Sir George Osborne Morgan, 1st Baronet, (8 May 1826 – 25 August 1897) was a Welsh lawyer and Liberal politician.

Life

Born at

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, Morgan was educated at

Friars School, Bangor is a school in Bangor, Gwynedd, and the second oldest extant school in Wales. History 1557 Establishment The school was founded by Geoffrey Glyn who had been brought up in Anglesey and had followed a career in law in London. A friary had be ...

Shrewsbury School Shrewsbury School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Shrewsbury. Founded in 1552 by Edward VI by royal charter, to replace the town's Saxon collegiate foundations which were disestablished in the sixteenth century, Shrewsb ...

and

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and aro ...

, and was a scholar of

Worcester College, Oxford Worcester College ( ) is a constituent college 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 was ad ...

, from 1847. Morgan became a barrister of

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn, commonly known as Lincoln's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for Barrister, barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister ...

in 1853. He was Liberal MP for

Denbighshire Denbighshire ( ; ) is a county in the north-east of Wales. It borders the Irish Sea to the north, Flintshire to the east, Wrexham to the southeast, Powys to the south, and Gwynedd and Conwy to the west. Rhyl is the largest town, and Ruthi ...

from 1868 to 1885, and for Denbighshire East from 1885 until his death. He introduced Burials Bill in 1870 re-introducing it for ten successive sessions until it was finally passed in 1880, allowing any

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

ritual in a parish cemetery, and the Places of Worship (Sites) Bill, which became law in 1873. He was appointed a

Queen's Counsel A King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their Viceroy, viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarc ...

and a bencher of Lincoln's Inn in 1869, serving as treasurer from 1890. He was chairman of the House of Commons Select Committee on Land Titles and Transfer from 1878–9. Among his many Welsh involvements was support for the Welsh Sunday closing bill, disestablishment of the Welsh Church, supporting the University College of Wales at

Aberystwyth Aberystwyth (; ) is a University town, university and seaside town and a community (Wales), community in Ceredigion, Wales. It is the largest town in Ceredigion and from Aberaeron, the county's other administrative centre. In 2021, the popula ...

. He held office as Judge Advocate General under

William Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British politican, starting as Conservative MP for Newark and later becoming the leader of the Liberal Party. In a career lasting over 60 years, he was Prime Minister ...

from 1880 to 1885, and was appointed a privy councillor in 1880. He introduced successfully the annual Army Discipline Bill in 1881, and took charge of Married Women's Property Bill, 1882. He was re-elected as Member of Parliament for East Denbighshire in 1885, 1886, and 1892, defeating Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, whose family had represented Denbighshire in Parliament for 177 years. He once again held office under Gladstone as

Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies The Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies was a junior Ministerial post in the United Kingdom government, subordinate to the Secretary of State for the Colonies and, from 1948, also to a Minister of State. Under-Secretaries of State for the Col ...

in 1886. He was created a baronet, of Green Street, Grosvenor Square, in the Parish of Saint George, Hanover Square, in the County of London and of Lincoln's Inn, in 1892. The baronetcy became extinct on his death, since he had no children by his wife Emily (née Reiss).

Works

Morgan published a translation of

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; 15 October 70 BC21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Rome, ancient Roman poet of the Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Augustan period. He composed three of the most fa ...

's ''

Eclogues The ''Eclogues'' (; , ), also called the ''Bucolics'', is the first of the three major works of the Latin poet Virgil. Background Taking as his generic model the Greek bucolic poetry of Theocritus, Virgil created a Roman version partly by o ...

'' in English

hexameters Hexameter is a Metre (poetry), metrical Line (poetry), line of verses consisting of six metrical foot, feet (a "foot" here is the pulse, or major accent, of words in an English language, English line of poetry; in Greek language, Greek as well as i ...

, and other writings.

References

*George Osborne Morgan in
''Welsh Biography Online''

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Morgan, George Osborne 1826 births 1897 deaths Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom People educated at Friars School, Bangor People educated at Shrewsbury School Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom Liberal Party (UK) MPs for Welsh constituencies 19th-century King's Counsel UK MPs 1868–1874 UK MPs 1874–1880 UK MPs 1880–1885 UK MPs 1885–1886 UK MPs 1886–1892 UK MPs 1892–1895 UK MPs 1895–1900