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Provincial Archives of New Brunswick

Soldiers of the Great War; The Fredericton Soldier Biography History Initiative

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Morris, Albert

Private 445283
55th Battalion
9th Canadian Machine Gun Company

Background

Albert Morris was born December 2, 1893 in Birmingham, England to Robert Morris and Ellen Collier. According to newspaper records, in addition to Albert, Robert and Ellen would have eleven children together named Letty, Robert Jr., Lilly, Henry, Edward, Maggie, Thomas, Nellie, Harold, Clemet, and Mona. They would also be the adopted parents for a boy named John Charnley, a young man from England who had been close with Albert, Henry, and Robert. Like many others from England, family stories suggest that the Morris’ had primarily come to Canada looking for job opportunities. After arriving, they would initially find work in Ontario and Quebec before moving to Fredericton for employment at the Marysville cotton mill in 1910. In addition to the mill, Robert would support the family as a local shoemaker and his sons, including Albert, would find jobs as labourers at the Marysville mill and the local shoe factory. While few details highlight the specifics of Albert’s early life in Fredericton, newspapers suggest that the Morris family was well-known and had particularly close connections to the north-side Devon community.

When war broke out in 1914, Albert’s younger brother Henry was the first of four Morris boys to enlist. Although, Albert’s service record reveals that he had no prior military training, their father had been active with militias in England before coming to Canada. And so, the desire to enlist was likely strong in the family. At the time of his formal enlistment in Sussex, July 28, 1915, Albert was twenty-two years old and unmarried. According to documented family stories, and their individual service records, John and Robert Jr. would accompany Albert to Sussex where all three would enlist together. He was described as having brown eyes, dark brown hair, a fair complexion, and standing approximately five feet five inches tall. Along with other boys from the area, including his brothers, Albert joined the 55th Battalion and began training with his unit. After making their way to Valcartier, Quebec for training in the summer of 1915, all three brothers would be together as they prepared to go overseas a few months later.

Wartime Experience

On October 30, 1915, Albert and his brothers embarked from Montreal, Quebec aboard the S.S. Corsican for Plymouth, England, arriving over a week later on November 9. Albert would be given the rank of lance corporal and attached to a machine gun unit for training during the winter of 1915-1916. He would work in England as a machine gun instructor over the next year. However, by the spring of 1917, newspapers reveal that he would give up his rank in England for an opportunity to go to France in search of his younger brother Henry, who had been reported missing. By this time, both John and Robert Jr. had been killed in France.

According to his service record, Albert would request to join the 9th Machine Gun Company in July of 1917, landing in France August 2 with his unit after more than a year and a half in England. The next day, August 3, Albert left with his unit for northern France and the Ypres Salient where, according to newspapers, he would reunite with his brother Henry prior to the Battle of Passchendaele. A few months later, on October 27, 1917, Albert would be admitted to hospital as a result of poison gas and gunshot wounds to his right leg while fighting near Ypres, Belgium. He would be evacuated to England for treatment at the Queen Mary’s and Ontario military hospitals over the winter of 1917-1918 before being discharged back to Canada on May 6, 1918. According to Albert’s medical records, he would sail home aboard the H.M.S. Llandovery Castle arriving to the Armouries in Saint John, New Brunswick. After receiving treatment in Saint John for two weeks, Private Morris would be transported to the Carleton Street Hospital in Fredericton where he would be admitted June 1 and pass away in the middle of the night on June 2. According to Albert’s circumstances of death report, he would die of heart failure. Albert Morris was twenty-four years old, leaving behind his parents, friends, and extended family.

Lest We Forget

Private Albert Morris is buried in the Fredericton Rural Cemetery located along the Woodstock Road in Fredericton, New Brunswick. According to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Albert is one of approximately twenty-one burials honoured here. The cemetery is owned by the Wilmot United Church.

*This biography was researched and written by Sydney Smith 8A, Ga rade 8 student at George Street Middle School located in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada.

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