Medals from the Collection of Peter Duckers, Part II 827


Six: Major H. G. Morrell, Indian Army, who was Mentioned in Despatches for the operations in Mesopotamia in 1914 -15, taken prisoner after the siege of Kut in April 1916, and was again Mentioned in Despatches for the Iraq Campaign 1919-20


1914-15 Star (Captain H. G. Morrell, 119 Infy.); British War and Victory Medals, with M.I.D. oak leaves (Capt. H. G. Morrell); General Service 1918-62, 1 clasp, Iraq (Major H. G. Morrell.); India General Service 1908-35, 1 clasp, Waziristan 1921-24 (Maj. H. G. Morrell. 2 K. Rfls.); Defence Medal, mounted as worn, scratch to obverse of BWM otherwise good very fine (6)


£300-£400


Harold George Morrell was born in 1885 in Burcot, Oxfordshire. He was a Gentleman Cadet at the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, before being commissioned Second Lieutenant in August 1905 and placed on the unattached list, being appointed to the Indian Army in October 1906. He was advanced Lieutenant of 36th Jacob’s Horse on 5 November 1907 and transferred in 1908 to 75th Carnatic Infantry in Trichinopoly. Appointed Quartermaster in 1909 and Adjutant in 1911, he was attached to the 34th Divisional Signal Company as Company Officer in 1911 and transferred to 119th Infantry in April 1914. Promoted to Captain in August 1914, he served in Mesopotamia with the 34th Divisional Signal Company and was appointed Assistant Director of Army Signals in April 1915 while serving in that theatre. Morrell was with General Townsend’s army in its initial advance on Baghdad and was Mentioned in Despatches (London Gazette 5 April 1916) ‘for operations in Mesopotamia between November 6th 1914 and April 14th 1915’.


At the time of the Battle of Ctesiphon, 21 November 1915, the strength of the 34th Company was one British and one Indian Officer, 61 British and 133 Indian Other Ranks. Of these, 23 became casualties in that battle.


Morrell was present throughout the siege of Kut-al-Amarah from December 1915-April 1916 and became a prisoner of war on the surrender of the town on 29 April 1916. He re-joined the 119th Infantry after his release in 1918 and served with it through the Iraq Rebellion of 1919-20. He was again Mentioned in Despatches, this time in General Haldane’s despatch of 5 July 1921 (London


Gazette 3 September 1921) ‘for distinguished and gallant services and devotion to duty’. His was the only M.I.D. to the regiment for Iraq.


Morrell went on to serve in Waziristan with the war-raised 2/50th Kumaon Rifles, which was disbanded after these operations in 1922. During the Second World War Morrell was commissioned Flight Lieutenant in the Royal Air Force Reserve (London Gazette 26 September 1939), and was advanced Squadron Leader, admin duties, on 15 April 1940. He relinquished his commission on 8 October 1945.


After the war, Morrell was a Sheriff of Oxfordshire from 1951-53 and High Sheriff in 1954. He died in Ploughley, Oxfordshire, on 10 May 1968.


828


Three: Gunner O. T. Stephenson, Volunteer Artillery Battery


1914-15 Star (No. 21 Gnr. O. T. Stephenson. Vol. Arty. Bty.); British War and Victory Medals (21 Gnr. O. Stephenson. Vol. Arty. Bty.) number corrected on both BWM and VM, very fine and rare to unit (3)


£100-£140


The Volunteer Artillery Battery was raised in 1915 for service in the Mesopotamia Campaign as part of the British Army’s Royal Field Artillery. The unit was drawn from members of the Bombay, Madras, Karachi and Burma Artillery Volunteers and such was their initial inexperience that a certain improvisation in their training methods was required, as related by the Adjutant of the Battery:


‘During the trip across to Basra in the monsoon, those that were not half dead from sea sickness were drilled hard on 15-pdrs. chalked on the deck and lectured on gunnery, knotting, lashing, military discipline and sanitation. The infantry officers did all they could in teaching the men musketry and even bayonet fighting.’ The Formation of a Battery by Lieut. Col. K. F. Freeland, R.A in the Journal of the Royal Artillery.


On arrival in Mesopotamia, the battery was equipped with anything that could be found –generally old and worn – but even then, once the gun teams had had some opportunity to practise with real guns, these were withdrawn and given to another R.A. battery. Eventually equipped and after training at Amarah, the Volunteer Artillery Battery was divided into two sections, one proceeding up the Euphrates and the other up the Tigris River. The battery took part in Townsend’s advance towards Baghdad, seeing action at Nasiriya, Es Sin and the Capture of Kut. They were one of the units which, after the pyrrhic victory at Ctesiphon in November 1915, fell back to Kut-al- Amarah and, apart from those who remained on the lines of communication further south at Azizieh, took part in the siege. Using the bayonet they served shoulder to shoulder with the Oxford Light Infantry until the fall of the town in April 1916 when Stephenson perhaps became a prisoner along with the rest of the garrison. Of the 67 men of the Kut contingent, 38 became casualties. 45 were taken Prisoner of War, with 18 dying during captivity.


829


Three: Gunner W. Cowie, Calcutta Artillery Volunteers


1914-15 Star (No. 85 Gnr. W. Cowie. 8/Cal. Fd. Bty.); British War Medal 1914-20 (85 Gnr. W. Cowie. Cal. Vol. Bty.); Victory Medal 1914-19 (85 Gnr. W. Cowie. 8 Cal. Field Bty.); together with a German East Africa silver coin converted into an identity disc, with the reverse erased and impressed ‘85 C.V.B. Gunr. W. Cowie. Pres’; and a hallmarked silver watch-fob, with the initials ‘W.C.’ on one side, and ‘O.G.’ on the other, good very fine, scarce (3)


£180-£220


William J Cowie was born in 1878 and enlisted in the Calcutta Volunteer Battery of Mobile Artillery on 16 September 1914. His service record states that he served in the German East Africa Campaign from 1914 to 1916. He was discharged on 3 January 1917 at Fort William, Calcutta.


The Calcutta Artillery Volunteers served in German East Africa, designated as No. 8 Field Battery, and initially formed the only field artillery unit with the Indian force deployed in East Africa; it comprised six old 12-pounder guns drawn by oxen. The battery was heavily engaged in 1916, particularly at Salaita Hill, Latema, Lukigura River and Kilwa, before they were relieved, largely by South African units. Having suffered greatly from disease and shortage of rations during their time in Africa, they returned to India with most of the Indian force in 1917.


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