JL Morris Mother Letter

April 13th 1920

Dear Mr Christison,

You address your letter to Mr Morris, but it is Mrs Morris writes to you & I must tell you how more than sorry I am at the delay in replying to your second letter, owing to my maid suddenly leaving, & having everything to do myself in this large house not being at all well.

Now I will give you some particulars about my son John Lionel Morris who joined the H.A.C. in Aug. 1916, he was too young for a commission being only 18 old [2] so he was just Private Morris attached to A Battery & on Aug. 22nd went to Bulford Camp Salisbury plain: where he remained until March 8th 1917 when he went to Leeds, left here March 28th & came to London with his Battery marched to HQ, & then to Waterloo en route for Alexandria Egypt. On April 16th his ship the Arcadian was torpedoed in the Eastern Mediterranean particulars of which I enclose as they may if you ever knew my son be of interest to you, but I must beg of you to return them to me any time at your convenience as they are precious to me. In his diary (which was sent on to me at his death) he mentioned Barry Whitehead [3] of the H.A.C. whom he picked up from the water among many others he rescued his diary gives a fuller account – it states how he gave up his clothes to one of the men he rescued & slept on the stone floor in the outhouse in only his shirt & life belt, this brought on appendicitis, when he arrived in Alexandria on April 28th was operated on. On May 8th had a perforated appendix ___ ___, 12th May caught bronchitis & a second operation dangerously ill I was scared[?] to, but he began to get better & sent to a convalescent home on July 10th & on July 31st taken seriously ill again & sent to Creura-el-Nasha Hospital Alexandria where he died on Aug. 10th 1917. Captain Bloomfield R.A.M.C. a family friend who was at Rasul in camp constantly visited him in hospital & he wrote me that John died poisoned from head to foot, he alas had [4] absence round his heart & lungs, pleurisy, acute inflammation; a ___ at the back of his neck which made his head swell twice the size, a poisoned throat, his suffering was terrible poor & he said it was a mercy he died. He was buried with Military Cemetary Aug 10th 1917 (close to Alexandria Grave no.3216). I have given you all particulars, but hoped I have not wearied you.

I have received such a kind letter from Mr Smith, which of course I shall reply to.

With kind regards
From
JS Morris