1885 - 1916
CPL David Wallace Crawford
1887 - 1916
Lce-Corpl John Joseph Nickle
1894 - 1916
Pte 17911 Morton Neill
1897 - 1916
Lieut Edward Stanley Ashcroft
1883 - 1918
Pte 21665 William Bertram Morton
- Age: 33
- From: Banbridge, Co.Down
- Regiment: The King's (Liverpool Regiment) 19th Btn
- K.I.A Tuesday 17th October 1916
- Commemorated at: Thiepval Memorial
Panel Ref: P&F1D8B &8 C.
William had older siblings Grace, George, and Isabel, and younger siblings Richard, Reginald, Mary, Dorothy, and John. His father was a wholesale seed merchant in Banbridge with a business on Commercial Road.
In 1901 the family is living in House 4, Castlewellan Road, Banbridge, with 10 children and a nurse. William is aged 17, and is listed as a scholar.
The 1911 census finds them at House 5, Castlewellan Road, with seven children and a servant. His father Joseph is 70, a merchant, his mother Grace is 57. Grace 30, and Dorothy 19, have no occupation, George, 29, is a merchant like his father, William 27, Richard 25, Reginald 23, and John 18 are all listed as ‘business’ (probably helping in their father’s business).
William enlisted in Liverpool on the 11th September 1914, as Private 21665,joining the 19th (Pals) Battalion,of The King’s Liverpool Regiment, giving his age as 31 years and 44 days, and his occupation as traveller (likely as a representative for his father’s seed business). He was described as being 5’ 8 and a quarter inches tall, weighing 145 lbs, with 37” chest, with a fresh complexion, blue eyes and brown hair. He stated as his next of kin as his father, Joseph, in Banbridge, His religion was stated as Church of England (although the census records show all the family as Presbyterian).
His brothers Reginald and John (Jack) both served as 2nd Lieutenants in the Royal Irish Rifles.
William trained at Knowsley near Liverpool, then at Belton Lark in Lincolnshire, and finally at Larkhill Camp in Salisbury Plain. During training William was guilty of a number of conduct infractions:
William’s service record shows -
20/7/1916 Sick, to Field Ambulance with gastric catarrh.
24/7/1916 To No.5 Casualty Clearing Station.
24/7/1916 Admitted 22nd General Hospital at Camiers with gastritis.
15/8/1916 Transferred to 6 Convalescent Depot, Etaples.
30/8/1916 Joined 24 I.B.D from 18 G.H.
23/9/1916 Rejoined his unit in the field.
He shipped to France with his battalion, disembarking at Boulogne on the 07th November 1915.
On 13 July 1916 his brother Reginald was listed as Wounded and Missing. His father learned later that month that Reginald had been taken prisoner.
By July 1916, as his father had not heard from William in several weeks, he wrote to Infantry Records, Preston:
“Dear Sir, I have not heard from my son, Private W. B. Morton, 19th Kings Liverpool Regiment, Machine Gun Section 21665, No.21665, 39th Division, B.E.F. France for some weeks and I made an enquiry through the British Red Cross Society, 18 Carlton House Terrace, London, who directed me to enquire from you if you could give me any information about him. I enclose stamped addressed envelope and await the favour of your reply. Thanking you in anticipation. Yours faithfully, Joseph Morton.”
The response is not recorded in his record.
William’s service record shows -
20/7/1916 Sick, to Field Ambulance
24/7/1916 To No.5 Casualty Clearing Station
24/7/1916 Admitted 22nd General Hospital
15/8/1916 To Con(valescent?) Depot, Etaples
However, on 8th November 1916 the Belfast News. A Letter wrote that William had been unofficially reported killed. The next day the paper reported that William had been killed by a shell on the night of the 19th [sic] October.
His death was reported in the Banbridge Chronicle on Wednesday 08th November 1916;
KILLED IN ACTION.
BANBRIDGE MEN IN THE CASUALTY LISTS.
BERTIE MORTON, KING'S LIVERPOOL REGIMENT.
"WEEK after week, and longer every day the dreadful roll of our dear dead appears, and each succeeding list confirms our fears of many a friend and lover far away."
We mourn to-day-though pride is mingled with our tears the death of W. B. (Bertie) Morton, the fourth and eldest surviving son of Mr. Joseph and Mrs. Morton, Enville, Banbridge, who was killed in action on the 19th ult. Bertie Morton was serving in the machine-gun section of the King's Liverpool Regiment, and the dread news was conveyed by his platoon officer, who in a sympathetic letter to Mr. and Mrs. Morton writes" I regret to inform you that your son, W. B. Morton, was instantly killed in action by a shell on the night of October 19th, when convoying up food to his comrades in the front line under heavy shell fire. As a soldier he could not have done his duty more heroically. He was also one of the most popular boys in my platoon; his cheery laugh and willing dis position will be greatly missed by me and all his friends." This expression of sympathy will be echoed in all sincerity by all of us who knew Bertie Morton; he was one of the many personal friends whom this dreadful war has robbed us of, and as we think of him and those others who have gone before we are awed at the tragic waste of those young lives who had not passed the springtime of their years. But we are buoyed up with the knowledge that they shall live for ever in the results of their efforts:-
...... To these the vision came
That they should lay their lives down for their friends;
And shall not we, surviving, do the same -
For selfishness and malice make amends
And live for others, when peace comes again.
As these men died ?
Bertie Morton had been assisting his father in his business here, but prior to the outbreak of the war was engaged in commercial pursuits in Liverpool, and on the call to arms he joined the King's Liverpool Regiment, with which he was serving when he was called to join the great majority. He had made a name in other fields, and was one of the best Hockey players Banbridge has produced; he was our second international and as a half-back had few superiors. He represented Ireland against England, Scotland, and Wales on not a few occasions, and was once chosen for the Midlands in the English International Trial matches. His brother, Lieut. Reginald Morton, Royal Irish Rifles, has been a prisoner in Germany since the action on 1st July, when the Ulster Division distinguished itself at such cost, and his youngest brother, Jack, is also serving with the colours. To his bereaved parents we offer our deep and sincere sympathy in their sorrow.
His death was also reported in the Belfast News-Letter on Thursday 09th November 1916;
INTERNATIONAL HOCKEY PLAYER KILLED
The death is announced of Private W. B. Morton, The King's (Liverpool Regiment), Machine Gun Section, who was killed by a shell on the night of the 19th ult. He was the eldest surviving son of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Morton, of Enville, Banbridge, and was well known in athletic circles. He formerly played for Banbridge Hockey Club, and represented his country in international matches. His brother, Lieutenant Reginald Morton, Royal Irish Rifles, has been a prisoner in Germany since 1st July.
His death was also reported in the Irish Independent on Friday 10th November 1916;
TIT-BITS OF SPORT.
Pvte. W. B. Morton, Liverpool Regt., who has been reported killed, was an international and Banbridge hockey player.
He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, France.
The Thiepval Memorial, the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20 March 1918 and have no known grave. Over 90% of those commemorated died between July and November 1916.
On 01st August 1932 the Prince of Wales and the President of France inaugurated the Thiepval Memorial in Picardy. The inscription reads: “Here are recorded the names of officers and men of the British Armies who fell on the Somme battlefields between July 1915 and March 1918 but to whom the fortune of war denied the known and honoured burial given to their comrades in death.”
William was declared Missing on 17th October. We can only imagine the agonies his family went through having a second son Missing in Action so soon after the first, and the hope they must have clung to, that he, like his brother, had been captured.
His death was reported in the Belfast Weekly Telegraph 1st June 1918;
Amongst the Prisoners of War who have recently arrived at The Hague from Germany for internment in Holland is Lieut. Reginald Morton, Royal Irish Rifles. Lieutenant Morton, who is the son of Mr Joseph Morton, Erville(sic), Banbridge, was captured on 1st July, 1916. An elder brother, Pte W. B. Morton, King’s Liverpool's, was killed in action on 19th October, 1916. Lieut. Jack Morton is wounded, and a prisoner in Germany. He was captured during the commencement of the German offensive on the 21st March last.
His father, at Commercial Road, Banbridge, was informed on 18/4/1917 there were no personal effects to be sent. His parents, living at “Enville”, Banbridge, received William’s effects, army pay of £8 3s 2d, including a War Gratuity of £9. No pension record has been found.
William earned his three medals, which his father signed for.Reginald had been captured at Thiepval on the first day of the Somme and spent nearly two years as a PoW in Germany. He was repatriated through Holland in May 1918.
The war was not yet over and the family’s anguish continued. His father enquired with the International Red Cross in June 1918 as Jack had not been heard from since March. He learned in July his son had been captured at St. Quentin on 21st March 1918 with gunshot wounds to his right leg and left foot.
Reginald had been captured at Thiepval on the first day of the Somme and spent nearly two years as a PoW in Germany. He was repatriated through Holland in May 1918.
His service was reported in the Larne Times on Saturday 01st June 1918;
ULSTERMEN IN HOLLAND.
Amongst the prisoners of war who have recently arrived at The Hague from Germany for internment in Holland is Lieut. Reginald H. Morton, Royal Irish Rifles. Lieut. Morton, who is a son of Mr. Joseph Morton, Erville, Banbridge, was captured on 1st July, 1916. An elder brother, Pte. W. B. Morton, King's Liverpools, was killed in action on 19th October, 1916, and a younger, Lieut. Jack Morton is wounded and a prisoner in Germany; he was captured during the commencement of the German offensive on the 21st March last.
Reginald and Jack both survived the war. Jack received a disability pension for his wounds.
In 1920 his father provided formation on William’s living relatives. His parents were still living at “Erville”, Banbridge, with his brothers Richard, aged 34, Reginald, aged 31, and John, aged 27, and sisters Grace, aged 32, Isabel, aged 30, Mary, aged 24, and Dorothy, aged 23. His brother George had died.
His father died, in 1931 and his mother, in 1934.
William is commemorated on Ireland’s National Roll of Honour (as William Bertron). He is also commemorated on the Banbridge Town War Memorial.
Our grateful thanks are extended to Linda Woodfine Michelini for the exhaustive research into William Bertram and also to Nigel Henderson for providing the photograph of William and also for a newspaper article containing some of the biographical details. His website is well worth a visit: Great War Belfast Clippings.
We currently have no further information on William Bertram Morton, If you have or know someone who may be able to add to the history of this soldier, please contact us.
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