King's Own Royal Regiment Museum

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Captain Ralph D’Albini Morrell

Captain Ralph D’Albini Morrell, of the 1st/4th Battalion, King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment, was killed in action on 8th August 1916 whilst in temporary command of the battalion in the Trones Wood sector, the Somme. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial in France.

Westmorland Gazette 26th August 1916
Captain Ralph D'Albini Morrell
Killed in action 8th August 1916. He was 35 years of age and second son of Mr Jason Conyers Morrell of Leyland and the late Mrs Conyers Morrell (nee Danbury), and great-grandson of General Brown Clayton commanding 12th Lancs.
He was educated at St. Edwards School, Oxford, and received his commission in 1910. His commanding officer writes:
“The battalion was attacking the German trenches an he was leading his Company in the assault… He was very popular and well liked by all officers and men of his battalion and will be greatly missed. His last words were “Tell the CO I died doing my duty for King and Country.”
Captain Morrell resided at The Beeches, Eden Mount, Grange for about 6 years. He afterwards removed to the South England. Whilst in Grange he served as a Lieutenant in the 4th King’s Own and was for a time Scoutmaster of Grange Boy Scouts and he took and active interest in the Rifle Club.
 

Bronze plaque, as would have been attached to a tree,  of the Roads of Remembrance Committee, dedicated to 2nd Lieutenant A T (Peter) Nickel of the 1st Battalion, Northumberland Fusiliers and Captain Ralph D’Albini Morrell, of the 1st/4th Battalion, King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment, was killed in action on 8th August 1916 whilst in temporary command of the battalion in the Trones Wood sector, the Somme. He has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial in France.
Accession Number: KO3065/01 Image provided courtesy of Morton & Eden Ltd, London.

In June 1919 the Roads of Remembrance Association was formed. In 1929 it became the Roads of Remembrance Committee of the Roads Beautifying Association, which had been founded in 1928 by Lord Mount Temple, the Minister of Transport, to provide an organisation through which the services of experts was made available to those responsible for the planning and preservation of trees along highways. The Roads of Remembrance Association planted trees, some of which commemorated people killed during the Great War, and clearly bronze plaques were added to the dedicated trees.
 

© Images are copyright, Trustees of the King's Own Royal Regiment Museum.
 You must seek permission prior to publication of any of our images.