Brian Robert Morris, Baron Morris of Castle Morris, (4 December 1930 – 30 April 2001), was a British poet, critic and professor of literature. He became the Labour Party's deputy chief
whip
A whip is a tool or weapon designed to strike humans or other animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain. They can also be used without inflicting pain, for audiovisual cues, such as in equestrianism. They are generally e ...
and education spokesman in the House of Lords.
Born and educated in Cardiff, Morris went on, after national service with the Welsh Regiment, to read English at
Worcester College, Oxford
Worcester College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648–1701) of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms w ...
. He stayed on at Oxford as a tutor in
Old
Old or OLD may refer to:
Places
*Old, Baranya, Hungary
*Old, Northamptonshire, England
*Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD)
*OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, Mai ...
John Cleveland
John Cleveland (16 June 1613 – 29 April 1658) was an English poet who supported the Royalist cause in the English Civil War. He was best known for political satire.
Early life
Cleveland was born in Loughborough, the son of Thomas Cleveland, ...
, the Cavalier poet. In 1955, he married Sandra James, and they had two children.
His major promotion came in 1971 when he began his decade as professor of English literature at
Sheffield University
, mottoeng = To discover the causes of things
, established = – University of SheffieldPredecessor institutions:
– Sheffield Medical School – Firth College – Sheffield Technical School – University College of Sheffield
, type = Pu ...
, in succession to William Empson. From 1964 to 1986, he was general editor of the New Mermaid dramatists, and from 1974 to 1982 of the New Arden Shakespeare. He also edited the poems of Cleveland and the plays of John Ford, while using his acquired administrative skills on the board of the
National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to:
*National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra
*National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred
*National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C.
*National Portrait Gallery, London, with s ...
. These skills were fully tested when, in 1980, he was named principal of what was then
St David's University College
University of Wales, Lampeter ( cy, Prifysgol Cymru, Llanbedr Pont Steffan) was a university in Lampeter, Wales. Founded in 1822, and incorporated by royal charter in 1828, it was the oldest degree awarding institution in Wales, with limited d ...
, the smallest and most endangered part of the University of Wales. Retaining a home in Derbyshire, he saw his Lampeter appointment as an opportunity to get back in touch with his roots.
In addition to literary criticism such as his study of Harri Webb (1993) for the
University of Wales Press
The University of Wales Press ( cy, Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru) was founded in 1922 as a central service of the University of Wales. The press publishes academic journals and around seventy books a year in the English and Welsh languages on six general ...
in the "Writers of Wales" series, his publications included several poetry collections, including ''Tide-Race'' (1976), ''Dear Tokens'' (1987) and ''The Waters of Comfort'' (1998). His collected poems were published in the year of his death by Rare Books & Berry Ltd.
In 1990, Morris was made a
life peer
In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. In modern times, life peerages, always created at the rank of baron, are created under the Life Peerages ...
with the title Baron Morris of Castle Morris, of St Dogmaels in the County of Dyfed, expanding his name – to distinguish it from an earlier Baron Morris – by adding "of Castle Morris", a small and largely insignificant hamlet between Fishguard and St David's and actually spelt
Castlemorris
Castlemorris ( cy, Casmorys; also known as ''Castle Morris'' or ''Castle Maurice'') is a small village in the parish and community of Mathry, Pembrokeshire, Wales, south of the Western Cleddau river, on the B4331 road between Mathry and Lettersto ...
. He justified his appointment to the unelected body by pointing out "Manchester United football team isn't chosen by popular vote".
A brilliant and respected speech writer, his speeches in the house were sprinkled with quotations from Shakespeare, Goldsmith, Juvenal and Alexander Pope. When Morris reminded the Tories of the saying "Whom God wishes to destroy, he first sends mad," he used the original Latin.
Morris never forgot his Welsh roots, and was a nationalist sympathiser. Whilst he never was a fluent speaker of the Welsh language, he fought for its legal status in the nation.Telegraph newspaper obituary /ref>
Later in his political career, Morris was marginalised within the Labour Party for being too '
Old Labour
The British Labour Party grew out of the trade union movement of the late 19th century and surpassed the Liberal Party as the main opposition to the Conservatives in the early 1920s. In the 1930s and 1940s, it stressed national planning, using ...
' by supporters of the new party leader Tony Blair. Prior to Labour's 1997 election win, a fellow Labour politician,
Bernard Donoughue
Bernard Donoughue, Baron Donoughue (born 8 September 1934) is a Labour Party (UK), British Labour Party politician, academic, businessman and author.
Morris died aged 70 from leukaemia in 2001.