C.S.M 23614 George Morley

In the 1881 census George was aged 4 and living at Badwell Green with his father William, aged 35, an agricultural labourer; his mother Susan, aged 34, a sister Rosie, aged 10, brothers Walter, aged 9, Harry, aged 7, Samuel aged 6 and sister Jessie, aged 1. The whole family were born in Badwell Ash.

In the 1891 census George was now aged 14 and was living at Thicks Farm, Badwell Green with his parents, brothers Walter and Samuel (both agricultural labourers), sisters Jessie and Florence, aged 7, born in Bacton, and brothers William, aged 5 and Charles, aged 3, both born in Badwell Ash.

In the 1901 census now aged 24 he had enrolled in the army and was in the Grenadier Guards at Wellington Barracks, Bird Cage Walk, St James’s Park, London. His parents, brothers Willie and Charlie and a sister Maude, aged 9, born in Badwell Ash, were now at Church Lane, Badwell Ash.

He married Jessie Annie Chittock, aged 22, born in Stonham Parva, on 30th August 1901, at Highgate St Michael’s, Camden and lived at 1 Pickering Cottages, Highgate. On the Marriage Certificate, George is described as a Valet. Jessie re-married as Stannard and was living after that marriage at The Bungalow, Stonham, Suffolk.

It is not known when George enlisted in the Grenadier Guards (one of the oldest and most iconic regiments in the British Army, with demanding physical requirements). South Africa and Sudan campaign medals have been found for two G. Morleys, 6184, and 7803, Grenadier Guards.  No records have been found for George’s regimental number 7589, per SDGW. Similar numbers enlisted in 1898, however there are no records or medals for the Boer Campaign.

 

A daughter, Winifred Jessie, was born on 8th November 1901, her parents’ address 1 Pickering Cottage, and George’s occupation valet.  Another daughter, Ann Maud, was born on 2nd May 1907 in West Ham.

 

In 1911 they are living at 3 Bridgewater Terrace, Grange Road, Leyton, Essex.  George is 34, a bank messenger, Jessie is 32, Winifred 9 and Anne 3. His parents are still in Badwell Ash, living in Church Lane with son William and daughter Maud. His father is 65, working as a horseman on farm, and his mother is 62. 

George's job as listed on the 1911 Census, was as a bank messenger, this was a responsible job, he would carry or accompany large amounts of cash/cheques into and from branch banks and Clearing Houses. An ideal job for a reliable ex-NCO

George and Jessie had a son, Charles George, born on 23rd October 1911 in West Ham.

His father died in October 1914, aged 68.

Having served with the Colours, George was no doubt recalled when war broke out. He was one of six Guards sergeants recruited by Ferdinand Stanley and offered enhanced rank to train the Liverpool Pals battalions.

 

He enlisted in London, residence Leyton, Essex and joined the 17th Battalion of The King's Liverpool Regiment serving as C.S.M. 23614.

He was billeted at Prescot Watch Factory from 14^th September 1914, he trained there and also at Knowsley Hall. On 30th April 1915 the 17th Battalion alongside the other three Pals battalions left Liverpool via Prescot Station for further training at Belton Park, Grantham. They remained here until September 1915 when they reached Larkhill Camp on Salisbury Plain. 

George shipped to France with his battalion, disembarking at Boulogne on 07th November 1915.

 

He was killed in action, aged 39, during the Pals attacks upon Trones Wood.

The murderous fighting that went on inside Trones Wood rendered it impossible to put specific dates on some of the casualties which is why many of the 17^th Battalion losses have been bracketed as killed in action between 10^th – 12th July 1916. The conditions are best described in the following passage from Everard Wyrall’s book The History of The King’s Regiment (Liverpool) Volume II. 

The remembrance of Trones Wood in July 1916 to those who passed through it is of a noisome, horrible place, of a tangled mass of trees and undergrowth which had been tossed and flung about in frightful confusion by the shells of both sides. Of the ghastly dead which lay about in all directions, and of DEATH, lurking in every hole and corner with greedy hands ready to snatch the lives of the unwary. The place was a death trap, and although the attacks were made with great determination,   the presence of snipers who could not be detected and often fired into the backs of our men made the clearing of the wood impossible.

He now rests at London Cemetery and Extension at Longueval, France where his headstone bears the epitaph:

“HE HATH DONE WHAT HE COULD” 

High Wood was fiercely fought over during the Battle of the Somme until cleared by 47th (London) Division on 15 September 1916. It was lost during the German advance of April 1918, but retaken the following August.

The original London Cemetery at High Wood was begun when 47 men of the 47th Division were buried in a large shell hole on 18 and 21 September 1916. Other burials were added later, mainly of officers and men of the 47th Division who died on 15 September 1916, and at the Armistice the cemetery contained 101 graves. The cemetery was then greatly enlarged when remains were brought in from the surrounding battlefields, but the original battlefield cemetery is preserved intact within the larger cemetery, now known as the London Cemetery and Extension.

The cemetery, one of five in the immediate vicinity of Longueval which together contain more than 15,000 graves, is the third largest cemetery on the Somme with 3,873 First World War burials, 3,114 of them unidentified.

London Cemetery and Extension was used again in 1946 by the Army Graves Service for the reburial of Second World War casualties recovered from various temporary burial grounds, French military cemeteries, small communal cemeteries, churchyards and isolated graves, where permanent maintenance was not possible. These graves are in one central plot at the extreme end of the cemetery, behind the Cross of Sacrifice. Second World War burials number 165.

The original London Cemetery was designed by Sir Herbert Baker, but the site was completely re-modelled after the Second World War by Austin Blomfield.

George earned his three medals.

 

His children were 14, 9, and 4 years old when George was killed.  His widow Jessie received his Army effects, including a War Gratuity of £15-10s and a pension for herself and three children.

His mother, Susan, died in the September quarter of 1918, aged 71. 

 

Jessie married Arthur Stannard in late 1919 in Suffolk, when she was about 40 years old.

 

In 1939 Jessie, 61, is living with her husband Arthur, Fred Stannard, (likely a stepson), and son Charles G. Morley, 28, in The Bungalow, Gipping, Suffolk.  The three men are all agricultural labourers.  Jessie died in Suffolk in 1961, at the age of 82.

 

His daughter Winifred, married with two sons, one called George, is also living in Gipping. She died in 1991 in Ipswich, aged 89.

 

His daughter Anne is employed as a children’s nurse at Monkton Wyld Court in Dorset.  She never married and died in Gipping at the age of 90 in 1997.

 

His son Charles married, had a family, and died in Gipping in 2004.

 

George is commemorated on the  following memorials:

Badwell Ash Memorial, Village Green

Badwell Ash WW1 Heritage Trail Book of Remembrance, St. Mary’s Church.

 

We currently have no further information on George Morley, If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.