12 February 2017

Alfred and Samuel Morey

Some stories are really complicated to tell due to family complexities, the passages of time or side stories that just seem to over take the medal and the soldier.
In this case it is probably better to start with what I know and then introduce a tangent.
I was recently sent a Queen's South Africa Medal awarded to 573 Troop Alfred Charles Morey who served with the Victorian Bushman. I also received the 1914-15 and British War Medal awarded to 3025 Samuel George Morey, 1 Divisional Ammunition Column, AIF. These came to me from Adrian F of South Coogee.
Unraveling the connection between Alfred and Samuel was a little confusing but I eventually confirmed they were brothers. All this research also led me to James Mathew Morey but more about him later.
A letter that Alfred sent to his mother from South Africa was published in the papers and makes for interesting reading. A copy of this letter is below. In the letter Alfred mentions his wife but I could not find any evidence that they had children.
Samuel was a different story. He was the father of many children, several of who served in WWI:
665 Gunner Percival Henry Morey.
91 SGT Walter Henry Morey who was awarded a Meritorious Service Medal.
11777 Gunner William Ormsby Morey who was Mentioned in Dispatches.
It was through Percival's line that I have been able to contact the current generation. Percival and his wife Olga had a number of children. Their eldest son was Dennis and it is his family who I'll send the medals to. Here are the pictures of Alfred and Samuel's medal and Alfred's letter. James' story is further down the page.
The returned medal tally is now 2010.



Now back to Alfred and Samuel's brother, James. 568 Trooper James Matthew also served in the Victorian Bushman. He was a police constable in Victoria but it is the story of James and the regimental mascot, 'Bushie', which really makes for interesting reading.

1 comment:

  1. An interesting story Glyn and as always, a wonderful outcome!

    ReplyDelete