John Bacon Sawrey Morritt (1772? – 1843) was an English traveller, politician and classical scholar.
Early life
Born about 1772, he was son and heir of John Sawrey Morritt, who died at
Rokeby Park
Rokeby Park is a country house in the Palladian style in the civil parish of Rokeby, in Northern England. It is close to the confluence of the River Tees and River Greta, near Greta Bridge in what is now County Durham. It was historically in the ...
in Yorkshire on 3 August 1791, by his wife Anne (died 1809), daughter of
Henry Peirse
Henry Peirse (1695 – 2 October 1759) of Bedale in Yorkshire was an English landowner and Member of Parliament.
He was born the eldest son of John Peirse of Lazenby, Yorkshire and inherited the manor of Bedale from his grandfather. In the 1730s ...
of
Bedale., M.P. for Northallerton. Both parents were buried in a vault in Rokeby Church, where their son erected to their memory a monument with a poetic inscription.
Morritt had been in Paris during 1789, and was educated at
St John's College, Cambridge, where he was admitted later that year. He graduated B.A. 1794 and M.A. 1798. He inherited a large fortune, including the estate of Rokeby, which his father had purchased from
Sir Thomas Robinson, 1st Baronet
Sir Thomas Robinson, 1st Baronet (1703–1777), of Rokeby, Yorkshire, was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1727 to 1734 and a Governor of Barbados. He was an architect, collector and an extravagant character, whose life ...
in 1769.
On tour
Early in 1794, Morritt set off east, and spent two years in travelling, mainly in Greece and Asia Minor.
One consequence of his journeying was the wide adoption in English of the term
Balkan Mountains by English speakers, in place of the classical name
Haemus Mons. The use of
Balkan peninsula for south-east Europe came a little later, with
August Zeune (1808).
Morritt travelled from
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
to
Istanbul
)
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code = 34000 to 34990
, area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side)
, registration_plate = 34
, blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD
, blank_i ...
, where the embarrassed
Robert Liston
Robert Liston (28 October 1794 – 7 December 1847) was a British surgeon. Liston was noted for his speed and skill in an era prior to anaesthetics, when speed made a difference in terms of pain and survival. He was the first Professor of Cl ...
found the British embassy was in no state to lodge him. On a quest for
Troy
Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in present-day Turkey, south-west of Ç ...
, he arrived, with
James Dallaway and other Englishmen, from
Lesbos
Lesbos or Lesvos ( el, Λέσβος, Lésvos ) is a Greek island located in the northeastern Aegean Sea. It has an area of with approximately of coastline, making it the third largest island in Greece. It is separated from Asia Minor by the nar ...
on 6 November 1794, landing about twenty miles below
Cape Lectum, in the Sinus Adramyttenus. There he made a survey of the supposed scene of the ''
Iliad
The ''Iliad'' (; grc, Ἰλιάς, Iliás, ; "a poem about Ilium") is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the '' Odys ...
''.
In politics
A conservative in politics, Morritt was returned to parliament by the borough of Beverley at a by-election in 1799. There he had the support of
Lord Yarborough
Earl of Yarborough is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1837 for Charles Anderson-Pelham, 2nd Baron Yarborough.
History
The Anderson-Pelham family descends from Francis Anderson of Manby, Lincolnshire. He married ...
and
Sir Christopher Sykes. He was defeated at the dissolution in 1802.
In 1806, Morritt served as
high sheriff of Yorkshire
The Sheriff is the oldest secular office under the Crown. Formerly the Sheriff was the principal law enforcement officer in the county but over the centuries most of the responsibilities associated with the post have been transferred elsewhere o ...
, and in 1807 he made a speech at the nomination of
William Wilberforce
William Wilberforce (24 August 175929 July 1833) was a British politician, philanthropist and leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade. A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780, eventually becom ...
for Yorkshire. In 1814 he was elected on a by vacancy for the constituency of
Northallerton
Northallerton ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Hambleton District of North Yorkshire, England. It lies in the Vale of Mowbray and at the northern end of the Vale of York. It had a population of 16,832 in the 2011 census, an increa ...
, which he represented until 1818, and he sat for
Shaftesbury
Shaftesbury () is a town and civil parish in Dorset, England. It is situated on the A30 road, west of Salisbury, near the border with Wiltshire. It is the only significant hilltop settlement in Dorset, being built about above sea level on a ...
in Dorset from 1818 to 1820.
Associations
Morritt paid
Sir Walter Scott
Sir Walter Scott, 1st Baronet (15 August 1771 – 21 September 1832), was a Scottish novelist, poet, playwright and historian. Many of his works remain classics of European and Scottish literature, notably the novels '' Ivanhoe'', '' Rob Roy' ...
a visit in the summer of 1808, and was again his guest in 1816 and January 1829. Their friendship was never broken. Scott, on his return from London in 1809, spent a fortnight at Rokeby, which he admired. In December 1811 he told Morritt his intention of making it the scene of a poem, and received in reply a letter on its history. Scott's second stay in autumn 1812 resulted in ''
Rokeby'', praised for its local descriptions. It was dedicated to Morritt, who was entrusted with the secret of the authorship of the
Waverley novels
The Waverley Novels are a long series of novels by Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832). For nearly a century, they were among the most popular and widely read novels in Europe.
Because Scott did not publicly acknowledge authorship until 1827, the se ...
.
Scott's visits were renewed in 1815, 1826, 1828, and in September 1831 on his last journey to London and Italy. Letters which passed between them are included in
John Gibson Lockhart
John Gibson Lockhart (12 June 1794 – 25 November 1854) was a Scottish writer and editor. He is best known as the author of the seminal, and much-admired, seven-volume biography of his father-in-law Sir Walter Scott: ''Memoirs of the Life of Sir ...
's ''Life of Scott''; others are in ''Familiar Letters of Sir Walter Scott'' (1894). Morritt, on Scott's invitation, became an occasional contributor to the ''
Quarterly Review
The ''Quarterly Review'' was a literary and political periodical founded in March 1809 by London publishing house John Murray. It ceased publication in 1967. It was referred to as ''The London Quarterly Review'', as reprinted by Leonard Scott, f ...
'', and his poem "The Curse of Moy, a Highland Tale" appeared in the ''Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border'' (5th edit. iii. 451).
It was on the advice of his friend
Thomas Lawrence
Sir Thomas Lawrence (13 April 1769 – 7 January 1830) was an English portrait painter and the fourth president of the Royal Academy. A child prodigy, he was born in Bristol and began drawing in Devizes, where his father was an innkeeper at ...
that Morritt bought the
Rokeby Venus
The ''Rokeby Venus'' (; also known as ''The Toilet of Venus'', ''Venus at her Mirror'', ''Venus and Cupid'', or '' La Venus del espejo'') is a painting by Diego Velázquez, the leading artist of the Spanish Golden Age. Completed between 16 ...
, for £500 from the dealer William James Buchanan. He was also acquainted with
Stewart Rose,
Richard Payne Knight
Richard Payne Knight (11 February 1751 – 23 April 1824) of Downton Castle in Herefordshire, and of 5 Soho Square,History of Parliament biography London, England, was a classical scholar, connoisseur, archaeologist and numismatist best ...
,
Sir Humphry Davy
Sir Humphry Davy, 1st Baronet, (17 December 177829 May 1829) was a British chemist and inventor who invented the Davy lamp and a very early form of arc lamp. He is also remembered for isolating, by using electricity, several elements for the ...
, and
Robert Southey
Robert Southey ( or ; 12 August 1774 – 21 March 1843) was an English poet of the Romantic school, and Poet Laureate from 1813 until his death. Like the other Lake Poets, William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Southey began as a ra ...
who visited Rokeby in 1812 and 1829. He was elected a member of the
Dilettanti Society
The Society of Dilettanti (founded 1734) is a British society of noblemen and scholars that sponsors the study of ancient Greek and Roman art, and the creation of new work in the style.
History
Though the exact date is unknown, the Society is b ...
on 2 June 1799, and his portrait as "arch-master" of its ceremonies, in the long crimson taffety-tasselled robe of office, was painted by Sir
Martin Archer Shee
Sir Martin Archer Shee (23 December 1769 – 13 August 1850) was an Irish portrait painter. He also served as the president of the Royal Academy.
Early life
He was born in Dublin, of an old Irish Roman Catholic family, the son of Martin Shee ...
for the society in 1831–2.
Morritt was one of the founders and a member of the first committee of the
Travellers' Club, in 1819.
Sir William Fraser
Sir William Augustus Fraser, 4th Baronet (10 February 182617 August 1898), of Pilton House, near Barnstaple, Devon, was an English politician, author and collector. He was elected member of parliament for Barnstaple (Devon) in 1852, and again in ...
mentioned him as a brilliant raconteur.
Death
Morritt died at Rokeby Park, 12 July 1843, aged 71. He had married, by special license, at the house of Colonel
Thomas Stanley, M.P., in Pall Mall, on 19 November 1803, Katharine (d. 1815), second daughter of the Rev. Thomas Stanley, rector of
Winwick in Lancashire. He was buried by his wife's side in a vault under Rokeby Church, where a marble tablet, surmounted by a bust of him, was placed in their memory.
Works
When
Jacob Bryant
Jacob Bryant (1715–1804) was an English scholar and mythographer, who has been described as "the outstanding figure among the mythagogues who flourished in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries."
Life
Bryant was born at Plymout ...
argued that no such city as
Troy
Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in present-day Turkey, south-west of Ç ...
had existed, Morritt's local knowledge of Turkey led him publish ''A Vindication of Homer and of the Ancient Poets and Historians who have recorded the Siege and Fall of Troy'' (1798). This produced from Bryant ''Some Observations'' in 1799, and when
William Vincent reviewed Morritt's work in the ''
British Critic
The ''British Critic: A New Review'' was a quarterly publication, established in 1793 as a conservative and high-church review journal riding the tide of British reaction against the French Revolution. The headquarters was in London. The journa ...
'' early in 1799, and issued the criticisms in a separate form, Bryant rushed into print with ''Expostulation addressed to the "British Critic"'' (1799). Morritt retaliated with ''Additional Remarks on the Topography of Troy, in answer to Mr. Bryant's last Publications'' (1800). An account of his expedition to Troy was given by Dallaway in ''Constantinople, with Excursions to the Shores and Islands of the Archipelago, and to the Troad'' (1797), and his opinions were supported in ''Remarks and Observations on the Plain of Troy, made during an Excursion in June 1799'', by
William Francklin
William Francklin (1763–1839) was an English orientalist and army officer.
Education and military career
Francklin was the eldest son of Thomas Francklin, by his wife Miss Venables. He was admitted on the foundation at Westminster in 1777, whe ...
.
In 1810 Morritt published a pamphlet on the state of parties, ''Advice to the Whigs, by an Englishman''. In 1826 he gave Sir Walter Scott a copy of a printed ''Letter'' to
Richard Bethell, in favour of
Catholic emancipation
Catholic emancipation or Catholic relief was a process in the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, and later the combined United Kingdom in the late 18th century and early 19th century, that involved reducing and removing many of the restricti ...
; Scott noted in his diary that twenty years previously Morritt had entertained other views. Replies to this letter were published by the Rev. William Metcalfe of
Kirk Hammerton
Kirk Hammerton is a village and civil parish in the Harrogate district of North Yorkshire, England. It is near the River Nidd and the A59 road, west of York. The village suffix refers to the ''Hamerton'' family who owned the land until the ...
, and Henry Hall.
An essay by Morritt on the ''History and Principles of Antient Sculpture'' formed the introduction to the second volume of ''Specimens of Antient Sculpture preserved in Great Britain'' issued by the Dilettanti Society in 1835. A volume of ''Miscellaneous Translations and Imitations of the Minor Greek Poets'' was published by him in 1802. He composed the inscription on the monument in York Minster to
William Burgh. His widow left him a miniature of
John Thurloe
John Thurloe (June 1616 – 21 February 1668) was an English politician who served as secretary to the council of state in Protectorate England and spymaster for Oliver Cromwell and held the position of Postmaster General between 1655 and 1660. ...
(but then thought to be of
John Milton), painted by
Samuel Cooper.
Notes
;Attribution
External links
WorldCat page
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morritt, John Bacon Sawrey
1772 births
1843 deaths
Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge
British MPs 1796–1800
English classical scholars
High Sheriffs of Yorkshire
Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies
UK MPs 1801–1802
UK MPs 1812–1818
UK MPs 1818–1820
English male writers