Private 9728 William Morgan

[Berkorichard]

I'm currently researching the names on the 1918 Absent Voters List for Northchurch in Hertfordshire. I have come across Private 9728 William Morgan who is shown on the list as serving with 1st Battalion, Oxon and Bucks Light Infantry and registered at Broadway Farm. His medal card shows him allocated to 5(a) Asiatic, with a date of 5th December 1914. As such he would have been with the Oxon & Bucks LI during the siege of Kut and probably captured. I cannot find any other record of him on the CWGC website nor other sites commemorating those who died during WW1. Nor can I find any record of his returning to Hertfordshire after the end of hostilities. Is there any way to find out what happened to him in Mesopotamia?

 

Richard North

[DavidOwen]

Hi Richard

There is some info on the activities of the 1st Battalion here https://oxandbuckslightinfantry.weebly.com/1st--2nd-battalions-in-the-great-war.html The war diaries are at Kew but not digitised and it is very doubtful he would be mentioned by name.

Looks as if he survived as he isn't recorded as dead anywhere

Good luck with your research

David

[Dai Bach y Sowldiwr]

Would be worth locating the Electoral Registers for 1918 onwards to see if he re-appears in the vicinity.

The fact that he's not on the CWGC register doesn't necessarily mean he didn't die in the war.

New missed cases do turn up  regularly, although the odds are small.

The AVL lists were compiled either by the soldier himself filling in a card, or relatives back home doing the same.

The fact he is on the AVL (I assume compiled Spring 1918) suggests he wasn't reported dead or missing by relatiives up to that time.

Might he have died in the UK ?

[PRC]

His Medal Index Card shows him as being 1st Battalion, so that ties up with the Theatre of War.

 

There is nothing obvious for him in the records of the International Committee of the Red Cross  - the cards for the Mesoptamian prisoners are included in the Servicemen missing in Gallipoli section and just to make it even easier, all bar one of the Morgan cards I could readily find are misfiled under Morriss.

 

The Army Service number blog puts service number 9728 as issued between the 6th November 1911, (9547) and the 11th October 1912 (9775).

http://armyservicenumbers.blogspot.com/2009/10/ox-bucks-light-infantry-1st-2nd.html

Assuming he was at least 18 when he signed up then he would have to have been born before 1895, (unless he lied about his age). There is one Morgan family recorded living in Northchurch on the 1911 Census of England and Wales and they were at No.9 Norcott Hill. Parents Amos and Ruth have had 8 children, all then still alive, but only five of them was still living at home by the time of the census. Of course some of those children may have moved out and set up households of there own, so it may be worth trying the main Electoral Registers to see if you can identify who else was living at Broadway Farm. If you can identify a family it might then be easier to track down a birth which in turn makes it easier to check the 1939 National Register and Death records.

 

While I can't speak specifically for William, I have researched several pre-war regulars in the 2nd Battalion Norfolk Regiment who "should" have been in the siege and subsequent surrender at Kut. However, either as a result of being wounded\ falling ill during campaigning in late 1915,or allocated some other task such as escorting wounded as the force withdrew, a number were outside the city and could not make it back in. There were sufficient of them to form a composite unit with men similarly stranded from the Dorset Regiment , known as the "Norsets".  This was subsequently bolstered with drafts until the two battalions could resume there separate identities. I suspect this scenario was not unique to just those two.

 

Again, my experience with the Norfolks is that disease was a bigger cause of troops losses than combat. On return to the UK a number made pension claims citing the effects of malaria, typhus, enteric and sandfly bites during their service there. A few sadly would even pass away as a result of these causes. It may be worth going through an Ancestry search to see if there is a surviving pension ledger card for him on Fold3.

 

Hope that helps,

 

Peter

[Berkorichard]

Thanks everyone, you have been a great help. I've already checked all the suggestions available on-line with no success. Hopefully the Pension Ledger Cards on Fold 3 will reveal something when all of them have been published (I gather only some 37% are currently available).  Richard

[PRC]

For what it’s worth Amos & Ruth Morgan don’t appear to have had a son William.

 

On the 1911 Census of England and Wales, Amos Morgan, (aged 49, a Shepherd, born Luton), and Ruth Morgan, (aged 49, born Leighton, Bedforshire), state they have been married 27 years. The 4 out of their 8 children living with them at that time were:-

 Lionel….aged 15…born Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire…Shepherds Assistant

Shirley, (male)…aged 13…born Luton

Lottie….aged 9…..born Abbots Langley, Hertfordshire

Jessica..aged 7….born Hemel Hempstead

 

Going back to the 1901 Census of England and Wales the family were living at High Barns, Abbots Langley. Father Amos, 39 and working as a Domestic Gardener, now gives his birth place as “Totternoe”(?), Bedfordshire. Mother Ruth, (39), gives her birth place as Eaton Bray(?), Bedfordshire. As well as children Lionel, (5 – shown as born Pimlico, Hertfordshire) and Shirley, (2 – shown as born Totternoe(?)), the older children in the household are Harry, (12, born Totternoe?), Edwin, (10, born Bovingdon, Hertfordshire) and Ada, (7, born Watford).

Only on the 1891 Census of England and Wales when the family were living at Bovingdon, Hertfordshire does the name of the eighth child turn up. This was Florence, aged 4 and born Tottenhoe, Bedfordshire. Also in the household are Henry, 2, and Edwin 7 weeks.

 

The most likely marriage of the parents took place in the Leighton Buzzard District of Bedfordshire in Q3 of 1884. This was when an Amos Morgan married either Ruth Fountain or Sarah Ann Rollings. The England Marriages 1538-1973 source confirms that an Amos Morgan married a Ruth Fountain at Eaton Bray, Bedford, on the 26th July 1884.

Source: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NVS1-C8V

 

Going through the civil birth registrations:-

No obvious match for a Florence Morgan, (aged 4 on the 1891 Census).

Henry Morgan, mothers’ maiden name Fountain, registered Q1, 1889, Luton District.

Edwin Morgan, mothers’ maiden name Fountain, registered Q2, 1891, Hemel Hempstead District.

Ada Morgan, mothers’ maiden name Fountain, registered Q2, 1893, Watford District.

Lionel Morgan, mothers’ maiden name not available, registered Q4 1895 Watford District

Shirley Morgan, mothers’ maiden name not available, registered Q2 1898 Luton District

Lottie Morgan, mothers’ maiden name not available, registered Q4 1901 Watford District

Jessica Morgan, mothers’ maiden name not available, registered Q2, 1904, Hemel Hempstead District.

So none with a middle name, which was one potential route to solving who William Morgan was.

 

There are William Morgan’s in Amos’ family line, including a brother on the 1871 census and a nephew on the 1881 one, so there still could be a family tie that led to William Morgan being normally domiciled in Northchurch in 1918.

 

BTW there appears to be only 1 MiC for a Shirley Morgan. Units are shown as Acting Corporal 4673 Hertfordshire Regiment and 235594 Leicestershire Regiment. Not clear from the MiC in which order he served and which Regiment issued his medals. If it’s the son of Amos & Ruth it might be worth checking the AVL to see whether that gives you details of other family members who served and where they were living.. Unlikely that any surviving paperwork for any of them might reference who William Morgan was and if he made I through,but still a possibility.

 

Even if all that’s mainly negatives \ confirms what you already know,  I hope it helps.

 

Finally, you’re original question asked about what he was up to. Assuming he survived, are you aware of this site?

http://www.lightbobs.com/1914-august---december.html

The side bar has the option to select by year. In particular on this page http://www.lightbobs.com/1916-attempt-to-relieve-kut.html there appears to be a confirmation of what I’ve speculated above.

 

1st BATTALION DETAILS WITH THE RELIEF FORCE.

When the 6th Division was finally hemmed in in Kut there were on the way up river about 100 men of the Regiment, who were rejoining on recovery from wounds or illness, together with some six or seven officers who had been sent from various regiments in India as reinforcements. These were for the time being attached to the Connaught Rangers, but early in 1916 Major L. J. Carter, who had now returned to Mesopotamia from India, was ordered to form a Provisional Battalion out of them and a large draft expected from England.

The draft, commanded by Major Hon. W. R. S. Barrington (3rd Battalion), consisted of 11 officers and 298 men, and arrived at Wadi Camp about the middle of January, when the new Provisional Battalion was formed.

 

Cheers,

Peter

Edited 30 April , 2019 by PRC
Typo

[Berkorichard]

Thanks again, its certainly given me a few more leads to follow up.

 

Richard