Morris of Clasemont, Swansea

Arms of the Morris baronets

Blazon

Shield: Sable, on a saltire engrailed Ermine, a bezant charged with a cross couped Gules. in chief, an escutcheon of the badge of a baronet of the United Kingdom.

Crest: A lion rampant Or charged on the shoulder with a cross couped Gules, within a chain in the form of an arch Or.

Motto: Scuto Fidei (By the shield of faith).


Sir George Lockwood Morris

The Morrises of Clasemont were industrialists in Swansea during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Their connection to Swansea began in 1724 when Robert Morris (d.1768), a Shropshire entrepreneur, arrived to supervise the Llangyfelach Copper Works. He took over the works two years later when their owner, John Lane, was declared bankrupt.

Robert's son, John Morris^w, succeeded him in running the business. In 1768, he initiated the construction of the village of Morriston to house workers from his copper-smelting and coal-mining businesses. He was created a baronet in 1806.

The baronetcy survives today with the 12th baronet, Sir Sennen John Morris (b.1995). Among the baronets have been Sir George Lockwood Morris^w (29 January 1859 - 23 November 1947), who, as well as being an industrialist and iron founder, also played rugby for Swansea RFC and five times for Wales (his short international career took place between 1882 and 1884). He inherited the baronetcy from a distant cousin at the age of 88, just three months before his death.

Sir George's son, Sir Cedric Lockwood Morris^w (1889-1982), was a noted artists and plantsman. Although born in Sketty, Swansea, he spent most of his life elsewhere, mostly notably in East Anglia, where he established the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing. Among his students was the painter Lucien Freud.

The first baronet had a younger sister, Margaret. She married French art collector and dealer Noel Desenfans and, along, with their friend Francis Bourgeois, they built up an art collection which became the basis of the Dulwich Picture Gallery.

Heraldry

An engrailed saltire appears in a number of different Morris coats of arms dating back at least to 1677, which suggests these families maybe related (there are also many Morris arms without the saltire).

Morris of Clasemont
Morris of Wingfield House, Bath, Somerset
Morris of Broadfield House, near Devizes, Somerset
Another Morris variant
Capt Richard Morris (granted 1677)

Genealogy

[Sources list brothers before sisters and don't include most girls' birth years, so the order of children listed may not be accurate.]

Robert Morris (d.1768) married Margaret Jenkins and had issue including:

Robert Morris (c.1743-c.1797), died unmarried.
Bridget Morris, married Thomas Lockwood
Margaret Morris (1731 or 1737-1814), married (1776) Noel Desenfans
Jane Morris, married Edward King of Marino, Swansea
Sir John Morris, 1st Bt (1745-1819), married (1774) Henrietta Musgrave, Issue:
- Sir John Morris, 2nd Bt (1775-1855), married (1809) Hon. Lucy Juliana Byng (d.1881), Issue:
  - Henrietta Juliana Morris (d.1871), married (1838) Albert Lascelles Jenner
  - Sir John Armine Morris, 3rd Bt (1813-1893), married (1847) Catherine MacDonald (d.1890), Issue:
    - Sir Robert Armine Morris, 4th Bt (1848-1927), married (1885) Lucy Augusta Cory (d.1902), and had issue:
      - Sir Tankerville Robert Armine Morris, 5th Bt (1892-1937)
      - John Torrington Morris (1896- )
      - Lucy Gwladys Morris
      - Valerie Ermyntrude Morris
      - Dulcie Elaine Morris
      - Sybil Rowena Morris
    - John Morris (1850- ), married (1881) Jessie Fowler, and had issue:
      - Rev. John Armine Robert Morris (1882-1908)
      - Jessie Harriett Amy Blanche Morris
      - Beryl Violet Morris
    - Sir George Cecil Morris, 5th Bt (1852-1940), married (1873) mary Jane Hunt, and had issue:
      - Armine Cecil Edward George Morris (1885-1934), married (1911) Adelaide Nangle, and had issue:
        Nancy Gwynne Morris (1915- ), married Leonard Clement McAlry
        
        Gwladys (1890- )
    - Arthur Ronald Morris (1855- )
    - Herbert Morris (1858-1931), married (1880) Margery Rachel Barron, and had issue:
      - John Barron Morris (1882-1912)
      - Katherine Daisy Morris, married (1904) George Rollings, and had issue ->
      - Sir Herbert Edward Morris, 7th Bt (1884-1947), married (1938) Olive Irene Davies. No issue.
    - Henrietta Ellen Morris, married (1876) Felix Hussey Webber (d.1905) and had issue ->
    - Amy Blanche Caroline Morris ( -1907), married (1885) Major Robert Bowen Robertson, and had issue ->
    - Mary Morris, died unmarried.
  - George Byng Morris (1816-1899), married (1852) Emily Matilda Smith, and had issue:
    - Robert Townsend Morris (1853-1939)
    - Charles Smith Morris (1854-1933), married (1888) Maud Mary Alston (d.1936), and had issue:
      - Capt. Charles Alan Smith Morris (1895-1917)
      - Mabel Travers Morris (d.1983)
      - Daisy Emily Smith Morris, married (1930) Brig. Geoffrey William Auten, obe, and had issue ->
      - Lucy Maud Morris, married (1930) Lt.-Col. Francis John Nugee, mc, td (d.1966), and had issue ->
    - Sir George Lockwood Morris, 8th Bt (1859–1947), married (1889) Wilhelmina Elizabeth Cory (d.1948), issue:
      - Sir Cedric Lockwood Morris, 9th Bt (1889-1982), died without issue.
      - Muriel Emily Morris (died young)
      - Nancy Wilhelmina Lockwood Morris (1893- )
    - Musgrave Morris (1864-?), married (1892) Edith Marion Lockhart, no issue.
    - Thomas Byng Morris (1866-1951), married (1898) Edith Amy Bishop (d.1965), and had issue ->
    - Frank Hall Byng-Morris (1869-1954), married (1913) Irene Catherine Rogers-Harrison (d.1968), and had issue ->
    - Edith Charlotte Morris (d.1939), married (1887) Francis Montagu Lloyd (d.1922), and had issue ->
    - Fanny Mathilda Morris (d.1926), married (1882) Harry Bathurst Christie, and had issue ->
    - Lucy Emily Morris (d.1936), married (1887) Maj. Henry Selwyn Goodlake (d.1917)
    - Rose Herbert Morris (d.1952), unmarried.
  - Cdr. Frederick Morris, rn (1819- ), married (1854) Agnes Lane, and had issue:
    - Maj. Frederick Morris (1854-1915), married (1884) Sybil Rowland (d.1942), no issue.
    - Charles Lane Morris (1857-1922), married (1903) Mabel Emily Cooper, no issue.
    - Lt. Percy Byng Morris (1871-?), married (1912) Ethel Maud Glascott (d.1923), and had issue:
      - Sir Robert Byng Morris, 10th Bt (1913–1999), married (1947) Christina Kathleen Field, and had issue:
        Geraldine Ann Morris (b.1948), married¹ (1969, divorced 1981) Gilbert Baxter, married² (1984) Thomas Millard, and has issue by her first marriage ->
        
        Gillian Morris (b.1950), married¹ (1972, divorced 19??) Andrew Jamieson, married(sup>2 Clifford Morrison.
        
        Sir Allan Lindsay Morris, 11th Bt (1961-2016), married (1986) Cheronne Denise Whitford, and had issue:
        Chelsea Alana Morris (b.1992)
        
        Sir Sennen John Morris, 12th Bt (b.1995)
        
        Chace James Morris (b.1997)
        
        Roberta Crystal Byng-Morris (b.1965), married (1991, divorced 1998) Donald Lebrun, and has issue ->
  - Augustus Thomas Morris (1820-1831)
  - Gen. Charles Henry Morris, cb (1824-1887), married (1869) Lady Blanche Godolphin Osborne (1842-1917), and had issue ->
  - Cecilia Lucy Elizabeth Morris (d.1870)
  - Beatrice Charlotte Morris, married Rev. Thomas Charles Leaver (d.1871)
  - Georgine Augusta Morris
  - Matilda Anne Cecilia Morris, married (1851) Jasper Livingstone
- Thomas Morris, ma
- Henrietta Morris (d.1825), married Sir Nathaniel Levitt Peacock, Bt
- Frances Morris (d.1859)
- Matilda Morris (d.1850), married (1807) Edward Jesse
- Charlotte Morris (d.1827) unmarried
- Caroline Morris (d.1883), married Rev. George Lillie Wodehouse Fauquier

Sources

Burke's general armory 1884, page 708
Burke's peerage and baronetage 1915, page 1299
Burke's peerage and baronetage 1999, page 1997
Debrett's peerage and baronetage 2019
Fox-Davies, Arthur Charles. Armorial families: a directory of gentlemen of coat-armour. 1905. page 1394
Wikipedia: Morris baronets of Clasemont (1806)
Wikipedia: Sir John Morris, 1st baronet