Remembering Today; James Morgan ANMF

[christine liava'a]

Remembering Today: Pte James MORGAN 116 Australian Naval and Military Force who died on 19.01.15. Rabaul (Bita Paka) War Cemetery, Papua New Guinea

James Morgan was an Englishman, born in West Derby, Liverpool, Lancashire, aged 49 yrs and 9 months when he enlisted in the 3rd Battalion, Australian Naval & Military Force in November 1914. He was a Marine and had already spent 7 1/2 years in the Royal navy and and 15 years in the Victorian Navy. He and his wife Margaret and children lived in Port Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

He was a member of the Angaram Garrison on the Sepik River, German New Guinea, near Madang, from 30 dec 1914, and became ill with malaria on the 9th Jan, eventually ending up in the Marienbad Mission Station hospital. He died 10 days later

He was originally buried at the mission station, but his wife wanted the body disinterred and taken to Rabaul in 1927 to be buried there with a headstone.

Some of his personal file, available at NAA, consists of papers to do with the reburial. Other papers concern a James Henry Morgan, also of Liverpool, with whom he got confused.

MORGAN, JAMES

Initials: J

Nationality: Australian

Rank: Private

Regiment: Australian Naval and Military Force

Date of Death: 19/01/1915

Service No: 116

Casualty Type: Commonwealth War Dead

Grave/Memorial Reference: AA. B. 7.

Cemetery: RABAUL (BITA PAKA) WAR CEMETERY

Cemetery: RABAUL (BITA PAKA) WAR CEMETERY

Country: Papua New Guinea

Locality: unspecified

Location Information: Rabaul lies on Blanche Bay inside the hook-nosed north-eastern tip of the Gazelle Peninsula of New Britain, the largest and most important island of the Bismarck Archipelago. The War Cemetery is located approximately 50 kilometres south of Rabaul, and approximately 5 kilometres south-west of Kokopo.

Historical Information: Rabaul was the scene of the first fighting by Australian troops in the First World War, when they seized the German wireless station on the site of which now stands the war cemetery.. ..This cemetery also contains First World War graves brought in from Rabaul Cemetery in 1950 and from Kokopo Old German Cemetery in 1961. Special memorials commemorate three casualties who were buried in Rabaul Old Civil Cemetery, but whose graves could not be traced following damage to the cemetery during the Japanese occupation. In all, 32 First World War servicemen are now buried or commemorated in the cemetery.

[frev]

Christine

You beat me to it! I got so side-tracked reading up on Bean - The Australians at Rabaul - that by the time I'd written up James' details you'd already posted.

Well, instead of going through & looking to see if I can add anything to yours - I'm just going to post the whole thing. So here it is - again!

Remembering today on the Great War Forum, 19/1/2006:

Private James MORGAN, No. 116, C Company, 3rd Infantry Battalion, Naval & Marine Fox Force – Special Tropical Corps. Enlisted at Port Melbourne, Vic 6/11/14 at the age of 49 years & 9 months. Embarked at Sydney 28/11/1914 on the SS ‘Eastern’, for German New Guinea.

“Pte Morgan left Madang as a member of the Angorum Garrison section on Dec 30th 1914. About the 9th of January he reported sick. He gradually became worse and he was removed to the Mission Station. He received all the care possible from the Missionaries and Dr Thurwald. He daily became weaker and ten days later died.”

James had died of Malaria, on Tuesday the 19th January 1915 at the Marienberg Mission Station, near Angorum, on the Sepik River, in the Eitape District, German New Guinea.

In 1927, with the consent of his wife, his remains were exhumed & re-interred on the 8th November at the Rabaul (Bita Paka) War Cemetery in Papua New Guinea, where a headstone was later erected.

Fortunately there were only 2 deaths from malaria amongst the small Angorum garrison, but the rest had been badly infected, and by mid November 1915 the Garrison was abandoned.

James, was born c1865 in the parish of West Derby, near the town of Liverpool in County Lancashire, England, and according to his daughter, emigrated to Australia at the age of 20.

He was a Mariner by trade and had served in the Royal Navy for 7½ years & the Victorian Navy for 15 years. His war medals included: Long Service with the Navy; Star of Egypt; Egyptian 1882 & China 1900.

On enlistment in WW1, he lived with his wife Margaret at Port Melbourne, Vic, and they had at least two children. He was a small sturdy man, standing 5ft 5in, and weighing in at just over 12st, his hair already grey, matched his eyes, and he sported a tattoo on his left forearm.

The 2 children mentioned in his records were a girl & a boy, the girl Evelyn became Mrs Downes; and it was the son that received the news of his father’s death from the local Anglican clergyman, and took it upon himself to pass the information on to his mother on her return home.

Pte James MORGAN – one of the forgotten heroes of WW1 – lost before Australia had even heard of Gallipoli. Lest We Forget.

[Andrew P]

Thanks for that information Christine & Frev. Does anyone know if Morgan was mentioned in the book that was released last year about the Australian & Naval Military Force?

Regards

Andrew

[frev]

Hi Andrew

If you mean the one by Kevin Meade: "Heroes before Gallipoli" - Bita Paka and that One Day in September; no unfortunately he isn't mentioned. I haven't read it yet - but it seems to focus mostly on the actual battle, which was before Morgan arrived.

Cheers, Frev.

[Andrew P]

Okay, Thanks for that Frev. When I initially heard about the book I thought that it would also focus on the Force after their initial engagement.

Cheers

Andrew

[frev]

Andrew - just finished my latest book - so I'm going to have to start on the above now - just to see what it really does cover! Frev