Rear Admiral George Morris

Rear Admiral George Morris

Whilst writing about the Dower House in Priestgate I was reminded of its 1851 occupant, a man named George Morris. He was in his 70s, had been in the navy and lived with his sister and a small retinue of staff, but is name was unfamiliar, and I had had no reason to research his life before. Now that I've taken the time to research him, I’m very glad that I have, because he adds another dimension to the gentry in Thorney and Peterborough.

The Dower House in Priestgate was the perfect location for George Morris to live in his final years. Sat between the beautiful centuries-old Hake House, home to a family of solicitors, and the imposing Georgian mansion of Justice of the Peace Thomas Alderson Cooke, the neat, modern house was perfect for the aging hero. But who was George Morris and why was he living in Peterborough?

George had been born in Rotherhithe, Surrey, in 1778 to William Morris, a Master Superintendent in the Royal Navy. At only eleven years old George began his naval career with his father, following in the footsteps of his brother John.[1] At the age of only 15, George lost a leg whilst serving on the Audacious, but rather than leave the navy he continued for many years, advancing through the ranks.[2] He was a Second Lieutenant by the time he was involved in the Battle of Camperdown off the coast of the Netherlands (when his captain was said to have been cut in two by a cannon!) and he was engaged in a significant number of French and Dutch ship captures in his career during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars. In January 1809 his ship was wrecked near Malmo forcing him to walk with his crew through snow and ice to Gothenburg (over 170 miles away) to where they knew another British naval ship was. The tenacity required to have made that journey with a leg missing is incredible and highlights the physical and mental strength he had. George and his crew remained on the ship whilst they waited for the ice to melt to enable them to return home to England.

The Battle of Camperdown by Thomas Whitcombe (via wikipedia)

Home for George at that time was in the arms of his bride Sarah. He had married her in 1807 in Minster, Kent, where Sarah had been born, and also close to the naval dock at Sheerness. But Kent was not to be home to their own family, for Sarah joined George when he was posted to (King’s) Lynn shortly after returning from his Swedish ordeal. George was involved with the Sea Fencibles, controlling a group of local men to defend the coast around The Wash at a time of heightened fear that the country was going to be invaded. George and Sarah very likely lived in Lynn initially, but by 1811 when Sarah gave birth to their first child Ann, they were living in Wisbech. George was there to greet his daughter, but he left shortly afterwards to join the Vulture, which was sailing about the Channel Islands. He returned home at the beginning of 1812 and, keen for a much-needed heir to the Morris naval dynasty, he swiftly got Sarah pregnant. George Sculthorpe was born in 1812 in Elm, a small village just south of Wisbech, which was to be their family home for several years. In 1816 George received a pension of £300 per year as compensation for the loss of his leg, which provided him with a very handsome income, having left the navy at this point.

George was active in social circles in Wisbech and stewarded balls and assemblies including the Wisbech Ball in 1813 and the Wisbech Assembly in 1816 and 1820 held at the Rose and Crown. All the events provide us with clues to George’s friendship circle: at the 1813 ball he stewarded with Lieut-Col Watson, Hugh Jackson, Goddard Marshall, Major Smith, and John Sculthorpe; in 1816 he stewarded with Captain Swaine, also of the Royal Navy; in 1820 he stewarded with John Wing. We can make a good guess that John Sculthorpe was a close friend of George’s after giving his son George the middle name Sculthorpe, and a Jackson appears as an executor in his will. Captain Spelman Swaine had an even more impressive naval career, having travelled with, and saved the life of, Captain George Vancouver (look him up – he’s a big deal!). Likewise, the name Wing will become important shortly. George was also a member of the Wisbech Bible Society, which included a member of the Peckover family.

In 1821 Sarah died in childbirth aged 38. George and his four small children remained in Elm for a few more years, but Captain George, as he was then known, needed help running the household, not least because of his disability. He also needed help caring for his children – the youngest Bryan was only two years old – so his widowed mother Ann Minter Morris moved in to help.

 Church of All Saints, Elm, by Tim Heaton via Geograph.

In 1828 George discovered one of his sheep had gone missing. He went out to look for it and came across a sack that contained the skin and shortly after the still warm carcass of the sheep in the hands of Isaac Quince. The case went to trial and Isaac was found guilty of stealing the sheep: he was sentenced to death (later commuted to transportation). What’s interesting is that another gentleman with a case at the Ely Assizes that day was Tycho Wing, of Thorney Abbey (the Duke of Bedford’s steward) who had also had sheep stolen. It seems likely that the two men had made friends over their situation and at some point Tycho had mentioned a property that was going to become available on the Duke’s estate. It’s also likely that George became very unpopular with some of the locals after (temporarily) having a member of his small village community sentenced to death and this could have been the catalyst that made the Morrises decide to leave Elm.

The family had moved to Thorney by 1829 along with George’s mother. She sadly passed away in the July of that year, but her death does give us the earliest date that the family were living there and suggests that she had been living with the family for a while in Elm. This is because despite dying in Thorney she was buried in Elm, so she must have bought/been provided with a plot there – probably next to or with her daughter-in-law and grandchildren – and returned there on her death.

With a friend in Tycho Wing, George didn’t waste any time ingratiating himself with the rest of the local gentry in Thorney and was soon sitting on a board as a Commissioner of the North Level. He was also sufficiently established enough to be on the committee to attempt to establish a central assizes court in Wisbech in 1836.

Thorney Churchyard. Snowdrops and headstones at Thorney Abbey by Richard Humphrey via Geograph.

The family lived at The Gores, a farmhouse southwest of the main village of Thorney and they were joined by George’s sister Mary, who was no doubt attempting to mitigate the loss of his wife. She would have been a mother figure to George’s daughter Sarah Dorothea and son Bryan who were still living at home, the older siblings Ann and George having left home to marry and enter the church respectively. Sarah Dorothea married George Frederic Brittin in 1843 at Thorney Abbey, her brother George conducting the ceremony! She moved to Thornhaugh to live as a farmer’s wife and had several children, one of whom became a surgeon and moved to Australia. Dorothea (as she was usually named on census records) died in 1864 aged 46.

The Gores was home to the Morris family for decades, and indeed generations, because Bryan became a farmer and his own son George Lever Morris followed in his wake. Bryan married Mary Whitting Lever, the niece of his father’s good friend (and executor) William Whitting in 1848 in Islington by licence (very common for local families). This seems to be the point at which George and Mary decided to leave Thorney and find a comfortable property for them to live their diminishing years in.

It is impossible to know exactly what prompted George and Mary to move to Peterborough, but it is likely to be because of a friendship between George Morris and Thomas Alderson Cooke, for it was his house that they lived in. They were very similar in age, both well-respected gentlemen, and had both sat on many boards over the years. They were also very sociable men, and it is easy to believe that their close proximity in their final years would have comforted and entertained them both.                                   

The side of the Dower House by Geographer via Geograph

The little property that George lived in had been built as a Dower House for Thomas’ wife Mary on the event of his death, but by the late 1840s Thomas was still active – he was still working as a magistrate – and showed no sign of imminent demise, so it was the perfect property to rent out to his friend. We know that George was living there by the 1851 census, but it’s likely that he moved in at around the time Bryan married in 1848. He stayed there until at least 1855, following the death of Thomas in December 1854. Thomas’ will stated that Mary could remain in the larger mansion house for one year after his death and was then granted the smaller property ‘lately crafted and built’ for her use for the rest of her life. It’s likely that he remained in the property until his death given the particular information in his will (see below) particularly given that Mary Cooke lived with her daughter Helen in later censuses.

George died on 29^th September 1857 aged 79. His body was returned to Thorney where he was buried with his family. His will reveals the treasures that were most important to him: to George Sculthorpe he gave his ‘Gold Chronometer with gold chain seals… my painting of the Battle of Camperdown, my naval medal and such of my own books as he shall make choice of’; to Bryan ‘my portrait and other paintings… and my gold pocket watch and gold chain’; and he was quite particular about the ornaments that lived on his mantlepiece, ensuring they were equally divided between his daughters Ann and Sarah Dorothea. Amazingly, we know that at least one of these items survives, because George’s portrait can be viewed. It was donated to the National Museum of the Royal Navy in Portsmouth back in 1990 and has been made available to share under Creative Commons Licence. The artist is unknown, but George’s personality shines through. Can you imagine him sitting in the Duke’s Head in Thorney discussing the North Level, or sharing a whiskey with Thomas Alderson Cooke in his final years, sharing the success of their children and grandchildren? His was a long life, and a life well lived. The loss of his leg at so young an age didn’t appear to hinder him as he carved out his naval career, family, and his friendships and is yet another example of successfully overcoming disability (albeit with a handsome pension).

References

I am indebted to the relatives of Rear Admiral George Morris for pulling together some incredibly useful information about his life on their Ancestry family trees, including information from the British Naval Biographical Dictionary, 1849. I have also used the British Newspaper Archive to search for information about George and his family, and the National Archives for supplying George and Thomas’ wills. I must mention Dorothy Halfhide who pointed me towards the Thorney Society website for information about George and as a resource for the wider history of Thorney. I have used the downloaded portrait of George from Art UK from the National Museum of the Royal Navy, Portsmouth and Geograph images whilst I look for the cable to my camera where my own images are.

Useful Websites

www.Ancestry.co.uk

https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/rear-admiral-george-morris-116566

www.Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk

www.Nationalarchives.co.uk

www.Thorney-museum.org.uk

www.Wisbechmuseum.org.uk

[1] He joined his father in October 1789 which made him 11. His brother, father and other family members began their career at the age of 10, so he was a little later than them.

[2] Some records say he was 16, but his birthday was in October 1789 and his injury was in May 1794.

The Oldest Buildings in Peterborough: Part One

Updated. This blogpost started with the destruction of a tree in Peterborough. A 600-year-old oak that would have been part of the ancient woodland of Grimeshaw Wood was chopped down by the council due to a perceived cost of repairing modern houses built too close to the tree. In short, it was cheaper to cut down a 600-year-old habitat than fix a modern house, so the tree had to go.

I was horrified by the decision and knew that should this have been a historic building, the scene would have looked very different indeed. I knew that St John’s church in the middle of Peterborough was built in 1402 and was therefore a similar age. In contrast to the tree being removed, the church benefitted from recent improvements to increase its visibility and the addition of green spaces (there were trees in planters, but they weren’t replaced when they died); the church is also grade I listed. To so carefully  curate a space around an old building is of course a wonderful thing, but to treat a living item of the same age as an annoyance and see only the expense in potential damage (when the church must cost a lot of money to maintain every year) is short-sighted at the very least. The sooner we can apply similar listed status to trees – the current tree protection orders are no better than the paper they’re written on – and respect them with the same integrity we do buildings, the better.

This led me to wonder what other buildings are the same age as the oak and how it fitted into the history of the area, so I set about making a list of the ages of local buildings. I realised very early on that for the task to be manageable I would need to reduce the date parameters for the task, so all of the buildings included in the list are pre-1700. This date ensures that only the oldest buildings are included, and they should (should!) be listed.

One of the issues with creating a list of buildings by date is that many of the buildings are mixtures of dates, having been rebuilt, added to, or adjusted. I therefore had to decide whether the building be dated based on one feature retained in it, or a significant amount of the structure? For example, St Augustine’s Church in Woodston features a Saxon wall and window with a handful of medieval features, but is largely a Victorian rebuild – should that be included?

I decided that for the building to be included it would need to contain a substantial structural element from before 1700. This could be part of the building e.g. a chancel or a hidden core and I would take my lead from the building’s listing. Some of the building dates are therefore supplemented with probably or possibly. That said, I expect the list to change as further information is gained. Buildings can move up or down the list as they are inspected, dendrodated, or researched; some might move onto it and some might fall off it. One of these buildings is Peterborough Museum. The building appears to be Georgian (pre-1816) but the core of the building is potentially older and some of the features in the cellar appear to be medieval. For now, I am leaving it out of the listing, with the understanding that if research, dendro, etc reveals otherwise, then I’ll add it in.

It is absolutely no surprise to anyone that the oldest buildings in the area are churches and ecclesiastic buildings. Centuries of devotion (and money) have ensured their survival and their listed status should (hopefully) support their continued survival. For ease, I have separated out religious and domestic buildings into two lists and this post will focus on religious buildings. The list revealed something I hadn’t appreciated before: the oldest and youngest churches (pre-1700) are both St John the Baptist! Location is key here; the oldest is St John’s Barnack and the youngest is St John’s Peterborough. Saxon elements are an integral part of the structure of St John’s Barnack, which also feature in second place All Saints’ Wittering. Third in the list is St Mary Wansford and fourth is St Mary and St Botolph in Thorney; all four have been used for worship for over a thousand years, which is quite incredible.

Peterborough Cathedral has ended up in 8th place behind three churches built in the Norman period. It is likely that this is the wrong location given that there were ten churches built in the Norman period or 12th century, and it doesn't take into account the first Saxon church on the cathedral site. Further research may help to narrow down the building dates of the churches and I expect the placing of these churches to change. Having a list of buildings means that conversations can be had, and experts can add their voices. It might also encourage people to go out and visit the churches to see what they can discover, for some of them contain research by locals in guidebooks and noticeboards inside the buildings (as well as the fascinating architecture) and that information can help guide the list too.

I’m going to write another blog on the domestic buildings because this is very long, so here’s the list of churches.

Church                                            Location                                        Date

St John the Baptist	Barnack	Saxon 1020
All Saints	Wittering	Saxon (and 12-14th)
St Mary	Wansford	Early Norman
St Mary and St Botolph	Thorney	1085-1108 (1638)
St Botolph	Helpston	Norman
St Kyneburgha	Castor	Norman
St Peter	Maxey	Norman
Cathedral Church of St Peter, St Paul, and St Andrew	Peterborough	1118
St John	Stanground	1150 (and 1300)
St John	Upton	12th (17th)
St Michael	Sutton	12th (15th and 19th)
St Benedict	Glinton	12th
St Pega	Peakirk	12th
St Mary	Marholm	12th and 13th
St Andrew	Northborough	Late 12th /early 13th
St John	Werrington	12th/13th
All Saints	Paston	1220
St Botolph	Longthorpe	1250
St Stephen	Etton	13th
Holy Trinity	Orton Longueville	1275
St Mary	Ufford	Late 13th
St Mary	Orton Wistow	Late 13th
St Margaret	Fletton	1300
St John the Baptist	Peterborough	1402

Note* most of these churches have a range of additions and alterations and straddle many time periods

Update. Having visited St John's Barnack, information inside the church states it dates from 1020. This doesn't change its position as the oldest building in the Peterborough area but it does provide a crucial date that can be compared to other buildings. An upcoming visit to All Saints Wittering may yet change that top position...