Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 39.djvu/104

 escape from prison in York Castle, but in getting over the wall Blackborne broke his leg, and Morris refused to leave him. They were retaken, and executed on 23 Aug. By his desire Morris was buried at Wentworth, Yorkshire, near the grave of Lord Strafford.

Morris married Margery (1627-1665), eldest daughter of Dr. Robert Dawson, bishop of Clonfert and Kilmacduag, by whom he had issue Robert (b. 1645) of Esthagh, Castilian (1648-1702), and Mary. His widow remarried Jonas, fourth son of Abel Bulkley, of Bulkley, Lancashire.

His second son, Castilian, so named by reason of his having been born during the siege of Pontefract Castle, was appointed town clerk of Leeds in 1684 at the instance of Lord Chief-justice Jeffreys, and left descendants (, Ducatus Leodiensis, ed. Whitaker). Some extracts from his diary are printed in the 'Yorkshire Archaeological and Topographical Journal' (x. 159).

Morris's exploits were celebrated by Thomas Vaughan in five brief Latin elegiac poems printed at the end of Henry Vaughan's 'Thalia Rediviva' (1678).



MORRIS, JOHN (1810–1886), geologist, was born in 1810 at Homerton, London, and educated at private schools. He was engaged for some years as a pharmaceutical chemist at Kensington, but soon became interested in geology and other branches of science, and ultimately retired from business. His published papers speedily attracted notice, and his 'Catalogue of British Fossils,' published in 1845, a work involving much critical research, added greatly to his reputation. In 1854 he was elected to the professorship of geology at University College, London, an office which he retained till 1877, when he was appointed on retirement emeritus professor in acknowledgment of his services. He died, after an illness of some duration, on 7 Jan. 1886, and was buried at Kensal Green. One daughter survived him.

In addition to his 'Catalogue of British Fossils' (of which a second edition appeared in 1854, and a third was in preparation but was left incomplete at his death) and to a memoir on the 'Great Oolite Mollusca,' written in conjunction with John Lycett, and published by the Palæontographical Society, Morris wrote numerous papers and notes on scientific subjects, mostly geological. He was elected 'F.G.S. in 1845, and, in addition to other awards, received the Lyell medal in 1876. In 1870 he was presented with a handsome testimonial in appreciation of his services to geology. He was president of the Geologists' Association, held various lectureships and examinerships, and was an honorary member of several scientific societies. In 1878 he was admitted to the freedom of the Turners' Company, and received in 1878 the honorary degree of master of arts from the university of Cambridge.

Morris was a born teacher, for he was not only full of enthusiasm, but also united to a memory of extraordinary retentiveness a remarkable power of lucid exposition; yet he was so singularly modest that it was often difficult to induce him to address an audience other than his class. His knowledge of geology was encyclopaedic, his critical acumen great, but he disliked the labour of composition. In imparting knowledge verbally he was the most generous of men.



MORRIS, JOHN (1826–1893), Jesuit, son of [q. v.], was born at Ootacamund, on the Neilgherry Hills, Southern India, on 4 July 1826. At eight years of age he was sent to a private school at East Sheen, Surrey. Thence, in 1838, he was transferred to Harrow, but he remained there only one year. He then went to India, and lived with his parents for two years on the Neilgherry Hills. Returning to England, he was prepared for Cambridge by [q. v.]; in October term 1845 he was admitted a pensioner of Trinity College. Before the end of his freshman's year he embraced the catholic religion, being received into the Roman communion on 20 May 1846. His secession caused some sensation, and led to the submission next year of [q. v.], his private tutor (, Annals of the Tractarian Movement, pp. 130, 131).

After three years' study at the English College in Rome he was ordained priest in September 1849 in the cathedral church of St. John Lateran, and sent back to the English mission. He was stationed first at Northampton, next at Great Marlow, Buckinghamshire, and in 1852 he was appointed a canon of the