Richard Levi Morris was born in the village of Carno, mid-Wales, in the autumn of 1895. He was the oldest of five children to John and Hannah Morris. John was a tailor who, when Richard was still a babe in arms, moved the family north to the Denbighshire town of Llangollen.

When he left school, Richard found work as baker’s apprentice. He was employed by the Model Bakery on Church Street, Llangollen, a business that would go on to win, according to its subsequent advertising, a bronze medal for both its white and brown bread in both 1912 and 1913 [North Wales Journal: Friday 7th August 1914].

War was coming to Europe, and Richard stepped up to play his part. Full details of his service are sadly lost to time, but he had enlisted in the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry by the summer of 1918. Initially assigned to the 9th (Service) Battalion, Private Morris subsequently transferred to the 2nd/4th Battalion and was attached to one of the regiment’s depots.

What little documentation around Richard’s actual service confirms that he was sent to the Western Front. At some point towards the end of the conflict – possibly during the final advance in Picardy – he was wounded. Medically evacuated to Britain, he was admitted to a cottage hospital in Oswestry, Shropshire.

Sadly, it was here that Private Morris was to breath his last: he succumbed to his injuries on 18th January 1919, at the tender age of just 24 years old.

The body of Richard Levi Morris was brought back to Wales for burial. He was laid to rest in the quiet Fron Cemetery in Llangollen.

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