Thomas Augustus York Morter was born in Ipswich and arrived in Chelmsford via Colchester with a wife and son by 1911. A second son followed. He worked as an insurance agent. He joined the army and served as a Lewis gunner. He was killed in his dug out by an exploding shell near Ypres in November 1917. His home was in Park Road.
Thomas was born in Ipswich, Suffolk in 1879, the son of Thomas York Morter and Elizabeth Morter (nee Woods). His father had been born in 1856 in Colchester; his mother in 1858 in Ipswich. The couple had married in Suffolk in 1878.
MORTER, THOMAS AUGUSTUS YORK,
Private, 12th Battalion, Durham Light Infantry
The following family announcement was carried by the Essex Weekly News of 2nd November 1917:
“Morter. - On Oct. 13th, 1917, killed in action in France, Pte. T. A. Y. Morter, Lewis gunner, D.L.I., dearly-loved husband of Gertrude Morter, 10, Park-rd., Chelmsford, aged 39. Deeply mourned.”
The same edition also reported:
“Pte. T. A. Y. Morter, D.L.I., Lewis gunner, aged 39, is reported killed. He had been at the Front just three months. Previous to joining up deceased was district superintendent for the Wesleyan and General Assurance Society at Chelmsford. He leaves a widow and two children. His Commanding Officer writes to Mrs. Morter: ‘He was killed instantly by a shell which fell in a dug-out where he and some of his comrades were sheltering. He was getting on well, and was very cheerful and willing, no matter what he was asked to do, and was liked and respected alike by officers and men. One of your consolations must be that he died nobly for his country, and that such an end is not in vain and will not be forgotten.”
On 9th November 1917 the Essex County Chronicle reported:
“Pt. T. A. Y. Morter, D.L.I., Lewis gunner, aged 39, killed by a shell which fell in his dug-out, was formerly district superintendent for the Wesleyan and General Assurance Society at Chelmsford. He leaves a widow and two children.”
Thomas’ siblings were Alfred Ernest Morter (born in 1881), Elizabeth Gertrude Morter (born in 1882), both in Ipswich.
The 1881 census recorded one year-old Thomas living with his parents at 9 Charles Street in Ipswich. His father was a packer and pattern cutter. A decade later Thomas, now ten, was living with his parents and two siblings in Gloucester Place in Norwich, Norfolk. The 1901 census found 21 year-old Thomas with his parents, two siblings and a servant at 8 Queen Street in Colchester. Thomas was an insurance agent, his father was a photographer, his brother Ernest was a hosier’s assistant and his sister was a photographer’s assistant.
Thomas married Gertrude Osbourn in 1904. She had been born in Colchester on 6th June 1882. The couple had two children including a son Stanley Gordon Morter, born in 1905 in Colchester.
The census of 1911 found the couple and their elder child at 46 Park Road in Chelmsford. Thomas a district superintendent for a life assurance company, probably the Wesleyan and General Assurance Society.
The 1914-15 register of electors listed Thomas still at 46 Park Road. In the summer of 1916 his second child, Augustus York Morter was born in Chelmsford.
During the course of the war Thomas’ wife moved across Park Road from number 46 to number 10 (both now demolished),
Thomas enlisted at Chelmsford. He was killed in action by a shell which landed on his dug out on 15th October 1917. At time he was serving as Private 251295 in the 12th Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry.
some of his comrades were sheltering. He was getting on well, and was very cheerful and willing, no matter what he was asked to do, and was liked and respected alike by officers and men. One of your consolations must be that he died nobly for his country, and that such an end is not in vain and will not be forgotten.”
On 9th November 1917 the Essex County Chronicle reported:
“Pt. T. A. Y. Morter, D.L.I., Lewis gunner, aged 39, killed by a shell which fell in his dug-out, was formerly district superintendent for the Wesleyan and General Assurance Society at Chelmsford. He leaves a widow and two children.”
Thomas has no known grave and is commemorated on the Tyne Cot Memorial, Zonnebeke, West-Vlaanderen near Ypres in Belgium, on the Civic Centre Memorial, Chelmsford, and on the Chelmsford Conservative Club’s war memorial. He was entitled to the British War Medal and Victory Medal.
On 18th October 1918 the Essex Weekly News published an in memoriam notice for Thomas:
“In loving memory of Pte. Thomas Augustus York Morter, Lewis gunner, D.L.I., killed in France, October 13th, 1917. In a far and distant country, Where the trees their branches wave, Lies a dear and loving husband, In his cold and silent grave.”
Thomas’ father died in 1932 in London, aged 75; his mother in 1938, aged 79.
His widow, Gertrude, died in 1981. Thomas’ son Augustus, who had married in 1939, died in Somerset in 1976. Augustus’ elder brother Stanley died in Essex in 1999.
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Photo of Thomas courtesy of Ipswich War Memorial website