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Private Charles Montagu MORRISON (1749)
1/14th (County of London) Battalion (London Scottish) Date of birth: 15th October 1892 Date of death: 1st November 1914 Killed in action aged 22 Commemorated on the Menin Gate Panel 54
Charles Montagu Morrison was born at Marlborough in Wiltshire on the 15th of October 1892 the son of Charles Roff Morrison, a manufacturer, and Ada Charlotte (nee Butler) Morrison of “Good Hope”, Highbury Road in Wimbledon. He was christened at St Peter and St Paul’s Church, Marlborough on the 13th of November 1892. He was educated at Lancing College where he was in News House from September 1907 to April 1909. While he was there he was a member of the Football XI in 1908-1909. He enlisted in London as Private 1749 in the 14th (County of London) Battalion (London Scottish). On the 15th of September 1914 the 14th (County of London) Battalion (London Scottish) embarked for France at Southampton on board the SS "Winifredian" landing at Le Havre in the early hours of the following morning. At 4am on the morning of the 31st of October the battalion was paraded along the St Eloi road in preparation for a move towards the front line where the beleaguered regulars of the British Army were under relentless attacks in the First Battle of Ypres. They marched about a mile to a wood to the south east of St Eloi and dug in, but were not there long before orders came for a move to support some cavalry who were in positions on the Wytschaete-Messines Ridge. At about 8am they moved through columns of refugees who were fleeing the advancing Germans. As they passed through the British artillery lines they came under German artillery fire and witnessed a direct hit on a British gun which killed its crew. They moved along the Steenbeek and at about 10am they were given directions towards the firing line where units of the 4th Cavalry Brigade were desperately hanging on to their trenches and where a gap had been opened in their line which the London Scottish were ordered to fill. As they advanced they came under shell fire and received several casualties before arriving at their appointed positions. When they arrived they lay, with little cover, under a sustained artillery bombardment until dusk. Being Territorial troops, the men had been equipped with Mark 1 rifles which had been adapted to take the more modern Mark VII ammunition. In the event the Mark VII clips did not fit the rifles and as a result they could only be used to fire single rounds or they would jam. At about 9pm the Germans attacked in a dense mass, with bands playing and officers urging their men forward from the rear. Despite their inadequate weapons they drove off the German attack causing many enemy casualties. When a large group of the enemy broke through on the left, 35 Scots fixed bayonets and attacked them, driving them off despite being outnumbered by some ten to one. The Germans retired and the bombardment resumed at about midnight, which set fire to a number of surrounding farm buildings and a nearby windmill. The Germans attacked again shortly after this and the Scots fought off rush after rush for about an hour, assisted by the light of the fires and a full moon, as they poured fire into the enemy ranks. At 2am the Germans attacked once again, and in huge numbers. By the sheer weight of numbers and at the point of the bayonet they forced a gap between the Scots and the cavalry. The situation was saved by part of the reserve coming forward and cutting the German attackers down at a range of only thirty yards. Eventually Colonel Malcom, the commanding officer, was forced to order a withdrawal and arranged for the evacuation of the wounded before moving the men back across the Steenbeek to a new line at Wulvergham. The Germans were too spent to follow and used the lull in the fighting to consolidate and remove their wounded. The London Scottish were the first territorial infantry to see action in the Great War and had suffered casualties of 394 officers and men during their first engagement but they had held the line.

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