David Maitland Baxter Morrice was born in Sunderland, County Durham, England, in 1884, the son of John and Jessie Main Morrice (née Smith). His father was a ship’s carpenter, and later a harbour pilot. David was one of nine children in the family.
While he was still a child, his family moved to Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, where he received his formal education before taking up an apprenticeship as an
engineer. He duly qualified as a marine engineer and joined the British Mercantile Marine.
He was married to Beatrice Margaret Anderson Fraser, a hospital nurse, in Aberdeen on the 14th February 1912, and in 1915, they lived at 5, Margaret Road, Walton, Liverpool, Lancashire.
He engaged as Junior Sixth Engineer in the Engineering Department on board the Lusitania at Liverpool, on the 13th April 1915 at a monthly rate of pay of £10-10s.-0d. (£10.50p.), and reported for duty on board the vessel at 7a.m., on the 17th, before she left the River Mersey for the last time. It was not his first voyage on the ship.
Three weeks later, he was killed after the liner was torpedoed and sunk off the coast of southern Ireland and only 250 miles away from her home port on the return leg of her voyage from New York. His body was never recovered and identified afterwards and consequently his name is embossed on the Mercantile Marine Memorial at Tower Hill, London. He was aged 30 years.
His name was also engraved on a brass plaque belonging to The Liverpool Branch of The Marine Engineers’ Association which used to be in The Britannia Rooms in The Cunard Building in Liverpool. Underneath the badge of the association was engraved: -
ROLL OF HONOUR
LIVERPOOL BRANCH
A TRIBUTE TO THE MEMORY OF
THE MEMBERS, WHO LOST THEIR LIVES
THROUGH ENEMY ACTION IN THE
GREAT WAR. 1914 - 1919
and then followed the names of the 226 former members.
The memorial is not in the building today, however and its present whereabouts, if it has survived, are not known.
When his will was proven on the 2nd July 1915, administration was granted to his widow, Beatrice, and his effects amounted to £150-9s.-0d. (£150.45p). In August, she was also given the balance of wages owed to him in respect of his service on board the Lusitania from the 17th April until the 8th May 1915, 24 hours after she had foundered. The Liverpool and London War Risks Insurance Association Limited granted Beatrice Morrice a yearly pension which amounted to £59-4s.-8d. (£59.23½p.) which was payable at the rate of £4-18s.-9d. (£4.93½p.) per month.
At the time of his death, his parents were living in Wellington Street, Footdee, Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire, Scotland.
Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths, 1891 Census of Scotland, 1901 Census of Scotland, Cunard Records, Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Aberdeen Weekly Journal, Probate Records, UniLiv. PR 13/24, PRO BT 334, PRO BT 351/1/100350, Deaths at Sea 1871 – 1968, Graham Maddocks, George Donnison, David Irving, Robert O'Brien, Geoff Whitfield, Michael Poirier, Jim Kalafus, Cliff Barry, Paul Latimer, Norman Gray.
Copyright © Peter Kelly.
Revised & Updated – 16th January 2025.