Herbert Morley was a Victorian explorer. He is featured at the ''Bradford Museums & Galleries'' through a collection of items relating to Morley, and as an "inspirer" for junior wannabe explorers. Herbert Morley lived, as young boy, on Devonshire Street in

Keighley Keighley ( ) is a market town and a civil parish in the City of Bradford Borough of West Yorkshire, England. It is the second largest settlement in the borough, after Bradford. Keighley is north-west of Bradford city centre, north-west of Bi ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

, England. His father was William Morley. ''

Keighley News The ''Keighley News'' is a weekly newspaper based in Keighley, West Yorkshire, England. As well as Keighley, its circulation area includes Cross Hills, Cullingworth, Denholme, East Morton, Haworth, Oxenhope, Silsden and Steeton. The newspaper ...

'', 21st November 1914 (Keighley News Archives, accessed via Bradford libraries website). In 1914, Herbert Morley was in business in

Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands (Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands (Manono Island, Manono an ...

, then a German colony (

German Samoa German Samoa (german: Deutsch-Samoa) was a German protectorate from 1900 to 1920, consisting of the islands of Upolu, Savai'i, Apolima and Manono, now wholly within the independent state of Samoa, formerly ''Western Samoa''. Samoa was the last ...

), which was later captured by the RNZDF. On July 27, 1914, one day before

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

broke out (and about a month before the

Occupation of German Samoa The Occupation of Samoa was the takeover – and subsequent administration – of the Pacific colony of German Samoa by New Zealand during World War I. It started in late August 1914 with landings by the Samoa Expeditionary Force from New Zeala ...

operation), Herbert wrote a letter to his father, therein he tells of six

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

warships docking in Samoa; "probably… just a bit of a show-off." He travelled globally and has been sending treasures back to Keighley and postcards to his family. Morley ended up in

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

References

People from Keighley English explorers Year of birth missing Year of death missing {{UK-explorer-stub

See also

References