Born in Nottingham c.1831.
Enlisted at Dublin on the 30th of June 1849.
Age: 18.
Height: 5' 7".
Trade: Engineer.
From Private to Corporal: 14th of May 1854.
[PB: Morley wrote several letters to his family and others from the Crimea, and several accounts of the Charge (in EJBA and Accounts database, to be added to this page).]
Letters include:
"Dear parents, I take the opportunity of writing these few lines to you, hoping to find you all quite well, as it leaves me at present, thank God."
"Dear Parents, I am at Varna in charge of a Letter Party that is to take despatches to the troops up the country. I have been here for three weeks."
"Dear Father, I wrote my last letter to you about the end of October, after the Battle of Balaklava. On the 2nd November we moved further towards Sebastopol, where we are at present. We are not more than a mile from the guns which are playing upon Sebastopol."
"Dear Father, I received your kind and welcome letter yesterday. The little bag of camphor and the pens arrive quite safe, but I have not yet received the newspaper."
Published accounts (authored by TM, or containing letters or substantial quotations) include:
"In my last I said that our Siege fire had opened. They are still at it hard and fast. Firing, I am afraid is not of the least avail. It does not make the least impression on the place."
"I charged at Balaklava with my squadron until it was nearly annihilated, my own lance being shot away."
[PB: Roy Dutton has scanned Thomas Morley's 1899 memoir, "The Cause of the Charge of the Light Brigade", which also contains a considerable number of Morley's petitions, letters and other documents. A copy can be viewed here.
There is a full transcript, by David Price, with images, here.]
In a "Scrapbook" formerly belonging to 1177, James W. Wightman, 17th Lancers, was found part of a pamphlet which Morley published in the United States sometime around 1889/90, and also a printed copy of a letter which Wightman had written to Morley referring to his (and Morley's) part in the Charge. Morley, then living at 1116, 6th Street, Washington, D.C., said:
"Who are the '600'? There are, in this country, so many false claimants for the honour of the famous "600" that I have clearly established the fact that there is but one besides myself (not named) in the United States. The rest are nothing but counterfeits and impostors. I have the honour to be the only one who ever came to this country belonging to the "Balaklava Commemoration Society" in London."
[PB: See also Further information, below.]
[PB: James Wightman, 17th Lancers, memorably describes rallying to Morley ("this man of the hour") at a critical moment during the Charge.]
Wightman, with two others, had passed through the guns:
"But we were all three wearied and weakened by loss of blood; our horses wounded in many places; there were enemies all about us, and we thought it was about time to be getting back. I remember reading in the regimental library of an officer who said to his commander 'We have done enough for honour.' That was our humble opinion too, and we turned our horses' heads.
We forced our way through ring after ring of enemies, fell in with my comrade Peter Marsh, and rode rearward, breaking through party after party of Cossacks, until we heard the familiar voice of Corporal Morley, of our regiment, a great, rough, bellowing Nottingham man. He had lost his lance hat and, and his long hair was flying out in the wind as he roared, 'Coom 'ere! coom 'ere!, Fall in, lads, fall in!' Well, with shouts and oaths we had collected some twenty troopers of various regiments.
We fell in with the handful this man of the hour had rallied to him, and there joined us also under his leadership Sergeant-Major Ranson and Private John Penn of the 17th. Penn, a tough old warrior who had served with the 3rd Light in the Sikh war, had killed a Russian officer, dismounted, and with great deliberation accoutred himself with the belt and sword of the defunct, in which he made a great show.
A body of Russian Hussars blocked our way. Morley, roaring Nottingham oaths by way of encouragement, led us straight at them, and we went through and out of the other side as if they had been made of tinsel paper.
As we rode up the valley, pursued by some Hussars and Cossacks, my horse was wounded by a bullet in the shoulder, and I had hard work to put the poor beast along. Presently we were abreast of the Infantry who had blazed into our right as we went down; and we had to take their fire again, this time on our left. Their firing was very impartial; their own Hussars and Cossacks following close on us suffered from it as well as we. Not many of Corporal Morley's party got back.
[Source: "Balaclava and the Russian Captivity", The Nineteenth Century, May 1892, pp.855-856.]
Corporal to Sergeant: 17th of November 1854.
Discharged, "by purchase", from Dublin on the 21st of January 1857, upon a payment of £20.
Served 7 years 204 days.
Conduct: "good".
In possession of one Good Conduct badge.
Entitled to the Crimean medal with clasps for Alma, Balaclava, Inkerman, and Sebastopol, and the Turkish medal.
Present at the first Balaclava Banquet in 1875.
Member of the Balaclava Commemoration Society in 1879.
Signed the Loyal Address to the Queen in 1887.
Attended a "Jubilee of the Charge" Balaclava Banquet held at Nottingham on 25th of October 1904, as a guest of honour of the Veteran's Association of Nottingham.
Thomas Morley became a Drill Sergeant with the Sherwood Rangers Yeomanry Cavalry at Mansfield after discharge, but later [date?] went to America, where he became a Union Cavalry officer during the American Civil War.
He was twice taken prisoner, spending a year in Libby Prison, and retired in the rank of Captain.
From a Mr. Bakewell, of Frederick Street, Loughborough, who knew Thomas Morley and several of his sons, came the information that:
"He [Morley] was married four times. He had three daughters by his first wife and sons by his second and third. One of these would have been the "son in the British Army" referred to him in his book, but which one is not known.
When Thomas Morley returned from America he lived in Robert Burns's old cottage, and here he had a young lady assistant whom he later married. She was born at Gateside, near Troon, and died in California.
Of his sons, all named after Generals or battles, Lee, who was born in September of 1884, died in Australia two or three years ago, Alma, born in November of 1891, died in California in 1945, and Balaclava, born in June of 1899, was still alive in October of 1976 and living in California. He once said that his father had walked from Nottingham to Liverpool in order to get to Ireland and enlist. The Morleys had returned to England in 1897 for the second time and took up residence at Nottingham in 1898.
Enquiry of the Burns Cottage Museum brought the information that Thomas Morley was indeed (as he says in his own story) the last to live in Burns Cottage prior to its being purchased by the present owners, the Trustees of the Burns Monument, in 1881. I have a small book in my possession that indicates the following:
"The last tenant under the old regime was a non-commissioned officer in the Army, Thomas Morley, who entered into possession at Martinmas 1877, at the greatly increased rent of £110.00 per year, under a lease for five years. Morley took part in the Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava, and was, prior to becoming tenant of the Cottage, for a number of years Sergeant-Major of the Ayrshire Yeomanry, and stationed at Ayr. He was an Englishman, and was the first and last Englishman to occupy the premises. There was probably a clause in his lease which provided for its termination before the expiry of that period, for he did not complete the term of his lease."
This is the only information that I can trace regarding Morley except for one error in the 1899 paragraph from his story, which states "Only three persons were born in this house, these being the Poet himself and two of my children." In fact Burns's parents, who built the house, had four of their seven children born in the Cottage. This was an ale house before 1800 and remained so until 1880, so Morley may have kept it as such and the "young lady assistant who became his wife", being employed there."
There is a photograph of the Cottage as it now is [1991] in the 17th Lancer file.
In 1985 his great-niece, living in Nottingham, wrote to say she had corresponded with one of his sons, Rado, then living in Gardence, U.S.A., up to 1978. He was then 89 years of age.
Tony Margrave:
Morley's accounts of his family are not always correct. He was born at Nottingham about 1831 to William Morley and Ann Munston.
He married first, in 1867, Catherine Howkins, daughter of Samuel Howkins & Ann Hill. They had four [children]: Beatrice Leonora Gertrude Morley, born 1870, Cesnolia Trefusis Morley, born 1874, Irene A E Morley, born 1876, and Ethel W M Morley, born 1879. Morley, it will be noted, used a "feminised" version of Colonel di Cesnola's name for his second daughter.
At the time of the Scottish 1871 Census they were living at the Auchengree Foundry, Dairy, Ayrshire.
He says in Fought Under Two Flags that two of his sons were born in the Burns House in Ayrshire but he seems to have had only one son, and who was named in honour of Colonel Cesnola of the New York Cavalry.
By the time of the Scottish 1881 Census, Morley was a spirit merchant, residing at Burns Cottage Public House, Alloway, Ayrshire, with his second wife Mary Jack (born Dundee, circa 1862) daughter of Andrew Jack and Mary Lambie, as well as the four children of his first marriage, and newly born daughter Mary M E Morley.
He was living at 909 Steuben Street, N.W, Washington, DC, on November 12, 1896 the date of a sworn declaration for the award of the VC.
The English 1901 Census shows that Morley, and wife Mary, were living at 2, Manning Grove, Nottingham, with three sons, all born at Washington, and aged between nine and sixteen. It would have been Mary who rescued the family finances in the 1890s by working at the Treasury Department.
He had three sons by Mary and the names of two are reflective of his Crimean experiences. Eldest was Leonidas Thomas Morley, aged sixteen, Balaclava Varadio Morley aged eleven years and Alma Worthen Morley (named Alma Havelock Morley in the Washington Post, June 24, 1894) the youngest, aged 9. As the Washington Post said "Probably his children will not need to be reminded by these names of the stirring events in which their father played so brave a part".
[Source: http://www.acwrt.org.uk/uk-heritage_Under-Two-Flags---Thomas-Morley-17th-Lancers12th-Pennsylvania-Cavalry.asp (accessed 24.5.2013).]
6th July 2016: Douglas Austin circulated to the CrimeanWar.yahoogroups.com group his stimulating essay, "Nolan at Balaklava : Part VI : Examining Corporal Thomas Morley and the 'Threes right!' Order during the Charge of the Light Brigade". It includes the paragraph:
"This 1894 newspaper report names only two sons and does not mention Morley's wife. In fact, his first marriage (c.1869?) produced one daughter, Beatrice (b. 1870/71). His second marriage, in 1880, resulted in three daughters (Irene (b. 1876), Ethel (b. 1879) and Mary (b. 1881) and four sons, each rejoicing in striking names (Cesnolia (b. 1874), Leonidas (b. 1885), Balaclava (b. 1890) and Alma (b. 1892). At least the last three of his sons survived him. Leonidas married Mary Madden in Nottingham in 1912 and died in South Australia in 1972. Balaclava Varadio Morley married Marguerite Tunnel in 1950 and died in Los Angeles in 1978, while Alma Worthern Morley died in Chicago in 1973. I am accumulating biographical data on Morley and his family and would welcome further information."
DJA also mentions an "un-named girl" who, if she "was correctly described as his 4-year old granddaughter, [...] would have been born ca. 1888, perhaps to Morley's oldest daughter Beatrice (b.1870/1871) from his first marriage."
Application to the National Archives in Washington, America, brought very considerable information on him, a resume of his service being recorded as:
"Thomas Morley was mustered into service at Washington, DC. as 2nd Lieut. Co. "G" Pa. Cav. Vols., August 6 1862, to date from June 25 1862, to serve the unexpired term of three years with the regiment. Mustered in as 1st Lieutenant same Company and Regiment June 23 1864 to date from May 1 1864, and as Captain, "I" Co., February 20 1865 to date February 6 1865. Muster roll of Co. "G" for Sept. and Oct 1862 (first on which his name is borne) reports him taken prisoner August 27 1862, at battle of Manassas, exchanged, and returned to duty.
Present to special muster of April 10 1863. Six months muster to August 31 1863, absent, captured at battle of Winchester, Va., June 15 1863. Same to Feb 28 1864. Four months muster to June 30 1864, present. Four months muster to October 31 1864, absent on detached duty at Camp Remount Md. since July 1864. Nov. and Dec. 1864, present. Roll of Company "1" for Jan and Feb 1865 reports him present. Officer's casualty sheet reports him resigned, April 8 1865.
A certificate, dated February 2, 1939 [sic], and possibly made out in response to an enquiry, states:
"War Department — The Adjutant General's Office, Washington.
Notation. THOMAS MORLEY. Captain Co. "1" 12th Pa. Cavalry, Civil War.
It has this day been determined by this Department that the above named officer was HONORABLY discharged on April 26, 1865 on tender of his resignation.
By authority of the Secretary of War.
(Signed) E.S. Adams. Major General, Adjutant General."
It would appear that he was twice exchanged as a prisoner of war, the first occasion being after the battle of Manassas in August 1862 and on the second before being paroled from Richmond, Va., on the 7th of March 1864. He was found to be 'suffering from "general debility" at this time', and was given extended sick leave.
The actual reason for his resignation is not obvious, but was at his own request:
Camp 12th Pa. Vol. Cavalry,
Charlestown, Va.
March 28th 1865.
Sir, I have the honour herewith to tender my resignation as Captain of Co. "J" 12th PA. V. Cavalry — unconditionally and forthwith.
I am,
Very respectfully,
Your Obt. Servt.,
Thos. Morley.
To R.P. Kennedy, Maj. and A.A. General.
He had originally accompanied General Charles H. Havelock to America in 1862, when the latter was appointed Inspector of Cavalry, and was given the position of Volunteer Drill Instructor by a Colonel Pierce (then commanding the regiment) with certain promises. It would seem that he was not given the emoluments of the ranks he attained, on his return from captivity on the second occasion, "being left at the mercy of those I trusted..." This could well have been the reason for his resignation.
This application was quickly accepted:
"It being necessary to make certain changes for the good of the service as soon as possible and on the recommendation of his Comdg. General..."
A printed Special 0rder, dated at Washington on the 8th April 1865 confirmed his being discharged — but on the condition that he shall receive no further payments until he has satisfied the Pay Department that he is not indebted to the Government.
On the 2nd of August 1902 he made an application from 2, Manning Road, Nottingham, for the award of the Congressional Medal of Honour for his services during the second battle of Bull Run (later printed and sworn to by affidavit) when he claimed to have made an effort to save the regiment from becoming prisoners of war when the Second Major, finding the regiment completely surrounded, lost his head and crossed over to General Jackson's head-quarters and gave it over as prisoners of war. On being asked by the other officers if he would attempt this he said he would. However, in this he was only partially successful, his horse being shot and he taken prisoner.
He also provided, again under oath, a supporting affidavit made by (the then) Major Edson Gerry, a fellow officer, and whose place he took on promotion. On the 18 July 1903, however, the Record and Pensions Office replied:
"I am directed by the opinion of the Attorney General that a Medal of Honour cannot be awarded to a person not in the military service of the United States unless a recommendation was made for him whilst he was in the military service. As it does not appear that such an honour was recommended while you were in the military service the Secretary for War directs me to say, that under the decision of the President, a medal cannot now be awarded to you."
There is a parallel here with his efforts to obtain the Victoria Cross for his services in the Crimea.
See copies of all the various documents referred to for his American service, bound together in a separate binder. [PB: Where is this?]
The History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, written by Samuel P. Yates and published in 1870, shows that a Thomas Morley was mustered into the 12th Pennsylvania Cavalry as a 2nd Lieutenant on the 25th of July 1862, promoted to Lieutenant on the 1st of May 1864 and to the rank of Captain on February 6th 1865. Morley was probably captured several months after entering the service as the official records of the "Unionist and Confederate Army" show that a Thomas Morley was one of a group of officers exchanged on the 21st of September 1862.
[PB: There is considerable amount of information in some recent sources that should be checked. See e.g.
Lawrence W. Crider and Reggie van Driest: 'Thomas Morley — Crimean and American Civil War Veteran', The War Correspondent, 21(2), 44-46, July 2003.
There are detailed notes on Thomas Morley, with particular reference to his time in the USA, in Tony Margrave's Crimean War Newsletter, No. 25 (4/2011, May) (http://chargeofthelightbrigade.com/allmen/allmenM/allmenM_17L/morley_t_1004_17L/morley_t_1004_17L_margrave.html)
And also in Tony Margrave, "Under Two Flags — Thomas Morley, 17th Lancers/12th Pennsylvania Cavalry", adapted from "Brits in Blue or Gray", Crossfire No 96, August 2011.)
Douglas Austin, "Nolan at Balaklava : Part VI : Examining Corporal Thomas Morley and the 'Threes right!' Order during the Charge of the Light Brigade" [CrimeanWar.yahoogroups.com group, 6 July 2016].
On his return to England Morley became Drill Troop Sergeant Major in the Ayrshire Yeomanry on the 1st of January 1868 and finally Regimental Sergeant Major in June of 1877.
Some time after 1877 he again went to America, where he worked in the War Department in Washington before returning to England in 1893.
Lived at 58, Exeter Drive, Nottingham, as well as the address shown in his "Memoirs" (39, Dame Agnes Street, Nottingham). There is also a written-in address of 2, Manning Grove, Nottingham, on a copy of his pamphlet, "The Cause of the Charge at Balaclava", in a known private collection.
Died at Nottingham on the 14th of August 1906.
"Sergeant-Major T. Morley, of the 17th Lancers, who fought at Alma, Balaclava, and Sebastopol, and who was one of the few survivors of the famous Charge of the Six Hundred, died at Nottingham. He was buried with military honours, six members of his old regiment carrying the coffin, to the front of which his medals were attached."
[PB: Can we identify the man in the centre? It looks like 1149 James Mustard, 17th Lancers, to me.]
Thomas Morley was buried in unconsecrated ground in the D.A. Section, Grave No. 13575, of the General Cemetery at Nottingham. There is no stone or memorial over his grave. There are copies of his obituary notice and funeral report taken from the Nottingham Gazette for the 16th and 18th of August 1906, and a picture of part of his funeral procession that appeared in an unknown newspaper or magazine dated 1st of June 1906, in the 17th Lancers file.
[PB: sic? Find this obituary in the files — I cannot find any reference to a Gazette — must be the Guardian — in the archives of Nottingham Libraries. And why unconsecrated ground? Why no memorial?]
See photograph of the Veterans' Plot in the Nottingham General Cemetery in which he was buried, in the 17th Lancer file. Once having iron posts and a chain surrounding it, only the posts now remain [1985].
He wrote a pamphlet entitled the "Cause of the Charge at Balaclava", published in 1899, in which he again put forward his claim that he should have been awarded the Victoria Cross for his conduct in the Crimea and makes considerable comment about events both during and after the Charge. He was scathing about Colonel Benson, 17th Lancers, whom he said was responsible for all his troubles:
"He was the only one who ever flogged the soldiers. I saw him flog three at once at Ismid who rode in the ranks of the Six Hundred (one had 17 wounds on his back) all bleeding from the lashings of the cat-o'-nine-tails. This Colonel Benson was the only man who ever "drummed out" any of the 17th Lancers, and this from a man who was never under fire in the Crimea..." [PB: Check the wording against the original.]
These comments are borne out in the fact that a number of men who had ridden in the Charge were later discharged as "Worthless". (See the "Memoirs" file for a copy of his pamphlet and the 17th Lancer file for a photograph of him wearing an American medal as well as his Crimean medals. The former is said to have been a medal given to all combatants in the Union Forces.)
His original claim statement (repeated in detail in the pamphlet he wrote in 1902) was forwarded (with others) by Colonel Benson in accordance with a circular from the Horse Guards, dated the 20th of September 1856. He was also seemingly allowed an audition to state his claim.
When this was refused, he followed it up by letters to the Duke of Cambridge repeating his claim and even writing one to The Times on the subject. A letter from Colonel Benson written from Portobello Barracks, Dublin, dated 26th of April 1857, following a request for his views, stated in part:
"I have further the honour to state that from all the information I can collect that there is ground for most of the statements contained in Sergeant Morley's letter relative to his services, but parts are exaggerated. Major Learmonth, who was in command of the Squadron detached from Balaclava to the Baidur Valley is not aware that on that Expedition Sjt. Morley distinguished himself, or even had the opportunity of doing so... He also claimed that whilst Sjt. Morley had been in the regiment his conduct had been generally good — and the fact that I had promoted him to the rank of Serjeant will show that I considered him to be a good soldier. The names of the N.C.O.s and men of the 17th Lancers selected for the Distinguished Conduct medal were forwarded during the last months of the year 1854 — before I took command of the regiment."
In his reply to this letter (which had been read over to him) and dated 1st of May 1857, Morley repeated that his statements on the various affairs were correct:
"... and I can prove my service in the Baidur valley by the evidence of Lieut. Drury, lately retired from the 17th Lancers. Colonel Benson also states that he promoted me to Sjt. in consequence of my good conduct in the Crimea; to this I beg to state that I was promoted to Sjt. by Captain Morgan, then in command of the 17th Lancers, from the 24th of November 1854, ten weeks after I had landed in the Crimea, and some months before Colonel Benson joined us."
On the 20th of November 1902, following his further unsuccessful attempt to be granted the decoration, a letter was sent to the Paymaster-General at Chelsea Hospital, saying that the Commander-in-Chief was of the opinion that:
"This Non-Commissioned officer distinguished himself during the Crimean War and that his conduct was officially brought to notice. His Lordship therefore recommends that Sergeant Morally be granted a pension of 6d. per day in addition to the Special Campaign Pension of 9d. per day of which he was already in receipt. There appears to be no doubt that Sergeant Morally did distinguish himself and as his application for the Victoria Cross was made when such claims were called for, his distinguished conduct could be said to have been "officially brought to notice at this time".
In 1979 a member of the S.A.S. Regiment wrote to the then Regimental Secretary saying that while on a recent visit to America he met an Irishman who claimed to be a descendant of the Thomas Morley who rode in the Charge. To support his claim he produced an original copy of the pamphlet written by Morley about the Charge. He had allowed the S.A.S. man to retain the book in the hope that the Regiment would be able to give him more information. The letter was passed down and a full record of Thomas Morley's service was sent [i.e. by EJB]. To date [2002], no reply has been received.