Arthur and Sidney Morter - Who were drowned from the SS Royal Edward whilst on Active Service 1915
In loving memory of
Our dear parents
Sarah Ann Morter
Who died Dec.5th 1928
Aged 65 years
And
Walter Morter
Who died June 14th 1933
Aged 73 years
Also of their loving sons
Arthur, aged 29 years
And
Sidney, aged 27 years
Who were drowned from the
SS Royal Edward whilst on Active Service
August 13th 1915.
Re-united in death
MORTER Arthur……………………………….............................(RoH)
Private 20575. 1st Bn., Essex Regiment. Formerly 17880 Norfolk Regiment. Died at sea Friday 13 August 1915. Age 29. Born and lived Dilham. Enlisted Norwich. Son of Walter and Sarah A. Morter, of Dilham, Norfolk. Commemorated: HELLES MEMORIAL, Turkey. Panel 144 to 150 or 229 to 233.
CWGC: www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/683058/MORTER,%20ARTHUR
SDGW has Arthur recorded as born and resident Dilham. He was soldier 20575 Essex Regiment.
There does not appear to be Medal Index Card at the National Archive for this soldier.
No match on Norlink.
Census
The 24 year old Arthur, a Farm Labourer from Dilham, was recorded on the 1911 census at a dwelling Near the New Barn, Dilham. This was the household of his parents, Walter, (aged 50 and a Teamster on Farm from Dilham), and Sarah Ann, (aged 49 and from Smallburgh, Norfolk). Walter and Sarah Ann have been married 25 years..
Their other children living with them are:-
Sidney………aged 23.…………born Dilham…..Farm Labourer (see Sidney below)
Walter………aged 22.…………born Dilham…..Blacksmith
Christopher…aged 20.…………born Dilham…..Farm Labourer
Edith………..aged 18.…………born Dilham
Herbert……..aged 16.…………born Dilham…..Farm Labourer
George………aged 13.………..born Dilham…..Farm Labourer
Elsie………..aged 11.…………born Dilham
William…….aged 8.…………..born Dilham
On the day
HMT Royal Edward, 11,117 grt, sunk 13th August 1915 by German submarine SMU UB14, 6 miles W from Kandeliusa, Aegean Sea, carrying goverment stores from Avonmouth & Alexandria to Mudros. Owned by Canadian Northern Steamships Ltd-Toronto. 132 crew died. Out of a total compliment of 1586 (crew and troops) less than 500 were saved.
1/Essex lost 174 O.R's, but 172 of them were volunteers who'd transfer from the Norfolk's (3rd Special Reserve) based at Felixstowe, 100 on 23 June and 200 on 24 July.
A passage from the History of Norfolk Regiment tells the …. story: Colonel Tonge refers to the loss of 300 men, the best draft that ever left Felixstowe. These men volunteered to join the Essex Regiment and appear to have constituted the drafts of June 23 and July 24 1915. They were part of the reinforcements carried by the transport "Royal Edward" which was torpedoed and sunk in the Aegean Sea on August 14th 1915. She sank two and a half minutes after the torpedo struck her. Of the 1,400 men she carried only 600 were saved, and the drowned included all but 18 of the 300 Norfolk men.
The men who had had a route march just before leaving Alexandria, were waiting on deck for foot inspection at about 9.20 am. Their lifebelts were down below, and when the ship was unexpectedly struck most of them ran below to fetch the belts. Owing to the ship's sudden heeling over and sinking, these never got up again. Those who escaped were picked up by a hospital ship which responded to the s.o.s. signal.
To partly replace this sad loss, another draft of 150 men to the Essex Regiment was dispatched on September 29, 1915.
Addenda 1994 From: "Men of Gallipoli"(David & Charles,1988) by kind permission of the publishers.
One of the features of the Cape Helles monument is the rows of names of men drowned in the torpedoing of the Royal Edward,which sank in the Eastern Mediterranean on 13th August with a loss of over 850 lives. A.T.Fraser in the Border Regiment,was in a deckchair on the afterdeck starboard side when suddenly dozens of men ran past him from port to starboard. The explosion came before he had time to ask what was the matter." The ship had no escort and we had not been ordered to have our life-belts with us. The hundreds on deck ran below to get their life-belts and hundreds below would have met them on their way up. I shared a cabin accessible from the deck I was on and I raced there to get my life-belt and ran to my life-boat station which was on the star- board side.
As the men arrived they fell in two ranks. Already the ship was listing and this prevented our boats from being lowered, so we were ordered to jump for it. I saw no panic,but of course one could imagine what was happening on the inside stairs. I swam away from the ship and turned to see the funnels leaning towards me.When they reached the sea,all the soot was belched out,there was a loud whoosh and the ship sank. No explosion,no surge. So I was alone. The little waves were such that in the trough you saw nothing, on the crest you saw a few yards. The water was warm. I wondered if there were sharks".
Fraser found some wood to rest on and he was joined by a seaman,an older man who had twice previously been torpedoed. This brought the young Scot confidence. An up turned Royal Edward lifeboat was to provide 17 of the survivors with a little more security though in what Fraser calls half-hourly recurring turbulence, the boat turned over, offering them conventional but completely waterlogged accommodation every alternate half hour but at least providing them with something to do. There was no singing and little conversation. The first ship that passed hailed the scattered men and promised to signal for help. It could not stop as it had high explosives for Lemnos. Some of the men became depressed and showed unwillingness to clamber back in the life boat when it overturned, but on each occasion all were persuaded.
Finally the hospital ship SOUDAIN arrived to pick them up in her life-boats,and at 2 o'clock Fraser was safely aboard her after just under five hours in the sea. He remembers that"a large number of men lost their false teeth as we were constantly sick in the sea- and these men were sent back to England. We the younger ones, were clothed and kitted and on another ship three days later for Gallipoli.
www.paulinedodd.com/from-norfolk-to-gallipoli.html
Arthur and his brother Sidney must have enlisted practically together as there is only one number between their respective serial numbers and then they volunteered together for the draft for the Essex Regiment, as can be seen by their consecutive serials numbers with their new unit. They were probably in the first draft - many of those in the second draft appear on the CWGC database as still serving with the 3rd Battalion, Norfolk Regiment. For men in both drafts it is hit and miss as to whether they have a medal index card or not usually created when they entered a Theatre of War. Despite probably having landed at Gibraltar and sailed the submarine infested waters of the Channel, Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean, these men were apparently never in a combat zone.
Out of interest I took a look at that missing serial number, 17881 of the Norfolk Regiment, on the Medal Index Card Register. That number was assigned to (probably) their brother, Herbert Morter. Herbert would go on to serve as Private 27873 Royal Dublin Fusiliers - I believe a draft of Norfolks originally intended to make good the losses of the 2nd Battalion following the siege of Kut were diverted on route to make good casualties in the Royal Dublin Fusiliers who were being sent into the Salonika campaign. I’ve come across other references to ex-Norfolk Regiment men who died serving with the RDF and they are all related to that Theatre of War.
discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Details?uri=D4...
There is a separate list in the church of the man and women of the Parish who served in WW2. Recorded there is a George Morter, who also served in WW1. Presumably this is the George listed on the census return for the family shown above.
MORTER Sidney………………………………..........................(RoH)
Private 20576. 1st Bn., Essex Regiment. Formerly 17882 Norfolk Regiment. Died at sea on Friday 13 August 1915. Age 28. Born and lived Dilham. Enlisted Norwich. Son of Walter and Sarah A. Morter, of Dilham, Norfolk. Commemorated: HELLES MEMORIALTurkey Panel 144 to 150 or 229 to 233.
CWGC: www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/683059/MORTER,%20SIDNEY
SDGW has Sidney recorded as born and resident Dilham. He was soldier 20576 Essex Regiment.
There does not appear to be Medal Index Card at the National Archive for this soldier.
No match on Norlink.
Census
See brother Arthur above for Census details and the details of the loss of the Royal Edward which would claim both their lives.
RoH = Roll of Honour site - information sourced from there is gratefully acknowledged
www.roll-of-honour.com/Norfolk/Dilham.html
CWGC = Commonwealth War Graves Commission
SDGW = Soldiers Who Died in the Great War database
Norlink = Norfolk County Archive Service
Arthur and Sidney Morter - Who were drowned from the SS Royal Edward whilst on Active Service 1915
In loving memory of
Our dear parents
Sarah Ann Morter
Who died Dec.5th 1928
Aged 65 years
And
Walter Morter
Who died June 14th 1933
Aged 73 years
Also of their loving sons
Arthur, aged 29 years
And
Sidney, aged 27 years
Who were drowned from the
SS Royal Edward whilst on Active Service
August 13th 1915.
Re-united in death
MORTER Arthur……………………………….............................(RoH)
Private 20575. 1st Bn., Essex Regiment. Formerly 17880 Norfolk Regiment. Died at sea Friday 13 August 1915. Age 29. Born and lived Dilham. Enlisted Norwich. Son of Walter and Sarah A. Morter, of Dilham, Norfolk. Commemorated: HELLES MEMORIAL, Turkey. Panel 144 to 150 or 229 to 233.
CWGC: www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/683058/MORTER,%20ARTHUR
SDGW has Arthur recorded as born and resident Dilham. He was soldier 20575 Essex Regiment.
There does not appear to be Medal Index Card at the National Archive for this soldier.
No match on Norlink.
Census
The 24 year old Arthur, a Farm Labourer from Dilham, was recorded on the 1911 census at a dwelling Near the New Barn, Dilham. This was the household of his parents, Walter, (aged 50 and a Teamster on Farm from Dilham), and Sarah Ann, (aged 49 and from Smallburgh, Norfolk). Walter and Sarah Ann have been married 25 years..
Their other children living with them are:-
Sidney………aged 23.…………born Dilham…..Farm Labourer (see Sidney below)
Walter………aged 22.…………born Dilham…..Blacksmith
Christopher…aged 20.…………born Dilham…..Farm Labourer
Edith………..aged 18.…………born Dilham
Herbert……..aged 16.…………born Dilham…..Farm Labourer
George………aged 13.………..born Dilham…..Farm Labourer
Elsie………..aged 11.…………born Dilham
William…….aged 8.…………..born Dilham
On the day
HMT Royal Edward, 11,117 grt, sunk 13th August 1915 by German submarine SMU UB14, 6 miles W from Kandeliusa, Aegean Sea, carrying goverment stores from Avonmouth & Alexandria to Mudros. Owned by Canadian Northern Steamships Ltd-Toronto. 132 crew died. Out of a total compliment of 1586 (crew and troops) less than 500 were saved.
1/Essex lost 174 O.R's, but 172 of them were volunteers who'd transfer from the Norfolk's (3rd Special Reserve) based at Felixstowe, 100 on 23 June and 200 on 24 July.
A passage from the History of Norfolk Regiment tells the …. story: Colonel Tonge refers to the loss of 300 men, the best draft that ever left Felixstowe. These men volunteered to join the Essex Regiment and appear to have constituted the drafts of June 23 and July 24 1915. They were part of the reinforcements carried by the transport "Royal Edward" which was torpedoed and sunk in the Aegean Sea on August 14th 1915. She sank two and a half minutes after the torpedo struck her. Of the 1,400 men she carried only 600 were saved, and the drowned included all but 18 of the 300 Norfolk men.
The men who had had a route march just before leaving Alexandria, were waiting on deck for foot inspection at about 9.20 am. Their lifebelts were down below, and when the ship was unexpectedly struck most of them ran below to fetch the belts. Owing to the ship's sudden heeling over and sinking, these never got up again. Those who escaped were picked up by a hospital ship which responded to the s.o.s. signal.
To partly replace this sad loss, another draft of 150 men to the Essex Regiment was dispatched on September 29, 1915.
Addenda 1994 From: "Men of Gallipoli"(David & Charles,1988) by kind permission of the publishers.
One of the features of the Cape Helles monument is the rows of names of men drowned in the torpedoing of the Royal Edward,which sank in the Eastern Mediterranean on 13th August with a loss of over 850 lives. A.T.Fraser in the Border Regiment,was in a deckchair on the afterdeck starboard side when suddenly dozens of men ran past him from port to starboard. The explosion came before he had time to ask what was the matter." The ship had no escort and we had not been ordered to have our life-belts with us. The hundreds on deck ran below to get their life-belts and hundreds below would have met them on their way up. I shared a cabin accessible from the deck I was on and I raced there to get my life-belt and ran to my life-boat station which was on the star- board side.
As the men arrived they fell in two ranks. Already the ship was listing and this prevented our boats from being lowered, so we were ordered to jump for it. I saw no panic,but of course one could imagine what was happening on the inside stairs. I swam away from the ship and turned to see the funnels leaning towards me.When they reached the sea,all the soot was belched out,there was a loud whoosh and the ship sank. No explosion,no surge. So I was alone. The little waves were such that in the trough you saw nothing, on the crest you saw a few yards. The water was warm. I wondered if there were sharks".
Fraser found some wood to rest on and he was joined by a seaman,an older man who had twice previously been torpedoed. This brought the young Scot confidence. An up turned Royal Edward lifeboat was to provide 17 of the survivors with a little more security though in what Fraser calls half-hourly recurring turbulence, the boat turned over, offering them conventional but completely waterlogged accommodation every alternate half hour but at least providing them with something to do. There was no singing and little conversation. The first ship that passed hailed the scattered men and promised to signal for help. It could not stop as it had high explosives for Lemnos. Some of the men became depressed and showed unwillingness to clamber back in the life boat when it overturned, but on each occasion all were persuaded.
Finally the hospital ship SOUDAIN arrived to pick them up in her life-boats,and at 2 o'clock Fraser was safely aboard her after just under five hours in the sea. He remembers that"a large number of men lost their false teeth as we were constantly sick in the sea- and these men were sent back to England. We the younger ones, were clothed and kitted and on another ship three days later for Gallipoli.
www.paulinedodd.com/from-norfolk-to-gallipoli.html
Arthur and his brother Sidney must have enlisted practically together as there is only one number between their respective serial numbers and then they volunteered together for the draft for the Essex Regiment, as can be seen by their consecutive serials numbers with their new unit. They were probably in the first draft - many of those in the second draft appear on the CWGC database as still serving with the 3rd Battalion, Norfolk Regiment. For men in both drafts it is hit and miss as to whether they have a medal index card or not usually created when they entered a Theatre of War. Despite probably having landed at Gibraltar and sailed the submarine infested waters of the Channel, Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean, these men were apparently never in a combat zone.
Out of interest I took a look at that missing serial number, 17881 of the Norfolk Regiment, on the Medal Index Card Register. That number was assigned to (probably) their brother, Herbert Morter. Herbert would go on to serve as Private 27873 Royal Dublin Fusiliers - I believe a draft of Norfolks originally intended to make good the losses of the 2nd Battalion following the siege of Kut were diverted on route to make good casualties in the Royal Dublin Fusiliers who were being sent into the Salonika campaign. I’ve come across other references to ex-Norfolk Regiment men who died serving with the RDF and they are all related to that Theatre of War.
discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/SearchUI/Details?uri=D4...
There is a separate list in the church of the man and women of the Parish who served in WW2. Recorded there is a George Morter, who also served in WW1. Presumably this is the George listed on the census return for the family shown above.
MORTER Sidney………………………………..........................(RoH)
Private 20576. 1st Bn., Essex Regiment. Formerly 17882 Norfolk Regiment. Died at sea on Friday 13 August 1915. Age 28. Born and lived Dilham. Enlisted Norwich. Son of Walter and Sarah A. Morter, of Dilham, Norfolk. Commemorated: HELLES MEMORIALTurkey Panel 144 to 150 or 229 to 233.
CWGC: www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/683059/MORTER,%20SIDNEY
SDGW has Sidney recorded as born and resident Dilham. He was soldier 20576 Essex Regiment.
There does not appear to be Medal Index Card at the National Archive for this soldier.
No match on Norlink.
Census
See brother Arthur above for Census details and the details of the loss of the Royal Edward which would claim both their lives.
RoH = Roll of Honour site - information sourced from there is gratefully acknowledged
www.roll-of-honour.com/Norfolk/Dilham.html
CWGC = Commonwealth War Graves Commission
SDGW = Soldiers Who Died in the Great War database
Norlink = Norfolk County Archive Service