28/09/1871 –27/09/1957
General labourer, coachsmith, served 7 years with Bedfordshire Reg't & 6 years with Territorial Army
Relatives
Research:
James Morton born 28th September 1871 and died 27th September 1957
James Morton was the third son of William Morton and Sarah Butterfield, who had married in Berkhamsted in 1864. William Morton was a gardener from Chorleywood, whilst his wife, Sarah Butterfield had been baptised at St Peter’s Church in Berkhamsted on 27th March 1842 and brought up living in Berkhamsted High Street.
William and Sarah had children baptised at St Peter’s Church, Berkhamsted as follows:
- William James (1st son) baptised on 21st August 1864
- Mary Ann (1st daughter) baptised on 1st July 1866
- Martha Maria (2nd daughter) baptised on 19th September 1869
- Joseph (2nd son) baptised on 19th September 1869
- James (3rd son) baptised on 12th November 1871
- Ann baptised on 14th June 1874
- Sarah baptised on 27th February 1876
- Thomas baptised on 28th July 1877
- Louisa baptised on 8th May 1881
- Emily baptised on 26th September 1883
In 1871 William and Sarah were living in Victoria Road with Sarah’s widowed father, Joseph Butterfield. Both Joseph Butterfield and his son-in-law, William Morton, alternated their occupations between domestic gardener and agricultural labourer.
In 1881 the family were living in Red Lion Yard. This Yard in Berkhamsted was particularly notorious. There were as many as 18 little cottages behind the Red Lion public-house, which lost its licence in mid-Victorian times.
In Nov 1872, Sarah Catherine Cope née Underwood, widow of baker William Halsey, was about to marry Henry James Wood, gentleman. Part of the settlement of property on marriage included eleven cottages in Red Lion Yard, situated near and behind two messuages on the High Street. Seven of the cottages had been erected on garden ground and the other four had been completed out of the stables and wood houses on the property.
Under the 1855 Nuisance Removal Act, overcrowded housing was illegal. There were rules governing accommodation to ensure that each person had 300 cubic feet of air, and appropriate sleeping arrangements (Morning Chronicle, Feb 1855).
By 1886, the Yard had come to the attention of the local sanitary authority: “The Inspector reported several houses in Red Lion Yard, Berkhampstead, as being over-crowded, and orders were made in the cases of Thos. Belcher, George Kingston… and Emma Dolling to abate the overcrowding.” George Kingston was the neighbour of the Morton family in 1881.
In these densely-populated dwellings, perhaps it is no surprise that drainage problems in 1874 meant that “typhoid fever had been in the Red Lion-yard and other places… from bad and impure water.”
In 1887, aged just 46 years old, William Morton died, living his widow with at least five of their children still living at home.
By 1891 Sarah had moved her family, including James, out of Red Lion Yard and was living in Holliday Street. The area around Holliday Street was a fairly new development so probably a much better environment in which to raise her children. Sarah had become a domestic servant, whilst James was the oldest child still at home.
He gave his occupation as general labourer, and his two younger sisters Ann, 17, and Sarah, 15, both appear to have entered domestic service as well.
In 1891 James’ future wife, Minnie Geary was working as a general servant for Henry James Foster, a brewer who lived in Chesham Road. The couple married later that year and moved straight into Holliday Street, where James’ mother was living.
Their first child, Beatrice Edith Morton, was born on 29th February 1892 in Holliday Street and baptised at St Peter’s on 14th September 1892. She was followed by four brothers:
- Sydney Albert was baptised on 17th July 1895 at St Peter’s, but sadly died in 1896
- Ernest James William was born in 1897 and his birth registered in the Amersham registration district.
- Stanley Joseph was baptised on 17th September 1899 at St Peter’s.
- Arthur Edward born 14th March 1902.
By 1899 James and Minnie Morton had moved to 21 Ravens Lane with James giving his occupation as coach-smith. In the 1901 census James and Minnie were enumerated at 21 Ravens Lane with their three children, Beatrice, Ernest and Stanley. 21 Ravens Lane, remained the family home at least until the death of their daughter Beatrice in 1962.
James’ widowed mother, Sarah Morton, had also left Holliday Street and was living with James’ sister, Sarah in the Wilderness. In 1906 James’ sister Sarah died, a spinster at the age of 30.
James Morton remained working as a coach-smith all his married life until he retired. His employer in 1908 was “Mr A. Pocock Coachbuilder”. Alfred Pocock, was originally a blacksmith from Dudswell in Northchurch and had progressed over the years from blacksmith to Master Coachmaker. His business was known as “A. Pocock Coach Builders” and was based at 191 High Street. The business prospered, and early in the 1900s Alfred was approached to turn his shop into a plant for making motor car bodies. He decided that motor cars were just a fad which would never last – and stayed with his horse drawn carriages. Thus, the Pocock business and prosperity would also dwindle away. Alfred died in 1911.
On 1st April 1908 The Territorial Force was established by the amalgamation of the Volunteer Force and the yeomanry. The Volunteer Force battalions became the infantry component of the Territorial Force and were more closely integrated into regular army regimental establishments that they had previously been linked to; the yeomanry regiments became the mounted component of the Territorial Force, organised into 14 mounted brigades. The Bedford Regiment’s The 1st and 2nd Volunteer Battalions were merged to form The Hertfordshire Battalion of the Territorial Force. All members were required to attend between eight and fifteen days of annual camp and the Force was liable to serve anywhere in the UK.
Records show that James had been serving in the 2nd (Herts) Volunteer Battalion of the Bedfordshire Regiment from 15th January 1901. At the time that the Territorial Force was established, James was already 35 years and 6 months old, and had served seven years with the Bedfordshire Regiment.
Born, raised and married within the confines of Berkhamsted High Street and its side-roads, one could assume when looking at James’ life story that he had probably never seen much of the world beyond Berkhamsted and its environs. However, the records of the Territorial Force show that James had carried out his training all over the southeast of England as follows:
- Worthing – 26th July to 9th August 1908
- Landguard Fort at the mouth of the River Orwell outside Felixstowe, Suffolk 1st August to 15th August 1909
- Ipswich – 31st July 1910 to 14th August 1910
- Thetford – 30th July 1911 to 13th August 1911
- Worthing – 28th July 1912 to 11th August 1912
1914 saw the arrival of war, a terrifying prospect for families with eligible men, and James had three such eligible, young men as his own sons. It also bought loss in the form of the death of James’ mother, Sarah Morton. On 8th August 1914 James was discharged from the territorial Force “in consequence of being Medically Unfit for further” service.
From 21st August 1918 to 3rd September 1918 the Second Battles of the Somme took place. The British Third and Fourth Armies commenced offensive operations on the same ground over which the 1916 Battle of the Somme had been fought. They made deep advances, which took a massive human toll. One of those to perish on that French battlefield was Private Stanley Joseph Morton of the 6th The Queen’s (Royal West Surrey Regiment), formerly with the East Surrey Regiment. Stanley was killed in action at the Somme on 23 August 1918, age 19. He was buried at Meaulte Military Cemetery in France. The personal inscription on his gravestone reads:
THEIR GLORY SHALL NOT BE BLOTTED OUT
On 7th July 1929 Ernest married Elizabeth Mead at St Peter’s Church. The couple stayed close to James and Minnie living at 18 Holliday Street. James’s daughter, Beatrice, appears never to have left home, living with her parents into their old age.
Minnie passed away on 24 Oct 1946 in West Hertfordshire Hospital, Hemel Hempstead.
James remained living at 21 Ravens Lane, with his daughter Beatrice until his death on 27th September 1957. He left no will but administration of his estate was granted to his daughter Beatrice.