I first encountered Father John Morris (later Canon John Morris) while researching the general history of Marlow in the early 1850s, when he was the priest in charge at St Peter's Roman Catholic Church. An extremely prolific correspondent, he came across to me as good humoured and a keen observer. I was surprised therefore to later read that even his friends described him as forbidding and rather severe - at least on first acquaintance. Today's post is about the three years this interesting and sometimes divisive man spent in our town.
A "little pagan"
Father Morris was born in 1826 to a large and strictly Church of England family in Southern India. His father John Carnac Morris was a former naval man who had long been in the employ of the East India Company, as were very many of his relatives. John senior had a chequered life. He suffered periods of ill health resulting in limited mobility and an attempt to overcome this saw a temporary return to England to pursue treatment, accompanied by his very young son. John senior returned to India in a worse state than when he arrived, and left John junior behind for several years in the care of others. The father would later feature in the news due to his embarrassing involvement with the London and Eastern Banking Corporation, of which he was deputy chairman and ex managing director. This folded in 1857 after just three years. The failure was not least because the directors had lent to each other from the banks funds sums almost equal to their paid up capital, at low rates of interest and with little or no security. The family has no choice but to hand all their resources to the official receiver and retire to a quiet life in Jersey.
John junior meanwhile spent a year at Harrow school as well as under private tuition, which all left him in his own words "a little pagan" in terms of religious knowledge. He subsequently rejoined his father in India before returning to England yet again as a young man to prepare for entrance into Cambridge University. At this point he had developed enough religious feeling to have the general idea of becoming ordained in the Church of England but it was not to be. Before he had completed his first year of studies, he was received into the Catholic church (1846).
A scandalous case
Just what lead to Morris becoming Catholic and most importantly when this occured was the subject of huge interest and debate in the national press in ways that can seem somewhat bewildering now. You may wonder why the personal choice of a 19 year old student would be worth the column inches. But it was regarded as a "scandalous case" because it happened "under the nose" of the University. It was felt by some that Catholics were "infiltrating" the colleges with the aim of "luring" protestant youths from their church. Members of John's family were horrified by his decision and largely disowned him altogether. They squarely blamed his tutor Rev F A Paley for at least dereliction of his duty of care towards the student, especially as John's father was overseas and not present himself to guide his son. They thought that Paley had not done enough to deter John from his choice and had been wrong to have introduced the questioning youth to Catholic priests. Paley argued that John had already made up his mind as to his beliefs before he arrived under his care and that he'd had tried to deter the student from taking the steps to join the church when he did. But Paley was dismissed from his post regardless.
John suffered a miserable time waiting for his father to return from India before he dared tell his ailing mother that he'd become a Catholic. It was regarded the shock could kill her. In fact she outlived her son.
As we want to concentrate on his time in Marlow, we are going to skip over the next period of John's life. He followed the well trodden path to the English College in Rome to study for the priesthood and was ordained in 1849 aged 23. He returned to England and in 1851 arrived to take up the living at Marlow or Great Marlow as it was then known.
St Peter's Street as it then was
When Father Morris arrived in St Peter's Street he came to a place quite different in character to now. The population was generally poor and historically strongly connected to river centred occupations - barge men, rope spinners, fishermen and waterman - as well as a greater range of low paid occupations. Lymbrook Wharf was still there (where Thames Lawn lodge is now) and so was Gibbon's small brewery. There was also the scandalous slum of St Peter's Court - read more here. The short thoroughfare contained 5 pubs either in the street or on the adjacent water front running from All Saints church to Lymbrook Wharf. The slipway at which the street still ends was the only public landing place in Marlow and in the river season saw a constant stream of pleasure craft dropping visitors off. It was also a favourite place to water horses and let them cool their feet after a long journey. Quiet and refined St Peter's Street certainly was not.
The presbytery had been acquired and converted by Scott Murray a year before. The household consisted also of housekeeper the widow Mrs Rose, George Harper who was studying with Morris (and who left after a few months to become a Jesuit) and for a short while in 1852, Father Henry Walker. There were also occasional other students staying for short periods.
Father Morris ups the numbers
St Peter's church in Marlow was only 6 years old when Father Morris arrived. The "second spring" of the Catholic church in 1850 eg the reintroduction of formal dioceses and parishes has not gone down too well in a frequently vocally anti Catholic town. An "act of papal aggression" was how this "Second Spring" was described locally. The decision to give the vacant living at All Saints (Church of England) to the Marlow curate Rev. Frederick Russell was strongly influenced by his determination to check the "contaminating influence" (as one local newspaper had it) of Catholics in the parish.
The other problem Father Morris faced was he followed the Redemptorist Fathers in having care of the Marlow mission/parish. These priests were actually very successful in upping the numbers of Catholic worshippers but to those whom this was definitely not a good thing, the Redemptorists had another failing almost as bad- they were foreign! (Austrian and Dutch). The church was opened in Marlow thanks to the generosity of new Catholic convert Charles Robert Scott Murray. It wasn't because there was actually a Catholic population already in Marlow but because they hoped there soon would be. (Read more here) This is why Father Morris had to go to Stonor for a confessor, a not too easy journey along some of the rough Bucks Roads of those days. In fact on his first journey Morris got lost on his way back from Stonor so the journey was even longer still.
The first (post reformation) Catholic mass held in Marlow was attended by only three people, none of whom actually came from Marlow. In 1851 Father Morris recorded an average of 50-60 attendants at mass. Again these were not all Marlow residents, as St Peter's was covering a large area due to a lack of other Catholic places of worship. The numbers continued to gently rise although Father Morris also recorded a few converts left his church.
An energetic young man
Father Morris was only 25 years old when he was sent to Marlow. Those who remembered him later said he looked younger still because of his fairly short, slight frame. They also recalled his incredible energy and enthusiasm - which is just as well as he sometimes travelled twice in one day to take services at Danesfield, the home of Scott Murray, as well as holding them at Marlow. In addition he had to deal with the needs of a very widely dispersed flock. It feels as though he must have spent hours at his desk writing letters too. Church patron Scott Murray obviously expected to kept informed about the smallest detail of church life and Morris seems to have corresponded with him several times a week despite seeing him in person frequently. (Scott Murray and members of his household pointedly attended Mass several times a week at St Peter's even when Danesfield Chapel was completed.)
His mental as well as physical energy was commented on too - an amazing memory for facts and figures for example. It appears that many people were slightly intimidated by his intellect, sharp tongue and serious nature or what another called his lack of "easy bonhomie". On the other hand Father Morris was also known to be moved to tears by his own sermons and his friends praised his loyalty and the kindness that lay behind that seemingly austere demeanour. One Marlow parishioner later shared his memories of the time Morris spent in Marlow. He recalled that the priest was "fond of processions" and took a generally more bold attitude to the demonstration of their faith. The parishioner also remembered how Morris invited all to a bread and soup supper after midnight Mass.
In the news again
When Scott Murray was appointed high sheriff of Bucks in 1852, he had the right to appoint a chaplain. Naturally he chose Father Morris, who was also his chaplain at Danesfield. Even this was a contentious decision. Yet again the national press were full of complaints that Catholics were "infiltrating" the judiciary and connected roles, and the Lord Chief Justice himself became involved. Scott Murray said the Assize judges and officials had been polite if somewhat surprised at the introduction of Morris, but this recollection differed from some of the others present who claimed barely suppressed indignation was more the order of the day. The affair blew over when the assurance was made that Father Morris would be acting purely as a personal chaplain to Scott Murray as High Sheriff, and not for the judges. He was however not allowed to sit in the position normally given to the chaplain.
On a more positive note, in the autumn of 1852, the hard work of Father Morris in the diocese was officially recognized when he was elevated to the cathedral chapter as Canon Morris.
Brass Rubbings and Bird Skins
It does not sound as though Father Morris has much free time at Marlow but when he did he had some hobbies to explore. From childhood he had enjoyed touring churches to collect brass rubbings - a hobby the family did not approve of! He also had another collection which is less appealing in modern eyes - bird skins. This relates to a form of preserving dead birds that involved treating the skins to prevent their decomposition but stops short of stuffing and posing them like a traditional taxidermy specimen. It meant you could store a lot more examples in a limited space because they were relatively flat. He was not the only Marlovian in this time to have a similar collection - it was perfectly socially acceptable and legal at the time.
In addition Morris was passionate about history and archaeology and a fellow of the Society of Antiquarians. Whether he interested himself in general local history I do not know but his conclusions about the origins of some of the older buildings in the town would certainly be interesting to read. Some date a more serious interest in history as coming from his time at Marlow.
A little too rustic?
Father John Hungerford Pollen, S.J who wrote a posthumous biography of Morris thought that the priest's "rapidity of thought and speech prevented his keeping quite in touch with his rustic parishioners." Whatever the truth of that, Father Morris left Marlow in 1853 to be Vice Rector at the English College in Rome. He returned on several occasions to stay at Danesfield and kept up a correspondence with Scott Murray and his successor at St Peter's - Canon Bernard Smith*.
We are not going to cover the life of Father (later Canon) Morris after he left our town for reasons of space. The best description of his varied later career and life as a Jesuit (from 1869) and as secretary to Cardinals Newman and Manning is the above mentioned biography. It is still available along with the titles that Canon Morris wrote on Catholic history. In reviewing the 1896 biography, the Pall Mall Gazette said it's subject "was not a great man, nor yet a greatly sympathetic character; but he was an interesting personality, possessed of a certain amount of local influence, and, above all, highly developed according to the logic of his views". No doubt many authors of only local influence would love to have their work still available more than 100 years after they were written.
Father Morris died in 1893 of a stroke while giving a homily in London- a dramatic end that ensured he featured yet again in newspapers up and down the country.
Written and researched by Kathryn Day
Related information:
* More on Canon Bernard Smith here
Index of posts related to the history of St Peter's and other churches & chapels in Marlow (all denominations) see here
Sources:
South Bucks Free Press 4th October 1872
South Bucks Standard 20th April 1894
New Zealand Tablet, 22 December 1893
Madras Spectator, 29 June 1846
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_National_Biography,_1885-1900 (accessed June 2023)
Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register for British and Foreign India, China and Australasia. United Kingdom, Wm. H. Allen & Company, 1818.
The Bankers' Magazine, and Journal of the Money Market. United Kingdom, Richard Groombridge, 1857.
The Tablet 11 November 1893
The Surrey Courier 28th October 1893
Bedfordshire Times and Independent - 28th October 1893.
Pall Mall Gazette - 13th October 1896
Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser 10th October 1846
Oxford Journal 28th October 1893
Pollen, John Hungerford (1896) The Life and Letters of Father John Morris of the Society of Jesus 1826-1893, Burnes & Oates
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