Background

John William “Morris” Charnley was born December 9, 1891, in Bacup, Lancastershire, England to Elizabeth Charnley. There are few details of John’s father because he had passed away when John was young. According to the 1901 Census of England and Wales, Elizabeth was left a widow at the age of thirty-four to raise four children, in addition to John, named Mary, Tom, Joseph, and William. At the time, it appears that John’s paternal grandparents, William and Alice, were living with them as well. While there are missing details of his early family life, it appears that when the children were old enough everyone in the home worked as weavers in the local cotton mill. Over time, John became close with five siblings who were also working at the cotton mill. Robert and Ellen Morris had moved to Bacup with their large family of twelve children and some of the eldest children, Robert Jr., Lillian, Albert, Henry, and Edward, became good friends with John. When the Morris family made the decision to move to Canada in 1912 to work in Canadian cotton mills, John asked if he go along as well with the boys that had become like family to him. The Morris family left England for Canada in 1912, just after the sinking of the Titanic, and initially settled in Cornwall, Ontario, then Montreal, Quebec in 1913, before arriving at last to Marysville in early 1914. According to newspaper accounts, the arrival of such a large family to the area for work at the Marysville Cotton Mill drew lots of attention and interest. By this time, John had become adopted into the Morris family and given how close he was to the boys he was considered a son by Robert and Ellen. John also became incredibly close to Lillian. According to family stories, just prior to the outbreak of war John and Lillian had fallen in love and had begun plans to get married. When Canada entered the war in late 1914 John promised to Lillian that they would get married when he returned. This promise is confirmed in John’s military will naming “my Lillian Morris” and on his medal card showing her as his fiancée. During this period, while the Morris brothers had continued working in the cotton mill, their father had found work as a shoemaker at the H.S. Campbell shoe-factory. The family also attended the Christ Church Cathedral. In July 1915, Robert, Albert and John all went to Sussex to enlist with the 55th Battalion. Newspapers at the time confirm that their younger brother, Henry, had already enlisted the previous year and had been sent overseas. According to his attestation form, John was described as having blue eyes, light brown hair, a fair complexion, while standing five feet eight inches tall. He was twenty-three years old. Over the next few months, the Morris brothers divided their time up between training in preparation for overseas duty and finding time for family in Fredericton and Marysville.               

Wartime Experience

On October 30, 1915, Lance Corporal John W. Charnley embarked from Saint John, New Brunswick for England aboard the S.S. Corsican. After more than a week on the Atlantic Ocean, John arrived with his unit on November 9 and was admitted to a military hospital suffering from pneumonia less than a month after his arrival. He remained seriously ill at the Bear Wood facility until early 1916 when doctors finally believed he was healthy enough to be discharged for duty. After recovering, John was transferred to the 42nd Battalion and arrived in France April 15, 1916. Like many Canadian units in 1916, the 42nd made its way to the Ypres Salient and northern France during the battles of St. Eloi and Mount Sorrel. However, by August the Canadian corps had shifted to the Somme region to prepare for assaults that would begin in late summer. During the first three months of fighting on the Somme, there were more than 24, 000 Canadian casualties fighting with the British Army. In early September, John and the rest of the Canadian Corps went into positions along a 3, 000-meter section of Pozieres Ridge with the 42nd Battalion on the center-left flank. On September 15, 1916, the Canadian Corps launched its first major attack on the Somme near the village of Courcelette. That evening, as John was advancing with the 42nd Battalion over open ground towards German trenches, a machine gun opened fire on his position killing him instantly. Given the intensity of fighting during the Somme, John’s body was never recovered. Shortly after his death, on October 2, 1916, the Daily Gleaner reported the news to the community with great sympathy to the family. Before the end of the war, all but one brother who had enlisted would survive. In 1917, Robert was killed at Vimy and Albert would pass away from illness in 1918 shortly after being invalidated home. By July 1919, the Daily Gleaner would report that the “only survivor of four sons” was returning home as Henry, having survived the entire war, was returning but suffering from significant shell shock and deafness. Although papers suggested that the Morris family had “reason to feel proud of the part they played… having given three sons for the cause of humanity” family stories reveal parents heartbroken and filled with shock after such a loss. At the time of his death in 1916, John was approximately twenty-four years old. All of his medals went to his fiancée, Lillian. Researching the life of John William Charnley was difficult because his name is incorrectly inscribed on the Provincial Cenotaph as “John W.C. Morris” while Library and Archives Canada, the Christ Church Cathedral, and the Marysville Cenotaph have him properly listed as “John Charnley”.

Lest We Forget

Private John William “Morris” Charnley is honoured on the Vimy Memorial located in Vimy, France. According to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, John is one of approximately 11, 168 names honoured here for those killed in France with no known grave.