Thank you to Patricia Brazier for the following research.
Herbert was born on 14th January 1897. His father, John is an agricultural worker and his mother is Ellen, they are living at Boxhill Farm.
In the 1911 census; Herbert’s family are living in Leslie Road Dorking. Herbert is aged 14 and he is a butcher’s boy. He has an older brother named John who is a brickyard labourer.
Records from the London Brighton and South Coast Railways show that in August 1914; Herbert was a cleaner at Dorking Station.
Herbert enlisted at Guildford. His medal card shows that before joining the Machine Gun Corps he spent time in the Royal Field Artillery and the Scots Riffles.
Herbert died on 15th June 1917, he was 20 years old. At the time his company were fighting in Arras in northern France.
KILLED WHILE AT TEA
CORPL. H. A. MORRIS
Machine Gun Corps
Corpl. H. A. Morris, Machine Gun Corps, who has been killed in France, was the son of Mr. and Mrs. Morris, of 9 Leslie Road, Dorking. In sending his sympathy the Captain Commanding the Company says: “It was extraordinary bad luck; your son and two other men were just getting their tea, when a shell landed in the middle of them. Death must have been instantaneous. They were buried near where they fell. Your son was a good man, and the gun commander of his team. He would have got on, and we all miss him.”
Herbert Arthur Morris Death Notice © Dorking Advertiser findmypast.co.uk
Herbert is remembered on the Arras Memorial Panel reference bay 10. He is also remembered on the Memorial in South Street, Dorking.
| Born | Box Hill, Dorking | |
| Lived | Dorking | |
| Son of | John and Ellen Morris of 9 Leslie Road, Dorking | |
| Regiment | 101st Company, Machine Gun Corps (Infantry) | |
| Number | 13040 | |
| Date of Death | 15th June 1917 | |
| Place of Death | France | |
| Cause of Death | Killed in Action | |
| Age | 20 | |
| Memorial | Arras Memorial, France |
