John Ball Morris

Merchant in partnership with Robert Hamilton and William Douglas apparently under the firm of 'Morris Hamilton', awarded the compensation for the enslaved people under two awards in Kingston Jamaica. J.B. Morris appears as merchant at 5 Cross street Finsbury in 1832 and Morris & Hamilton, merchants, appear in 1834, 1838 and 1840 at 4 Barge Yard Bucklersbury.

1. Burial of John Ball Morris of Argyll Street St James aged 65 at Kensal Green All Souls 29/11/1845. 

2. Baptism of William Bristow Morris, son of John Ball Morris and Kathrine Player Morris St Marylebone 11/10/1815.

3. John Ball Morris appears to have been in Jamaica in 1820, when he signed his own registration form for Celestin, Midas, Benjamin and Sue;  Sarah, Venus, Bess, Grace, Charlotte, Mary Ann appear against his name in the transcription for Kingston in 1823 but it is not clear whether he was in Jamaica at that time; in 1826 Benjamin, Midas and John Sawyer were registered by Robert Hamilton as attorney to John Ball Morris. In 1829 John Ball Morris appears to have registered Benjamin on behalf of himself and Robert Hamilton.

4. Mowbray Morris, who managed The Times for 26 years from 1847, was the third son of John Ball Morris, 'merchant', and was born in Jamaica in 1819. 'The family moved to England in Mowbray's youth.' He practised briefly as a barrister in Jamaica (1842-4) before joining The Times. He was part of a nexus of the sons of Caribbean families at The Times in this period, which included the Dasent family: Mowbray also recruited his fellow West Indian and later editor of The Times Thomas Chenery as correspondent for the Crimean War.

P.O. Directory 1832, 1834 and 1838; Robsons 1840 Vol. I.

1. Ancestry.com, London, England Deaths and Burials 1813-1980 [database online]. 

2. Ancestry.com, London, England Births and Baptisms 1813-1906 [database online]. 

3. Ancestry.com, Slave Registers of former British Colonial Dependencies, 1812-1834 [database on-line], Kingston 1820, 1823, 1826, 1829.

4. ODNB online, Hugh Brogan, 'Morris, Mowbray (1819-1874), newspaper executive'; H.C. G. Matthew, 'Chenery, Thomas (1826-1884), newspaper editor.'