More about David Ritchie Morrison

David Ritchie Morrison   CZ/350  Drake Bn R.N.V.R.

WELL-KNOWN DUNDEE “RESCUE’S” DEATH.

Mrs Morrison, 43 Nethergate, Dundee, had yesterday official intimation that her husband, Able Seaman David Ritchie Morrison, had died from jaundice.  Morrison enlisted shortly after the war broke out in the Drake Battalion of the R.N.V.R., and was wounded at the Dardanelles in May.  After three weeks’ treatment he returned to his duty.

Morrison was well known in Dundee as the “rescue” at the esplanade, and he held two parchments for saving life.

He is survived by a widow and three children.  “Davie” was a cheery soul.

Dundee Courier 19th October 1915

David R Morrison was the son of Mrs Margaret Ritchie Morrison of Newport, Fife and was married to Mrs Elizabeth Morrison of 6 Victoria Square and 43 Nethergate, Dundee. He worked for the Dundee City Corporation and was one of the first Dundee men to volunteer to join the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve onboard HMS Unicorn for service in the Royal Naval Division. After initial Naval training at the Crystal Palace in Sydenham, South East London he was drafted to the Drake Battalion in January 1915 and probably joined it at Blandford Camp in Dorset and was trained in advanced military tactics. At the end of February the Battalion left Blandford and embarked for the Eastern Mediterranean landing at Mudros on the island of Lemnos. After the failure of the Naval attempt to force a passage through the Dardanelles the RND prepared for a landing on the Gallipoli Peninsula. The Drake Battalion landed in late April and took part in the Second Battle of Krithia in early May. On 9 May he received a slight gunshot wound to his right thigh and was evacuated from the RND 2nd Field Hospital to Malta on HM Transport Royal George. He returned to the Drake in August on the transport Cawdor Castle and was invalided on 23 September with diarrhoea and, later, admitted to the 18th Stationary Hospital on Mudros. David Morrison died from Jaundice on 13 October. He was buried in the Portianos Military Cemetery, Mudros West, in grave reference 66, by the Reverend E Houlston and his family informed.