Francis Orpen Morris

Revd. Francis Orpen Morris (25 March 1810 Cork-1893) was notable as the author of many children's books and books on natural history and heritage buildings. He was the eldest son of the Royal Navy's Admiral Henry Gage Morris and Rebecca Orpen, youngest daughter of the Rev. Francis Orpen, vicar of Kilgarvan, co. Kerry. The whole family relocated to England in 1824. After living for some time in Worcester, they settled in Charmouth, Dorset in 1826.

In his years at Bromsgrove School he found a growing interest in natural history and started a collection of birds and insects. After school he spent a year with a private tutor, and then enrolled at Worcester College Oxford. Here he read Classics and was awarded a BA in 1833. During this period he maintained his interest in natural history, also ordering the insect collection in the Ashmolean Museum.

At this stage in his life he entered the Church and became curate at Hanging Heaton, near Dewsbury. Then followed his ordaining as Deacon by the Archbishop of York in August 1834.

In January of the following year he married Anne Sanders, who was the second daughter of Charles Sanders of Bromsgrove, eventually raising a family of 3 sons and 6 daughters. In November 1844, he became vicar of Nafferton near Driffield in East Yorkshire, a parish he served for nine years. In 1854 he moved to the Rectory of Nunburnholme, near Market Weighton in East Yorkshire. Here he had ample leisure to pursue his interests in natural history.

During his stay at Nafferton he acquired a reputation for writing popular essays on natural history and in particular on birds. His first book was an arrangement of British birds and was published in 1834. About this time he formed a close working association with Benjamin Fawcett, a local printer. This relationship would last nearly 50 years and have a profound effect on British ornithology. Benjamin Fawcett was arguably the most accomplished of nineteenth century woodblock colour printers.

Morris wrote the text for books which were financed and printed by Fawcett, and were illustrated by Alexander Francis Lydon (1836-1917). Colour printing showed an enormous improvement on the work of Thomas Bewick (1753-1828). At first wood-engraving illustrations were coloured by hand, but later a system of colouring from multiple wood blocks was used.

Morris' books were mostly published by Groombridge, of London. His first best-seller was A History of British Birds which was published from June 1850 in monthly parts over a period of some seven years. Each folio consisted of text and 4 hand-coloured plates. Initially only a thousand copies were printed, but surprising demand quickly forced Fawcett to move to larger premises at East Lodge in Driffield.

References

• Biography