Profile

MORROW, William
(Service number 63019)

Aliases
First Rank	Private	Last Rank

Birth

Date	12 March 1881	Place of Birth	Country Antrim, Ireland

Enlistment Information

Date	20 July 1917	Age	36 years
Address at Enlistment	Gordons Valley, Timaru
Occupation	Ploughman (P. A. Elworthy)
Previous Military Experience
Marital Status	Single
Next of Kin	Mr T. MORROW (father), Carnalbara, County Antrim; Mr Andrew McCLINTOCK (uncle), Hadlow, Gleniti
Religion	Presbyterian
Medical Information

Military Service

Served with	NZ Armed Forces	Served in	Army
Military District

Embarkation Information

Body on Embarkation
Unit, Squadron, or Ship
Date	21 November 1917
Transport	Willochra
Embarked From	Wellington	Destination	Liverpool, Merseyside, England

Other Units Served With
Last Unit Served With

Military Awards

Campaigns	Western European
Service Medals	British War Medal; Victory Medal
Military Awards

Award Circumstances and Date

No information

Prisoner of War Information

Date of Capture
Where Captured and by Whom
Actions Prior to Capture
PoW Serial Number
PoW Camps
Days Interned
Liberation Date

Discharge

Date	25 April 1919	Reason	On termination of period of engagement.

Hospitals, Wounds, Diseases and Illnesses

Post-war Occupations

Death

Date		Age
Place of Death
Cause
Notices
Memorial or Cemetery
Memorial Reference
New Zealand Memorials

Biographical Notes

William Morrow was born on 12 March 1881 in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, the son of Thomas and Margaret (née McClintock) Morrow. In 1901, William was a farmer’s son at home at Carnalbanagh, Glenarm, County Antrim, with his parents, three brothers and two sisters.

Having come to New Zealand in about 1909, William was probably a farm hand at Tycho Flat in 1911. His name was recorded on the 1916 Reserve Rolls, when he was a ploughman at Gordon’s Valley. There he was when his name was drawn in the Ninth Ballot at the beginning of July 1917 and when he enlisted on 20 July 1917 at Timaru. Single and Presbyterian, he named his father as next-of-kin – Mr T. Morrow, Carnalbara, County Antrim, Ireland. Also named was his uncle – Mr Andrew McClintock, Hadlow, Gleniti. William probably left Timaru in mid-August 1917 with the South Canterbury quota of the 33rd Reinforcements. Private W. Morrow embarked on 21 November 1917 per the “Willochra”, leaving from Wellington for Liverpool, England.

W. Morrow, c/o A. McClintock, Hadlow, returned to New Zealand by the “Ajana” (Draft 224), which left Liverpool on 7 February 1919 and arrived at Auckland on 25 March 1919, berthing the next morning after 24 hours’ quarantine. The South Canterbury men reached Timaru by a special train at 2.30 pm on 28 March. A very large number of people assembled at the railway station to take part in the welcome home to the men, the arrival of the train being “the signal for a hearty outburst of cheering, which was subsequently several times renewed.” The Deputy Mayor and Mr James Craigie, each in a brief speech, extended to the returned men a very hearty welcome home.

William was discharged on 25 April 1919 and was awarded the British War Medal and the Victory Medal. Initially, he intended to go to Gleniti, Timaru, but this was amended to Care of Thomas Morrow, Esq, Ballyhone, Glens, via Larne, County Antrim, Ireland. He may have been a farm labourer at Salisbury in late 1919.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database [08 January 2023]; 1901 Ireland census return (per ancestry.com.au) [09 January 2023]; NZ Electoral Rolls (ancestery.com.au) [09 January 2023]; Timaru Herald, 4 July 1917, 18 August 1917, 28 & 29 March 1919 (Papers Past) [09 January 2023]

External Links

Researched and Written by

Teresa Scott, SC Genealogy Society

Currently Assigned to

Not assigned.

Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License unless otherwise stated.

Tell us more

Do you have information that could be added to this story? Or related images that you are happy to share? Submit them here!