CORPORAL GEORGE MORRIS
THE KING'S LIVERPOOL REGIMENT
21ST JULY 1917 AGE 28
BURIED: ESTAIRES COMMUNAL CEMETERY AND EXTENSION, FRANCE
George Morris died of wounds in a Casualty Clearing Station at Estaires. His widowed mother chose his inscription. It would not have been the sort of inscription that the War Graves Commission originally had in mind. They were thinking in terms of simple dedications and religious texts. Nevetheless, although they had the power to censor inscriptions, they were happy with this one. And Mrs Morris wasn't the only person to choose it. It doesn't insult the Germans, the British Government, or the Army etc, it just laments man's inhumanity to man. The quotation comes from verse seven of 'Man Was Made to Mourn' by Robert Burns (1759-1796).
Many and sharp the num'rous ills
Inwoven with our frame!
More pointed still we make ourselves,
Regret, remorse and shame!
And man, whose heav'n-erected face
The smiles of love adorn, -
Man's inhumanity to man
Makes countless thousands mourn!