William Morison (1663–1739), of
Prestongrange, Haddington, was a Scottish politician who sat in the
Parliament of Scotland
The Parliament of Scotland ( sco, Pairlament o Scotland; gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba) was the legislature of the Kingdom of Scotland from the 13th century until 1707. The parliament evolved during the early 13th century from the king's council o ...
from 1690 to 1707 and in the
British House of Commons as a
Whig between 1707 and 1715.
Morison was baptized on 19 April 1663, the second, but eldest surviving son of Sir Alexander Morison, of Prestongrange and his wife Jean Boyd, daughter of
Robert Boyd, 7th Lord Boyd His father was the owner of many business ventures and sometime Commissioner in the Parliament of Scotland. Morison’s marriage with Janet Rocheid daughter of John Rocheid of Craigleith, Edinburgh, who was under-age, was brought about by his father. Though the couple had an understanding for some time the threat of a rival claimant made the situation urgent, and the couple disappeared to Berwick where the marriage took place in 1676 and stayed there until the spouse reached her twelfth birthday. Though the marriage was then legal, those responsible were fined a total of 10,000 merks. William Morison was liable for 1,500 merks and was to be sent to prison until it was paid. In 1683, Morison succeeded to the family property and diverse businesses on the death of his father. These included the second largest saltworks in the area and local coal reserves. He was interested in improving a harbour near Prestonpans, known as Newhaven or Aitcheson’s Haven. He also became hereditary burgess of Peebles and a burgess of Edinburgh in 1684,
During the 1689 Revolution, Morison served as a commissioner of militia. In 1690, he was returned as
Shire Commissioner for
Haddingtonshire
East Lothian (; sco, East Lowden; gd, Lodainn an Ear) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland, as well as a historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area. The county was called Haddingtonshire until 1921.
In 1975, the histo ...
. He acted consistently with the Court. In 1696 he invested the sizable sum of £1,000 in the
Company of Scotland which supported the
Darien scheme
The Darien scheme was an unsuccessful attempt, backed largely by investors of the Kingdom of Scotland, to gain wealth and influence by establishing ''New Caledonia'', a colony on the Isthmus of Panama, in the late 1690s. The plan was for the co ...
to found the colony of Caledonia in the Panama area. By 1700 the scheme had failed and investors lost their money. This soured Morison’s support for the court. In 1702 he was returned as Shire Commissioner for
Peeblesshire. He remained with the ‘rump’ of courtiers in 1702 and became a supporter of the
Duke of Queensbury sticking with him when he fell out of favour in 1704. When Queensbury was re-instated, he rewarded Morison with the post as a Commissioner for the union with England in 1706 and promoted him to
Scottish Privy Councillor in 1707.
[
After the union in 1707, Morison was one of the as ]Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...
for Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...
He was appointed on 10 November1707 to the committee on the Address. At the 1708 British general election
The 1708 British general election was the first general election to be held after the Acts of Union had united the Parliaments of England and Scotland.
The election saw the Whigs finally gain a majority in the House of Commons, and by November ...
, he was returned as MP for Peeblesshire and his main aim was to secure a private bill for improving the harbour near Prestonpans, which had become known as Morison’s Haven. However he encountered opposition which rendered progress with the bill impossible. He supported the Court over the impeachment of Dr Sacheverell and generally supported Whig principles. At the 1710 British general election, he was defeated by a considerable majority. At the 1713 British general election, he stood for Peeblesshire and for Sutherlandshire, on the interest of Lord Sutherland. Having regained Peeblesshire, he vacated the other seat. He suffered domestic and financial pressures with the death of his wife in 1713 and increasing financial difficulties which affected his Parliamentary performance. His only recorded vote was on 12 May 1714 in favour of extending the schism bill to cover Catholic education. He did not stand again for Parliament in 1715
Events
For dates within Great Britain and the British Empire, as well as in the Russian Empire, the "old style" Julian calendar was used in 1715, and can be converted to the "new style" Gregorian calendar (adopted in the British Empire i ...
,[
Morison married an illegitimate daughter of ]Sir John Germain, 1st Baronet
Sir John Germain, 1st Baronet (c. May 1650 – 11 December 1718) was a British soldier of Dutch origin and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1713 and 1718. He was involved in a notorious affair with the Duchess of Norfolk and bec ...
before 1 May 1718. His indebtedness continued to increase. His father had left him debts and the businesses had gone sour. He may have lost money gambling and, by 1733, he was made a close prisoner of the Fleet Prison and his estates were sequestrated. Coincidentally, he held a bond whose security was guaranteed by duties on goods passing via Fleet River
The River Fleet is the largest of London's subterranean rivers, all of which today contain foul water for treatment. Its headwaters are two streams on Hampstead Heath, each of which was dammed into a series of ponds—the Hampstead Ponds and ...
. By this time the Fleet had become silted up and an Act was obtained for reclaiming the Fleet ditch as building land. Morison submitted a petition from Fleet Prison to save his investment and was thereby enabled to obtain release from prison.[
Morison died abroad in 1739, leaving many creditors. He and his first wife had five sons, of whom only one survived, and three daughters - their son received his mother’s inheritance of Craigleith. The rest of Morison’s property including the saltworks at Morison’s Haven and Prestongrange were sold off.][
]
References
External links
"Prestongrange House" by Sonia Baker Page 17
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morison, William
1663 births
1739 deaths
Shire Commissioners to the Parliament of Scotland
Members of the Parliament of Scotland 1702–1707
Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for Scottish constituencies
British MPs 1708–1710
British MPs 1713–1715