The scare Queen's South Africa Medal w/clasps Diamond Hill, Johannesburg, Cape Colony, Orange Free State, South Africa 1901 and King Edward EVII Coronation Medal pair awarded to William Crawford Morton who served in South Africa with the NZ Hotchkiss Battery, 2nd NZMR Contingent.

 

William Morton was born in Dunedin, New Zealand around 1870. Son of James and Isabella Mary Morton (née Jamieson). He trained as a carpenter, and worked as a bridge carpenter in Dunedin. At the time of selection for the 2nd NZMR Contingent he was a veteran of around nine years service with the Dunedin City Rifles. He initially deployed with the 39-strong Hotchkiss Battery to South Africa, but by mid-1900 this unit had been reabsorbed back into the NZMR Brigade, led by Alfred Robin. He was hospitalised in late 1900 with enteric fever, but he complete his service, returning to New Zealand in May 1901. He received an unnamed Queen's South Africa Medal from the hands of the Duke of Cornwall during a parade in Dunedin on 3rd July 1901. Morton's service was exemplary, and he was selected for the New Zealand Coronation Contingent to London in 1902. He was issued the KEVII Coronation Medal in bronze - just one of 133 medals issued to members of the NZMR Contingents.

 

Morton wrote two letters regarding his experiences in 1900, which were published in the local newspapers. These are shown here for reference.

 

William Morton married Mary Ann Charlotte Perry in 1903 and had a family of two daughters. He worked for the South Dunedin Corporation in unknown capacity but likely related to his carpentry trade. Willam and Mary were divorced in 1926m and he then married Alice Rhoda Harley in 1927. Sadly William Morton passed away on 4th December 1929 after a long illness, aged 59. He is buried in Dunedin (Anderson's Bay) Cemetery.

 

The QSA is engraved in a contemporary style of the period PRIVATE W.C. MORTON 479 NZMR and both medals are on their original bar with orginal ribbon.

Service file held at Archives New Zealand