Pte 15691 Morris Roberts

• Age: 33
• From: Bangor
• Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 17th Btn
• K.I.A Sunday 30th July 1916
• Commemorated at: Guillemont Rd Cem
  Panel Ref: VI.A.8

Morris Roberts was born in about October 1882 in Llandegai, Bethesda, Carnarvonshire (a couple of miles outside Bangor), the youngest son of Richard Roberts and Mary (the children’s birth records show her maiden name as Roberts). His parents were both born in the area, and spoke Welsh.  They married in about 1858.  Morris was the youngest of 11 children; his siblings were Ann (possibly with a different mother), Henry, Hugh, Eliza (died in infancy) Maria, Mary, Thomas,  Robert, Elias, and Margaret (Maggie). 

Morris was baptised on 14th November 1882 in St. Ann’s, Llandegai, his parents’ residence Bryn Eglwys, and his father’s occupation listed as quarryman.  The Bryn Eglwys cottages, where his parents lived most of their married life, were built in about 1850 (some are now listed buildings) and the slate quarry, belonged to the Penrhyn estate. 

The nearby Penrhyn slate quarry was the largest in the world, and employed nearly 3,000 quarrymen. The quarry was the site of two labour strikes demanding better pay and safer conditions, the first in 1896 which lasted 11 months, and the second in 1900, which lasted three years, then the longest dispute in British industrial history. The community was divided between those who laid down their tools and those who crossed the picket line. It seems that Richard supported his employer, the Baron of Penrhyn. 

His father was also a lay preacher and church warden and was involved with the Sunday School.  Two of Morris’ brothers became clergymen. 

The 1891 Census shows the family living at Bryn Eglwys, Llandegai, with five sons and a daughter, Morris is 8.  His father, and brothers Hugh and Thomas work in the slate quarry. 

The 1901 Census shows the family still living at the same address. His parents and their children, Hugh, Elias, and Maggie.  His father and brothers are slate quarrymen.  A Morris Roberts, age 18, bank clerk, born in Bethesda, is boarding with Joseph and Martha Wright and family in Ivy Cottage, Hawarden, Flintshire, about 50 miles from his home. 

His mother died in 1907, aged 68. 

By 1911 Morris has moved to Shropshire, and is working in Lloyd’s Bank, Ellesmere.  

He is 28, single, a bank clerk, and boarding at 36 St. John’s Hill, with Victor and Charlotte Stansfeld.  His brother Hugh and sister Maria are living with their widowed father, 74, at Bryn Eglwys. 

His father died in 1912.   

He enlisted at St George's Hall, Liverpool on the 01st September 1914 joining the 17th Battalion as Private 15691. He was aged 30 years and 336 days and gave his occupation as a bank clerk. He gave his next of kin as his eldest brother Henry, at Llanengan Rectory, Abersoch. He was described as being five feet five and a quarter inches tall, weighed 135lbs, 37” chest, fair complexion, grey eyes, fair hair and gave his religion as Church of England.

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. He arrived in France on 7^th November 1915. 

Morris was declared Missing on 30th July 1916 during the attack on the village of Guillemont when he was aged 32.

17th Battalion Diary 30th July 1916

The Battalion was in support to 19 & 20 Battalions K.L.R. 2 Coys. behind 19th & 2 Coys. behind 20th. Very thick mist. The attack was pushed home to the objective in places but in the main was held up by machine gun fire from hidden machine guns.

Fighting continued all day swaying backwards and forwards until by 6pm about 300 yards in depth had been gained & consolidated all along our front.

Casualties in the 17th Battalion were 15 Officers and 281 Other Ranks

Further details are reported in more detailed by Everard Wyrall in his book The History of the King’s Regiment (Liverpool) 1914-1919 Volume II 1916-1917

The 17th King’s had advanced (two companies each behind the 19th and 20th Battalions) in small columns. They too suffered heavily from machine-gun fire and were quickly absorbed into the waves that preceded them. They also shared the gains and losses of that terrible day.

When darkness fell on the battlefield the 30th Division held a line from the railway on the eastern side of Trones Wood , southwards and including Arrow Head Copse, to east of Maltz Horn Farm. On this line the division was relieved by the 55th Division during the early hours of the 31st July.
 

The events of 30th July 1916 were regarded at the time as Liverpool’s blackest day. There follows an extract from The History of the 89th Brigade written by Brigadier General Ferdinand Stanley which gives an indication of the events of the day.

Guillemont

Well the hour to advance came, and of all bad luck in the world it was a thick fog; so thick that you couldn’t see more than about ten yards. It was next to impossible to delay the attack – it was much too big an operation- so forward they had to go. It will give some idea when I say that on one flank we had to go 1,750 yards over big rolling country. Everyone knows what it is like to cross enclosed country which you know really well in a fog and how easy it is to lose your way. Therefore, imagine these rolling hills, with no landmarks and absolutely unknown to anyone. Is it surprising that people lost their way and lost touch with those next to them? As a matter of fact, it was wonderful the way in which many men found their way right to the place we wanted to get to. But as a connected attack it was impossible.

The fog was intense it was practically impossible to keep direction and parties got split up. Owing to the heavy shelling all the Bosches had left their main trenches and were lying out in the open with snipers and machine guns in shell holes, so of course our fellows were the most easy prey.

It is so awfully sad now going about and finding so many splendid fellows gone. 

A newspaper report at the time of the action at Guillemont shows the stress that families were under, hoping against hope for good news. It also gives an insight into the motivation of Morris to enlist. 

"We are sorry to learn that Mr Morris Roberts, the Rector's brother, is lost on the battlefield, and has been for some time now. A notable example of patriotism is present in the soldier. Shortly after the calls for volunteers,  he was at the time a senior officer at Lloyd's Bank, Ellesmere, he fulfilled his conscience. With the consent of the chief money manager, he obtained permission  from the authorities to enlist as soon as he read that, he set aside his pen and set off to Liverpool, where he passed as one of the first to join the Liverpool Pals. He spent last winter in France, and saw severe fighting, especially the 'big push' during July. At the end of the month, like many others, he went missing. Hopefully, this brave man is alive and well, and maybe a prisoner in Germany. At the very least, the family has good cause to hope for the best in the circumstances. Our condolences go to the Rev R R Roberts, vicar of St Thomas, Llandwrog, and to all the numerous members of his church family." 

On 5th September 1916 The Church Army, War Prisoners Dept., London (an evangelical and missionary organisation) wrote to Infantry Records on behalf of the family enquiring whether Morris had been taken prisoner and requesting to know in which camp he was interned. 

On 8th September his brother Henry wrote to Infantry Records,

“I would be glad to know if you have any further information re … my youngest brother.  I have heard from the Headquarters of the Battalion - on the testimony of a fellow soldier - that he is wounded and is suffering from shell shock and is in hospital somewhere or other in France.  We were naturally pleased to understand that possibly he may be [illegible].  With anticipated thanks, Yours very sincerely, H. R. Roberts (Rector).” 

About nineteen months after Guillemont, the family was finally informed of Morris’ fate. The War Office wrote on 04th March 1918 that his death was now officially accepted as his grave had been located two and a quarter miles west of Combles.  

CWGC Graves registration report shows that Morris had been buried in a marked grave, and after the Armistice, when graves were concentrated, his body was exhumed and reinterred in Guillemont Road Cemetery, where he now rests. 

Guillemont was an important point in the German defences at the beginning of the Battle of the Somme in July 1916. It was taken by the 2nd Royal Scots Fusiliers on 30 July but the battalion was obliged to fall back, and it was again entered for a short time by the 55th (West Lancashire) Division on 8 August. On 18 August, the village was reached by the 2nd Division, and on 3 September (in the Battle of Guillemont) it was captured and cleared by the 20th (Light) and part of the 16th (Irish) Divisions. It was lost in March 1918 during the German advance, but retaken on 29 August by the 18th and 38th (Welsh) Divisions.

The cemetery was begun by fighting units (mainly of the Guards Division) and field ambulances after the Battle of Guillemont, and was closed in March 1917, when it contained 121 burials. It was greatly increased after the Armistice when graves (almost all of July-September 1916) were brought in from the battlefields immediately surrounding the village and certain smaller cemeteries, including:-

HARDECOURT FRENCH MILITARY CEMETERY. The village of Hardecourt-au-Bois was captured by French troops on the 8th July 1916, and again by the 58th (London) and 12th (Eastern) Divisions on 28 August 1918. Five British Artillerymen were buried by their unit in the French Military Cemetery, in the middle of the village, in September 1916; and in 1918 the 12th Division buried in the same cemetery 14 men of the 9th Royal Fusiliers and two of the 7th Royal Sussex.

Guillemont Road Cemetery now contains 2,263 Commonwealth burials and commemorations of the First World War. 1,523 of the burials are unidentified but there are special memorials to eight casualties known or believed to be buried among them.

The cemetery was designed by Sir Herbert Baker. 

Liverpool Echo - 5th Oct 1916 

WELSH BORDER MEN MISSING. 

Private Morris Roberts, K.L.R. He is a native of St Anne's, Bangor, North Wales and before enlisting in September 1914 was a chief clerk at Lloyds Bank, Ellesmere. 

After the war, in a memorial service in St. Ann’s, the Dean of Bangor dedicated a carved oak Litany desk to the memory of Private Morris Roberts, a gift of Morris’ siblings. The Dean “delivered a touching address recounting the modesty, valour, and devotion to duty of the fallen soldier who gave up a good position in a bank to fight for righteousness at the call of King and Country.”  His brothers, the Revs. Henry and Robert, took part in the service. 

His brother, Rev. H. R. Roberts, received a War Gratuity of £8-10s.  

Morris earned his three medals.

Probate: ROBERTS Morris of Bryneglwys, St Anns, Llandegai, Carnarvonshire bank clerk and of Lloyds Bank, Elsemere, Shropshire died on or since 30 July 1916 in France. Probate 7 September to the Reverend Henry Richard Roberts and the Reverend Richard Herbert Roberts. Effects £525 1s 6d.  

Morris is commemorated on the Lloyd’s Banking Group Memorial (now in Canons House, Bristol).

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