Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Maurice was the fourth of eight children of Thomas Gorringe (b1877 in Surrey, England) and Eleanor Bugden (b1877 in Surrey, England). Thomas (a Labourer) and Eleanor (a Laundry Maid) married in Copthorne, Sussex. Thomas had started work at thirteen years with his Father as a Hooper/Cooper, and was a Labourer in 1901. By 1911 Thomas was a House Painter, and he and Eleanor were living in Horley in Surrey. That year they emigrated with their four children on board the Armadale, arriving in Fremantle WA in January 1912. The family lived in Fremantle and Perth WA where Thomas worked as a House Painter. By the early 1940s Thomas and Eleanor were living separately - Eleanor in Hyden near Beverley WA (where she died in 1947) and Thomas briefly in Kalgoorlie/Boulder WA before he returned to Perth.

Maurice was a House Painter at Lake Carmody via Hyden WA when he enlisted in the Australian Army in 1939. Maurice was a Sapper (Service No:WX1190) with 2/1 Field Coy when he was reported missing in Crete , then offically presumed dead on 30 April 1941. Maurice's four brothers - Alfred Thomas, Stanley Clarence, John and Sydney also served in WWII.