Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 39.djvu/92

 15 June 1843 he was nominated by the crown to the first legislature of the colony, and although he was prominent in pressing the reform of the council and in opposing transportation in 1851, he was again nominated as a member when the council was reconstituted in that year, holding office as speaker from 20 Aug. 1851 till 1855. When in 1857 an elective constitution was granted, he was among the first eighteen members elected to the legislative council. He was chief secretary in the Reynolds administration from 4 Feb. to 8 Oct. 1861, but on no other occasion was he a minister of the crown. He did not care for party politics, and in March 1865, after his re-election to the legislative council, was chosen for the office of president. He held this position till 1873, when his term of office expired, and he did not seek re-election. The remainder of his life he passed in comparative seclusion, though he still sat on the boards of certain companies, notably that of the Bank of South Australia. He was knighted on 16 Feb. 1870. He died at his residence, Cummins, Glenelg, on 7 Nov. 1892.

With an admirable capacity for business Morphett combined considerable culture and a love of sport. He presided in April 1844 at a meeting out of which arose the Royal Agricultural Society of South Australia. He was a great patron of the turf, and in the early days of the colony often rode his own horses. In 1837 there were but two horses in the whole colony, and one was Morphett's. On 12 Jan. 1838 he entered a horse for the first Adelaide races.

He married, on 15 Aug. 1838, the daughter of Sir J. Hurtle Fisher, who preceded him as president of the legislative council. She and nine children survived him. One of the three sons is clerk of the legislative council. A brother, who also went out for a time to South Australia, is now living in England.

Morphett Street in Adelaide, Morphett Street at Mount Barker, Morphettville, and Morphett Vale were named after him.  MORRELL, HUGH (d. 1664?), merchant, descended from a family well known for their ' designs for the improvement of cloth and all woollen manufactures,' was probably a native of Exeter. In 1623 he was engaged in the export trade to France, and about the same time he and Peter du Boys proposed to James I a scheme for the improvement of commerce, probably by the establishment in every town of corporations to regulate the woollen manufactures. For this purpose he obtained a patent for Hertfordshire in 1624, and for Devonshire in 1626. He and his 'predecessors' had already spent ' much labour and 3,000l.' in the promotion of a similar object at Worcester. His plans were commended by thirty-one London merchants to whom they were submitted.

Some time before this Morrell had been established at Rouen in partnership with Charles Snelling, merchant, of London. In 1627 their goods, to the value of 7,600l., were confiscated by the French in reprisal for goods seized by English ships at Conquett. Their fortunes ruined, and even their lives threatened, Morrell and Snelling were obliged to escape from France. They petitioned the king (June 1627) for satisfaction out of the profits on the sale of the French prizes, or by abatement of customs duties in their favour. Their claims were referred to Sir Henry Martin and Philip Burlamachi, who reported that their losses ought to be made good. It was proposed shortly afterwards to reimburse them out of the produce of an additional duty of three farthings per chaldron on coal exported from Newcastle, and the attorney-general was instructed to prepare a warrant for this purpose. The scheme, however, does not appear to have been carried into effect, owing probably to the opposition of the farmers of the coal duties, and as late as 1641 Morrell and Snelling had not received satisfaction.

On 9 Oct. 1633 Morrell, as agent and representative of the 'merchants of Exeter trading to France,' presented to the council a petition on their behalf, in which they desired the removal of their trade from Rouen and Morlaix to Havre, and the appointment of an English consul. In the following month he was chosen, along with Spicer, their governor, to represent the company at a conference (19 Nov.) with the 'merchants of London trading to France,' when articles of agreement were drawn up between the two associations. On 5 Dec. 1642 he was appointed one of the surveyors of the customs at Dover and the western ports.

Meanwhile Morrell had not abandoned his scheme for the reorganisation of the woollen trade. A committee of merchants recommended it to parliament in 1638, and shortly afterwards Morrell ' presented an instrument to his Majestie under the Broad Seale of England, in which much labour, care, and pains was taken to settle a government in our manufactures' (Morrell to Lenthall, 11 Jan. 1646-7, Portland MSS. i. 405). Charles I referred the scheme to a commission of thirty of the most experienced merchants of London, who spent eighteen months in the 