James Augustus Cotter Morison (20 April 1832 – 26 February 1888), was an English essayist and historian, born in London.
Early years
His father, who had made a large fortune as the inventor and proprietor of "Morison's Pills", settled in Paris till his death in 1840, and Cotter Morison thus acquired not only an acquaintance with the French language, but a profound sympathy with France and French institutions.
He was educated at
Highgate School
Highgate School, formally Sir Roger Cholmeley's School at Highgate, is an English co-educational, fee-charging, independent day school, founded in 1565 in Highgate, London, England. It educates over 1,400 pupils in three sections – Highgate ...
and
Lincoln College, Oxford
Lincoln College (formally, The College of the Blessed Mary and All Saints, Lincoln) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford, situated on Turl Street in central Oxford. Lincoln was founded in 1427 by Richard Fleming, the ...
. Here he fell under the influence of
Mark Pattison, to whom his impressionable nature perhaps owed a certain over-fastidiousness that characterised his whole career. He also made the acquaintance of the leading English
Positivists, to whose opinions he became an ardent convert. Yet he retained a strong sympathy with the
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
religion, and at one time spent several weeks in a Catholic
monastery
A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...
.
Career
One other great influence appears in the admirable ''Life of St Bernard'', which he published in 1863, that of his friend
Carlyle, to whom the work is dedicated, and with whose style it is strongly coloured. Meanwhile, he had been a regular contributor, first to the ''Literary Gazette'', edited by his friend John Morley, and then to the ''Saturday Review'' at its most brilliant epoch.
In 1868, he published a pamphlet entitled ''Irish Grievances shortly stated''. In 1878, he published a volume on
Gibbon
Gibbons () are apes in the family Hylobatidae (). The family historically contained one genus, but now is split into four extant genera and 20 species. Gibbons live in subtropical and tropical rainforest from eastern Bangladesh to Northeast India ...
in the ''Men of Letters'' series, marked by sound judgment and wide reading. This he followed up in 1882 with his ''
Macaulay'' in the same series. It exhibits, more clearly perhaps than any other of Morison's works, both his merits and his defects.
Macaulay's bluff and strenuous character, his rhetorical style, his unphilosophical conception of history, were entirely out of harmony with Morison's prepossessions. Yet in his anxiety to do justice to his subject, he steeped himself in ''Macaulay'' until his style often recalls that which he is censuring. His brief sketch, ''Mme de Maintenon: une etude'' (1885), and some magazine articles, were the only fruits of his labours in French history.
Family
In 1861, Morison married Frances Virtue (d.1878), the daughter of publisher
George Virtue
George C. Virtue (1794 – 8 December 1868) was a 19th-century London-based publisher. His publishing house was located at 26 Ivy Lane, Paternoster Row.
Pictorial publisher
Virtue selected accomplished artists, employed the best engravers, and ...
. They had three children:
Theodore Morison
Sir Theodore Morison (9 May 1863 – 14 February 1936) was a British educationalist who served as a Member of the Council of India and Director of the University of London Institute in Paris. He is best known as an interpreter of Muslim life ...
, a principal of Mohammedan Anglo-Oriental College from 1899 to 1905 which later on became
Aligarh Muslim University
Aligarh Muslim University (abbreviated as AMU) is a Public University, public Central University (India), central university in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, India, which was originally established by Sir Syed Ahmad Khan as the Muhammadan Anglo-Orie ...
and member of the
Council of India
The Council of India was the name given at different times to two separate bodies associated with British rule in India.
The original Council of India was established by the Charter Act of 1833 as a council of four formal advisors to the Governor ...
from 1906; and daughters Helen Cotter, and Margaret.
Later life
In later life, he resided for some years in Paris, where his house was a meeting place for eminent men of all shades of opinion. Towards the close of his life, he meditated a work showing the application of positivist principles to conduct. Failing health compelled him to abandon the second or constructive part: the first, which attempts to show the ethical inadequacy of revealed religion and is marked in parts by much bitterness, was published in 1887 under the title of ''The Service of Man''.
He died at his house in FitzJohn Avenue, London, on 26 February 1888.
References
;Attribution
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External links
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''Gibbon''*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Morison, James
English essayists
19th-century English historians
Alumni of Lincoln College, Oxford
Members of the Council of India
Writers from London
1832 births
1888 deaths
People educated at Highgate School
English male non-fiction writers
British male essayists
19th-century essayists
19th-century English male writers