Watch List notes:

The 2-clasp N.G.S. Trafalgar & Java awarded to Private William Morris, Royal Marines, who served aboard H.M.S. Belleisle during the Battle of Trafalgar, and was present aboard H.M.S. Scipion during the capture of the island of Java in September 1811, comprising: Naval General Service, 1793-1840, two clasps, Trafalgar, Java (William Morris.), light tone, a few light hairlines from polishing, otherwise extremely fine. Private William Morris, apparently of Ilchester, Somerset, was born c. 1785 and joined 58 Company, Chatham Division, Royal Marines, coming aboard H.M.S. Belleisle (74) on 28 April, 1802, and being discharged on 10 January 1806 at Plymouth Headquarters. These dates of service confirm his presence during the blockade of Toulon in 1803-4, and subsequently during the Battle of Trafalgar on 21 October 1805. Under the command of Captain William Hargood, Belleisle was the second ship in Admiral Collingwood's lee column, and saw a good deal of action in the battle. She suffered during some early exchanges with the Spanish ship Monarca, and the Santa Ana (112) at which time, watching from H.M.S. Victory, Nelson said 'Nobly done, Hargood!' after witnessing a well-timed broadside. She later engaged the Indomptable (80) and San Juan de Nepomuceno, before a particularly brutal series of exchanges against the Fougeaux (74). The Belleisle became dismasted, but her Union Jack remained defiantly suspended upon a pike, with an ensign placed upon the shattered stump of the mast, despite further attacks towards the end of the battle. Private Morris returned for further service in the Royal Navy, and is listed as having come aboard Rear-Admiral Robert Stopford's H.M.S. Scipion (74) on 18 April 1810, and having served during the capture of the island of Java in August-September 1811. It is likely that Morris remained with this ship until her decommissioning in 1816. He later appears to have received a single clasp N.G.S. with Trafalgar clasp, after which he rightly pursued his additional Java clasp as a 'late claim', being fully entitled. His service notes at the National Archives list 'Allotment made from wages 1 February 1803 to mother (paid from Ilchester).' Two other ratings of this name are entitled to the N.G.S. One is a two clasp medal to an Able Seaman aboard H.M.S. Captain (this, located in the National Maritime Museum, Plymouth), and another single clasp 1 June 1794 to an Able Seaman aboard the Royal George. Ex J. Lawson Whalley Collection, 1877, Morton & Eden, 1 December 2011 and Baldwin, 2012.