MAJOR RICHARD VICTOR MORSE
Australian Electrical and Mechanical Mining and Boring Company
Richard Victor Morse was born in Rockdale, Sydney, New South Wales, in 1885, the son of the Reverend Richard Morse and Augusta (nee Sleath).
He signed the ‘Attestation Paper of Persons Enlisted for Service Abroad’ and the Application for a Commission in the A.I.F. on 14 January 1916, officially signing the Paper on 14 February 1916 at Casula, NSW.
Richard was 31 years and 5 months of age, 6ft 1½ins tall and weighed 198 lbs. He had a dark complexion, hazel eyes and dark hair. He listed his Religious Denomination as Church of England.
He listed technical qualifications from Sydney Grammar School and general education acquired in England and on the Continent.
He recorded previous military experience as a Lieutenant in the Australian Engineers, No.1 Electrical Company, Sydney and as the Officer Commanding ‘E’ Company, 18 Battalion Area, Artamon and relieving Area Officer (Provisional from January 1908). He advised that he had resigned to take up studies and work in England and the Continent. His civil employment was as a Mechanical and Electrical Engineer.
Married with two children, he named his wife Mina Aileen Morse of “Woronora”, Grassmere Road, Lindfield, NSW as his Next-of-Kin.
Allotted as an acting Captain to the Technical Staff (Mechanical Engineer) on the Headquarters of the newly formed Australian Mining Corps at their Casula Camp, his appointment as an officer in the A.I.F. was gazetted with an effective date of 15 January 1916, and was published in the Sydney Morning Herald of 19 February 1916:
At a civic parade in the Domain, Sydney on Saturday February 19, 1916, a large crowd of relations and friends of the departing Miners lined the four sides of the parade ground. Sixty police and 100 Garrison Military Police were on hand to keep the crowds within bounds. The scene was an inspiriting one. On the extreme right flank, facing the saluting base, were companies of the Rifle Club School; next came a detachment of the 4th King’s Shropshire Light Infantry, then the bands of the Light Horse, Liverpool Depot, and the Miners’ on the left, rank upon rank, the Miners’ Battalion.
Following the farewell parade in the Domain, Sydney, the Australian Mining Corps embarked from Sydney, New South Wales on 20 February 1916 on board HMAT A38 Ulysses.
The Mining Corps comprised 1303 members at the time they embarked with a Headquarters of 40; No.1 Company – 390; No.2 Company – 380; No.3 Company – 392, and 101 members of the 1st Reinforcements.
Ulysses arrived in Melbourne, Victoria on 22 February and the Miners were camped at Seymour while additional stores and equipment were loaded onto Ulysses. Another parade was held at the Broadmeadows camp on March 1, the Miners’ Corps being inspected by the Governor-General, as Commander-in-Chief of the Commonwealth military forces.
Departing Melbourne on 1 March, Ulysses sailed to Fremantle, Western Australia where a further 53 members of the Corps were embarked. The ship hit a reef when leaving Fremantle harbour, stripping the plates for 40 feet and, although there was a gap in the outside plate, the inner bilge plates were not punctured. The men on board nicknamed her ‘Useless’. The Miners were off-loaded and sent to the Blackboy Hill Camp where further training was conducted.
After a delay of about a month due to Ulysses requiring repairs following a collision with an uncharted rock when leaving Fremantle on 8 March, The Mining Corps sailed for the European Theatre on 1 April 1916. The men on board nicknamed her ‘Useless’.
The ship arrived at Suez, Egypt on 22 April, departing for Port Said the next day; then on to Alexandria. The Captain of the shipwas reluctantto take Ulysses out of the Suez Canal because he felt the weight of the ship made it impossible to manoeuvre in the situation of a submarine attack. The Mining Corps was transhipped to B1 Ansonia for the final legs to Marseilles, France via Valetta, Malta.
Arriving at Marseilles on 5 May, most of the men entrained for Hazebrouck where they arrived to set up their first camp on 8 May 1916.
A ‘Mining Corps’ did not fit in the British Expeditionary Force, and the Corps was disbanded and three Australian Tunnelling Companies were formed. The Technical Staff of the Corps Headquarters, plus some technically qualified men from the individual companies, was formed into the entirely new Australian Electrical and Mechanical Mining and Boring Company (AEMMBC), better known as the ‘Alphabetical Company’.
5 officers: Capt. Morse, Capt Sanderson, Lt Tooth, Lt Smith & Lt Phippard, with 88 O.R.s were left at Marseilles to unload machinery and plant from transport B.1 into Railway Trucks. They left Marseilles 11 May and reached Hazebrouck on 12 May.
Stores were established in the West Market buildings, Hazebrouck, and a large barn was selected half a mile from the town on the Borre Road, and used as a workshop. In June the Shop was moved into Messrs Miller & Coy. (Duronts) cycle accessories factory, Rue de Borre Hazebrouck.
On 7 October 1916 Captain Morse was transferred from the Headquarters, Australian Mining Corps, to the Australian Electrical and Mechanical Mining and Boring Company. He was taken on strength on 9 October and on 13 October he was appointed to Command that unit.
On 9 February 1917 he reported sick and was admitted to the 12th Casualty Clearing Station with bronchitis. On 16 February he was transferred to a Michelham Convalescent Home at Menton. Discharged to duty on 17 March, he rejoined his unit 20 March. His promotion and appointment to Major had occurred on 1 March 1917.
Major Richard Morse was Mentioned in the Despatches of General Sir Douglas Haig on 9 April 1917 and was made a Companion of the Distinguished Service Officers on 3 June 1917.
He proceeded on leave on 28 December 1917, rejoining his unit on 10 January 1918 and again enjoyed some leave from 9 to 23 August 1918.
On 9 January 1919 he proceeded on leave to England, returning to France on 11 February. He was Mentioned in Despatches by Sir Douglas Haig on 16 March 1919.
On 10 May he proceed to England for return to Australia.
Town & Country Journal - April 2, 1919:
Richard was granted non-military-employment leave from 18 June to 30 July 1919 with pay and subsistence: Reason – Electric Railway – English Electric Company, “Queens House”, 28 Kingsway, WC. On 1 August 1919 he was granted leave until 24 August, leaving London on 28 August 1919 on board Kanowna and arriving in Australia on 26 October 1919. His appointment as an Officer in the A.I. F. was terminated on 12 January 1920; he was entitled to wear the Distinguished Service Order, the British War Medal and the Victory Medal with Oakleaf.
The Mercury - Saturday 18 March 1922
Sydney Morning Herald -Monday 18 June 1923, page 8
Richard Victor Morse died on 26 January 1925.
Sydney Morning Herald- Friday 30 January 1925, page 10
Tunnellers’ Old Comrades Association Bulletin No. 3 1928, page 16:
‘The New Church Newsletter’ of February 2006 an article by Beryl Laidley titled “A Profile of the Family of Richard Morse’ was highlighted in her presentation to the Hurstville Society Day School.
The April 1925 New Church Newsletter recorded: “Our sympathies have gone out to our Pastor, who lost his only son, Major Morse, D.S.O., on January 26th. His last illness was the result of strenuous military service during the Great War, where he served among the electrical engineers in front of the front lines. The Sydney press has referred to him as one of our most prominent engineers and distinguished soldiers, and the clergyman officiating at the grave spoke of his “nobility of character as a citizen, and of his bravery on the field of battle which had won him high recognition.”
A large collection of photographs and documents were donated to the National Library by the Morse family. Items retained by the family included a brass plate inscribed with AEMMBC symbols and history, the kangaroo shaped radiator cap from the Company Daimler driven by Morse and a 1916 Bosch AC DC 350 watt generator.
© Donna Baldey 2010
Addendums:
Lieut. John Macdairmid Royle .. on the firing of the Hill 60 mines
“I do not want to claim that I exploded the mines. There were three distinct electric leads in parallel, each passing through the two mines in series. Each line was attached to a two-way throw-over switch which connected its line either to an independent push-down exploder on one side, and on the other to a master switch which was connected to a petrol-driven generator. The idea being that each of the exploder switches should be open, while at zero hour the generator threw the master switch and the three other switches which were closed on the master switch side should pass the current through the mines. In the event of the generator being out of order then the three exploder switches should be closed on that side and each exploder operated independently but simultaneously.
Fortunately the generator worked perfectly and there was no need of the exploders actually. The whole of the wiring was carried out by the Australian Electrical Mechanical Mining and Boring Coy. Under Major R.D. Morse, D.S.O. generally referred to as the A.E.M.M.B. Coy. This was definitely the first electrical and mechanical Coy in France and was looked upon as the progenitor of the present great and useful R.E.M.E. Coys of which there must now be hundreds.”
Copy of Letter [abridged] written by Lt J.D. Royle c1960.
AWM224 MSS79 Part4 contains many letters of appreciation for the work done by the AEMMBC from Commanders along the Western Front. Notable are those pertaining to Vimy Ridge in April and Messines in June 1917. The AEMMBC, as a company, was singled out by Field-Marhsal Sir Douglas Haig for specific mention in his communiqué of 4 December 1918.
While her husband was away, Mrs. Morse was a prominent contributor to the units’ Comfort Fund.
Sydney Morning Herald - September 1, 1916:
Sydney Morning Herald - September 9, 1916