MORRIS, William, Lieut-Colonel, C.B. (A Memoir by Sir R. White-Thomson, K.C.B.) (Privately Printed) [1903]
Front. port., as issued without printed title. Orig. parchment, front board blocked & lettered in gilt. Vertical inscription on leading pastedown, 'Mr. Thomas Palmer from Miss Julia Morris 18 May 1903'. 44pp.
¶Not recorded on Copac. A privately printed memoir of Morris, 1820-1858, who hailed from Hatherleigh, Devon. He served in India, but he is remembered best as Commander of the 17th Lancers who took part in 'The Charge of the Light Brigade' during the Crimean War. Unwounded on the first charge, Morris and his remaining men confronted a regiment of Hussars. Morris himself was cut by a Cossack sabre, followed by a further blow that penetrated his skull. Falling from his horse, he was then lanced in the temple. Called to surrender by a Russian officer who then disappeared, Morris grabbed the reins of a riderless horse, but lost consciousness. When he came to, he mounted another horse which was shot under him. His life was saved by a surgeon, James Mouat, who came to his aid and dressed his wounds, an action which saved Morris's life and earned Mouat the V.C. Morris died at Poona, four years later. The Morris Monument at Hatherleigh was erected in 1860; a fence and wall around the monument was erected in 1901 by the author of this memoir in memory of his brother, Lieut. J.H. Thomson, who died at Balaklava.