Thomas Morris was born on 12th November 1880 in Bradford-on-Avon, Wiltshire. One of thirteen children, his parents were Henry and Eliza Morris. Henry was a chimney sweep, and this is a trade that Thomas would also go into, unsurprisingly, from a very young age. The family lived to the north of the town centre, initially at 57 Newtown, before moving round the corner to 5 Wine Street.
By the turn of the century, love was beckoning for Thomas. On 29th March 1903, he wed Annie Britten, a labourer’s daughter, who also lived on Wine Street. The marriage certificate noted that Thomas had changed jobs, and was employed as a labourer.
The 1911 census return shows the family home that had been set up. Henry and Eliza were still at Wine Street, although now at No. 44. Thomas and Annie were also living there, crammed into the four-roomed cottage with their four children as well. Henry was still working as a chimney sweep, while Thomas had found employment as maltster’s labourer.
Annie would go on to have six children in all, and when war broke out, she was left to raise the family with the help of her father-in-law (Eliza having passed in May 1914). Thomas enlisted in the Wiltshire Regiment early on in the conflict and, according to later reports, had seen a lot of service on the Western Front. He survived the conflict, however, and returned to a base in the garrison town of Trowbridge, Wiltshire.
At the start of 1919, Private Morris came home on leave, but while there, he fell ill. He was admitted to the military hospital in Sutton Veny, also in Wiltshire, but succumbed to the influenza he had contracted. He passed away on 11th January 1919, aged the age of 38 years old.
The body of Thomas Morris was taken back to Bradford-on-Avon to be buried. He was laid to rest in the town’s cemetery.
Annie was now a widow with children to raise. Henry had also passed away in 1918, and so she remarried, wedding William Bishop in December 1919. The couple went on to have a child of their own, Phyllis, in March 1921.
Annie would live a peaceful life, passing away in Trowbridge in 1943, at the age of 60.
Death and Service 