Sir Harold Spencer Morris

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

(21 December 1876 – 11 November 1967) was an English

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

, judge and

National Liberal National liberalism is a variant of liberalism, combining liberal policies and issues with elements of nationalism. Historically, national liberalism has also been used in the same meaning as conservative liberalism (right-liberalism). A seri ...

MP.

Family and education

Harold Morris was born in

Highbury Highbury is a district in North London and part of the London Borough of Islington in Greater London that was owned by Ranulf brother of Ilger and included all the areas north and east of Canonbury and Holloway Roads. The manor house was situ ...

, London, the son of Sir Malcolm Morris, KCVO, the eminent surgeon and dermatologist. He was educated at

Clifton College ''The spirit nourishes within'' , established = 160 years ago , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent boarding and day school , religion = Christian , president = , head_label = Head of College , head ...

and

Magdalen College, Oxford Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the s ...

. Morris married Olga Teichman of

Chislehurst Chislehurst () is a suburban district of south-east London, England, in the London Borough of Bromley. It lies east of Bromley, south-west of Sidcup and north-west of Orpington, south-east of Charing Cross. Before the creation of Greater L ...

. They had one son and four daughters.''Who was Who'', OUP 2007

Career

Morris graduated in law from Oxford. He was

called to the Bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

by the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wal ...

in 1899 and joined the South-East Circuit. Between 1914 and 1919 he served the

Coldstream Guards The Coldstream Guards is the oldest continuously serving regular regiment in the British Army. As part of the Household Division, one of its principal roles is the protection of the monarchy; due to this, it often participates in state ceremonia ...

, including two and half years service in France was

mentioned in dispatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...

and awarded the military

. He

took silk In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel ( post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister or ...

in 1921 and was the same year appointed

Recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a news ...

Folkestone Folkestone ( ) is a port town on the English Channel, in Kent, south-east England. The town lies on the southern edge of the North Downs at a valley between two cliffs. It was an important harbour and shipping port for most of the 19th and 20t ...

, serving until 1926. One of his first cases as a barrister was appearing on behalf of Vernon Henry St John in his peerage claim, which was something of a scandal at the time. From 1926 to 1945 he served as President of the Industrial Court and from 1925 he was Chairman of the National Wages for Railways. He was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

in 1927. In 1929, Morris was appointed Chairman of the Committee on Unemployment Claims and from 1930 to 1935 he was Chairman of the Coal Wages Board. In the 1940s he was elected a member of the

Royal Institution The Royal Institution of Great Britain (often the Royal Institution, Ri or RI) is an organisation for scientific education and research, based in the City of Westminster. It was founded in 1799 by the leading British scientists of the age, inc ...

. In 1944 he was Chairman of the Court of Inquiry set up by the

Minister of Labour and National Service The Secretary of State for Employment was a position in the Cabinet of the United Kingdom. In 1995 it was merged with Secretary of State for Education to make the Secretary of State for Education and Employment. In 2001 the employment functions w ...

to look into the wages and hours of work obtaining in the woolcombing section of the wool textile industry in Yorkshire. He retired from legal work in 1945, aged 70 but maintained directorships of a number of companies.''The Times'', 13 November 1967 p16

Peel Commission

In 1936, Morris was appointed as a member of the

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

Royal Commission, or the

Peel Commission The Peel Commission, formally known as the Palestine Royal Commission, was a British Royal Commission of Inquiry, headed by Lord Peel, appointed in 1936 to investigate the causes of unrest in Mandatory Palestine, which was administered by Gre ...

, which was set up to look into the disturbances between the Arab and Jewish populations of the British Mandated Territory of Palestine. The Commission recommended that there should be a Jewish national state in north and west of Palestine and an Arab state in the east and south. However the government rejected the Commission's proposal to partition Palestine.

Politics

At the 1922 general election, Morris was selected as the

Lloyd George David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. He was a Liberal Party (United Kingdom), Liberal Party politician from Wales, known for lea ...

National Liberal candidate for

Bristol East Bristol East is a List of United Kingdom Parliament constituencies, constituency recreated in 1983 covering the eastern part of the City of Bristol, represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons of the Parliament of ...

. Bristol East had been a Liberal seat since its creation in 1885 and had been held by Sir Charles Hobhouse. It was fought and won in

1918 This year is noted for the end of the First World War, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, as well as for the Spanish flu pandemic that killed 50–100 million people worldwide. Events Below, the events ...

by George Bryant Britton as a

Coalition Liberal The Coalition Coupon was a letter sent to parliamentary candidates at the 1918 United Kingdom general election, endorsing them as official representatives of the Coalition Government. The 1918 election took place in the heady atmosphere of victo ...

in opposition to Hobhouse who remained an Independent

Asquithian Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith, (12 September 1852 – 15 February 1928), generally known as H. H. Asquith, was a British statesman and Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party politician who served as Prime Minister of ...

. However Britton did not wish to stand again in 1922 and Morris was chosen to replace him. He faced a straight fight with

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

and just held the seat with a majority of 151 votes. At the 1923 general election Morris was again involved in a straight fight against Labour. Despite the surge in support for the re-united Liberal Party at this election nationally, Morris was unable to hold onto his seat, losing to Labour's Walter John Baker by 2,040 votes.F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results; 1949, p 196 After this election Morris decided to concentrate on his legal career and did not stand for Parliament again.

Death

Morris died at his home at 21 Lichfield Road,

Kew Kew () is a district in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Its population at the 2011 census was 11,436. Kew is the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens ("Kew Gardens"), now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace. Kew is a ...

, in

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, on 11 November 1967 aged 90.

Publications

*''The Barrister'', Geoffrey Bles, London 1930 *''Back View, Reminiscences including a Biography of Sir Malcolm Alexander Morris'', Peter Davies, London, 1960

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morris, Harold Spencer 1876 births 1967 deaths National Liberal Party (UK, 1922) politicians Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Knights Bachelor UK MPs 1922–1923 English barristers 20th-century King's Counsel Members of the Inner Temple 20th-century English judges People educated at Clifton College Alumni of Magdalen College, Oxford Members of the Order of the British Empire Politics of Bristol British Army personnel of World War I Coldstream Guards officers