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Thomas Morison / Morrison cap badgePrivate Thomas Morison / Morrison

2nd Battalion Royal Scots Fusiliers
Service No: 19675

Thomas Morison / Morrison grave

948

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Click here for a frameable A4 print
Personal details

Family Information

Son of James and Elizabeth Morison of Coatbridge. From the 1881 Census - Address - 127 Aitchison St, Airdrie - James Morison aged 27, Elizabeth Morison aged 24, James Morison aged 3, Thomas Morison aged 10 months. From the 1891 Census - Address - 1 Forsyth St, Airdrie - James Morrison aged 37, Elizabeth Morrison aged 34, James Morrison aged 13, Thomas Morrison aged 10, Annie Morrison aged 5, Marjory Morrison aged 9 months. From the 1901 Census - Address - 15d West George St, Coatbridge - James Morrison aged 49, James Morrison aged 23, Thomas Morrison aged 20, Annie Morrison aged 15, Marjory Morrison aged 10, Elizabeth Morrison aged 3, Hector Morrison aged 2. Thomas' Pension was awarded to his sister Elizabeth of 3 Ashton Road, Gourock, Renfrew on the 12/06/1917.

Born / Resided

Airdrie / Gourock

Died

Died of Wounds on the 11/07/1916 received at the Battle of Albert (opening phase of the Battles of the Somme)

Enlisted

Coatbridge

Employed

Blacksmith Hammerman in 1901

Age

34

Buried / Remembered

Nunhead (All Saints) Cemetery (Screen Wall. 89. 32388), London

Cemetery / Memorial Information

Nunhead (All Saints) Cemetery contains 592 Commonwealth burials of the 1914-1918 war. The majority are in three war graves plots; the United Kingdom plot (in Square 89) has 266 graves, the Australian plot (near the main entrance) has 23 and the Canadian plot (in Square 52, also containing New Zealand and South African burials) has 36. The graves in the Australian and Canadian plots are marked with individual headstones. The graves in the United Kingdom plot and the remaining war graves scattered throughout the cemetery could not be marked individually; the casualties buried in these graves are therefore commemorated by name on a Screen Wall inside the main entrance gate to the cemetery. A second Screen Wall commemorates the 110 burials of the 1939-1945 war in a further war graves plot in Square 5 and elsewhere in the cemetery whose graves could not be marked by headstones. There is also 1 Belgian burial of the 1914-1918 war and 7 Non-war Service burials, all commemorated on the Screen Wall.

Additional Information

The Battalion arrived at Zeebrugge on the 06/10/1914 and were part of the 90th Brigade, 30th Division when Thomas died of wounds received at the Battle of Albert, 1st - 13th July 1916 : In this opening phase, the French and British assault broke into and gradually moved beyond the first of the German defensive systems. For the British, the attack on the 1st July proved to be the worst day in the nation's military history in terms of casualties sustained. It is the aspect of the battle that is most remembered and most written about, and for good reason, but to concentrate on the failures is to entirely miss the point of the Somme and why the battle developed into an epic period of the Great War. On the first day, British forces at the southern end of the British line made an impressive advance alongside the French Sixth Army, capturing the villages of Montauban and Mametz and breaking through the enemy's defensive system. North of Mametz the attack was an almost unmitigated failure. The situation led to a redirection of effort, with the offensive north of the River Ancre effectively being closed down and all future focus being on the line south of Thiepval. There was a stiff fight for Trones Wood and costly, hastily planned and piecemeal attacks that eventually took La Boisselle, Contalmaison and Mametz Wood during the rest of the period up to the 13th July. The 30th Division captured Montauban on the 1st July. This Battle was the opening phase of the Battles of the Somme, 1st July - 18th November 1916 : A Franco-British offensive that was undertaken after Allied strategic conferences in late 1915, but which changed its nature due to the German attack against the French in the epic Battle of Verdun, which lasted from late February to November. Huge British losses on the first day and a series of fiercely-contested steps that became attritional in nature. For all armies on the Western Front it was becoming what the Germans would call "materialschlacht" : a war not of morale, will or even manpower, but of sheer industrial material might. The 15th September 1916 saw the first ever use of tanks in the step known as the Battle of Flers-Courcelette. The British army in France is now approaching its maximum strength in numbers but is still developing in terms of tactics, technology, command and control. Thomas is listed as MORRISON on his Medal Index Card, the Soldiers Died Great War list and the 1891 and 1901 Census' but I've went with what is on the Coatbridge Memorial, the CWGC, Thomas' name on the Screen Wall at Nunhead Cemetery and the 1881 Census. See photos for Thomas' Medal Index Card, his Army Register of Soldiers Effects, his Service Medal and Award Rolls, his CWGC Grave Registration x 2, his name on the Nunhead Cemetery Screen Wall Panel List, Nunhead Cemetery Screen Wall, Thomas' Pension Records x 2 and the Royal Scots Fusiliers Cap Badge.

Photos
Thomas Morison / Morrison Medal Index CardThomas Morison / Morrison newspaper clippingThomas Morison / Morrison newspaper clippingThomas Morison / Morrison newspaper clippingThomas Morison / Morrison remembered at homeThomas Morison / Morrison remembered at homeThomas Morison / Morrison remembered at homeThomas Morison / Morrison remembered at homeThomas Morison / Morrison additional photoThomas Morison / Morrison additional photo

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