- See Stanley Chamberlain Morris’s entry on the Board of Trade’s Ancestry public tree.
- This information updates the group’s previous research published on the former DTI website (now archived by the National Archives).
- Do you have any more information about Stanley Chamberlain Morris? If so the War Memorial Research Group would love to hear from you
Name recorded on Board of Trade Memorial: S. C. Morris
Born: January 1895, West Ham, London
Date of Death: 25 September 1915
Age at death: 20
Service, Regiment, Corps, etc: London Regiment
Unit, Ship, etc: 14th Battalion (London Scottish)
Enlisted: London
Rank: Lance Corporal (Service No: 3216)
Decorations: WW1 Service Medals (Victory Medal, British War Medal and 1915 Star)
War (and theatre): WW1 (France and Flanders)
Manner of Death: Killed in Action (KIA)
Family Details: Son of George and Elizabeth F Morris, 43 Hampton Road, Forest Gate, London
Residence: Mile End
Home Department: Board of Trade – Storekeeper’s Branch
Civilian Rank: Abstractor
Cemetery or Memorial: Dud Corner Cemetery, Loos (V.C.13); Board of Trade War Memorial;
Biography:
Stanley was born in about January 1895 in West Ham, London. His father was George Morris (1861-?) and his mother was Elizabeth Flora Paterson (1866-1943). Stanley had three brothers – Lionel George Paterson Morris (1891-1969), Bruce Manners Morris (1898-1941) and Wallace Stuart Morris (1900-1962). He also had two sisters – Ruby Flora Morris (1893-1968) and Vera Morris (1896-1982).
In both the 1901 and 1911 censuses, the Morris family is living at 36 Bancroft Road, Mile End, London. By 1911, Stanley is aged 16 and his occupation is listed as working as a Boy Clerk for the Civil Service.
During WW1 Stanley enlisted for the 14th Battalion (London Scottish) which was part of the London Regiment. Only men who were either Scottish or of Scottish descent could join the battalion. Stanley first served overseas in France from 8 March 1915. We know that he died aged 20 on 25 September 1915, which was the first day of fighting at the Battle of Loos. This was the largest British military attack of the war and the first time the British used poison chlorine gas in warfare. It ended in military disaster with the British losses amounting to over 50,000 men (double that of the Germans). As a result of the military failures, the outcome of the battle led to the resignation of Britain’s Field Marshal Sir John French as commander of the British Expeditionary Force.
Research prepared by the London War Memorial website, explain the circumstances that Stanley found himself in on date of his death:
“The Battle of Loos, fought by the British Army from 25th September, 1915 through to 13th October, was conducted along a six-and-a-half-mile front running north from the mining village of Loos on the outskirts of Lens in Northern France. It was the largest offensive carried out by the British so far in the war. The opening day involved an attack by six divisions, with others entering the fray as it progressed and it was part of a much wider offensive with the French launching their own attacks in Champagne and at Vimy. It was the first time that the British used gas during the war, despite their condemnation of the Germans for doing the same in April 1915. There were some encouraging results on the first day but no major breakthrough was achieved and in the successive days the offensive became mired in trench warfare. By mid-October the battle had petered out with the British having suffered over 60,000 casualties during its course.
1st Division attacked along 1400 yards of front from a point opposite the Loos Road Redoubt to the Vermelles-Hulluch road. Jumping off trenches had been dug 300 yards in front of British line but the German trenches were still 300-400 yards off and on the other side of the crest of the Grenay ridge. To gain visibility, the Germans had run out saps and manned them with machine guns. At 5.50am on 25th September, 1915, a heavy British bombardment commenced and the gas cloud of chlorine was released. 1 and 2 Brigades made the attack As the two Brigades would be attacking on divergent lines, an independent force made up from the fifth battalion of both Brigades, 14th London(London Scottish) from 1 Brigade & 9th Liverpool (Kings) from 2 Brigade, and known as Green’s Force, was to fill the gap. The attack would then continue on the German second line and would be supported by 3 Brigade and in co-operation with 15th Division to the south. Shortly after 9.00am, orders were sent to Green’s Force to advance but all runners carrying this message were hit and the orders were not received until 10.55am and it was just after noon before the advance took place. A direct frontal attack by the 14th London and 9th Liverpool (Kings) was made either side of Lone Tree with short section rushes across no-man’s land but by now the Germans had recaptured Bois Carre and the attack failed. The wire was still intact and they were met by close range fire. 9th Liverpool (Kings) brought across a machine gun under a hail of fire which gave marginal assistance and a line was established close to the wire in whatever cover could be found. 14th London had over 250 casualties as a result of this attack. ”
Stanley is buried in the Dud Corner Cemetery at Loos. His grave is one of 1800 British and Commonwealth servicemen buried there (and one of only 684 graves that is identifable). The vast majority of men buried or commemorated have no known grave and a further 20,000 men are named on the Loos Memorial which forms the side and back of the cemetery.
Stanley’s name is also remembered on the Board of Trade War Memorial. As a soldier serving in a Scottish regiment, he is also recognised by the Scottish National War Memorial located at Edinburgh Castle.
We don’t know more about Stanley or the Morris family and the loss they must have felt at his death. In memory of Stanley and all those who died at the Battle of Loos we remember the poem “My Boy Jack” written in 1916 by the author Rudyard Kipling. His only son John Kipling (1897-1915) was also one of the thousands who also died at the Battle of Loos (like Stanley). The speaks of sadness and sorrow:
“Have you news of my boy Jack? “
Not this tide.
“When d’you think that he’ll come back?”
Not with this wind blowing, and this tide.
“Has any one else had word of him?”
Not this tide.
For what is sunk will hardly swim,
Not with this wind blowing, and this tide.
“Oh, dear, what comfort can I find?”
None this tide,
Nor any tide,
Except he did not shame his kind—
Not even with that wind blowing, and that tide.
Then hold your head up all the more,
This tide,
And every tide;
Because he was the son you bore,
And gave to that wind blowing and that tide!
In the words of Stanley Morris’s gravestone inscription “He Died For Us”.
Board of Trade War Memorial 