Birth

Enlistment Information

Military Service

Embarkation Information

Military Awards

Death

Biographical Notes

James Morton was born on 24 November 1881 at Crappagh, County Monaghan, Ireland, the second son of James and Esther (Essie, née McGaghy) Morton. In 1911, James Walter Morton and his sister Mary Ellen Morton were in Dublin with their oldest sister, Margaret Jane McCabe, her husband and their son. James’ occupation was listed as Army Reserve. His parents were at Crappagh, their oldest son William and youngest daughter Susan with them. The family was at Crappagh in 1901, but not James. He was possibly serving in the military.

James Walter Morton married Mary Ellen Kemp on 27 August 1914 in the Christchurch Registry Office. An Army Reservist of Rangiora, J. W. Morton went over to England on the outbreak of war. As of April 1915, he was with No. 91 Heavy Battery, Royal Garrison Artillery, at the Cambridge Barracks, Woolwich. He had gone to Egypt on 7 July 1915. By October 1915, Gunner Morton was at the Dardanelles, but by November he was in hospital at Southsea, having been wounded. “His progress is reported to be satisfactory, and he hopes to be discharged in a few weeks.”

James Walter Morton, ploughman, Tekapo Post Office, was drawn in the Second Division Class A Ballot of South Canterbury men in 1917. This division was made up of married men without children. He enlisted on 14 December 1917 at Timaru. He was already listed on the Reserve Rolls. He had served with the Royal Garrison Artillery in 1902, when 19-20 years old, and then again in World War One, as Walter Morton. He had served with 91 (Heavy) Battery, 29 Division, being discharged on the termination of his engagement. Thus, he was recorded as a “Returned Soldier” in 1917 in New Zealand, honourably discharged from the British Expeditionary Force. He stated that he had been medically examined for service with the New Zealand Expeditionary Force on 11 August 1914 at Christchurch and found Fit. At the medical examination at Timaru on 14 December 1917, he was measured at 5 feet 7 inches tall, weighing 138 pounds, and with a chest measurement of 33½-36½ inches. He had a fresh complexion, blue eyes and fair hair. His sight, hearing, colour vision, heart and lungs were all normal, his limbs and chest well formed. He was free from hernia, varicocele, varicose veins, inveterate or contagious skin disease, but had slight haemorrhoids. He was in good bodily and mental health, with no fits, no notification for consumption, no treatment in a sanatorium or mental institution. He had been absent from work with pleurisy, malaria (in India), and a shot received in the left leg at Gallipoli. He bore a scar on the bridge of his nose, and another in the left groin. He was married, without children, of Church of England affiliation (as in the 1911 census), and was living at Richmond Station, Lake Tekapo where he was a shepherd for Mr Pringle of Timaru.

Drawn in the ballot for military service, Morton was ordered to parade on 23 March 1918 at the Drill Shed, Timaru, for the purpose of being medically re-examined and classified. To get there he was sent one second-class return rail and coach warrant. It seems that he had not been classified at the earlier examination, but the examination had to be completed even though he was a returned and discharged soldier. An appeal could not be heard without re-examination. He was re-examined on 22 March 1918 and classed C2. His wife had written asking for her Separation Allowance. A few details in the examination varied from the 1917 one. He did not have good movement in his joints and he had slight external haemorrhoids. He had been absent from work with enteric in 1908, malaria in India in 1909, neuritis in 1909, pleurisy in 1912. Wounded in left leg at Gallipoli, and dislocation of left shoulder. It was the weakness of his left shoulder and left knee which determined his classification. He bore tattoo marks on both forearms and the scar of bubo in the left groin. As of 22 March 1918, Morton was given leave without pay until further orders. Gunner Walter Morton, 13490, was awarded the 1915 Star, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal for his service with the Royal Garrison Artillery.

James Walter Morton returned initially to his work as a shepherd at Richmond Station, Lake Tekapo. On 4 June 1919, his application for an accommodation licence at Lake Tekapo, was granted. He was a barman at Fairlie until retirement in the mid-1950s. John Walter Mackenzie Morton was born to James and Mary on 27 June 1919 at Whare Nana, Timaru. A second son, William Ferguson Morton, was born on 29 May 1925. The two boys were educated at Fairlie School. James Walter Morton died on 7 November 1960, at his residence, Denmark Street, Fairlie, aged 79 years. Following a service at St Stephen’s Anglican Church, Fairlie, he was buried at Fairlie Cemetery, Fairlie Returned Servicemen attending his funeral. A services plaque inscribed with his Royal Garrison Artillery number and rank marks his grave. He was survived by Mary Ellen and his two sons Mackenzie and Ferguson, both of whom were drawn in a World War Two Ballot. Mary Ellen Morton, who had drawn up her Will in 1952, died on 1 December 1967 at Timaru and was buried with her husband at Fairlie. She had appointed her younger son to be executor and trustee. Although she had bequeathed the whole of her estate to her husband, she had made provision om case of his prior decease. Her two sons were the beneficiaries though not in equal portions. Mackenzie predeceased his mother, dying unmarried in 1965 and Ferguson, a married man with five children, died in 1979.

James Morton, senior, died at Crappagh in 1922, and Esther died there I 1931. Their eldest daughter, Margaret Jane, married in Thomas Henry Macabe in 1903 in Dublin; their only son, Walter Henry Macabe, went to Canada and followed a religious ministry. Mary Ellen Morton was a servant in Dublin in 1901 and was with James Walter and their sister Mrs Macabe in 1911. The oldest son, William Morton, served in World War One, probably with the air force; he too, became a Reverend. John Thomas Morton was at home in 1901, a farmer’s son. Samuel Francis Morton died in 1888, one year old. Susan Anne Morton, the youngest of the family, married at Cootehill, County Monaghan in 1913; she and her husband, James Harper Mills, were in Canada with their son and daughter in 1921, both children born there. They returned to Ireland in 1922 and James Mills died soon after; Susan married for a second time in Dublin in 1926; she died in 1970 in Dublin; her son, Leslie Thomas Harper Mills, lived in England, marrying and dying there; their daughter, Edna Esther Mills, married in Dublin.

Sources

Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph Database) [28 January 2024]; NZ Defence Force Personnel Records (Archives NZ ref. AABK 18805 W5549 0083670) [06 January 2017]; Timaru Herald, 8 November 1960 (Timaru District Library) [19 December 2016]; Fairlie Cemetery headstone transcription (South Canterbury Branch NZSG records) [21 December 2016]; Fairlie Cemetery headstone image (Mackenzie District Council) ]28 January 2024]; Star, 7 April 1915, Press, 8 April 1915, Otago Daily Times, 9 October 1915, 6 November 1915, Timaru Herald, 4 December 1917, 5 & 28 June 1919, Press, 4 December 1917 (Papers Past) [08 August 2015; 07 January 2017; 28 January 2024]; NZ Electoral Rolls (ancestry.com.au) [07 January 2017; 29 January 2024]; 1901 & 1911 Ireland census returns (www.census.nationalarchives.ie per ancestry) [07 January 2017; 28 January 2024]; Medal Card (National Archives – Discovery - reference WO 372/14/115780) [29 January 2024]

External Links

• Auckland War Memorial Museum Cenotaph record
• Military personnel file

Related Documents

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