John Carnac Morris (FRS) (16 October 1798 – 2 August 1858) was an English civil servant of the
East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...
, and scholar of
Telugu
Telugu may refer to:
* Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India
*Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India
* Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language
** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode
S ...
.
Biography
Born 16 October 1798, was eldest son of John Morris of the
Bombay
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
civil service, who was subsequently a director of the East India Company. The son entered the Royal Navy as a midshipman, and saw active service during the last two years of the
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
. On the conclusion of the war in 1815 his father sent a note to his captain,
George Sartorius
Admiral of the Fleet Sir George Rose Sartorius (9 August 1790 – 13 April 1885) was an officer of the British Royal Navy. After serving as a junior officer during the Napoleonic Wars, he was present, as a post-captain, at the surrender of Nap ...
: "Your trade is up for the next half-century. Send my son John home by the next coach".
Morris went to the
East India Company College
The East India Company College, or East India College, was an educational establishment situated at Hailey, Hertfordshire, nineteen miles north of London, founded in 1806 to train "writers" (administrators) for the Honourable East India Company ( ...
at Haileybury, and entered the
Madras
Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...
civil service, reaching India in 1818; five younger brothers also obtained employment under the East India Company. Morris served for a time at
Masulipatam (in 1821) and
Coimbore. In 1823 paralysis deprived him of the use of his legs. Most of his time was then spent at Madras in the secretariat, or board of revenue. He was Telugu translator to the government from 1832, and in 1839, became civil auditor or accountant-general. He established in 1834 the Madras government bank, of which he was the first secretary and treasurer, and in 1835 superintendent. The bank was subsequently transferred by the government to private hands.
While on furlough in England between 1829 and 1831 Morris was elected
Fellow of the Royal Society
Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...
. He was an enthusiastic
freemason
Freemasonry or Masonry refers to fraternal organisations that trace their origins to the local guilds of stonemasons that, from the end of the 13th century, regulated the qualifications of stonemasons and their interaction with authorities ...
, in Madras and in England. On leaving India in July 1846, he received a testimonial from the local population.
Settling in
Mansfield Street,
Portland Place
Portland Place is a street in the Marylebone district of central London. Named after the Third Duke of Portland, the unusually wide street is home to BBC Broadcasting House, the Chinese and Polish embassies, the Royal Institute of British A ...
, London, in 1848, Morris spent much of his time thenceforth in commercial enterprises. He established a company to run steamers between
Milford Haven
Milford Haven ( cy, Aberdaugleddau, meaning "mouth of the two Rivers Cleddau") is both a town and a community in Pembrokeshire, Wales. It is situated on the north side of the Milford Haven Waterway, an estuary forming a natural harbour that has ...
and Australia by way of Panama, which lasted only a few years; and he promoted and was managing director of the
London and Eastern Banking Company. In 1855 he resigned its management of the company to become chairman; but colleagues made speculations, and in 1858 the bank was wound up. Morris placed all his resources at the disposal of the official liquidator, and retired to
Jersey
Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label=Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west F ...
, where he died on 2 August 1858. He was buried in
Saint Helier.
Works
Morris studied
Sanskrit
Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...
,
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
, and
Hindustani; but concentrated on Telugu. He compiled of the text-book ''Telugu Selections, with Translations and Grammatical Analyses: to which is added a Glossary of Revenue Terms used in the Northern Circars'', Madras, 1823 (enlarged edition, Madras, 1855); and he was author of an ''English-Telugu Dictionary'', based on ''
Johnson's Dictionary
''A Dictionary of the English Language'', sometimes published as ''Johnson's Dictionary'', was published on 15 April 1755 and written by Samuel Johnson. It is among the most influential dictionaries in the history of the English language.
The ...
'', the first of its kind. It was issued at Madras in 1835.
Morris was also for several years from 1834 editor of the Madras ''Journal of Literature and Science''.
Family
Morris married Rosanna Curtis, second daughter of Peter Cherry of the East India Company's service, on 4 February 1823, and was father of
John Morris (1826-1893), and other sons.
Notes
;Attribution
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morris, John Carnac
1798 births
1858 deaths
British East India Company civil servants
English lexicographers
English Indologists
Fellows of the Royal Society
19th-century lexicographers