William Leslie Morice
Born 10 Oct 1893 - Died 4 Feb 1917
- Service number
- WWI 23/831 AWMM
- Also known as
- —
- Armed force / branch
- Army AWMM
- NZ Rifle Brigade & NZ Machine Gun CorpsPublic - Lorraine M - Researcher - 10 November 2015 - Military record
- Last rank
- WW1 Private AWMM New Zealand Machine Gun Corps AWMM
- War
- World War I, 1914-1918 AWMM
About
- Title
- RiflemanPublic - Lorraine M - Researcher - 10 November 2015 - Military record
- Forenames
- William Leslie AWMM
- Surname
- Morice AWMM
- Ingoa
- —
- Also known as
- —
- Service number
- WWI 23/831 AWMM
- Gender
- Male AWMM
- MalePublic - Lorraine M - Researcher - 10 November 2015 - Military record
- Iwi / Hapū / Waka / Rohe
- —
- Religion
- PrebyterianPublic - Lorraine M - Researcher - 10 November 2015 - Military record
Images
Documents
About birth
- Birth
- 10 Oct 1893 AWMM
Gisborne, New Zealand AWMM - Date of birth
- —
- Place of birth
- —
- Birth notes
- son of William & Sarah MoricePublic - Lorraine M - Researcher - 10 November 2015 - Military record
- Address before enlistment
- Pre 29 May 1915 AWMM Opotiki, New Zealand AWMM
- Post war occupation
- —
- Next of kin
- Mrs William Morice (mother), Opotiki, New Zealand AWMM
- Relationship status
- Pre 09 Oct 1915 AWMM Single AWMM
Wars and conflicts
- War
- World War I, 1914-1918 AWMM
- Campaign
- 1914-1919 AWMM Western Front AWMM
- 1914-1916 AWMM Egypt AWMM
- Armed force / branch
- Army AWMM
- NZ Rifle Brigade & NZ Machine Gun CorpsPublic - Lorraine M - Researcher - 10 November 2015 - Military record
- Service number
- WWI 23/831 AWMM
- Military service
- No.3 Company New Zealand Machine Gun Corps AWMM
- 1915-1917Public - Lorraine M - Researcher - 10 November 2015 - Military record
- Promotions/ Postings/ Transfers
- Gunner > PrivatePublic - Lorraine M - Researcher - 10 November 2015 - Military record
Military decorations
- Medals and Awards
- —
Training and Enlistment
- Military training
- —
- Branch Trade Proficiency
- —
- Enlistment
- WW1 29 May 1915 AWMM
Age 21 AWMM
Stationhand/Civilian AWMM - Age on enlistment
- —
- Occupation before enlistment
- —
Embarkations
Prisoner of war
- Capture details
- —
- Days interned
- —
- Liberation date
- —
- POW liberation details
- —
- Liberation Repatriation
- —
- POW serial number
- —
Medical history
- Medical notes
- Hospital Diseases , Wounds, WWI AWMM
Contracted influenza in 22 May whilst on the River Lys, near Armentieres. AWMM - Died of wounds, Cause of Death AWMM
- Hospital Diseases , Wounds, WWI AWMM
Last known rank
- Last rank
- WW1 Private AWMM
New Zealand Machine Gun Corps AWMM - Last rank
- —
Biographical information
- "The Senussi Muslims of Libya, inspired by Turkish propaganda, attacked the British on Egypt's Western frontier in November 1915. The 1 New Zealand Rifle Brigade went to support a mixture of largely untried troops (Egyptian, Sikh, Australian and New Zealanders) known as the Western Frontier Force. On 19 December William left Alexandria by ship bound for Mersa Matruh, 200 miles west of the Egyptian coast. On Christmas Day the Brigade took part in the 'affair of the Wadi Medwa' driving back a large force of the Senussi and preventing their advance beyond Matruh. The loss on the British side was 13 killed and 51 wounded, among whom was William Morice, with severe wounds to his left forearm and chest." (Church, p.81)
After being out of action for two and a half months William Morice rejoined his unit. He was transferred to the Western Front in France in April 1917.
In late December 1916 William Morice was wounded again whilst in the Cordonnerie subsector on the River Lys near Armentieres. He received gunshot wounds to his leg and a compound fractured femur. He was immediately evacuated to Brockenhurst England where he died one month later. (Church, p.82)
Next of Kin: Mrs W. Morice, Box 80, Opotiki (Roll of Honour, Auckland Province 1914-1918 (Volume 2)) AWMM
About death
- Death
- 4 Feb 1917 AWMM
Age 23 AWMM - Date of death
- —
- Age at death
- —
- Place of death
- —
- Cause of death
- Died of wounds AWMM
- Death notes
- —
- Cemetery
- Brockenhurst (St Nicholas) Churchyard, Hampshire, England AWMM A. 1. 5. AWMM
- Cemetery name
- —
- Grave reference
- —
- Obituary
- The sad advice has been received of the death from wounds of Private Wm Leslie. Morice, third son of Mr and Mrs W. Morice, of Opotiki, who were well-known residents in this district. Private Morice was a member of the Rifle Brigade and he was wounded in France on Deceinber 27. Just a year after he was wounded in the fight with the Senussi in Egypt. He was 24 years of age and left with one of the Auckland contingents. Private Morice was well known in Gisborne where he went to school. He has another brother, Allan, still in France, and he has been wounded several times, but apparently only slightly, whilst another brother, Archie, is a prisoner at Constantinople.Public - Lorraine Mona - Researcher - 29 May 2023 - ROLL OF HONOR.
POVERTY BAY HERALD, VOLUME XLIV, ISSUE 14219, 9 FEBRUARY 1917, PAGE 3 - Memorial name
- Gisborne War MemorialPublic - Lorraine Mona - Researcher - 29 May 2023 - https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/photo/gisborne-region-first-world-war-memorial
- Patutahi War MemorialPublic - Lorraine M - Researcher - 10 November 2015 - Research
- Gisborne War Memorial
- Memorial reference
- —
Memorial
- Memorial name
- Gisborne War Memorial AWMM
- Memorial plaque, St Andrews Presbyterian Church, Gisborne AWMM
- Memorial plaque, St John's Union Church, Opotiki AWMM
- Auckland War Memorial Museum, World War 1 Hall of Memories AWMM
- Gisborne Boys' High School, 80 Stanley Road, Te Hapara, Gisborne AWMM
Related objects
Sources
- External links
- Military personnel file
https://collections.archives.govt.nz/web/arena/search/#/entity/aims-archive/R21377354
Further Reference - Luxford, J. (1923). With the machine gunners in France and Palestine. Auckland, N.Z.: Whitcombe & Tombs. Digital copy
http://www.nzetc.org/tm/scholarly/tei-WH1-Mach.html
Further Reference - Website: No 1 New Zealand General Hospital, Brockenhurst
http://southernlife.org.uk/nzindex.htm
Further Reference - A Street Near You record
https://astreetnearyou.org/person/362596/-
Further Reference - Commonwealth War Graves Commission Casualty record
https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/362596
Further Reference
- Military personnel file
- References
- Church, C. (2002). New Zealand graves at Brockenhurst : 93 New Zealand soldiers remembered from World War One. Hampshire, England: Author.
- New Zealand Army Expeditionary Force. (1914-1919). Nominal Rolls of New Zealand Expeditionary Force, Volume I. Wellington, N.Z.: Govt. Printer.
Page No: 517 - Beattie, P.J. & Pomeroy, M. (2013-2020). Onward : portraits of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force (vols 1-5). Auckland, New Zealand: Fair Dinkum Publications
Vol. 1: Includes portrait - Roll of Honour, Auckland Province (digital copy), 1914 - 1919. Auckland War Memorial Museum Library. MS-2016-2.
- Luxford, J. (1923). With the machine gunners in France and Palestine. Auckland, N.Z.: Whitcombe & Tombs.
- Austin, W. (1924). The official history of the New Zealand Rifle Brigade (The Earl of Liverpool's Own). Wellington, N.Z.: L T Watkins.
- HMNZT 30 - The Periscope : unofficial mouthpiece of the 1st Battalion N.Z. Rifle Brigade (Earl of Liverpool's Own) and Divisional Ammunition Column -- At sea : Officers & men of the Reinforcement : 1915
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