Morgan Ellis, a disabled tramp

[BereniceUK]

Morgan Ellis had been tramping since 1904, and had lost the use of an arm following enteric fever, during service with the Royal Welsh Fusiliers in the South Africa War. He was also lame in one leg, and was a heavy drinker. Born around 1871-73, he had around 100 convictions, mostly for being drunk and disorderly, and for begging, with the last two that I can find being in 1915 - in May, at Hay-on-Wye, and in June, at Swansea.

 

Would he have been allowed to continue to be a tramp and beggar for the rest of the war, or would he have been made to do war work? Could he have continued to wander at will (when not in prison) around Wales and the Borders, or would he have had to register himself every time he entered a town?

 

 

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When the MSA came in to force in 1916 he would have been 43-45 so would have been over the age for service at that point.

Craig

[BereniceUK]

Thanks, Craig. I'm thinking that this man might have felt he had no choice but to find employment in 1917, with the increase in price, and big reduction in the strength, of beer in April of that year. From what I've found about him, it would seem that the main reason he went on the road was because he was 'blacklisted' from pubs in his home area, and had also had to spend time in an inebriates' home. He had lost his Army pension because of his continual drink convictions, and relied on begging for beer money, so doubling the price of beer would have presented him with the big problem of not being able to afford to drink as much.