Eddie Morgan 1914 - 1941

Eddie Morgan’s parents were William and Jane Ann. In 1911, they were living in 1 Quality Row (now Street) with their three sons and two daughters. Eddie would arrive later. They also had a boarder, Albert Edward Graham, who was a dispenser to a doctor. William and Jane had married in 1902.

William Morgan was born in Shadforth and in 1901 was a boarder in Shincliffe, living with   the Jenkins family, near to the Oak Tree Inn. He was a coalminer, as he continued to be in 1911.

His father, also William, was a miner as well as an innkeeper in Sherburn, and had been an innkeeper since at least 1881. He had quite a bit of competition in the village, notably the Crispin Arms on his own street.  Many houses performed this service as well as the more traditional pubs we have come to know over the years.

Jane Ann Lendrum was a servant working in Durham in 1901. She had been born in Barnard Castle. Her employer was Frederick Hunter, a science teacher living in Old Elvet.

The couple had moved to 1 Overman Street in Shincliffe by 1939. Living with them was their married daughter, Esther (Johnson). Just down the road was their son, Albert, at number three. He and his wife, Sarah, had married earlier that year.

Eddie Morgan was part of the 1st Battalion, Durham Light Infantry, that attacked Italian and German positions at the Halfaya Pass on 15^th May 1941. It was nicknamed “Hellfire Pass” by the British troops. The legendary German General Erwin Rommel had arrived to shore up the Italians with his fearsome Afrika Korps. 

Eddie had reached the rank of Lance-corporal. He is buried at Alamein Memorial in Egypt.