Private 5457

2^nd. Bn. Sherwood Foresters (Notts and Derby) Rgt.

Died Sunday 20^th September 1914. Aged 33.

Grave. Ref. Memorial La Ferte-Sous-Jouarre, Seine-et-Marne, France.

Private Morley was born in Westwood but later lived at Sherwood, Nottingham - probably in the Sherwood Barracks. We believe that his parents were Joseph and Mary Morley living at Westwood (shown on the 1891 census, when Joseph was 11 years old). He also had a brother, Sgt George Morley, who served during the Boer War in The Imperial Yeomanry.

Joseph, was also a veteran of the Boer War. At the age of sixteen, he enlisted in Nottingham on 28th September 1896. He was wounded, whilst serving with 'H' Company on 29th May 1901 at Vlakfontein, South Africa. He was invalided and transferred to 'details' in Aldershot, South Africa, with effect from 1st November 1901. This earned him the 'Queen's South Africa Medal with Clasps' in 1901.

As a regular soldier at the outset of World War One he was an early casualty, killed in action during the German attack on the trenches at Troyon, France on Sunday 20th September 1914, aged 33 years. He was posthumously mentioned in despatches on the 14th January 1915, and posthumously awarded the Russian Medal of St George 3rd Class, which was gazetted on 25th August 1915. This medal was given as a gesture to boost morale between the Allied Nations.

9862 Sgt Percy Smith, of Jacksdale, 2nd Btn. Sherwood Foresters was also killed during the attack at Troyon on the same day but is buried at Sissonne British Cemetery, Aisne, France.

Private Morley is commemorated at La Ferte Sous Jouarre Memorial, Seine et Marne - No known grave. This cemetery commemorates nearly 4,000 officers and men of The British Expeditionary Force who died during August, September and the early part of October 1914 and have no known grave.

Sherwood Foresters World War One Casualties - 11,298
Source: R. Capewell 'Discovering Military Badges.'