Description
British War Medal, officially impressed “1497 SPR. M.J. TAPLEY. RLY. UNIT. A.I.F.”
Victory Medal, officially impressed “1497 SPR. M.J. TAPLEY. RLY. UNIT. A.I.F.”
Although with not very many substantiating service details, this WWI pair belongs to an important figure in South Australian colonial history – a descendent of Mr Thomas Tapley, a settler who founded Tapley’s Hill, medals mounted to a board and basically as issued.
Morford James Tapley, born on the 13th August 1890, was the son of Mr Alfred Morford Tapley and Mrs Elizabeth Annie Tapley (nee Hundy), and was the great grandson of Thomas Tapley (1789-1856) and grandson of James Morford Tapley (1819-1881) which were English settlers who immigrated to South Australia aboard the colonist ship Rajasthan in 1838 and who went on to establish the Tapley’s Hill farm.
On the 4th October 1916 and at the age of 26, Morford attested for the Australian Imperial Force in Adelaide, South Australia and was posted to the 4th Railway Section as Sapper 1497. After some time at various depots, he embarked from Melbourne on the 11th May 1917 and disembarked at Plymouth on the 19th July 1917.
- Proceeded to France via Southampton 4th October 1917
- Re-designated to the 4th Australian Broad Gauge Railway Operating Company
- The 4th B.G.R.O.C. operated in France from late 1917, primarily managing railway transport for the British Royal Engineers, and was key to logistics and post-armistice demobilisation
After the Armistice, Morford returned to Australia, embarked from England on the 11th May 1919 and disembarked on the 23rd June, later discharging from the A.I.F. on the 24th July 1919. Returning to civilian life and his role on the Tapley Hill farm, he later married Ms Ivy Irene Mildren Yon in 1927 and later passed away on the 9th August 1958, buried in the Cheltenham Cemetery, South Australia.
