Soldier believed to be Private (later Captain!) 103, Cyril Stanley Morris

[RichardsProductions99]

Greetings all!

 

I'm looking for some assistance in working out more about the soldier in the attached family photograph: very likely to be a relative of mine, a cousin of Gerald Walter and Philip Dudley Morris: two other relatives who served in the Great War.

I believe, from the black Rifle Brigade button visible on the lower right pocket, and the shape of the cap badge, that he is a Private of the 1/5th Battalion London Regiment (London Rifle Brigade)

Having searched for names matching those of the Morris cousins, one stood out: Cyril S Morris, who would have been around the the right age (born in 1888) as the soldier in the photo.

Furthermore, this correlated with a Cyril Stanley Morris service number 103 who, as chance would have it, served with the 1/5th Londons, reaching the front in November 1914.  

Interestingly, the  5th  London Rifle Brigade was the same unit that Philip Dudley joined in January 1915.  Surely this is more than coincidence?

 

What I want to know is:

• Is my theory about the cousins serving together likely, and that I have the right man (There are two other cousins Sydney A, and Edgar G but neither have much evidence to support them being the unknown soldier)?
• What is the regiment/battalion Cyril served with as a Captain, and how would that have come about?
• Anything else the medal card can reveal.

 

It's a lot to read and a lot to ask, but thanks for bearing with.

 

Best wishes,

Chris

[Matlock1418]

23 minutes ago, RichardsProductions99 said:

Cyril Stanley Morris

London Gazette have a Cyril Stanley Morris commissioning https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/29389/supplement/12044

ROYAL HORSE ARTILLERY ... Welsh Brigade. ... Cyril Stanley Morris to be Second Lieutenant. Dated 1st December, 1915

The trick will be to try and follow his promotions through the LG.

:-) M

Edit: seems to match with the MIC above. http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C719045

His service papers are at the National Archives - but not digitised so a visit, by you or a researcher, will likely be required I feel.

 

 

Edited 20 July , 2021 by Matlock1418
edit

[RichardsProductions99]

Thanks very much! 

I wonder why he transferred to the Royal Horse Artillery from the Rifle Brigade, quite a change!

[Matlock1418]

Promotions through the LG. Typically I would use "C S Morris" - so come up with 58 hits of which a few seem relevant but will need further checking/weeding. = over to you!  https://www.thegazette.co.uk/all-notices/notice?text="c+s+morris"&categorycode-all=all&noticetypes=&location-postcode-1=&location-distance-1=1&location-local-authority-1=&numberOfLocationSearches=1&start-publish-date=01%2F01%2F1914&end-publish-date=31%2F12%2F1921&edition=&london-issue=&edinburgh-issue=&belfast-issue=&sort-by=oldest-date&results-page-size=100

The last one in 1921 https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/32553/supplement/10356 is his relinquishment of commission as a Lieutenant and granting of Captain - from 4th Welsh Brigade.

Not really that uncommon for an officer to move away from the lads he knew as a ranker.

:-) M

[MaxD]

15 hours ago, RichardsProductions99 said:

I wonder why he transferred to the Royal Horse Artillery from the Rifle Brigade, quite a change!

He didn't, he joined the Royal Field Artillery.  In the LG entry cited by Matlock he is listed under Royal Field Artillery and the unit to which he belonged in the Welsh Brigade was an RFA unit.  

 

MaxD

[RichardsProductions99]

4 minutes ago, MaxD said:

He didn't, he joined the Royal Field Artillery.  In the LG entry cited by Matlock he is listed under Royal Field Artillery and the unit to which he belonged in the Welsh Brigade was an RFA unit.  

 

MaxD

Yes of course, don't know where I got Royal Horse Artillery from, must've been the heat!

Still, it is quite the change from rifles to artillery pieces!

[MaxD]

Further - the medal award roll for the BW and V medals has 103 C S Morris' commission 30 Nov 1915 in a long list of other 1/5 London men being commissioned into various units.  Friend @Frogsmile may wish to comment on a thought that that battalion (among others) was a hot house for potential officers??

 

MaxD

[MaxD]

Having some difficulty finding a 3/4 Welsh Brigade RFA in 1915  Longlongtrail has 1st, 2nd,3rd  and 4th (with a renaming of 3rd to "Cheshire" in 1913) but no word of an amalgamation if that is what it was.

 

MaxD

[RichardsProductions99]

I am having trouble with finding  a '3/4' as well, most strange.

[MaxD]

Philip Dudley Morris died on 2 July 1916 at 43 Casualty Clearing Station at Soterneau still serving with 1/5 London Regiment.  He went to France on 25 Jan 1915, CS Morris on 4 November 1914.  Highly likely therefore that these two met in France.  The 1/5 Bn war diary records a draft of 145 men arriving from the base at Ploegsteert on 1 Feb 1915 which would be about right for an arrival in France on 25 Jan.

 

The question about where Cyril Stanley served when in the RFA is a puzzle (to me at any rate).  3/4 Wels Brigade receives no hits anywhere.  Mat;ock notes his promotion to Captain in 1921 in 4 Welsh Brigade RFA which could be 1/4 or 2/4 although by that time as far as I am aware the brigades had become numbered.

 

MaxD

 

[RichardsProductions99]

UPDATE

For those following this story, due to the availability of his service record at the National Archives, I was able to conclusively prove the 'unknown soldier' to indeed be Private, later acting Captain Cyril Stanley Morris.

It appears his brother did join him in the 1/5 LRB, and also a cousin/some relative it appears from the war diary; a cousin who it seems may have been killed in front of Cyril, causing him to end up being sent home in May 1915 with severe shell-shock, or PTSD as we'd call it today.

He would later be put up for a commission with this elusive 3/4 Welsh Brigade?  And end up being posted to Thessaloniki/salonika/salonica in December 1916. Here rising up the acting ranks there, and with the 129th Brigade, before contracting Malaria.

He did make it to the end of the war however, and was eventually demobbed in 1919.