T.L. Morrisey, excerpt from an essay he wrote

 

                From left: Darrell Morrisey; her father T.L Morrisey; her brother Thomas Sydney Morrisey;
                and her mother Clara Morrisey; outside their home "Hazelbrae", at 85 Churchill Avenue,
                                                                            Westmount, Quebec.



Canada's Future, what she offers after the war, a symposium of official opinion (1916) (ed. E.A. Vickers) is an early but important collection of statements, a symposium, on the future of Canada; included among the contributors is the father of Darrell Morrisey (pictured above), Darrell is a forgotten member of Montreal's important Beaver Hall Group of artists.

Here is an excerpt from T.L. Morrisey's contribution to this book. T.L.'s son, Thomas Sydney Morrisey, went on to have a prominent role in business and he  distinguished himself as a war hero in the Canadian Expeditionary Force in Siberia. Darrell Morrisey, in 1916, was only 17 years old and still in school. T.L., himself, was born into a middle class family in Halifax, Nova Scotia; he became very wealthy in the insurance business in Montreal. T.L. died in 1926 not long after his retirement; he and his wife, and Darrell, had recently arrived in the UK planning to spend the winter months in England and France when he died:

In the never-to-be-forgotten April days of the eventful year, 1915, when the torture of suspense spread like a pall over the country to its remotest corner, to be followed by the thrill of pride and exultation, as the story of the glorious deeds of the Canadians at Ypres and St. Julien gradually unfolded, a nation was born! There, upon the classic battle-ground of Europe, that witnessed the military operations of the mighty Caesar and his legions, and, down through the centuries, the struggles of various peoples for mastery! There, against the onslaughts of the greatest military organization the world has ever known, employing methods entirely novel in warfare, and, be it said to the everlasting disgrace of Germany, as despicable as novel, these new-found warriors of the twentieth century held fast, and, in the words of their illustrious commander-in-chief, "saved the situation".

May it not well be asked, where is there another 'eight million people as highly favoured as this eight million, another community possessed of the same per capita wealth, potential as well as in being? Should we not justly be proud of our heritage— our “place in the sun” — and forever be prepared to defend it to our last dollar, and our last man ?

                            

                                                       --T. L. Morrisey

The Zeppelin Crash of Billericay, 24 Septemer 1916

 

My friend R.R. Skinner was born in June or July 1908. Reg grew up in Bethnal Green, UK, and one day he told me about the German Zeppelin that crashed at Billericay, in September 1916, during World War One. Reg said that he was appalled by the reaction of the crowd, they cheered when the Zeppelin caught on fire and crashed killing all on board; this event, he said, showed him man's inhumanity to man.

And now let us move up to the present moment and, reading Kathleen Raine's Autobiographies, published in the 1970s, in which she discusses this same event. She writes:

I saw, from the front window of West View, the Billericay Zeppelin pass, a great pencil-like shape, and then a jet of flame, then a blaze that lit up the windows of West View. 'Are there men in it?' I asked; and when I was told 'Yes'  I cried. My father told me afterwards that a dead German officer had been found by a farmer in a field, lying near his path. The man had beautiful teeth, and the farmer stamped on his face, breaking them. (p. 51)

And then Raine discusses seeing a second Zeppelin burn and crash near her home. This was a profound experience for the young Kathleen Raine, who, like my friend Reg Skinner, remembered the event many years later; both were born in June or July 1908. But could Kathleen Raine have seen a Zeppelin, a burning Zeppelin, at her home in Ilford? I suppose this is possible, her home was named West View and Billericay is west of Ilford. Could Reg have seen a burning Zeppelin at Bethnal Green; would citizens in Bethnal Green, perhaps looking up from the street, have cheered as the burning Zeppelin moved across the sky? Bethnal Green is 8.9 miles from Ilford and Billericay is 28.2 miles from Ilford; Bethnal Green to Billericay is 31.3 miles by road. Whatever the case the Zeppelin crash of Billericay was a significant wartime experience for both children.

I remember when a plane crashed near Montreal, in November 1963, and that some of the locals descended on the crash site and stole rings and other possessions from the victims whose body parts had not yet been collected by the authorities. I still remember with disgust that people could steal from these people who had died so violently. Here is a passage from a Toronto Star article published on 29 November 2013: 

Rodgers also said no intact body was found either, only parts. There were 111 passengers and seven crew aboard the flight. Authorities scrambled to get organized.

“In what was the parish of Ste- Thérèse -de-Blainville, there was one police officer, Mr. Aubertin, who somehow maintained security,” said Rodgers, who also oversees recreation for the town.

“But he was quick with people who tried to rob the dead and it’s said he even had to fire a few shots into the air to deter some people from making off with watches or wallets.”

Well, that's also man's inhumanity to man . . .