Family :

Service Life:

Campaigns:

• The First World War 1914-1918, World-wide.

9 April - 29 April 1918. As the first phase of the great German campaign of 1918 lost momentum and failed in its objective to split the British and French armies, subsidiary attacks were shift the balance of the attack and to seek opportunities to exploit other sectors. On the Lys the Germans initially enjoyed spectacular success against a Portuguese Division but the gap was soon plugged and the advance halted.

Detail :

He was one of about 15 men who were driven out of their position by the enemy and took cover in a ruined farmhouse. They lay flat in the farmyard for some time before he got up to look around, and was hit by a machine gun bullet.

He was reported missing [12th April 1918]. He died as a POW in a German Casualty Clearing Station [13th April 1918], aged 36.

His photograph appears with a report of his story in the Halifax Courier [27th April 1918 - see below]. He was buried at Anzac Cemetery, Sailly-sur-la-Lys, France.

He is remembered in the Halifax Town Hall Books of Remembrance, on the Halifax Parish Church Members (WWI) Memorial, and on the Memorial at Halifax Freemasons .


Transcript from the Halifax Evening Courier:

[First entry] Mr and Mrs T M Morton, West Bank, Lister Lane, on Tuesday received official notification that their son, Lt Percival Clare Morton, had been missing, believed wounded, since April 12. The telegram, singularly enough, came to hand on his 36th birthday. Sec-Lt Morton, who was chief assistant solicitor to the Halifax Town Council, made several attempts to join the colours before he was finally accepted on June 5, 1916. He enlisted as a private, being drafted to the Royal Fusiliers, but subsequently he was transferred to the Royal Garrison Artillery. With the latter he served in France as signaller. In October this year, he was granted his commission, and as an officer he has been out at the front with the York and Lancashire Regiment. Among his colleagues at the Town Hall, and by a host of acquaintances, he was held in high esteem, and further news regarding him will be awaited with anxiety.

Sec-Lt J Andrew Duncan, a Halifax gentleman in the same battalion, who prior to the war was with Messrs Rouse and Co, writes under the date April 16th: - "He was seen to fall wounded during a short retirement, but no-one saw him after. One man says he moved, and then when he had the chance to look again, Percy had gone, so we can only hope he was picked up by the enemy and attended by them. We found that many of our wounded had been bound up by the Germans, and left for us to pick up, but we have no news of Percy since he was seen to fall, and can only assume that he is a prisoner and being cared for." Lt Duncan concluded with references to the anxiety of the officers of the battalion as to news of Lt Morton. It may be noted that the official message gave the date April 12, whereas Lt Duncan refers to it as April 11.

[2nd entry] Sec-Lt Percival C Morton, posted missing April 12, is now officially reported to have died in hospital in Germany. News received from the Red Cross Commission at Geneva states that the following report appears on the lists despatched from Berlin: - "PC Morton, officer, York and Lancashire Regt, died 13 April in a casualty clearing station at S[illegible] as a consequence of neck wounds. Recorded by Sanitary Company 11th April." How Sec-Lt Morton came by his wounds is related by Private RL Lakin, his servant, in a letter to the British Red Cross. in which he states, after being driven out of a position by the enemy, about 15 of them, with Sec-Lt Morton, took cover in a ruined farmhouse. For some time they lay flat in the farmyard, when Sec-Lt Morton got up to look round, and was hit by a machine gun bullet. As he fell, he clasped his left breast, fell like a log, and doubled up. The machine gun fire prevented assistance going to him. Major H Goodburn, in a letter to the widow, speaks in high appreciation of the coolness and courage which, by his example, her husband inspired in his men. Sec-Lt Morton, before enlisting, was assistant solicitor at the Town Council.

At Halifax Borough Court yesterday, Mr W Storey, referring to the loss of Sec-Lt Percival G Morton, remarked that he was well known as prosecuting solicitor for the Town Council in the Court. He offered his life for his country, and, he was sorry to say, had surrendered that life. His work before the Court had done splendidly. Sometimes, indeed, he might have been thought to be over-courteous. At any rate, he was a true man, and he had got his true reward. The legal profession would feel his loss, but his father, his mother, and his wife, would feel it more. To them, on behalf of the profession, he extended deep sympathy.
Mr W Pollizi, assistant solicitor to the Town Council, extended the sympathy of the whole Town Hall staff.

The Chairman, alluding to Sec-Lt Morton as "our old friend", observed that in his conduct of cases before the court he was always gentlemanly and courteous, and never attempted to take any advantage in any shape or form.

Masonic :

Source :

The project globally acknowledges the following as sources of information for research across the whole database:

• The Commonwealth War Graves Commission
• The (UK) National Archives
• Ancestry.co.uk - Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History online
• ugle.org.uk - The records of the United Grand Lodge of England including the Library and Museum of Freemasonry

Additional Source:

• Founder Researchers : Paul Masters & Mike McCarthy
• Researcher : Bruce Littley
• Researcher : Rod Taylor