Branch of Service

Army

Conflict

World War I (1914-1918)

Date of Enlistment

04/04/1916

Place of Enlistment

Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT

Gender

Male

Date of Birth

01/04/1895

Place of Birth

Kempsey NSW

Address (at enlistment)

Royal Military College, Duntroon ACT

Occupation

Soldier

Next of Kin

Son of James Harris Morell and Frances Helen Morell of Edgecliff NSW

Burial Place

Maubeuge (Sous-le-Bois) Cemetery, France, grave C.1.

Final Rank

Major

Final Unit

3 Division Artillery Headquarters AIF

Died 27 February 1919, aged 23 years

AWM Roll of Honour Memorial Panel 2, Canberra ACT
Large stone tablet on outside of northern wall of St. John's Church, Reid ACT

Military Cross (Commonwealth of Australia Gazette 15 September 1919, page 1371, position 58)
Mentioned in Despatches (Commonwealth of Australia Gazette 23 May 1919, page 879, position 145)

Morell's father worked for a bank, so the family moved around when he was a child. He entered the Royal Military College, Duntroon on 12 March 1914 with the fourth intake of cadets and graduated early, along with his class, on 3 April 1916. He was appointed as a Lieutenant with the 25th Battery, 7th Field Artillery Brigade, disembarking in July 1916 at Devonport, England. He and his battery arrived in France in January 1917 and he served with them until just after the beginning of the Battle of Messines in June 1917. Morell was then detached to the 3rd Division Artillery Headquarters and served as Staff Captain and in Staff roles for the rest of the war. He was promoted to Major in October 1918. He was awarded the Military Cross "for conspicuous service and devotion to duty during the Somme operations in August, September and October 1918. He selected sites for forward ammunition dumps and the success of the artillery during operations was due in great measure to his devotion in maintaining ammunition supplies." He was also Mentioned in Despatches.

Morell died from self inflicted wounds on 27 February 1919. According to an enquiry he was suffering depression from an incident which occurred in January 1919 when he was commanding the 3rd Divsional Ammunition Column (3DAC). Morell had assumed command of 3DAC in late December 1918 and received orders for his unit to move billets from Ferriere la Grande to Hautmont. The men of 3DAC refused to move arguing that the accommodation at Hautmont was inferior and would cause unnecessary hardship. When two men from the 7th Field Artillery Brigade were placed under arrest at the beginning of January for refusing to obey an order, the men of 3DAC went on strike and sixty were placed under arrest.

Colonel Henry Macartney, who knew Morell at RMC when he was an instructor and was in temporary command of the 3rd Division Artillery at the time of the incident, told the enquiry that Morell was a conscientious and capable man and the events of January 1919 weighed heavily on Morell's mind. A bout of influenza in November 1918, which hospitalised Morell for over a month, followed by what amounted to a mutiny by the men under his command had taken its toll. Morell was buried in Maubeuge (Sous-le-Bois) Cemetery, France.

Description - height 5 feet 7¼ inches, weight 154 pounds, chest 35-36½ inches, Church of England.

Colonel J.E. Lee, 'Duntroon: The Royal Military College of Australia 1911-1946', 1952
NAA RecordSearch - Series B2455 (First Australian Imperial Force Personnel Dossiers, 1914-1920)
AWM Roll of Honour
AWM Collections Record : E01272
AWM Collections Record : AWM4 13/76/9 - January 1919 (3rd Australian Divisional Ammunition Column), Appendix No.1
Sydney Morning Herald - 8 March 1919