MORGAN, Edward James (1890-1916)Born at Inverleigh on 4 June 1890, the son of Charles Henry Morgan and Margaret nee Blair, of Barwon Vale, Inverleigh, he was educated at Inverleigh State School, and at Geelong College for a year in 1905. Owing to his father's illness, however, he had to leave sooner than expected to help with the management of his family's property. He was engaged in pastoral pursuits until his enlistment (2729) with 23 Battalion 6th Reinforcement Group.
.JPG)
E J Morgan (War Service).
He first embarked for Egypt where he transferred to 58 Battalion at Tel-el-Kebir. He then embarked for France on 17 June 1916 with his unit, on
HT Transylvania from Alexandria. He died of wounds sustained at Fleurbaix on 15 July 1916, only three weeks after his arrival in France, when the Fifth Division lost in one sharp night's fighting 5,533 officers and men, 58 Battalion alone losing eleven officers and 237 other ranks. According to his records held by the National Archives 'he was buried at Rue Fetillon
Military Cemetery, but no justification for that report can now be found', so the CWGC states he has no known grave, and that his name is commemorated on the Villers Bretonneux Memorial.
His school companion, Cpl Hugh Boswell Reid, wrote to the Red Cross Information Bureau:
‘Re the late E J Morgan of 58th Bn, I was wounded about same time. We were taken in same ambulance to the CCS, this was a building that had once been a brewery. He had been badly hit and was unconscious. We became separated there. The next I heard was that he had died of wounds and was buried in the cemetery at Estaires, where a number of our poor mates were. I never had a chance to go and see his grave.’ His mother was informed through a comrade that he died in a Casualty Clearing Station, and was buried in a British Cemetery half a mile from the village of Fleurbaix' . She wrote to the Red Cross trying to obtain information about her son:
‘A mate of his, Sgt LA Bath wrote to me, but did not give any particulars, and a sapper named Morten sent me a few cards in which was my address, written by my poor boy, and which this sapper said were picked up by him on the battlefield in France. Since then we heard that my dear son was seen by another soldier named H B Reid from Geelong (Old Collegian) on an ambulance badly wounded, and I am writing to you on the off chance that he might have been taken to your hospital. I would so much like to know if he has a grave or if only buried on the battlefield. He was our eldest son so much respected by Officers & men of his battalion. Was Ch. of England & had a prayer book from the Minister of the Ch. of England, Inverleigh, with a very nice reference enclosed in it. We have never received any of his little belongings, but we suppose our dear boy must have been very badly injured & past all human aid, or he would have got someone to write his last few words to me, his broken-hearted mother. Only five weeks & four days before (15th July 1916, the date of Eddie's death) our 2nd eldest son died here in Victoria in camp of meningitis. He was a Gunner in the Field Artillery, & the poor brother in France could never have known of his death, though we cabled to Egypt, & he must have been at the Front in France. We have had more than our share of trouble losing 2 fine sons, & now their father's health is completely broken, through this trouble & worry, & he is now lying on a bed of sickness, never to regain lost strength & vigour. If it is possible at all, could you kindly find out any particulars of our dear son?' Sergeant Leslie Arthur Bath, born at Inverleigh in 1887, the son of John Bath and Alice nee Roworth, was awarded the DCM at Petillon on the night of 15 July 1916 on the same night as Edward’s death. Edward's brother, Pte Frederick Charles Morgan, died on 6 June 1916 of cerebro-spinal fever contracted at Maribyrnong Camp. His father died the following year, on 27 June 1917, never having recovered from the double blow of losing two sons in such a short time.
Sources: Based on an edited extract from Geelong Collegians at the Great War compiled by James Affleck. pp 76-77 (citing National Archives; Photo - Pegasus December 1916; Australian War Memorial).