The AIF Project

Edwin Joseph MORLEY

Regimental number3190
Place of birthEuroa, Victoria
SchoolState School, Victoria
ReligionChurch of England
OccupationPolice constable
Address112 Inglis Street, Port Melbourne, Victoria
Marital statusMarried
Age at embarkation30
Height5' 10.75"
Weight182 lbs
Next of kinWife, Mrs E Morley, Wallan, Victoria
Previous military serviceServed for 103 days in the Australian Commonwealth Horse, South Africa.
Enlistment date26 July 1915
Place of enlistmentMelbourne, Victoria
Rank on enlistmentActing Corporal
Unit name21st Battalion, 7th Reinforcement
AWM Embarkation Roll number23/38/2
Embarkation detailsUnit embarked from Melbourne, Victoria, on board HMAT A18 Wiltshire on 18 November 1915
Rank from Nominal RollSergeant
Unit from Nominal Roll60th Battalion
FateKilled in Action 19 July 1916
Age at death from cemetery records31
Place of burialAustralian Cemetery (Grave No. 19), France
Panel number, Roll of Honour,
  Australian War Memorial
170
Miscellaneous information from
  cemetery records
Commemorated in Euroa Cemetery, Victoria. Father: James MORLEY (d. 18 December 1938, aged 92; bu. Euroa Cemetery)
Family/military connectionsBrother: Lt Charles Henry MORLEY DSO, Australian Army Ordnance Corps, died of disease, 13 April 1919.
Other details

War service: Egypt, Western Front

Taken on strength, 60th Bn, Tel el Kebir, 26 February 1916.

Reverted to the ranks, 5 March 1916.

Promoted Corporal, Ferry Post, 25 March 1916.

Appointed Acting Sergeant, 18 April 1916.

Detached to School of Instruction, Zeitoun, 29 April 1916.

Promoted Sergeant, 5 May 1916.

Rejoined Bn, Ferry Post, 21 May 1916.

Embarked Alexandria to join the British Expeditionary Force, 18 June 1916; disembarked Marseilles, France, 29 June 1916.

Reported Missing, 19 July 1916.

Court of Enquiry, held in the field, 4 August 1917, pronounced fate as 'Killed in Action, 19 July 1916'.

Note, Red Cross File No 1820611: 'No trace Germany. Cert. by Capt. Mills 10.10.19.'

Statement, 1909 Pte DILLON, 60th Bn (patient, 1st Australian Auxiliary Hospital, Harefield, England), 12 January 1917: 'Fleurbaix 19th July he went over the trenches with me, and was killed about 70 yards out in No Man's Land by Machine gun fire. I was lying out from Wed. to Friday and he was laying beside me. There could not be any mistake about him, you could see he was dead.'

Second statement, 2719 Pte J.L. CLANCY, B Company, 60th Bn, 28 February 1917: 'Lt. J. Steele, D. Co. previously B. Co. told me he saw his dead body on the barbed wire at Fleurbaix, on 19th. July.'

Third statement, Rev. J.P. GILBERT, RC Chaplain, 6th Bn, 16 February 1917: 'It may seem strange that men can be killed and their bodies not be recovered, but it must be kept in mind that most of the men who fell on 19th July, fell on grounds that are still in dispute, and that cannot be traversed except at night, and then only very stealthily, and by only a few at a time. Very few even of the Officers who were killed on that date were ever brought in for burial.'

Fourth statement, 3182 Pte E. MITCHELL, 59th Bn, 14 March 1917: 'Sgt. Morley and I hopped the parapet together five yards apart at Fleurbaix on July 19th. and each called good luck to the other. Just outside our wires I saw him fall. I had a letter from Lt. Steel (still with the Battn.) stating he had seen Morley's dead body hanging on the wires. Pte. Stafford (59th. Bn) now in 3 A.D.B.D. told me that he took the identification disc off the body. Pte. "Pompey" Reynolds told me that he saw Morley, after being first hit, sit up and in a dazed way make as though he would attack one of his own section, when he was struck in the head; fell back, and did not move again. The man who took the disc said the body was badly knocked about as if by a shell.'

Fifth statement, 2034 Pte J.T. STAFFORD, 57th Bn, 6 April 1917: ''L/Cpl. Wright said that Sgt. Morley was badly knocked about[;] he found him outside the wire and that he thought that he was killed suddenly his rifle also being smashed close by.'

Medals: 1914-15 Star, British War Medal, Victory Medal
SourcesNAA: B2455, MORLEY Edwin Joseph
Red Cross File No 1820611

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