of Edwin Stone and Ellen Pratt and the second of their ten children.

Henrys father, Edwin Francis Stone (1842-1892) had married Ellen Pratt on the 22nd October 1872 in the church of St Paul, Oxford. At the time of their marriage Edwin was 30 and Ellen was 21, Edwin was at this time living at 107 Walton Street, Oxford.

The year Henry was born, Edwin and Ellen were living at the Royal Standard public house in Headington, where according to the Oxford Trade directories Edwin was variously described as a Wheelwright, Builder and Beer Retailer.

At the age of 5 Henry appears in the 1881 Census living at Crawley Road, Hailey, Nr Witney, Oxon with his Grandfather Francis Stone (1820-1896) and Grandmother Elizabeth. Francis had for many years been a successful wheelwright and builder in Watlington, Oxfordshire, and had then ventured into farming continuing a family tradition that stretched back in time to the late 1500’s and possibly earlier. (The 1881 census records Francis as being a Farmer, occupying 30 Acres and employing one boy).

Ten years later in the 1891 census Henry is again living at the Royal Standard, the family had now grown considerably. Edwin and Ellen’s eldest son William Francis (1873-1956) by now aged 17 had joined with Edwin and was described as a wheelwright. Henry now aged 15 and his brother Fredrick age 14, where not described as being in a profession, the other children are described as being scholars – Samuel (12), Ernest (10), Gilbert (8), the youngest two children Ethel (3) and Arthur (1) were obviously too young to be at school.

And there the trail would have gone relatively cold until the First World War, when Henry makes a final reappearance, if it had not have been for the information gathered by Sheri and Pamela.

[pic]

The Royal Standard, New High Street , Headington , The pub now standing on the site dates from the 1930,s when the Original Royal Standard was demolished and rebuilt

[pic]

Fig 3

Ellen Stone and family circa 1898 possibly on the occasion of her Grandson William Francis Stone’s Christening. (Photo Courtesy Bernard Stone)

Front Row – Left to Right: Boy- (Is this the young man in the locket photo at fig 1- possibly Gilbert Stone)? Ethel Maud Helena, George Albert Sydney, Ellen Stone, Kate Lillian (Knight) wife of William (holding baby William Francis Charles), Boy?

Rear Row – Left to Right: Are all sons of Ellen’s but the only one identifiable with any certainty is on the far right - William Francis Randall (Eldest Son and husband of Kate). Henry Walter is believed to be the 1st on the left

One of the puzzles regarding this photograph is that although Ellen had 10 children, a daughter Edith Ellen had died aged 8 months in 1885, so there is a person in the photo who is not one of Ellen’s Children.

Ellen and Edwin’s Children

|William Francis Randell Stone  |Born |5th Dec 1873 |Died |24th April 1958 |

|Henry Walter Edward Stone (Morris) |Baptised |7th Nov 1875 |Died |15th Aug 1917 |

|Frederick James Stone  |Baptised |14th Feb1877 | | |

|Samuel Phillip Stone  |Baptised |8th Dec 1878 | | |

|Ernest Edward Stone |Born |22nd Dec 1880 | | |

|Gilbert Alfred Oday Stone  |Born |23rd Nov 1883 |Died |1964 |

|Edith Ellen Stone  |Born |4th Jun1885 |Died |12th Jun 1885 |

|Ethel Maud Helena Stone |Born |11th Feb 1888 | | |

|Arthur George Stone  |Baptised |6th April 1890 | | |

|George Albert Sydney Stone |Born |6th Jan 1892 |Died |23rd Aug 1976 |

Henry, as stated on his attestation papers had seen previous military Service in the Gordon Highlanders.

Why a Scottish regiment? , This is one question that still remains to be answered and is a mystery.

The Gordon’s had seen service in the Boer War; perhaps Henry had travelled to Scotland and had signed up to fight. His younger Brother Frederick saw service in Africa, as too, it is believed, did his older Brother William. A lot of troops taking part in the Boer War were volunteers, who signed up for 1-year terms, in some instances supplying their own weapons and horses.

At the outbreak of the first Boer War in 1899 – Henry would have been 24. Perhaps he had decided on a military carrier earlier in his life, His Grandfather had named Henry, William and George as Beneficiaries in his will and perhaps, when his Grandfather Francis died in 1896 this gave the young Henry a certain amount of financial freedom to travel.

Alternatively, his service in the Gordon’s could refer to his time in Canada serving with local militia units. Canada, unlike the UK, did not have a professional army until after the outbreak of WW1. From the information given by Henrys surviving descendants in Canada we know that Henry appeared in Ireland, for what reason remains as yet unknown, however, if he were serving in the Army, Ireland at that time was in turmoil, there were riots in Belfast in 1907, arms being imported illegally and martial law was eventually declared. Maybe in his trade as an electrical engineer he sought work in the Belfast Shipyards, but this is all just conjecture, there could be numerous reasons for his departing England.

At the time of writing no information has come to light as to how or why Henry came to be in Ireland, but it is understood that in the early 1900’s he had met with a lady and they were subsequently married, they had three children, Ethel Maud (1903) Nellie Jane (1905 Pamela’s Mother) and Mary (1906 Sheri’s Grandmother). Sheri recounted that her Grandmother, Mary, remembered leaving Ireland for Canada as a young girl.

It is believed Henrys first wife died shortly after the birth of their last child possibly of TB whilst still resident in Ireland. Henry left the children in the care of his wife’s sister, Mary MacDonald, in Ireland, while he sailed overseas to Canada. Later Mary McDonald was to marry Henry and take the three young girls to Canada.

Henry now in his early to mid 30’s, and a new émigré to Canada eventually came to be working as an electrical engineer on the Canadian Trunk Railway, During 1906 and onward the Grand Trunk was undergoing a massive changeover and major works were being carried out all over its network. I would surmise that he sought steady employment before sending to Ireland for the lady who was to become his second wife, Mary MacDonald, and his children by her sister. It is not known if Henry married Mary in Ireland or after she arrived in Canada, but Henry, left with three young girls to bring up on his own, marries Mary and they settle down and have 3 more children Dorothy (1909), Kathleen (1910) and Edwin Francis Randall (1911).

But a second tragedy was to follow when Mary McDonald died in 1913 at 3178 Veville Street, Parc Ex, Quebec, presumably this was the address were she and Henry lived. Henry was now left alone with 6 children, the eldest being only 10 and the youngest 2 years old.

From memories related by both Pamela and Sherri it transpires that Henry for one reason or other split his children up between foster families. Pamela tells how her grandmother, Nellie Morris, during 1913 travelled to England with her foster mother Sarah Palmer, where they visited Henrys brother George Stone and possibly other members of the Stone family. But, for some reason Henry himself did not make the trip. Meanwhile Nellie’s sister Mary was living with a foster family called the Wilson’s. The other children were left in the care of a Miss Kirby

Sheri shared the following thoughts via various emails from July of 2007 through to January 2008

"My grandmother (Mary 1906) told me that she was born in Ireland, and that she left not long after to come to Canada. She never had a birth certificate, or it may have been lost with the family upheavals. I am guessing that at least 3 of HW's children were born overseas - so perhaps they came about 1907 or thereabouts. It is interesting that there is a gap of a few years (from 1905 until 1909) from the date of my grandmother's birth, to the birth of her sister. Maybe it was during this period that they chose to come to Canada. “

“HW and his family lived at two different addresses here in Montreal. A census taken in 1911 lists him living in one area of Montreal (he is enumerated by the name of ANDREW Morris, with a birthday of August 1880.) But this name of Andrew may have been an error on the part of the enumerator, who was probably a francophone - as two of HW's children are called names that somewhat resemble their real ones, but are not actually names in English! But since HW seems to have changed his birth date, etc, he may have also changed his first name from time to time!!!??? The other addresses list him as either Harry or Henry. A street guide shows him still living at that same address in 1912, taking on a border called Alfred Short. Or perhaps he was moving out and Alfred Short was moving in, as the next year, 1913, Alfred is living there, and HW is at another address in a different area of the city. HW lives at this second address from 1912 to 1914. It is here that his wife dies, on May 03 1913. I am working on finding more information about his wife, as the information we have is just her name and that she was born in Ireland”

*

[pic]

Fig 4

Henry`s children, Mary McDonald Morris (left) standing beside her sister Nellie, (Pamela's mother).  The photo was taken in Brockville; Ontario Canada, While Mary was visiting Nellie (possibly on her honeymoon in 1928) . (Photo Courtesy of Sheri Mason)

“I think that since she (Mary) did not have her family, she kept them close by talking about them to me...It is very mysterious that HW did not send his children to England. But I imagine that the consensus is that no one thought the war was going to last very long anyways. It is interesting, your theory on the uncle and the masons *- it might well be the case, as the man who he choose to look after my grandmother did not seem to have any qualifications for a guardian - he did have a wife, but she was very ill, and they never had children themselves. I think that this person was sort of a last resort, as my grandmother remembers going with HW on the train, to the country, to another family, but that she had to be returned home, as the other little girl she was staying with did not get along, with her and the parents called HW and he came back to get my grandmother. Then she went to stay with this John Wilson, who also worked at the Grand Trunk."

*The gentlemen who fostered Nellie and Mary were both believed to be Masons, and both worked on the Grand trunk. It is not known if Henry was a Mason, but his Cousin the Rev. James Samuel Stone, who was living in Canada and Chicago at this time makes references in letters written to his uncle Francis (Henrys Grandfather) of various connections with what are believed to be Masonic Lodges. James S Stone must have been aware of Henry being in Canada as Pamela relates that her mother Nellie met James some time after the war. Perhaps, and this is only hypothetical, James used contacts he had to help Henry find foster families for his children for what would have been seen as only a temporary placement

But whatever the reason Henry was remembered with great affection by his children as Sheri relates further

"Unfortunately the little card which HW sent to my grandmother with his letter dated 1915 was lost. I remember what it looked like - it was a postcard and it had violets on it. It was very dear to her. My grandmother would have been thrilled with all this information. She greatly admired her father - she remembered him as a very neat man, always well dressed...and that he always liked to see his children dressed well. She told me that he would line the children up, to inspect them, as it were - to make sure that they were neat and tidy!

" My grandmother, Mary, had many stories to tell of HW, and many fond memories... just to be honest, I, myself have always wondered why he left three of his children in foster care, while leaving the others with Elizabeth Kirby, whom he would later marry.  Was it a marriage of convenience?  I understand that he met Miss Kirby in a store, where she was working.... it appears to me that he knew her, and they developed a relationship (as he was a widower and she was a single woman) - and perhaps made an arrangement that she keep in foster care his youngest three children, while he found foster care for his three eldest ones.  Why did she take care of the youngest three - did she find the prospect of 6 children too much?  Why did she not provide for the other ones?  (I.e. my grandmother, Nellie and Ethel,)

The people that HW chose for my grandmother were certainly a bit unusual it would seem to me.  I think that the gentleman was a colleague from the railway, who had agreed to take in my grandmother.   My grandmother never saw her three youngest siblings from the time she was about 12 until she was about 65 years old!  She never knew of their whereabouts, nor of the fact that she had relatives in England!  I find this incomprehensible.  Although I do understand that it was a different era, and widowed men would certainly be at a disadvantage in regards to bringing up children on their own, - on an emotional level, I wonder how and why HW would have split up his family and gone to war.  I can only assume that he believed that the war would not be long.  What were his motives?  Would they be considered appropriate, and perhaps even patriotic to join a war and leave his family in trust with people he did not actually know very well?  Why not contact his relatives in England in regards to his children and their foster care?  Why would he not have asked his mother or brothers to take in his children?  I know it's impossible to speculate on these things, but I still wonder... in fact, I cannot understand why he did not mention to my grandmother that he had such a large family over there. (And her foster parents never told her either, or perhaps they didn't know HW very well, either).  Anyways, I only have my grandmother's memories to go on, but I can say that I wonder why he did what he did in regards to providing for his family.  Perhaps he believed that Miss Kirby (or his wife) would provide for ALL his children, and not just the youngest.  Perhaps it was too much for her, a widower living on an army pension, to raise 6 children (plus her own son with HW, Albert) I suppose it was a different era, and we have to approach things with a different perspective.”

Indeed, what would posses a man to leave six children in someone else’s care while he heads overseas on some great adventure. In this day and age it would seem an act of recklessness or at the very lest, negligence. But these were different times, patriotism was a prime mover and everyone wanted to do their bit for King and Empire. In 1914 the Empire armies were made up from volunteers or regular soldiers, conscription only came into force in latter years.

[pic][pic]

Fig 5

Postcard from "G.A." Stone. (George Albert Stone Born 1892) dated 5th August 1913, photo taken during Nellie Morris’s Trip to England. Second from the right is Sarah Palmer (foster mother) and far Right is Nellie Morris (Pamela’s Mother) – Others in the photo are unknown

(Image Courtesy of Pamela Male)

By 1914 Canada was also slowly sliding into recession, The shares in the Canadian Pacific Railroad had halved in a few months, Construction projects were grinding to a halt, harvests were failing and the spectre of mass unemployment was becoming a reality. Perhaps for Henry, with a large family to keep, the prospect of a steady wage from the Army, to fight in a war that was predicted would be “over by Christmas” might have been too good an opportunity to turn down. Depending on the source used, there seems to be a conflict as to the comparison of pay between the Army and other industries, some say that the Army in 1914 were paying the same rate as for a skilled factory worker, other sources say the pay was significantly lower than that which would be received by a manual labourer. (See Appendix II)

So the full extent and reasoning for what actually happened between Mary’s death in 1913 and Henry Signing up for war will probably never be known, but we do know that on the 25th September 1914, Henry signs his attestation papers at Camp Valcartier in Quebec and joins the 1st Canadian Contingent then being assembled to head for France and the “Great War for Civilisation “

Henry had lied about his age on his attestation papers giving his age as 33, when in actual fact he was almost 40. Perhaps he lied about his age because he would not have been eligible for military service. The maximum age for volunteers at the start of the war was 35, married men and especially men with families were not a high priority for the Canadian military, and in fact some battalions actively discouraged men with families from joining up. In any event, if it was immediate action that Henry was seeking, he was to be disappointed, as he was to be assigned to the service corps.

[pic]

Fig 6

The Front page of Henrys Attestation Papers (National Archives Canada)

The Great War 1914-1918

Not being an expert in military history, (although through the course of this research I have now learnt a great deal more about WW1 history than I knew a few years ago), and, as so far no personal letters or correspondence have been found that relate to Henry (except for the letter written by Kate Stone and his letter to Mary), We have no first hand account of what Henry actually experienced. I have, therefore, relied on many different sources to try to piece together the events that Henry experienced from 1914 –1917. The main official documentation used are the Canadian Army War Diaries, which have been scanned by National Archives Canada and are available to view online.

For the main part the War diaries are just that, a contemporary record of the events that happened in the field as they were unfolding; including the operational orders, and occasionally battle maps, they are, however, non-personal. I managed to find some other sources published on the Internet, which are the diary accounts of the men involved in the front line with the Canadian forces, including an account from an Infantryman in the same Battalion as Henry. (Appendix I).

As a source for information on the Canadian involvement in WW1, I have used the Official History of the Canadian Army in the first World War Canadian Expeditionary Force 1914-1919 By Colonel G.W.L Nicholson, a weighty tomb of over 600+ pages, from which I have extracted small parts of the history where relevant to Henrys story and have incorporated them so that we gain an insight into these troubled times from a wider perspective.

And finally, In June/ July of 2007, I had the shear good fortune to come across the cobwfa.ca website and made contact with Floyd Low, a serving Captain in the Canadian Army and a Military Historian with an interest in, amongst others, the 75th Battalion, I am indebted to him for “ Translating “ the 75th Battalion & 11th Brigade Dairies into the battle maps that follow, He finally provided the detail that I had been searching for and had been eluding me for so long.

Canada 1914

From Henrys service records, and from the Battalion and Brigade war diaries, we can gain an insight into Henrys military career, where he was stationed and some of the actions he was engaged in during the War.

Henry`s war service commenced when he signed up in the Canadian Expeditionary force at Camp Valcartier, Quebec on the 25th September 1914.

[pic]

Fig 7

“Main Street” – Valcartier Camp – Canada

He was given the service number 37401 and assigned to the Army – Artillery Details Divisional Ammunition Park (DAP) Canadian Expeditionary Force (CEF).

The DAP was one of four army Service corps units. The CASC (Canadian Army Service Corps) elements of a Division consisted of a Train (HT), a Supply Column (MT), an Ammunition Sub-Park (MT) and a Reserve Park (HT). (MT=Motor Transport, HT= Horse Transport).

Four days latter on the 29th September 1914 he is recorded as being a corporal, a rank he appears to have been promoted to almost immediately due to the fact that he had previous military service

He stayed at Valcartier until the October of 1914 when the 1st Contingent was embarked for passage to England. The Ammunition Park for the 1st Div sailed from Quebec aboard the Franconia; departing on the 1st October1914 and disembarking at Devonport, England around the 15/16 Oct 1914.

[pic]

Fig 8

Loading Horses at Quebec

[pic]

Fig 9

The Convoy Carrying the Canadian Expeditionary force in the North Atlantic on Route to Britain

8th October 1914

[pic]

Fig 10

View of the Canadian Convoy from a British Escort Destroyer

[pic]

Fig 11

Henry’s ship to England - The Cunard Liner R.M.S Franconia

The Canadian element that embarked on the Franconia consisted of the following.

1st Contingent HQ, Divisional Artillery, HQ Div Signals Comp,

8th Battalion (90th Winnipeg Rifles) (2nd CIB), Div. Supply Col., Ammunition Park, No.2 General Hospital, Canadian Nursing Sisters, Canadian Pay Corps and Canadian Postal Corps. Total of 2,298 Service personnel.

Later on in the course of the war The Franconia was torpedoed and sunk in the Mediterranean on the 4th October 1916 by German submarine UB74, only 12 people were lost.

The total roll of the 1st Contingent consisted of the following

1,547 officers

29,070 men

7,679 horses

70 guns

110 motor vehicles

705 horsed vehicles

82 bicycles

For the Canadian forces the embarkation of so many troops, turned into a logistical nightmare, as detailed in the following extract by Colonel G.W.L Nicholson

“In the absence of any loading plans units were brought successively into Quebec as vessels arrived with reputedly the appropriate space for them. Mounted units came from Valcartier Camp by march route to the rendezvous camp; all others moved by rail direct to shipside. An example of the method of "trial and error" employed was the loading on the Bermudian (one of the smallest transports) of the 1161 troops of the 8th Battalion with their wagons and baggage. Only when all were aboard was it realized that there was insufficient room, and all had to be transferred to a larger vessel-the Bermudian eventually sailing with but 562 on board.

Getting vehicles and baggage on board created special problems. The official in Charge reported: "No one had any idea of what was to be loaded on the vessels." In some cases transports arrived from Montreal with their holds filled with non-military freight -including a large shipment of flour that Canada was giving to the Mother Country.

It was discovered that hatchways were too small to take the Ammunition Park's crated motor-trucks, and an additional vessel, the Manhattan, had to be chartered from New York. Much space was unnecessarily wasted when guns and limbers were shipped without first removing their wheels, and as a result some vessels were forced to take on water ballast to complete their load. After half the transports had pulled out into the river, tugs had to ferry ammunition to them in order to comply with a belated order that each vessel should carry an allotted number of rounds.

With these complications it is hardly surprising that few units embarked with their full complement of horses, vehicles and baggage in the same ship, and that little heed was paid to a War Office request for camp equipment (other than tents) to accompany each unit so as to avoid "serious inconvenience" on disembarking. Mounted units were dismayed to find that in many cases they were separated from their mounts, and because of limited passenger accommodation on the horse-boats attendants had to look after as many as sixteen animals instead of the four prescribed by military regulations.

By nightfall on 1 October thirty loaded transports had moved out into the

St. Lawrence. There remained only the Manhattan, which took on board 90 motor vehicles, 863 horses and a considerable amount of miscellaneous cargo left out of the other vessels.

When she sailed independently late on the 5th, Colonel Price's hardworking staff could report that "not a single package of any kind belonging to the Expeditionary Force was left on hand". The main body proceeded downstream and dropped anchor in Gaspé Harbour, to await rendezvous with escorting British warships. There it was joined by a troopship bearing the 2nd Lincolns, which the R.C.R. had relieved in Bermuda. The thirty-second and last vessel to join the convoy was to meet it outward bound off Cape Race, with the Newfoundland Contingent aboard.

Protection of the Canadian Contingent during its passage to England had been planned by the Admiralty originally for a convoy estimated to be fourteen transports, and when this number was more than doubled the provision of additional escort strength caused a delay in sailing from Gaspé. The visible escort was the Royal Navy's 12thCruiser Squadron of four light cruisers commanded by Rear-Admiral R.E. Wemyss, all of them nineteen or more years old; and on 2 October Colonel Hughes, who had come to Gaspé to see the Contingent on its way, wired the Prime Minister, "Escort altogether inadequate, should increase strength." This concern was relayed to the Admiralty by the Governor General, who was promptly reminded of an assurance given to the Minister of Militia two weeks earlier that the four cruisers would be reinforced en route by two battleships (H.M.S. Glory and Majestic), and that the whole of the Grand Fleet would cover the escort "from all attack by any large force of the enemy". Besides having the Grand Fleet block off intervention from the enemy's home ports, and the North American Squadron (which included H.M.C.S. Niobe) watch German armed liners in New York and Boston, the Admiralty had given orders for the 26,000-ton battle cruiser Princess Royal (launched in 1911) to join the convoy in mid-Atlantic. This detachment from the Grand Fleet of one of its best warships at such a time, observes the British official naval historian,” was dictated not so much by military considerations as to afford testimony of how highly the Canadian effort was appreciated by the Mother Country" Be that as it may, nothing of this was known to the Canadian Government. Concerned at the publication in the Canadian press and the cabling "in clear" of details of the convoy and the force it carried, The Admiralty exercised the most rigid security about the intended employment of H.M.S.Princess Royal, keeping the matter secret from even Admiral Wemyss.

On 2 October, while the convoy was still at anchor in Gaspé Harbour, the Minister of Militia passed through the lines of waiting transports in a launch distributing to the troops bundles of his 900-word valedictory, "Where Duty Leads". In stirring language the message reviewed the achievements of the past six weeks in producing an "army of freemen" from "peaceful Canadian citizens", and praised their high motives in setting forth "to do duty on the historic fields of France, Belgium and Germany for the preservation of the British Empire and the rights and liberties of humanity."

At 3:00 p.m. next day the flotilla sailed. It took three hours for the line of ships, more than twenty-one miles long, to steam through the harbour's narrow exit into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Once in the open the great armada reformed in fleet formation-three lines ahead, fifteen cables (3000 yards) apart, each led by a cruiser, the fourth cruiser bringing up the rear.

The crossing, which was uneventful, lasted twelve days. The sea was smooth, and there was little demand for 20,000 boxes of a secret mal-de-mer remedy in the medical stores. The troops were kept occupied with routine cleaning tasks and such physical exercise and training as were possible on shipboard. Concerts in the evenings, a Saturday sports day and church parades on Sundays rounded out the programme. On 8 October the convoy said good-bye to the cruiser Lancaster, flagship of the North American Squadron, which with H.M.S. Glory had been guarding the southern flank, and daylight on the 10th disclosed the Princess Royal and the Majestic, which had been waiting at the rendezvous for two days.

The troops gave the great Princess Royal a warm ovation on the 12th, when she dropped back to the convoy and steamed at 22 knots in full review past the cheering troopships. Reports of German submarines in the English Channel changed the intended destination at the last minute from Southampton to Plymouth.

[pic]

Fig 12

HMS Princess Royal escorting the 1st Canadian Contingent to Britain

Oil Painting entitled

Canada's Answer by Norman Wilkinson

Ploughing through heavy seas on the final lap of the voyage, the first transports entered Plymouth Sound at 7:00 a.m. on 14 October, and thirty-six hours later the Admiralty reported all safe in harbor. Dock and rail facilities at Plymouth and adjacent Devonport fell far short of those at Southampton; but since the Channel was not yet free of danger Admiral Wemyss was ordered to proceed with disembarkation. Late on the 14th Colonel V.A.S. Williams, who had brought the Contingent across the Atlantic, handed over command to General Alderson, and next morning the force began landing. It was an historic occasion, this arrival in Britain of the first large contingent from one of her overseas Dominions. "Canada sends her aid at a timely moment", cabled the First Lord of the Admiralty, Winston Churchill, to the Government in Ottawa. "The conflict moves forward and fiercer struggles lie before us than any which have yet been fought." There were messages of welcome from Lord Kitchener and the Mayor of Plymouth.

[pic]

Fig 13

Ships of the Canadian Convoy in Plymouth Sound

The people of Plymouth greeted the Canadians wholeheartedly with cheers, handshakes and kisses, plying them freely with cigarettes and drinks. A seven-hour train journey followed by a march of eight or ten miles brought them into camp on Salisbury Plain, their home for the next sixteen weeks.

Back at the docks the confusion, which was an inevitable result of the unorthodox loading at Quebec had been aggravated by the last-minute switch in the port of debarkation. It took nine days to complete disembarkation, the last unit going ashore on 24 October. Few units managed to claim their equipment or stores at the quayside. In general it was found best to ship the great bulk of miscellaneous material by trainloads to be sorted out at railway stations near camp”

(From Official History of the Canadian Army in the First World War Canadian Expeditionary Force 1914-1919 By Colonel G.W.L Nicholson)

Salisbury Plain

England 1914-15

In the mid October of 1914, after crossing the Atlantic, Henry arrives back in the land of his birth to the military camp at Salisbury Plain; another extract follows from Official History of the Canadian Army, which describes the conditions in the camp that the newly arrived troops had to endure.

“At the turn of the century the War Office had acquired an area of some ninety square miles on Salisbury Plain as a military training ground. Extensive artillery and rifle ranges were constructed, and permanent accommodation was provided in barracks begun during the South African War. The tented camps to which the Canadians now came were on sites where the Territorial Forces had done their summer training for many years. Like the rest of Salisbury Plain the War Office's acquisition spread over a broad, undulating plateau, the expanse of upland pasture broken only by occasional belts of trees planted as sheep shelters in days gone by. In the deep valley of the River Avon, which crossed from north to south, several hamlets of ivy-covered cottages clustering around a small stone church and the inevitable wayside tavern formed little civilian islands in the military area.

British engineers had put the sites in readiness for the Canadians. The task of setting up thousands of bell tents, marquees, and kitchen shelters had been done by fatigue parties from the Territorial Force assisted by a group of New Zealand troops recently enlisted in England. In the hot dry weather, which prevailed in the early autumn of 1914, the countryside was at its best. An officer in the small Canadian advance party reported from Salisbury at the beginning of October: "I must say that the camp sites are beautifully situated and the turf is excellent, and will be quite an agreeable change from the sand plains which our boys have been accustomed to."

Divisional Headquarters were established at "Ye Olde Bustard", an isolated inn three miles north-west of Stonehenge. The bulk of the Contingent was distributed in four camps extending for five miles near the west side of the military area. Bustard Camp, beside General Alderson's headquarters, was given over to the 1st Infantry Brigade, the Divisional Mounted Troops and Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry; two miles to the north-west the 2nd and 3rd Brigades were in West Down South Camp; a mile beyond in West Down North were all the artillery and the Divisional Supply Column; while two miles farther north the 4th Brigade, the cavalry, the 17th Battalion and the Newfoundland Contingent occupied Pond Farm Camp

Before the last Canadian unit to disembark reached Salisbury Plain the weather had broken. A quarter of an inch of rain fell on 21 October, and a full inch in the next five days. It was the beginning of a period of abnormally heavy precipitation, which brought rain on 89 out of 123 days; the fall of 23.9 inches between mid-October and mid-February almost doubled the 32-year average. There was no escape from the ever-pervading dampness, and conditions steadily deteriorated. Temperatures were unusually low, on some nights dropping below the freezing point. High winds pierced the light fabric of the unheated tents, and twice in three weeks gales flattened much of the Division's canvas. Mud was everywhere. An impervious layer of chalk a few inches below ground level held the rainwater at the surface, and wherever wheels rolled or men marched the "excellent" turf quickly became a quagmire. All attempts at drainage were fruitless; scraping the mud from the roads only exposed the treacherously slippery chalk. There were no permanent barracks available for the Canadians, and a programme of building huts begun in October 1914 was overtaken by the arrival of winter.

By 17 December the Engineers and the 2nd and 3rd Infantry Brigades had gone into huts at Larkhill, between Bulford and Bustard Camp; but Christmas found 11,000 Canadians still under canvas.

From the beginning of the war, the War Office had sought to solve its accommodation problems by billeting a large part of the "New Armies" recruited by Lord Kitchener.* Now, as the continual exposure to the wretched weather threatened the health of the Canadians on the open plain, billets were requisitioned for as many as possible in the adjoining villages. Moves into private houses began at the turn of the year, and the names of numerous little Wiltshire communities entered the annals of Canadian regiments-villages between Wilton and Tilshead for the Royal Canadian Dragoons, between Upavon and Pewsey for Lord Strathcona's Horse; to the north the artillery were spread out between Market Lavington, Rushall and Devizes; farthest west, between Bratton and Erlestoke, were the Royal Canadian Horse Artillery.

Only the 1st Infantry Brigade remained throughout the winter in tents. Of greater significance to the mounted units than their own move into billets was the fact that at the same time their horses were put under cover and on dry standings. During November and December the condition of the animals had deteriorated seriously through their being forced to stand outside in mud to their hocks, their rain-soaked blankets providing little protection from the elements.

Grooming was impossible, nor could sodden leather be kept clean. The change of accommodation worked wonders, and before January ended horses, harness and saddlery were reported restored to their proper condition.

Regulations for the Canadian Militia dating back to 1893 prohibited alcoholic liquor in camps, and Valcartier had been "dry". But almost immediately upon taking over command of the Canadians General Alderson had seen the need for establishing wet canteens in the camps. He reported that the controlled sale of beer under military supervision would put a stop to troops going to the neighboring villages where they "get bad liquor, become quarrelsome and then create disturbances".

In spite of protests from temperance organizations in Canada, the new arrangements proved wise. Nearby villages were placed out of bounds except to men with passes. A rebate of 7-1/2 per cent on sales of beer enriched unit funds by $7,500 during November and December.

Undoubtedly one of the most important factors contributing to the maintenance of morale was the allowance for all ranks of up to six days' leave, with a free ticket to anywhere in the British Isles. While many flocked to London (where the disorderly conduct of some cut down the number granted leave), others found their way into English homes to form permanent friendships and to enjoy the warm hospitality extended to the visitors from overseas.”

(From Official History of the Canadian Army in the First World War Canadian Expeditionary Force 1914-1919 By Colonel G.W.L Nicholson)

During his time at Salisbury Henry was stationed at Netheravon, one of the small villages surrounding Salisbury plain and it was here on the 20th December 1914 that he was to be given a provisional promotion to Armourer Sergeant, the place is given as West Down South, this was a camp on Salisbury plain shown on the map that follows. (Fig 15)

This all ties in well with the photograph below of the D.A.P, in which Henry appears, resplendent in sergeants stripes and moustache, seated, second row, third person from the left starting with the gentleman wearing a diagonal sash. Taken in the December of 1914, perhaps he looks so pleased because of his recent promotion. This promotion was finally confirmed as a permanent appointment on the 18th January 1915,

[pic]

Fig 14

Henry Walter Morris seated third row 3rd from left wearing sergeants stripes (Photo Courtesy of Andrew K Stone)

[pic]

[pic]

Fig 15

(From Official History of the Canadian Army in the First World War Canadian Expeditionary Force 1914-1919 By Colonel G.W.L Nicholson)

|[pic] |[pic] |

|Fig 16 |Fig 17 |

|Henry Walter Morris in Sergeants Uniform |Henry Walter Morris in Sergeants Uniform |

The Division Goes to France

England/ France 1915

From his service records we learn that on the 4/5th February 1915 Henry is noted as “embarks overseas” on the S.S Trewellard at Avonmouth, Bristol, bound for France, the main Canadian force did not actually leave Salisbury until the 7th February, The day after the inspection of the troops by King George.

[pic]

Fig 18

The King and Queen Inspecting Canadian Troops at Salisbury

According to their diary, The 1st CASP (1st Canadian Ammunition Sub Park) of which the DAP was a constituent, part sailed direct to Rouen, arriving on the 7th February, the first entry’s in the diary recording the disembarkation at Rouen and their forming up prior to traveling north to the French-Belgian Border

“ For the majority of the Troops, packed in the holds of small cargo vessels, it was a thoroughly unpleasant voyage. A rousing gale caused wholesale seasickness, and tedious delays at either end of the journey meant that some were on board for five days. But there was little complaining, for present inconveniences were offset by the general feeling of relief at leaving the misery of Salisbury Plain. Two divisions of destroyers escorted the various groups of transports, and the whole movement was completed by the 16th without enemy interference. There were few port facilities at St. Nazaire, and the vessels had to anchor in the outer harbour waiting their turn to berth. At the dock most of the unloading was done by work parties furnished by the units themselves. As the troops marched through the streets of St. Nazaire to the railway station, they were given a warm welcome by the French people. Unit by unit entrained in the small box-like cars, labelled "Hommes 40, Chevaux 8”, and then commenced the long, circuitous 500-mile journey to the front.”

(From Official History of the Canadian Army in the First World War Canadian Expeditionary Force 1914-1919 By Colonel G.W.L Nicholson)

[pic]

Fig 19

The Landing of the First Canadian Division at St. Nazaire, 1915

[pic]

Officers and men of the Divisional Ammunition Park – Artillery details 37401 Act- Sgt Morris.

(Extract from the list of officers and men serving in the first Canadian contingent of the British Expeditionary Force 1914 – compiled and published by the Pay and records office)

[pic]

Fig 20

Bronze commemorative plaque recording the landing of the first Canadian Contingent on the 12th February 1915 at St Nazaire, France.

Henry has now arrived in France but his actual Service Records are silent as to where he was actually posted in 1915, but an entry for 31st July 1915 gives him as being “on Strength “with the Ammunition Sub Park.

There is also mention in his service records of a transfer in 1916 to Shorncliffe in Kent from 1 CASP. These give us the next clues of where to try and find Henry. I had looked before for these diaries on- line, and finally found them in the December of 2007 on the National Archives of Canada Website. (Fig 22)

In the main the diaries for the Ammunition Sub Park describe the state of the unit and the vast quantities of ammunition that was being delivered to the front lines. Henry is mentioned twice in the diaries and one can safely assume that Henry was with the 1st CASP in support of the 1st Canadian Contingent and following the various actions that they were engaged in during this time, albeit from behind the main front line, although this was not without its dangers.

Upon their landing in France, the 1st Canadian Division was assigned a sector in front of the Belgium city of Ypres, a place where the Allied line had pushed a bulge-like incursion into German-held territory - the Ypres Salient. Arriving on April 17, 1915 and lacking any first-hand trench experience, the Canadians immediately moved into the front lines. While this sector had seen the severest fighting of the war the previous autumn, it was quiet on the Canadians’ arrival. This was to be short lived, and within five days they would be involved in what turned out to be the greatest defensive battle ever fought by Canadian troops - the Second Battle of Ypres.

The deployment of the 1st CASP was as follows from the time they disembark at Rouen until the time Henry leaves for training back in England

|07/02/1915 | |Rouen | | |

|12/02/1915 | |Neuf chatel | |

|13/02/1915 | |Abbeville | | |

|14/02/1915 | |Boulogne | | |

|15/02/1915 | |Mametz | | |

|16/02/1915 | |Flethe | | |

|01/03/1915 | |Gilloots Farm | |

|05/03/1915 | |Douliou | | |

|13/04/1915 | |Proven | | |

|11/05/1915 | |Meteren | | |

|16/05/1915 | |St Venant | | |

|18/05/1915 | |Busnes | | |

|27/06/1915 | |Fletre | | |

|29/07/1915 | |Bailleul | | |

|29/10/1915 | |Meteren | | |

|06/04/1916 | |Steenvoorde | |

|07/05/1916 | |Boeschepe | |

|04/06/1916 | |Steenvoorde | |

|01/07/1916 | |Abeele Advance Depot |

|10/07/1916 | |Poperinghe-Abeele Road |

|01/09/1916 | |Raincheval | |

|07/09/1916 | |Contay | | |

|14/09/1916 | |Puchevilliers - Rubempre Road |

| | | |

|Henry Leaves the 1st CASP on 30th October 1916 | | |

|to return to England | | |

| | | |

| | | |

| | | |

The majority of the time was spent transporting ammunition, large calibre artillery shells, grenades, flares and general small arms and rifle ammunition and in some circumstances troops to behind the front lines. Up until the 1st September 1916 the 1st CASP were stationed in France near to the Belgian border to the south and west of Ypres and Poperinghe, by the latter part of 1916 the 1st CASP had moved to area north of Amiens on the Somme. 1916 was of course the year of the murderous Somme offensives that cost so many tens of thousands of allied solders lives trying to break the German lines.

[pic]

Lorries of the 1st CASP parked up somewhere in France - July 1916

(Photo – Library and Archives Canada)

[pic]

Fig 21

Movements of the 1st CASP

[pic]

Fig 22

From the 1st CASP diary – we can see that Henry must have left England as an advanced party in front of the main Contingent – the 1st CASP are disembarking and parking up at Rouen on the 7th February, The day given for the Canadian first contingent leaving England.

Henry is mentioned twice in the 1st CASP diaries, the first instance is on the 15th March when Henry makes a trip to Rouen with a Lieut Schreiber, for what purpose it is not clear, perhaps it was an absence of leave.

[pic]

Fig 23

“Sgt. Morris Went to Rouen”

Two months later Lieut Schreiber was to be fatally wounded (fig 24) by shrapnel and subsequently died from his wounds, strangely the Commonwealth War graves website has no record of him

[pic]

Fig 24

Although there is no mention of Henry being granted or taking leave, at some time in the late summer of 1915, Henry was in England, and on the 13th August 1915, in London, he marries Miss Elizabeth Kirby, who had made the journey over to England from Canada.

Nine months later on the 23rd May 1916, Elizabeth had a child, Henrys second son, named Albert Francis Randall McCarthy Morris and now the 7th of Henrys children.

[pic]

Fig 25

Henry and Elisabeth’s Marriage Certificate – Married on 13th August 1915 at Brentford Registry Office (Image courtesy of Sherri Mason)

[pic]

Fig 26 Extract from marriage Certificate

Henry Walter Morris Given Age 34 (Actual age 40) – Occupation electrical engineer and Armourer Canadian Ordinance Corps, Resident at the Edwards Hotel, Euston and giving his father as Edwin Morris (actually Edwin Stone).

Elizabeth Kirby Age 27, no occupation and resident at 14 Sunderland Road, Ealing

From Henrys service records, we find that Elizabeth was awarded $25 a month as a separation allowance, this remained at the same rate until Henrys death in August 1917, when the payments to Elizabeth increased to $30 a month until the 1st November1917 when she was granted a widows pension.

In 1914 Henry was receiving pay of $1.10 cents per day, and once a further field allowance of 10 cents per day was added this worked out to approx $30 a month, this increased in 1915 to an average of $65 a month. So the separation pay would have provided a big contribution to the upkeep of his children left in Canada

From his army pay, commencing in the October of 1914, Henry had an element of his pay assigned to Elizabeth – the amount of $20 a month was deducted from 1914 though to March 1915 when the sum is increased to $40 a month and continues at this rate up until his death in 1917.

[pic]

Fig 27

The note on the top of the separation allowance sheet shows that Elizabeth’s relationship to Henry has been changed from that of Guardian (of the children left in Canada) to that of wife.

[pic]

Fig 28

Hand Written Will of Henry Walter Morris originally dated 1st January 1915 leaving his effects to Miss Kirby and subsequently amended after his marriage

[pic]

Fig27

In Henrys service records he leaves a will dated 1st January 1915, Leaving all his property and effects to Miss Kirby. From this it is clear, that Henry knew Elizabeth prior to his embarkation to England. The will was subsequently amended in September of 1915 following his marriage to Elizabeth in London. Elizabeth’s Surname is changed to Morris and the address is amended.

The following is an extract from an e-mail from Sheri where she relates to a letter sent by Henry to his daughter Mary McDonald Morris (Fig 28)

“In any event, the only thing my grandmother had of HW was a letter, written to her dated Sept. 07, 1915 - he is telling her that he is anxiously awaiting the war to finish, and that he hopes that they (his children) are 'keeping quite well' and that 'it will not be very long now before you will have someone to look after you and I know you will be well looked after'...'I must again ask

you to do the best you can for a little while longer. Perhaps by the time you receive this the final stage of the war will be over'.  I assume that he, like so many others, thought the war would be a short one.

These sentiments he expresses in his letter to my grandmother seem to be of a loving and dutiful father, worrying about the welfare of his children, trying to provide for them, even though he is so far away.  I suppose he meant that Miss Kirby (or Elizabeth Morris after they were married) was to take care of all the children, including my grandmother.”

[pic]

Fig 28

Henrys Letter dated 7th September 1915 to his daughter Mary McDonald Morris

At the time Henry wrote to his daughter Mary he was based at Bailleul, Northern France, the style of 1st CASP diary keeping has changed and every day has the word “Nil “ written against it, apart from a few odd days when some reorganization seems to take place and men and vehicles are reallocated to other units. However at the end of the diary for September is a note of the Ammunition delivered which is quite telling as to the extent of activity going on at the front.

|Ammunition Delivered for September 1915 |Rounds |

|18 Pounder |Shrapnel | | |6028 |

| |High Explosive | |1389 |

|4.5 Pounder |High Explosive | |1063 |

|13 Pounder |Shrapnel | | |1328 |

|13 Pounder |High Explosive | |2317 |

| | | | | |

|S.A.A |Small Arms Ammunition (Rifle etc) |3,256,000 |

|Colt 45 |Pistol | | |400 |

|Webley |Pistol | | |2206 |

|Grenades | | | |21671 |

|Bombs | | | |6590 |

|Very Lights |White | | |4920 |

| |Green | | |30 |

| |1 Inch | | |4200 |

|Cartridge | Illuminating | |10288 |

| | | | |

Compare the above to the same for April – when the Diary notes “A Big Battle”

|Ammunition Delivered for April 1915 | |Rounds |

|18 Pounder |Shrapnel | | |31532 |

| |High Explosive | |3158 |

|4.5 Pounder |High Explosive | |3584 |

|13 Pounder |Shrapnel | | |806 |

|13 Pounder |High Explosive | |2317 |

|S.A.A |Small Arms Ammunition (Rifle etc) |6,114,000 |

|Grenades | | | |353 |

|Very Lights | | | |11040 |

The 1st CASP Diaries, as explained previously, are, in the main daily lists of Ammunition being delivered and of the general state of the unit’s equipment. Sometimes, and it seems very much to depend on who is writing the diary, there are the odd little glimpses of the greater picture, the occasional bit of light relief, and the fascination with a new weapon of war, the Aeroplane.

Sabotage of Lorries

[pic]

22- 25th May – Enemy Aircraft and Unit Holiday

[pic]

Subscription to war Loan by the men of the unit

[pic]

Rate of Deaths in BEF France up to May 1915 from Typhoid

[pic]

A gun with a range of 32,000 yds (18 miles) or approx 30 Kilometres that shelled North of Bailleul

[pic]

King George Passing Through

[pic]

A Rainbow observed

[pic]

The only time an enemy Aircraft is named by make!

[pic]

July 21st 1916 – In the event of bombs dropping from enemy aircraft, every rank is ordered to lie down; anyone disobeying will be placed under arrest!

[pic]

Henrys Service record for his military career is brief to say the least, but there are a few items of note regarding his training record.

On the 12th October 1916 a colleague of Henrys, one CSM White is promoted to Sergt Major (WO1) as a result of this promotion Henry is appointed acting CSM with pay rise

On the 30th October 1916 Henry is transferred to Shorncliffe in Kent “for discharge on being granted a temporary commission in the 2nd Canadian Infantry Battalion “ however another section of his service record gives him on this date as being “ on command “ with the 12th Battalion as Acting Company Sergeant Major (CSM) pending a commission. (Fig 29)

[pic]

Fig 29

1st CASP Diary 29th October 1916 confirming Sgt HW Morris transferred on being granted a commission.

[pic]

Extract From Henrys Service Record from Sign up until his being appointed Acting CSM

On the 12th December there is a note on record confirming Henry as Acting CSM with full pay and then on the 14th December a further note confirms him as “On command with the 12th Battalion as Company Sergeant Major.”

The 12th battalion existed mainly as a training unit based at Shorncliffe camp in Kent, England. Its members would eventually pass through to frontline service with other Battalions. Unfortunately the 12th Battalion Diary’s either do not exist for this period or have yet to be scanned and made available as an on-line resource.

Over the next few months Henry undergoes training at Shorncliffe and East Sandling, in Kent and on the 18th February 1917 he is reported as “ Ceasing to be on command E.Sandling 12th Reserve Battalion “.

The 9th March 1917 sees a note in his records stating, “to be Temporary Lieutenant and posted to Can Inf – London Gazette 9/3/1917 No? 9976,” (Fig 30) and by the 23rd March he is back with the 12th Reserve battalion and his appointment as Temporary Lieutenant is confirmed.

The final three notes in his service records give as follows, recorded on the 8th May 1917 confirming a report from the 75th Battalion that “ Having arrived from England – Taken on Strength 27 April 1917.”

On the 20th August 1917 – “Reported Killed in action 15 August 1917”

And finally on the 17 September 1917 a simple one line – “awarded military cross – London gazette ref 30287.”

It is here that we now have to turn our attention to the Battalion and Brigade war Diary’s to fill in what was happening to the 75th Battalion, and of course, Henry, in the months from April when he arrived in France until his death in the August of 1917

[pic]

Fig 30

London Gazette Entry for 9th March 1917 recording CSM HW Morris to be a temporary Lieutenant

France

April 1917 – August 1917

April 1917

On the 29th April 1917 Henry arrives at the 75thBattalion HQ along with 14 other officers to act as reinforcements, (replacements for the officers killed or wounded in action in the previous weeks).

The 75th Battalion, along with others, formed part of the 11th Canadian Infantry Brigade, which itself was a constituent part of the 4th Canadian Division.

The Battalion had just been relieved from the front line and was stationed approx 3 miles behind the Vimy Ridge escarpment at Camp Canada, close to the 11th Brigade Headquarters at Château Le Haie. The Canadian Corps had attacked and captured Vimy Ridge between the 9th and 12th of April and were now using the ridge and the areas behind for command and rest areas.

The area to the west of Vimy, between Souchez and Mount St Eloi became home to the Canadians for around 18 months, they built sleeping huts, mess halls, bath and washing areas as well as recreational facilities including sports fields where they played baseball and football, they also built training facilities including weapons ranges, lesson rooms and drill areas. Between battles and tours in the line the troops returned to the area where they had favorite drinking and eating-places. They even set up farms to grow vegetables to add variety to their food.

May 1917

From the 1st until the 6th of May the 75th Battalion remained at Camp Canada, until on the 7th May the Battalion was moved out to Berthonval, and spent time under canvas pending a further move closer to the front line. On the 11th May the Battalion was again on the move forward into support trenches and completes the relief of the 102nd Battalion at Vimy Angres. On the 13th half of the 75th Battalion is moved forward to the front line trenches for four days, whilst the other half is kept in support, the roles were then reversed

After spending a total of eight days at the front, four of which were actually on the front line, Henrys Battalion is relived by the 72nd and 38th Battalions. On the 20th May the 75th return to billets at Camp Canada. The Battalion diary for the 20th May records that “During the tour in the line the front line was pushed forward a distance of 250 yards and a new front line dug “

After eight days in camp, on the 28th May, the 75th Battalion moves out again to relieve the 50th Battalion in divisional support in the Zouave (sic) Valley.

[pic]

Fig 31

Château Le Haie and Camp Canada (Map Courtesy Floyd Low)

[pic]

Vimy Ridge- view facing towards Lens – Loos June 2007

June 1917

Raids Along the Souchez, May-June 1917 (From Nicholson)

“The diversionary operation against Lille did not materialize, for the Second Army, Which was to have attacked from the north, needed all its strength for the main effort. General Horne planned the First Army's threat to Lens as an advance by three corps along a fourteen-mile front from Gavrelle to Hill 70, on the northern outskirts of Lens. But this scheme, like the design against Lille, was affected by Field-Marshal Haig's coming needs nearer the coast. Faced with the transfer of a quantity of heavy artillery to Flanders, * Horne was forced to reduce the scope of his army's effort. The attack on Hill 70 (assigned to the1st British Corps) was postponed. In the centre the inner divisions of the Canadian Corps and the 1st Corps would attack astride the Souchez River in an attempt to break into the German salient between Avion and the western outskirts of Lens.

Preliminary Canadian objectives had been detailed in a Corps order issued on 17 May. The 4th Division, holding the left sector of the Corps front, was to breach the old Vimy-Lens line and capture a number of fortified positions between Avion and the Souchez. These included the hamlet of La Coulotte on the Arras-Lens road about 1000 yards west of Avion, a brewery 500 yards up the Lens road, and an electric generating station which lay between the brewery and the Souchez. At the river the division would link up with the 1st British Corps, which had been ordered to take Hill 65.

It will be noted that these objectives were virtually those of the unsuccessful attack of

23 April by the British 5th and 46th Divisions.

Preparatory operations had already begun in the Canadian area. On the night of 5-6 May the 46th and 47th Battalions of the 10th Infantry Brigade successfully stormed a triangle of German trenches three-quarters of a mile northwest of La Coulotte: four nights later the 44th Battalion seized 300 yards of the front line and support trench of the Vimy-Lens line immediately south of the triangle. These operations, primarily designed to stir up German reserves so that routes forward would become known to the corps artillery, succeeded in their purpose.

Repeated German counter-attacks were broken up by artillery and small-arms fire, but at 3:30 a.m. on the 11th May strong elements of the 80th Reserve Division using flamethrowers won back most of the German losses. The setback was only temporary however - late that afternoon the 44th Battalion struck back with out artillery preparation and recaptured the position.

At midnight on 2-3 June, after a successful gas bombardment of German positions by more than 600 projectors, the 10th Brigade mounted an attack to take the objectives assigned the 4th Division. The 44th Battalion on the right attacked La Coulotte and the brewery to the north; the 50th's main task was to capture the power station. In heavy fighting both battalions achieved their objectives, but could not hold them. Before dawn on the 3rd the 44th Battalion had been forced back to its start line. The 50th held on all day under unpleasantly accurate shelling which observing enemy aeroplanes directed, only to withdraw early in the evening before a strong counter-attack. The brigade took one hundred prisoners from the 11th Reserve and 56th Divisions. Its own casualties numbered more than 550. Curiously enough, the enemy did not reoccupy the generating station in strength. In an attack two days later the 102nd Battalion (11th Brigade) found it held by only a score of men. These took flight, but were practically annihilated by our Lewis guns.

Short of supporting guns, the Canadians could not keep the enemy from concentrating overwhelming fire on the newly won trenches. The Army Commander therefore, at Currie's suggestion, decided against trying to hold captured ground at great cost, and ordered that operations take the form of large scale raids in which the assaulting troops would attack in sufficient strength to ensure breaking into the German trenches, but having disposed of the enemy garrison and inflicted the maximum damage on his position, would withdraw under cover of a rearguard. Such a raid was carried out on the night of 8-9 June by strong groups of the 3rd and 4th Divisions on a two-mile front extending from the railway embankment to north of the Souchez. Assaulting in the 7th Brigade's sector on the right were The Royal Canadian Regiment - which, attacking astride the railway, had the heaviest fighting of the Brigade - and the 42nd and 49th Battalions. On the left the 11th Brigade employed the 87th, 75th and 102nd Battalions.

Carefully rehearsed on taped ground, the entire raid went as planned. The two brigades reported more than 150 dugouts bombed and a number of machine-guns captured or destroyed. A platoon from the 102nd Battalion brilliantly captured and handed over to flanking troops of the 46th Division a concrete machine-gun emplacement on the far side of the Souchez. When the attackers withdrew with some 136 prisoners, they left behind German casualties estimated at more than seven hundred, principally from the 11th Reserve and 56th Divisions.45 Canadian losses were relatively light - the 7th Brigade, whose claim to have killed 560 Germans seems excessive, reported 335 casualties of its own, 38 of them fatal. The 11th Brigade suffered 374 casualties, including 62 killed.”

(From Official History of the Canadian Army in the First World War Canadian Expeditionary Force 1914-1919 By Colonel G.W.L Nicholson)

[pic]

Fig 32

The Souchez Valley – 1917 - A sight that would have been all too familiar to Henry

(Photo in Vimy Ridge Memorial – Vimy France)

Between the 29th May and the 5th June 1917 the 75th Battalion were engaged in training in around the Berthonval Wood area, this was in preparation for operations in the following weeks. The enemy trench systems were mapped out on the ground and simulated attacks took place continuously over the next four days. On the 4th June the 75th Battalion received its orders via the 11th Brigade to move to the front.

The 11th Canadian Infantry Brigade Headquartered at Château De La Haie records the following for the 4th June 1917.

“ Orders were received from the 4th Canadian Division that the 11th Cdn.Inf.Bde. Relieve the 10th Cdn.Inf.Bde. In the line on the night of June 4th/5th June.

The 10th Canadian Brigade had suffered heavy casualties in recent operations and had been subjected to heavy enemy shellfire, the 54th & 102nd Battalions were sent at once as a relief force.

The 54th Battalion moved forward into their positions opposite the remains of the village of La Coulotte, whilst the 75th & 87th remained in billets, the 75th at Zouave Valley, the 87th at Berthonval Wood.

The 11th Brigade diary records that

“ The 75th & 87th Battalions, which were still in Division support, bathed during the day, preparatory to entering the line “

In the early hours of 5th June the 102nd Battalion attacked and captured the Central Electric Station and the German Front line. This was possibly made somewhat easier by the fact that, (as reported in the 4th Division war diary), the German Artillery had spent the afternoon of the 4th of June shelling their own Front lines!

On the evening of the 5th June at 9.45pm the 75th and 87th battalions crossed Vimy Ridge and moved to the front. Relieving the 54th and part of the 102nd were they came under gas attack which caused slight casualties.

The 75th Battalion with Henry amongst them stayed in the line from the 5th June until they were relived on the 12th /13th June. It was during this period that Henry was awarded the Military Cross. From the 6th June through to 8th June, the Canadian Heavy Artillery had been shelling the enemy front lines, wire and the areas behind the village of La Coulotte, (now part of Avion) they also, through heavy artillery fire and by the launching of barrels of oil set fire to the coal mine and slag heaps of Fosse 3.

At 7.30 pm on the 8th June, the 75th along with the 87th and 102nd Battalions took positions and prepared to attack the German Front line and beyond, the attack had been described as a raid –The raid was to take place at night, over heavily defended open countryside, and across a flat open landscape which had been turned into a quagmire of flooded shell holes , if this was not challenging enough , a railway embankment, , bristling with enemy machine guns and defended dugouts , cut through and dominated the middle of the 75th battalion front , the final objective was to be a target point known as “The Brewery” approx 660 meters (270 Yards) away and then onwards on to the Lens –Arras Road.

(See also Appendix I for a first hand eyewitness account of the raid by Carman Stother)

[pic]

Sketch Map of the Souchez Avion Sector between May and June 1917

(From Official History of the Canadian Army in the First World War Canadian Expeditionary Force 1914-1919 By Colonel G.W.L Nicholson)

The actual 75th Battalion diary entry for the day in question is almost silent as to what had occurred on that night of June 8th / 9th. The extract only reads

“ Raid on enemy trenches as per narrative attached appendix 1- operation order No 50 attached “

Reading through and making a compilation from the 75th Battalion, 11th Brigade and 4th Division War Diaries we can achieve a more complete picture of the task in hand and the final outcome.

Henry was tasked to lead one of three platoons from ‘A ‘company 75th Battalion, under the overall command of Lt (Acting Captain) Alfred Barr Lindsay, attacking on the left flank of the 75th Battalions area of operations (see Fig 40 to 44)

‘A’ Company had been tasked with attacking north of the Railway Cutting and as its first objective to take the “Black line”, once this had been achieved and the area “mopped up” they were then to continue to the second objective at the “Red Line” and if possible then to proceed to the Lens – Arras Road, and the target known as the Brewery, to assist other companies in taking the “Brewery. “

The Battalion lines on Hirondelle wood came under heavy and sustained shellfire from German Artillery from 8.00pm until around 10.30, but in the process the Germans also managed to shell their own frontline positions, whether this was done by design or by that act which is now termed a “friendly fire” incident, we cannot say. .

The German barrage however had a devastating effect on the left flank of the 75th Battalion. Approx 40% of the Battalion was either killed or wounded; by 11.45pm the surviving Canadians went over the top under the covering fire of a Canadian Artillery and Machine Gun Barrages. Henry, after rallying his men and assisting to dig out the survivors, led his remaining men to the assigned jump off point. He was first over the top at zero hour leading his men in the planned assault.

A’ Company succeeded in their first two objectives, they captured and mopped up the “Black line” and proceeded to the “Red Line”. Henry attacked a machine gun position single-handed and killed all but one of the crew, who was captured and along with the machine gun, returned to the Canadian lines. Not an insignificant feat bearing in mind that an officers standard issue weapon was normally revolver and that a machine gun crew consisted of five men, despite their bravery and courage “A” Company, due to their decreased numbers failed to make the final objective.

By all accounts the Railway Embankment was a formidable defensive position of dugouts and machinegun nests on both sides. As the operation was classed a “Raid” none of the positions attacked were held and the battalion after achieving its objectives withdrew back to their own lines, However the action was deemed to be a great success for the amount of damage caused to the strong points, machine gun positions and German moral.

[pic]

Fig 40

1st Objective Black Line, 2nd Objective Red Line- Henry and 3 platoons of “A Company under the command of Lt. (Acting Capt) Alfred Barr Lindsay attacked on the left boundary (blue line) across the railway embankment toward the Lens Arras Road. (Map Courtesy of Floyd Low)

[pic]

Fig 41

The same detail but orientated through 45 Degrees overlaid onto a modern map of the area. (Map Courtesy of Floyd Low)

[pic]

Fig 42

The Left (Blue) and Right (Red) flanks and 75th Battalion front line (Pale blue) overlaid onto an aerial photo of the area as it is today- Foss 7 is the large circular structure to the right hand side. The Railway embankment is the green line. Although the image above states that this is now Avion, in 1917 this was the village of La Coulotte (formed by the triangle of the red, black and white lines. The village was heavily fought over and destroyed in attack and counter attack by both Canadian and German artillery and now exists as a southern environ of Avion. La Coulotte and Fosse 7 were objectives for the 89th Battalion; the Germans were to suffer heavy casualties in La Colette and Fosse 7.

[pic]

Fig 43 Enlargement of the Left Flank – in the June of 1917 open fields pockmarked with stinking shell holes and barbed wire, now private housing. The green line marks the route of the Railway Embankment

[pic]

Fig 44 – Photo locations

[pic]

Picture A – The Railway Cutting (December 2007) very overgrown and inaccessible

[pic]

Picture B - Hirondelle Wood? The Petit Bois – approx 300 yards behind the Canadian Front Line

[pic]

Picture C – Canadian Front Line left flank starting just to the right of the Pylon in the garden of the houses. The Railway Embankment / Cutting is the line of bushes at the bottom of the field. The “A” Company starting point was either in this field or in the house garden beyond the railway embankment

[pic]

Picture D – Looking toward Point D – The 1st Objective Black line runs just behind the trees at Centre of the photo – The Railway embankment dark green line runs left to middle right, The approx Canadian front running across the middle of the photo (light blue)

[pic]

Fig 44 Photo Locations

[pic]

The Target Known as “The Brewery “ on the Lens –Arras Road as it appears today is approx 10 meters behind the white car in front of the large red brick town houses.

[pic]

Photo G – Looking from a position approx 25 metres in front of the Black line towards 75th Battalion Front (light Blue) and Right Flank (Red). The wooded area in the photograph has been increased in height and width with mining waste since the war.

[pic]

Photo – Point G – 75th Battalion Right Flank (Red) looking toward the Black line objective and the Railway Embankment (Green) in the distance, a formidable defensive position.

[pic]

Photo – E .The German viewpoint from the railway embankment toward the Canadian Front Line, Vimy Ridge lies hidden in the mist on the horizon (taken from near the Pylon in the preceding photo G).

[pic]

Photo I – The Railway Embankment

[pic]

Photo H The Railway Embankment Brewery Side viewing from Lens Arras Road

[pic]

The area of the” Raid “ is now part nature reserve and is open to the public, however if you should visit, be aware that the French treat trespass very seriously, and on my visit there was an awful lot of gunfire coming from some of the woods. Stick to the marked paths.

The Official Trench Raid account from the 75th Battalion War Diary.

75th Battalion Appendix 1- Operation Order No 50

[pic]

The final total of men who died in the action amounted to forty-five, nineteen of which have no known grave. Henry is not mentioned but the fact that the “Left" or "A" Company succeeded in reaching the Red line objective is and also the mention of the captured machine gun. I find it odd that Henry is not mentioned by his own Battalion, but at Brigade level he is mentioned twice.

The report filed by the 11th Brigade on the 21st June gives much more detail; it is here that Henry is named

“To HQ 4th Canadian Division

I submit herewith a detailed report on the operations of this Brigade during the period June 5th –13th. The front area was taken over on the night of the 4th / 5th June under adverse conditions immediately after the unsuccessful operation of the 10th Brigade.

Before the night of relief was over, the entire line was reestablished and the 102nd battalion had recaptured the Electric Generating Plant. During the succeeding week 6 more distinct operations were carried out, including the major raid of june8/9th in conjunction with flanking divisions.

On the night of the major raid, the 75th Battalion suffered very severely during the enemy bombardment, which preceded and followed the 46th Division operation. Approximately 40% of the 75th Battalion attacking forces were casualties before Zero hour arrived – but in spite of this fact the Battalion attacked with vigor and carried out a difficult task. Much of the credit is due to Capt. J.Falkner and to Lt. H.W.Morris “

A further excerpt from the 11th Brigade diary details Operation No 5 and expands further

8th June 1917

“ The 75th Battalion were ordered to attack in a north- easterly direction and to raid the point known as the brewery and dugouts in Railway embankment “………

“Everything appeared perfectly normal during the day June 8th. By 6 pm Brigade staff was established in Brigade Battle headquarters 1,200 yards in rear of the front line at S.12.2.3…..

“At 8 pm an enemy bombardment opened on our own and their forward system of trenches which, not only in number but also in weight and calibre, seemed superior to any concentration of guns which had previously assailed that part of the line.

This bombardment had every appearance of being a prepared one …… the length of the bombardment and the severity of it would indicate that the enemy thought a major operation was pending as the expenditure of ammunition was abnormal.

At 10.30 pm the weight of the enemy artillery began to slacken, but it was felt that its duration would materially effect the success of the operation due to commence at 11.45pm.

Through casualties suffered, which as far as could be ascertained amounted to 195.

Through destruction off our trenches and supply dumps

By interfering with the assembly of troops as only one hour and fifteen minutes was left to complete our concentration for the attack.

Through three platoons of the 75th Battalion on Hirondelle Hill, and who were detailed to attack the Brewery, being buried in dugouts and trenches. These men, together with part of the company of the 102nd Battalion east of the Generating Plant were only dug out in time to reach places of assembly before Zero hour “….

The report continues and by 12.12pm and 12.30 pm all the objectives had been gained, the only portion not reached was the Brewery, mainly due to the fact that the troops allocated to this task had suffered so heavily in the earlier bombardment.

And finally Henry gets another mention …

“ Lt Morris engaged an enemy machine gun crew putting all, excepting one man, out of action, the latter being captured and sent back, together with the gun, for the purpose of identification.”

Part of 11th Brigade Diary Operation No 5 –June 8th 1917

[pic]

2nd Paragraph Lt. Morris Mentioned

[pic]

[pic]

[pic]

[pic]

London Gazette 17th September 1917 issued a month after Henry was killed in action, recording his award of the Military Cross for his part in the Action of 8th June 1917. Also on this page Lt (A/Capt.) Alfred Barr Lindsay, Henrys Commanding officer on the Raid, was also awarded the MC

[pic]

Fig 45

Map showing the Canadian front Lines on the 27th June 1917 detailing the slow advance towards Lens

[pic]

Photo M - The Railway Embankment

Taken in June 2007 at the point where it crosses the Lens –Arras Road, now disused and heavily overgrown – 90 years previously on the night of the 8th of June 1917 this spot formed one of the objectives of the 75th Battalion right flank under Captain Grey, who’s platoons where to suffer heavy losses due to German Machine Guns sited at this crossing. The target known as of the “Brewery “ lays approx 75 metres to the right in this photograph just north of this crossing heading toward Lens. Now occupied by houses.

July 1917

After the excitement of June the 75th were taken out of the front line and into reserve for Rest and Relaxation and further training. Having read contemporary diaries of the period, the idea of a spot of “R&R” was more a case of getting the soldiers battle fit again, most of the time at the front was spent sitting around in trenches day in day out waiting for something to happen, the rest periods were full days of route marches, fitness programs, weapons trainings and organized sports. The men were given afternoons “off” from 12.30pm onwards on the strict understanding that if standards slipped, this privilege would be withdrawn, (fig 46) although this was deemed free time, the officers were expected to make use of it by attending lectures on various military subjects and the men to take part in organized sports events.

[pic]

Fig 46

11th Brigade Memo Appendix C July 1917 War Diary

On the 1st of July the 75th move from Seaforth Camp/Berthonval Wood to Estree-Cauchie, which lay beyond Château la Haie, and approx 8 miles as the crow flies behind Vimy Ridge. The 2nd sees the men settling into billets and cleaning equipment. The Canadians seemed on the whole to look after their troops; the incoming battalions were provided with bathing facilities and clean clothes,

[pic]

This seems to compare favorably with contemporary reports from British troops who were complaining of being in the front lines for up to 4 months at a time, without bathing or a change of clothes their uniforms quickly becoming infested with lice

[pic]

Extract from the 11th Brigade War Diary detailing standard platoon attack training, one can only imagine that to put this into a real life situation would take nerves of steel.

On the 4th July, seven other ranks were awarded the military medal for their part in the action of the 8th June, Acting Capt Lt Lindsay was awarded the MC .It is somewhat puzzling that Henry is never mentioned as being awarded his MC until sometime after the action in June, I find it also odd that his own Battalion do not mention him specifically in their dairies but that he gets a very good mention at Brigade level.

As a relief from training on the 10th July the 75th hold a sports day, the idea being to select those officers and men to take part in the 11th Brigade sports day scheduled for the 12th July.

[pic]

Cover from the 11th Brigade Sports Day Programme

[pic]

“A Company” 75th Battalion Wins the Tug of War

On the 18th all training was suspended to enable the troops to attend the 4th Division sports at Château la Haie but the onset of rain led to the event being canceled and put off until the afternoon of the 20th the event was won by the teams put forward by the 11th Brigade.

.[pic]

On the 21st July all the Brigade officers including Henry attended a Dinner at Bruay.

[pic]

[pic]

[pic]

On the 23rd July the Brigade held a competition to single out the best drilled and turned out platoon in the Brigade, this was judged by officers from all the Battalions that were currently in the 11th Brigade training areas and they singled out No 13 platoon of the 75th Battalion as scoring the most points– earning the platoon 10 additional days leave in Paris and the officer in charge, one Lt Howells was awarded the prize of… a mention in dispatches.

On the 27th July, with training completed the 75th Battalion is moved back towards the frontline to the town of Levin where they are in Brigade support and effect the relief of the 87th Battalion.

[pic]

Estree-Cauchie, the 75th Battalions home for 4 weeks during July 1917

August 1917

The end of July and the first few days of August saw the 75th Battalion in Brigade support based at Levin, the 11th Brigade Diary for 1st Week of August reports sustained shelling by Canadian Artillery against the area immediately North of the Lens – Bethune Railway, and on the 3rd August a concentrated fire of 100 eight inch shells onto the Arras road crater in the outskirts of Lens. (Map Fig 47and Photo Fig 51)

The Brigade was gradually pushing forward on its frontage and on the 4th August during daylight hours fighting patrols of the 75th and 102nd Battalions managed to push the front forward by 250 yards into the outskirts of Lens capturing and securing the Arras Road and Lovats Lane craters (map Fig. 47), and fighting their way from building to building, cellar to cellar to form outpost lines. In retaliation the Germans subjected the Canadian attacking forces to heavy artillery barrages.

Early August saw the 75th Battalion moving towards the south west of Lens, (to the northern outskirts of what was then a village, but is now the suburb of Avion) the Battalion diary for the 10th August records heavy exchanges of artillery fire on both sides, the Canadians shelling Lens and the Germans shelling the roads to Levin including the use of mustard gas against the Canadians

On the 12th August, Henry, along with Capt. Alfred Lindsay and Lt Bethune are at the 4Th Division Headquarters at Chateau De La Haie where they are presented with the Military Cross for the action in earlier in June

The following is an extract from 11th Canadian Infantry Brigade War Diary for that day

[pic]

Unfortunately the clerk has transcribed Henrys initials incorrectly

The diary continues to describe the lead up to the assault on Hill 70 to the north west of Lens and the diversionary support action that the 4th Canadian Division, 11th Brigade and of course the 75th Battalion were to provide, to gain an insight into what was afoot during this time, I will turn again to the official history by Nicholson

“The Assault on Hill 70, 15 August

On 7 July the First Army notified the Canadian Corps of orders received from Sir Douglas Haig to capture Lens with a view to threatening an advance on Lille from the south. The centre of the most crowded coal-mining area in France.

As far as possible Hill 70 was to be "a killing by artillery". The main assault was to be supported by nine field brigades - five with the 1st Division on the left, and four with the 2nd Division. Their barrage would be supplemented by the fire of 160 machine-guns. Rehearsals for the attack, carried out on ground resembling the actual battlefield, repeated the tactics that had proved successful at Fresnoy. There was emphasis on immediately mopping up the captured area and bringing forward the machine-guns-48 with each assaulting brigade-as soon as the objective was taken. Each machine-gun position would then become the centre of a platoon strongpoint manned by at least 25 infantrymen.76

The two assaulting divisions each had two brigades forward - from north to south the 3rd, 2nd, 5th and 4th - totaling ten battalions. Their objective was marked off in depth in three stages. The assaulting battalions would take the enemy's front trenches in their first stride. The Blue Line ran along the German second position, on the crest of the hill.

The Green, the final objective, marked the enemy's third line, on the lower reverse slope, some 1500 yards from the starting position. From north to south it followed in succession

"Hugo" and "Norman" Trenches and "Nun's Alley", their chalky course showing a dead white in air photographs. Opposite the 2nd Division's right flank the Green Line lined south-west along "Commotion" Trench, to bend sharply westward along "Chicory".

In the centre, where the 2nd Brigade had the greatest distance to cover, the intermediate Red Line formed a chord to the curve of the final objective.

The assault went in at 4:25 on the morning of 15 August, just as dawn was breaking.

Special companies of the Royal Engineers began firing drums of burning oil into Cité Ste.

Elisabeth and at other selected targets in order to supplement the artillery fire and build up

On General Currie's right flank a diversionary operation mounted by the 4th Canadian Division at Lens had proved its worth. As the main attack went in, 200 gas bombs were projected on to enemy strong points and dug-outs opposite Avion, while artillery and machine-guns not involved at Hill 70 fired the conventional barrage. The simulated assault by the 12th Brigade on the divisional right drew much more retaliatory fire than did the main operation. Four hours later, on the 2nd Division's immediate right, the 11th Brigade pushed strong fighting patrols towards the centre of Lens, preparing to reinforce and exploit their success should the enemy relax his hold of the town. But the Germans were not ready to abandon Lens, and a renewal of local counterattacks across the 4th Division's front drove the Canadian patrols back to the city's outskirts.”

(From Official History of the Canadian Army in the First World War Canadian Expeditionary Force 1914-1919 By Colonel G.W.L Nicholson)

Avion District Lens 14/15th August 1917

We have read that the Canadian 4th Division were to mount a diversion to assist the main attack to the North of Lens on Hill 70 .The 75th Battalion were now in Avion to the south west of Lens preparing to send fighting patrols into the outskirts and possibly on into Lens itself north of the railway yards

The area from where the attack was due to commence in the early hours of that August morning stands on high ground, gently falling away from “Reservoir Hill”. To the front, the ground falls quite quickly toward the railway lines and sidings which separate Lens from its modern southern suburbs, before rising back up into Lens main town, to the left it falls sharply to the Lens – Arras Road, and what used to be the Lens canal, before it too rises back up to the dominating height of the mine spoil heap known as the “Green Crasser”. Today the streets and houses, with a few exceptions follow the original Pre war layouts and locations, The “Place Saint Alfred” (photo Fig 53) possibly looking much as it did before the war on the exact same layout, although in 1917 nothing would have remained except piles of rubble and the cellars.

Lying adjacent to the site of Lovatt’s Lane crater is a ghastly grey tin box of what appears to be social housing, complete and resplendent with anti police graffiti. The Arras road crater, for all appearances is still there, albeit landscaped and with steps leading down to the main Lens- Arras Road. The whole area, especially when I visited on a cold bleak day just after Christmas had a rather unpleasant melancholy and almost menacing air about it. There is a sense of foreboding, perhaps a distant echo from time past.

It is hard to imagine how the area would have looked as a battlefield, but the watercolour at Fig 48 gives a good indication, the houses have been razed to the ground, there would have been direct lines of sight into Lens from the Canadian front and over to the left, the Green crasser would have been very visible and an excellent observation point for the Germans. The battle field from a Canadian perspective with its falling ground, would lead them to be exposed to fire from the” Green Crasser” and from the higher ground of Lens itself.

On the night of the 14th /15th August the 75th Battalion moved back towards the front line to relive the 54th Battalion.

[pic]

Extract from the 11th Brigade Diary for the 14th / 15th August 1917

At 4.20am Zero hour the diversionary action commenced with an artillery barrage across the division front. This was known as a walking Barrage, the idea being that the Canadian attacking force walk behind a wall of exploding fire and steel, not close enough that they themselves fall victim, but just close enough so that when the barrage crosses the enemy lines the defenders do not have time to re orientate themselves before the attacking troops arrive on top of them.

Henry had taken over the "A" company fighting patrols No's 10 to 14, from Lt McAlteer, no reason for this change is given. The posts assigned to Henry were all in a group on or around the Aconite trench line (The Green line on the following maps and images).

[pic]

In overall terms the operation was deemed a success, the diversion worked and Hill 70 was achieved. However on the 11th Brigade front the resistance from the defenders was intense and although the immediate objectives were gained by the 15th August the Germans had counter attacked and driven the Canadians back again

Rather then recount what is written in the 75th Battalion diaries, they are reproduced on the following pages along with the operational orders for you to read for yourselves.

[pic]

13th August Lieutenants Bethune, Lee and Morris Awarded MC

[pic]

14th August Lieut Morris takes over Lieut McAteers fighting patrols

[pic]

9.30 am Lieut Morris MC Reported Killed, Lt Freeman Munro reported as missing

Operation Order No 57

Detailing Battalion responsibilities for the 14th /15th August 1917 – Henry was eventually to lead ‘A’ Company

[pic]

[pic]

Operation Order No 58.

Issued on the 14th August detailing the action that Henry was to undertake with ‘A’ company patrols 10,11,12,13 and 14. Lt McAlteer was originally detailed to lead these patrols, but on the actual day this task was to fall to Henry

[pic]

[pic]

[pic]

Fig 47

Overlay of 1917 map showing ‘A’ Company HQ (courtesy Floyd Low)

Targets for the operation included Yellow, Green and Red Lines and the Levin, Lovatt’s and Arras Road Craters (Courtesy of Floyd Low)

[pic]

Overlay onto modern aerial photograph with the A company HQ and approximate patrol posts marked

[pic]

The Reservoir Hill Map referred to in the Battalion Diaries

[pic]

Enlarged view of the marked patrol posts – post 10 can just be made out in the centre

Henrys patrols returned to their own lines at around 9.30 on the morning of the 15th August. Henry was reported as having been killed. There is no indication of how or where exactly he met his demise.

My own assumption is that he must have been killed near to or not far from his own lines as his body was brought back in for burial, orders had been given before the operation that all wounded and the dead were to be brought back where possible.

The 75th Battalion lost 33 men on the 15th August; out of those killed only Henry and nine others have known graves. The rest are commemorated on the Canadian National Memorial to the Missing at Vimy Ridge, one of these was Henrys fellow officer Lt Munro Freeman, who for some time was presumed missing or captured, and it was not until the war ended that he was final listed as killed in action. They were the only officers to be killed that day

[pic]

Fig 48 Aconite Trench

A contemporary watercolour painting of Aconite Trench, (The Green Line) the devastation is almost total. It was across this landscape that Henry led his fighting patrols from “House to House and Basement to Basement “ The present day road system still follows the layout of the original streets even though, due to the continual artillery bombardments, not much remained. (Source The Canadian Front in France and Flanders)

[pic]

Fig 49

Approx location of the “A” Company HQ Position – 75th Battalion Front – View toward Lens .The Yellow Line lays one street beyond the houses in the background. Lovatt’s Lane Crater to the Left, Arras Road Crater to the Right.

[pic]

Fig 50

The Yellow Line – Looking towards Lovatt’s Lane Crater (Grey building at the end of the street)

[pic]

Fig 51

The Yellow Line – From The Arras Road Crater (Grass Area) looking toward Lovatt’s Crater.

[pic]

Fig 52

The “Green Crasser” (Hill in the background) Taken from the Arras Road Crater looking out over the Lens Arras Road

[pic]

Fig 53

The Place Saint Alfred – facing west rebuilt on the original pre war street plan – it was through the remains of houses such as this and their cellars that the 75th Battalion fighting patrols made their way to their objectives. The “A” Company position is approx 220 metres to the South West (Left side of this photo)

[pic]

Detail of the various stages of the Canadian attack on Lens between the 15th and 25th August 1917, Henry died in the early hours of the 15th August 1917 in the area to the bottom center of the map. Hill 70 can be found in the center top third of the map

[pic]

Transcript of Brigadier-General Odlum’s letter to Battalion Commanders of the 11th Brigade explaining the purpose of the actions against Lens on the 14th /15th August 1917.

[pic]

Photograph of Lens taken in 1919 – The town is totally devastated

[pic]

The Grave of Henry Walter Morris MC. in Loos British Cemetery. Loos cemetery is sited at the area known as “Chalk Pit Wood” on the North Western outskirts of Lens. This area was fought over originally in 1915 by the British with great loss of life trying to take Hill 70, which the Canadians finally succeeded in taking on the 15th August 1917. Hill 70 is about a mile to the west of Loos cemetery. Henry was killed in the diversionary attack on the South of Lens, which allowed Hill 70 to be finally taken. (See also Appendix III)

[pic]

Loos British Cemetery

Appendix I

Whilst searching the web for more information on the75th Battalion I came across this diary written by a John Cannon Stothers and published on the Internet by his family. He was wounded in the trench raid of June of 1917 (** See note below) and returned to Canada by December. He fully recovered from his wounds. John remained in England with a reserve battalion and eventually went to France in November of 1917. He was transferred to the 15th battalion (48th Highlanders) and was part of the Army of Occupation until 1919. His diary provides an insight into that particular night and the conditions that Henry and others faced with the 75th Battalion .I am indebted to Steven Stother for permission to reproduce the following

Carman Stothers account of a trench raid with the 75th Battalion on June 11th, 1917. This was discovered in a binder of his letters and was probably written in the 1960's...

June 1917

We were in the line June 11th, my birthday. It was a hot day the gallon gasoline tins brought up by a working party, presumably the new draft were about half full to be divided among the Lewis Gun Crew of six men. Cocking hands Joe, or No. 1 was Jack Rowe of Bowmanville, Spare Pats man, No.2 was Carman, Nos. 3 & 4 were English born – one elderly and one a home-boy. Nos. 5 & 6 were French Canadian named Grenier.

I was thirsty and had a block of Sterno form a parcel so at a quiet hour in the PM, I crawled out of the front-line trench to get some water. In the first shell-hole was a dead German soldier with rifle and bombs immersed to the neck. In the second the water was scummy and not a good colour. In the next the water was clear so I filled my mess tin. I got back with it half full. Then in the funk-hole I had gouged out of the forward side of the trench, I set my water to boil over my one sterno cube. When it had boiled ten minutes, the Sterno flickered out, so I had to decide whether to drink it or not. I had some cocoa powder and stirred some in and drank it saving some to eat with my slice of bread and my part of a bully beef can.

Things were quiet until about 7 o’clock. Then Fritz sent over a bombardment probably on general principles. There were some casualties on our left and about 8 o’clock they were carried out. Among them was Bill (W.P.) Buchanan, #681365 with whom I went to Upper School in Wingham; whose marriage I had had to arrange by telephone; and who had lived with us at 8 Willard Apartments during his teaching career from Sept. 1915 until Feb 28th 1916 at Carlton school in Toronto. He came from Westfield, a posh office in East Wawonosh a few miles east of Dungannon. He was in bad shape with a bullet in his head and both legs broken so he probably felt nothing. I was reminded of sharing one of his parcels with him on our previous line duty when we each promised to visit the parents and loved ones of the other when we got home.

This evening Blitz by Fritz could hardly have been put on in anticipation of the midnight raid we were to put on that day. Friends who had been there told us after the war that this raid was put on for some visiting brass but this I found hard to believe then or now. We knew days ahead that one of these nights during our tour that we had to go over the top. Midnight came and at 12.15 we went over behind a barrage designed to make mincemeat of the German front line. There was answering fire but we walked on right up to Fritzes front-line trench. I jumped in and was met by a German coming from my left. We got busy with bayonets and then something hit me and him. We were by that time non-combatants. Then I was conscious of wetness in my right shoulder. I put my hand in and was reassured to find that I could see blood on my hand. It was reassuring that in the light of the yellow flare I could that it must be more then sweat and therefore red instead of yellow. My bayonet was broken and the stock of the Enfield rifle below the grip was shattered and missing. Then Herdsman came along and picked me up, saying that he would carry me on his shoulder. After we got out of the trench, the return fire of mostly machine-gun bullets were too close, so I begged to be put down on my own legs. So Herdsman shuffled along till we got to our own trench and continued down it to the dressing station.

There Dr. Hutchinson V.C. (the only one in our battalion) tended me on a stretcher. I told him about my shoulder and said "I’m tired of walking and I hope I can lie here". His scissors cut my pants on both legs which he bandaged. Next he bandaged my hip and last my shoulder. Then he said, "your going out on a stretcher", which was music to my ears. Some time later I was carried to the light railway from which I was transferred to an ambulance which took me to the First Casualty Clearing Depot. There a Medical full-Colonel operated on me and found in the bandage on my hip one last shrapnel bullet. He said, "We have no anaesthetics but this will take only a moment". He was relying on the influence of a blonde nurse who in the Canadian Nurses uniform was something of a goddess to one who had not seen the like of for about seven months. Even then I felt the two deep snips of the scissors to widen the aperture and the tweezers used to extract another lead shrapnel ball. The indignity to my person released most, if not all, the cuss-words I had learned in the army. The Colonel was used to being cursed out by a private under these conditions.

Next they sent me to Calais to a Canadian hospital in tents. There they had sent New Zealanders and Australians as well as Canadians. Because my ticket showed the 75th Battalion, I was of special interest to another blonde Canadian nurse. She was engaged to a Captain Harding who had command of our company at Vimy. She gave me special treatment. For days I was the only one who got the curtains drawn around his bed. This was noted by most of the other patients who complained. My last view of Captain Harding had shown him "hors de combat" and one member of his company relieving him of his revolver. I have never heard that he was revived. That was the sad news I had to tell the nurse.

Within a few days we were evacuated to Dover. It seems that were taken to an inner harbour with white rock walls. Such is my memory. Having returned from France twice since 1917, this observation has not been confirmed. The St. John ambulance men transferred us to a hospital car. The first stop was London. There were a few stops but we reached Hereford where several of us were transferred to the top floor of the Hereford General Hospital, which was close to Hereford Cathedral.

Carman Edmund Stother

(Source )

** Carman E Stother records the raid as being on the 11th June 1917, however with greatest respect to the author of the diary, the evidence all points to this being a description of the 8th June Raid, see also Appendix IV – where Bill (W.P.) Buchanan – is recorded as being killed on the 8th June and also the evidence of the Battalion Diaries, describing the heavy shelling and casualties sustained.

Appendix II – Army Wages and Allowances

|Rank |Basic Pay |Overseas |Separation |

| |(per day) |allowance (per |Allowance per |

| | |day) |month |

|Major General |$ 20.00 |$ 4.00 |$ 60.00 |

|General Staff Officer - 1st Grade |$ 10.00 |$ 3.00 |$ 60.00 |

|General Staff Officer - 2nd Grade |$ 8.00 |$ 3.00 |$ 60.00 |

|Assistant Director of Medical services |$ 8.00 |$ 3.00 |$ 60.00 |

|Chief Paymaster |$ 8.00 |$ 3.00 |$ 60.00 |

|General Staff Officer - 3rd Grade |$ 5.00 |$ 3.00 |$ 60.00 |

|Divisional Paymaster |$ 5.00 |$ 3.00 |$ 60.00 |

|ADC to Commander |$ 3.00 |$ 3.00 |$ 40.00 |

|Brigade Commander |$ 9.00 |$ 3.00 |$ 60.00 |

|Brigade major |$ 6.00 |$ 3.00 |$ 60.00 |

|Colonel |$ 6.00 |$ 1.50 |$ 60.00 |

|Lieutenant-Colonel |$ 5.00 |$ 1.25 |$ 60.00 |

|Major |$ 4.00 |$ 1.00 |$ 50.00 |

|Captain |$ 3.00 |$ 0.75 |$ 40.00 |

|Lieutenant |$ 2.00 |$ 0.60 |$ 30.00 |

|Paymaster |$ 3.00 |$ 0.75 |$ 40.00 |

|Quartermaster |$ 3.00 |$ 0.75 |$ 40.00 |

|Warrant Officer |$ 2.00 |$ 0.30 |$ 30.00 |

|Quartermaster-Sergeant |$ 1.80 |$ 0.20 |$ 25.00 |

|Orderly Room Clerk |$ 1.50 |$ 0.20 |$ 25.00 |

|Squadron, Battery, Company Sergeant-Major |$ 1.60 |$ 0.20 |$ 25.00 |

|Squadron, Battery, Company Quartermaster Sergeant |$ 1.50 |$ 0.20 |$ 25.00 |

|Colour Sergeant, staff Sergeant |$ 1.60 |$ 0.20 |$ 25.00 |

|Sergeant |$ 1.35 |$ 0.15 |$ 25.00 |

|Corporal |$ 1.10 |$ 0.10 |$ 20.00 |

| | | | |

|Bombardier or 2nd Corporal |$ 1.05 |$ 0.10 |$ 20.00 |

|Trumpeter, Bugler, Drummer |$ 1.00 |$ 0.10 |$ 20.00 |

|Private, Gunner, Driver, Sapper, Batman, Cook |$ 1.00 |$ 0.10 |$ 20.00 |

Privates in the CEF during the Great War received $1.10 a day for the time that they were serving. This was significantly lower than the normal pay that a man employed in manual labour would receive, and well below the amount required to provide for a wife and children. To compensate for this, the Canadian Government provided a "Separation Allowance" for men who could prove that they had dependants, normally restricted to a wife or mother where they were the sole wage earner. This separation allowance varied from $20 per month for Privates to $60 per month for senior officers. Even with the separation allowance, the amount of money provided to a soldiers dependants was insufficient, which led to the creation of a "Patriotic Fund", a charity that provided additional money to help tide a family over while their husband or son was overseas. The Patriotic Fund had no fixed schedule. The amounts provided were determined on a se-by-case basis

(Source: Marc Leroux- )[pic]

Note: Specialty trades, such as tunnellers or miners, were given a higher rate of pay due to the skills and experience and the inherent danger of their duties.

Reasons for Stoppages of pay

Absent without leave

In hospital for drunkenness

In hospital for self-inflicted wound

In custody for any offence against the Army Act

In custody for drunkenness

In hospital with venereal disease

Appendix III

Loos British Cemetery

Pas de Calais, France

Loos (Loos-en-Gohelle) is a village to the north of the road from Lens to Bethune. From Lens, take the N43 towards Bethune. Arriving at Loos, turn right at CWGC signpost. The cemetery is about 1 kilometre from Loos Church in the southern part of the village.

The small town of Loos-en-Gohelle can be found just to the north of Lens, and is easily reached from the channel ports by following the A26 motorway and exiting at junction 6.1. The A21 can then be followed to Loos.

A little to the south of the town centre, and located right next to the A21 motorway is Loos British Cemetery.

This cemetery was started nearly two years after the Battle of Loos, by the Canadian Corps in July 1917. These original graves can be found in parts of Plots 1 and 2. However, despite this, many who fell at the Battle of Loos in 1915 are buried here, as many other graves were moved here after the Armistice from areas to the north and east. In total there are nearly 3,000 Great War burials here, and also a few graves of soldiers from the Second World War.

A reflection of the severity of the fighting at Loos in 1915 and the time which passed before many of those bodies were recovered is that two-thirds of the Great War burials are of unidentified soldiers - 'Known Unto God

Henrys grave is located at Section VI, Row A, Plot 6 not far from the main entrance

'[pic]

Appendix IV

In memory of the fallen of the 75th Battalion - 8th June Raid

|Rank |Name |Number |Date of Death |Commemorated |

|Pte |Annan, Archibald M |138112 |8th June 1917 |Canadian No.2 |

|Pte |Balem, Frank |164032 |8th June 1917 |Canadian No.2 |

|Pte |Ball, Samuel |730712 |8th June 1917 | Vimy Memorial |

|Pte |Buchanan, William P |681365 |8th June 1917 | Vimy Memorial |

|Pte |Bunting, William G |669902 |8th June 1917 |Canadian No.2 |

|Pte |Chalmers, Alexander |164700 |8th June 1917 |Canadian No.2 |

|Pte |Clark, John |760081 |8th June 1917 |La Chaudiere |

|Pte |Collie, William |681712 |8th June 1917 | Vimy Memorial |

|Pte |Dunlop, Joseph S |678573 |8th June 1917 | Vimy Memorial |

|Pte |Elrick, John C |669126 |8th June 1917 | Vimy Memorial |

|Pte |Finessey, Thomas J |144010 |8th June 1917 | Vimy Memorial |

|Pte |Gill, William |139585 |8th June 1917 |Canadian No.2 |

|Pte |Harrison, James C |669503 |8th June 1917 | Vimy Memorial |

|Pte |Hatton, Thomas B |775086 |8th June 1917 |Canadian No.2 |

|Pte |Jackson, Robert |760130 |8th June 1917 |La Chaudiere |

|Pte |Kaiser, Edgewoth L |669871 |8th June 1917 | Vimy Memorial |

|Cpl |Kidd,JohnT |138165 |8th June 1917 | Vimy Memorial |

|Pte |Lawrence, George |730278 |8th June 1917 |Canadian No.2 |

|LCpl |Lewis, John B |163496 |8th June 1917 | Vimy Memorial |

|Sgt |MacDonald, William |164315 |8th June 1917 |Canadian No.2 |

|Pte |McRae, Clifford |770235 |8th June 1917 |Canadian No.2 |

|Pte |Moffatt, William H |228058 |8th June 1917 | Vimy Memorial |

|Pte |Morgan, Frederick |669291 |8th June 1917 |La Chaudiere |

|Pte |Munday, Thomas |787037 |8th June 1917 |La Chaudiere |

|Pte |Newstead, Ralph |164668 |8th June 1917 |Canadian No.2 |

|Pte |Nethercott, William J |669888 |8th June 1917 | Vimy Memorial |

|Pte |Owen, John W |669312 |8th June 1917 |Canadian No.2 |

|Pte |Questoff, George |238212 |8th June 1917 |Barlin Comm. Ext |

|Pte |Saunders, Richard P |139176 |8th June 1917 |Canadian No.2 |

|Pte |Scully, Ernest |163160 |8th June 1917 | Vimy Memorial |

|Pte |Searle, William J |138963 |8th June 1917 |Canadian No.2 |

|Pte |Skuce, Richard |788628 |8th June 1917 | Vimy Memorial |

|Pte |Smalbeck, Charles R |163922 |8th June 1917 | Vimy Memorial |

|Pte |Smith, George W |237398 |8th June 1917 |La Chaudiere |

|Pte |Smith, Thomas S |138972 |8th June 1917 | Vimy Memorial |

|Pte |Strain, William |237293 |8th June 1917 |Canadian No.2 |

|Pte |Swain, Stanford R |805715 |8th June 1917 | Vimy Memorial |

|Pte |Upshell, Samuel C |238141 |8th June 1917 |Canadian No.2 |

|Pte |Wereley, William |237048 |8th June 1917 | Vimy Memorial |

|Pte |Whitehead, George MM |805247 |8th June 1917 | Vimy Memorial |

|Pte |Wilson, John |138996 |8th June 1917 |La Chaudiere |

William P Buchanan – (see also the diary of Carman Stother at Appendix I.). Soldiers listed as commemorated on the Vimy memorial have no known grave – Buchanan was obviously taken back from the trenches and subsequently died of his wounds, it is highly likely that his original grave was destroyed by subsequent enemy action, making the identification of remains impossible. In most war grave cemeteries there are grave makers with the words “ A soldier of the Great War – known only unto God “, where the identification of the remains was impossible, sometimes a regiment or a nation is stated where some identification has been made however limited.

Appendix V

In memory of the fallen of the 75th Battalion – 15th August Raid

|Rank |Name |Number |Date of Death |Commemorated |

|Pte |Acton, John |189027 |15th Aug 1917 |Vimy Memorial |

|Pte |Ball, Arthur |805005 |15th Aug 1917 |Vimy Memorial |

|Pte |Ballinger, Albert C |163249 |15th Aug 1917 |Loos British |

|Pte |Blackwell, Harry |769171 |15th Aug 1917 |Vimy Memorial |

|Pte |Chalmers, John K |657660 |15th Aug 1917 |Lievin Comm. Ext |

|Pte |Clay, Charles H |803118 |15th Aug 1917 |Vimy Memorial |

|Pte |Coburn, Harry |788890 |15th Aug 1917 |Vimy Memorial |

|Pte |Cooper, Alfred W |805040 |15th Aug 1917 |Lievin Comm. Ext |

|Pte |CowIishaw Henry A |669093 |15th Aug 1917 |Vimy Memorial |

|Pte |Croft, Charles W |690940 |15th Aug 1917 |Vimy Memorial |

|BQMS |Cuthbert, Milton L |139058 |15th Aug 1917 |Villers Station |

|Pte |Denslow, Albert |220046 |15th Aug 1917 |La Chaudiere |

|Pte |Fenton, George |657173 |15th Aug 1917 |Vimy Memorial |

|Pte |Gooding, Walter J |1024131 |15th Aug 1917 |Vimy Memorial |

|Pte |Hamilton, Aylmer J |757543 |15th Aug 1917 |Vimy Memorial |

|Pte |Hartley, Lawrence R |642685 |15th Aug 1917 |Vimy Memorial |

|Pte |Hodgins, William J |802862 |15th Aug 1917 |Vimy Memorial |

|Pte |Holland, Albert |669522 |15th Aug 1917 |Vimy Memorial |

|Pte |Jones, David |1024205 |15th Aug 1917 |Vimy Memorial |

|Pte |Martin, William H |237083 |15th Aug 1917 |Vimy Memorial |

|Lt. |Morris, Henry W M.C | |15th Aug1917 |Loos British |

|Pte |Moyle, Sydney W |163040 |15th Aug 1917 |Vimy Memorial |

|Lt. |Munro, Freeman | |15th Aug 1917 |Vimy Memorial |

|Pte |Murray, Hugh J |246085 |15th Aug 1917 |Vimy Memorial |

|Pte |Reid, Edward |643312 |15th Aug 1917 |Vimy Memorial |

|Pte |Shea, Patrick A. |788611 |15th Aug 1917 |Vimy Memorial |

|Sgt |Smith, James L |163936 |15th Aug 1917 |Vimy Memorial |

|Pte |Stockil, Frederick G |228085 |15th Aug 1917 |Vimy Memorial |

|Pte |Stubbs, John 7 |730619 |15th Aug 1917 |Lievin Comm. Ext |

|Pte |Turley, Ernest G |138715 |15th Aug 1917 |Vimy Memorial |

|Pte |Whitworth, Ernest |669993 |15th Aug 1917 |Vimy Memorial |

|Pte |Wilson, John |163272 |15th Aug 1917 |Vimy Memorial |

|Pte |Wilson, Norman |643412 |15th Aug 1917 |Vimy Memorial |

END

................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download