Morrison, Charles Archibald (Charlie)
Leading Stoker
No. C/KX 84966, HM Submarine Swordfish, Royal Navy
Killed on active service on Saturday 16 November 1940 (aged 29)
No known grave
Commemorated:
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Chatham Naval Memorial, Kent, England (Panel 38. 1)
Duff family grave headstone in Clandeboye Cemetery, Bangor
BIOGRAPHY
Charles Archibald Morrison was born on 17 May 1911 at 96 Castlereagh Road, Belfast and he was a son of Frederick and Ethel Mary Morrison (nee Tuley). Both of his parents were born in Yorkshire and their marriage was registered in Halifax in the second quarter of 1906. Their eldest son, Louis James, was born in Yorkshire in 1910. The Morrison family moved to Belfast where Frederick Morrison worked as an industrial designer and sketcher and for a time the Morrison family lived at Olive Mount, Ballymagee, Bangor.
His sister Mary was born on 7 October 1912 at 96 Castlereagh Road, Belfast.
Aged 16 and describing himself as a messenger, Charles Archibald Morrison left London on 22 September 1927 aboard the SS Beltana on route to Australia. He gave as his home address, 23 Ardgreenan Crescent, Belmont, Belfast. During the Second World War he served with the Royal Navy aboard HM Submarine Swordfish. An S-Class submarine with a crew complement of 48, HM Submarine Swordfish was completed on 28 November 1932 in Chatham Dockyard. She left Portsmouth on 7 November 1940 to undertake patrols in the North Sea and was never heard from again. At the time it was believed she had been sunk by a German destroyer near Brest and in the CWGC Debt of Honour the date of Leading Stoker Charlie Morrison’s death is given as 16 November 1940.
Then, in 1983, the wreck of HM Submarine Swordfish was discovered 12 miles south of St. Catherine’s Point, Isle of Wight at a depth of 150 feet. Her back was broken, and it has been surmised that she may have struck a mine shortly after leaving Portsmouth on 7 November 1940.
Leading Stoker Charles Archibald Morrison (No. C/KX 84966) was 29 when he died, and he is commemorated on the Chatham Naval Memorial in Kent.
He is also commemorated on the Duff family grave headstone in Clandeboye Cemetery, Bangor.
His mother, Ethel, died on 4 March 1976.