John Morris, Baron Morris of Aberavon
The Lord Morris of Aberavon | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
![]() Official portrait, 2019 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In office 2 May 1997 – 29 July 1999 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Prime Minister | Tony Blair | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Solicitor General | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | Nicholas Lyell | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | The Lord Williams of Mostyn | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In office 3 July 2001 – 5 June 2023 Life peerage | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Member of Parliament for Aberavon | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In office 8 October 1959 – 14 May 2001 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | William Cove | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | Hywel Francis | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | John Morris 5 November 1931 Capel Bangor, Wales | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Died | 5 June 2023 | (aged 91)||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Political party | Labour | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Spouse |
Margaret Lewis (m. 1959) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Children | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Alma mater | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
John Morris, Baron Morris of Aberavon, KG, PC, KC (5 November 1931 – 5 June 2023) was a British politician. He was a Labour Party Member of Parliament for over 41 years, from 1959 to 2001, which included a period as Secretary of State for Wales from 1974 to 1979 and as Attorney General between 1997 and 1999.[1] He was the last living former Labour MP who was first elected in the 1950s.[2] He was also the last surviving member of Harold Wilson's 1974–76 cabinet, and was the longest-serving Privy Counsellor at the time of his death.[3] His combined parliamentary service totalled over 60 years.[4]
Background and education
[edit]Morris was born in Capel Bangor, Aberystwyth, Cardiganshire, on 5 November 1931.[5] He was educated at the Ardwyn School, the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, and Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge.[1] During the course of his national service, he was stationed with the Royal Welch Fusiliers, the Welch Regiment, and the South Wales Borderers.[6]
In 1959, Morris married Margaret Lewis, and they had three daughters.[6]
Legal career
[edit]Morris was a barrister and was called to the Bar by Gray's Inn in 1954.[6] He served as a legal adviser and deputy general secretary for the Farmers' Union of Wales.[6] He practised at 2 Bedford Row Chambers, took silk in 1973, and was made a Bencher of Gray's Inn in 1985.[6] Between 1982 and 1997, he was a Recorder of the Crown Court.[5]
Political career
[edit]Morris represented Aberavon as its Labour MP from 1959 onwards, and subsequently became the longest serving Welsh MP in Parliament, until his retirement in 2001.[4] According to The Almanac of British Politics, Morris was a "moderate" Labour MP.[7]
Morris served as Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Power and the Ministry of Transport, and Minister of State at the Ministry of Defence.[6] Having been sworn of the Privy Council in the 1970 Birthday Honours,[8] Morris joined the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Wales between 5 March 1974 and 4 May 1979 and returned to Government as the Attorney General for England and Wales and Northern Ireland between 1997 and 1999, having shadowed the role since 1983. As such, he was one of only a small handful of Labour ministers to hold office under Harold Wilson, James Callaghan and Tony Blair.[9]
Other positions held
[edit]Morris was the Chancellor of the University of South Wales from the time of its formation in 2013. The University of South Wales was formed by a merger between University of Glamorgan (where Lord Morris was Chancellor from 2002) and the University of Wales, Newport. He succeeded fellow Labour politician Lord Merlyn-Rees as the Chancellor for the University of Glamorgan.[citation needed] Lord Morris was President of the London Welsh Trust, which runs the London Welsh Centre, Gray's Inn Road, from 2001 until 2008.[10] He was also a council member of The Prince's Trust.[9]
Later life and death
[edit]His memoir, Fifty Years in Politics and the Law, was published in 2011.[11]
At the death of Robert Lindsay, 29th Earl of Crawford on 18 March 2023, Morris and Stratton Mills became the surviving former MPs with the earliest date of first election, both having first entered Parliament at the 1959 general election.[4]
Morris died on 5 June 2023, at the age of 91.[4][6][12]
Honours
[edit]Morris was raised to the peerage for life as Baron Morris of Aberavon, of Aberavon in the County of West Glamorgan and of Ceredigion in the County of Dyfed in the 2001 Dissolution Honours,[13][14] was made Lord Lieutenant of Dyfed a year later[15] and was appointed to the Order of the Garter as a Knight Companion (KG) in 2003.[16]
Arms
[edit]![]() |
|
References
[edit]- ^ a b "Morris of Aberavon, Baron, (John Morris) (born Nov. 1931)". WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO. 2007. doi:10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.u28179. ISBN 978-0-19-954088-4. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
- ^ Pointer, Graham (21 December 2014). "Graham Pointer's Blog: Elected In The 50s – A Look At Surviving Ex-MPs". Graham Pointer's Blog. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
- ^ "Privy Council Members: M". Privy Council Office. Retrieved 16 December 2021.
- ^ a b c d Browne, Adrian (5 June 2023). "Lord John Morris, ex-Welsh secretary and Blair attorney general dies". BBC News. Retrieved 5 June 2023.
- ^ a b "Morris, John, 1931 Nov. 5- - National Library of Wales Archives and Manuscripts". archives.library.wales. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Lord Morris of Aberavon, MP who over 41 years in the Commons served in four Labour governments – obituary". The Daily Telegraph. 6 June 2023. Retrieved 6 June 2023.
- ^ Waller, Robert; Criddle, Byron (1999). The Almanac of British Politics. ISBN 9780415185417.
- ^ "No. 45117". The London Gazette (Supplement). 5 June 1970. p. 6365.
- ^ a b Langdon, Julia (8 June 2023). "Lord Morris of Aberavon obituary". The Guardian.
- ^ "Our Former Presidents: London Welsh Centre". London Welsh Centre website. London Welsh Centre. 2010. Archived from the original on 20 July 2011. Retrieved 4 February 2011.
- ^ Morris, John (2011). Fifty Years in Politics and the Law. University of Wales Press. ISBN 978-0-7083-2418-9.
- ^ Langdon, Julia (8 June 2023). "Lord Morris of Aberavon obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
- ^ "No. 56266". The London Gazette. 6 July 2001. p. 7999.
- ^ "No. 25044". The Edinburgh Gazette. 6 July 2001. p. 1528.
- ^ "No. 56787". The London Gazette. 19 December 2002. p. 15392.
- ^ "No. 56915". The London Gazette. 23 April 2003. p. 5017.
- ^ Arms of the Baron Morris of Aberavon blazon. Cracroft's Peerage. Retrieved 16 January 2014
- ^ Anthony Acland's crest Heraldic Sculptor. Retrieved 20 December 2013
- ^ Anthony Acland's banner of arms image. Retrieved 24 December 2013
- ^ Acland's arms image. Retrieved 24 December 2013
External links
[edit]- 1931 births
- 2023 deaths
- 20th-century Welsh lawyers
- Alumni of Aberystwyth University
- Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge
- Association of Professional, Executive, Clerical and Computer Staff-sponsored MPs
- Attorneys General for England and Wales
- Attorneys General for Northern Ireland
- Chancellors of the University of Glamorgan
- Knights of the Garter
- Labour Party (UK) life peers
- Life peers created by Elizabeth II
- Lord-lieutenants of Dyfed
- Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
- Ministers in the Wilson governments, 1964–1970
- Northern Ireland Government ministers
- People educated at Ardwyn School, Aberystwyth
- Politics of Neath Port Talbot
- Royal Welch Fusiliers soldiers
- Secretaries of State for Wales
- South Wales Borderers soldiers
- UK MPs 1959–1964
- UK MPs 1964–1966
- UK MPs 1966–1970
- UK MPs 1970–1974
- UK MPs 1974
- UK MPs 1974–1979
- UK MPs 1979–1983
- UK MPs 1983–1987
- UK MPs 1987–1992
- UK MPs 1992–1997
- UK MPs 1997–2001
- Welch Regiment soldiers
- Welsh King's Counsel
- Welsh Labour MPs
- Welsh barristers
- Military personnel from Ceredigion
- 20th-century British Army personnel
- New Labour