{{Short description|English historian (1873–1963)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2017}} {{Use British English|date=September 2017}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = | name = John Bowes Morrell | honorific_suffix = Cllr. Ald. Freeman | image = File:John Bowes Morrell, 1950.jpg | caption = Morrell in 1950 | office = Lord Mayor of York | 1blankname = Monarch | 1namedata = George VI | term_start = 1949 | term_end = 1950 | predecessor = William Dobbie | successor = Ernest Harwood | office2 = | 1blankname2 = Monarch | 1namedata2 = George V | term_start2 = 1914 | term_end2 = 1915 | predecessor2 = Henry Rhodes Brown | successor2 = William Alexander Forster Todd | office3 = York City Councillor<ref name="Pat Hill and Katherine Webb">{{cite web|last=Webb|first=Katherine|title=Public servant|date=29 November 2011|url=https://yorkcivictrust.co.uk/heritage/civic-trust-plaques/john-bowes-morrell-1873-1963/|accessdate=3 February 2019}}</ref> | 1blankname3 = | 1namedata3 = | term_start3 = 1905 | term_end3 = 1945 | predecessor3 = | successor3 = | birth_name = | birth_date = 1873 | birth_place = | death_date = {{death year and age|1963|1873}} | death_place = | party = Liberal Progressives | occupation = Politician, author and historian | spouse = {{marriage|Bertha Spence Watson|1902|1954}} | father = William Wilberforce Morrell | mother = Lydia Hutchinson | education = Bootham School, York | known_for = Conservation; University founder; Liberalism }} '''John Bowes Morrell''' (1873–1963) was an English historian and writer. He was twice Lord Mayor of York, a leading figure in the local movement to establish a university in York, and founder of the York Conservation Trust.<ref name="Webb lecture">{{cite journal|last=Webb|first=Katherine|title=City of our Dreams: JB Morrell and the shaping of modern York|journal=Lecture at the Tempest Anderson Hall, the Yorkshire Museum|date=29 November 2011|pages=1–25|url=http://www.ypsyork.org/events/john-bowes-morrell-1873-1963/|accessdate=16 March 2014}}</ref> The J.B. Morrell Library at the University of York is named after him.
==Biography== John Morrell's father was William Wilberforce Morrell (1837–1904), a bank manager in York, and the author of 'The History of Selby' which was illustrated by his sister Jemima. His mother, born Lydia Hutchinson (1832–1939) married the non-conformist Morrell, who was a Wesleyan Methodist, whilst it appears she was a Quaker.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.links.org/links-cgi/readged?/home/ben/camilla-genealogy/current+c-morrell85523+2-2-0-1|title=John Bowes MORRELL|website=www.links.org}}</ref> Their religiosity seems to have been behind John's activism in Liberal Politics from a young age.<ref name="Webb lecture" />
In 1884 John attended Bootham School, a Quaker establishment. It was at this school where he was to meet his future colleagues at the Rowntree's family chocolate and confectionery company, Arnold Rowntree and Seebohm Rowntree.<ref name="Webb lecture" />
Morrell joined Rowntree's Cocoa Works when he was 17, becoming Director at 24.<ref name=":0" /> He was Mayor of York in 1914 and again in 1950.
John Morrell married Bertha Spence Watson (1877–1954) in the Friends Meeting House at Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1902. Her mother Elizabeth Spence Watson's Family Chronicles explained that in ''"1877 ... our Darling little Bertha was given to us on the 18th of May. I recovered nicely, & the new baby, like all of her sisters in turn before her, was much made of, & considered the greatest treasure ..."''<ref>{{cite web |url=http://benbeck.co.uk/fh/esw.htm |title=Elizabeth Spence Watson – Family Chronicles |accessdate=28 November 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101226025304/http://benbeck.co.uk/fh/esw.htm |archivedate=26 December 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
He bought many newspapers, including the ''Birmingham Gazette'', ''Lincolnshire Chronicle'', and ''Westminster Press''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Children of John Bowes and Bertha Morrell |url=https://benbeck.co.uk/fh/collaterals/2cousins/2M05%20cousins.html |access-date=2022-08-12 |website=benbeck.co.uk}}</ref>
==Historian of York== He wrote several books about York. He was made an Honorary Freeman of the City of York, given honorary degrees and declined a knighthood.<ref name="Webb lecture" /> He was a Life Vice-President of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society and co-founder and first chairman of the York Civic Trust.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Officers for the Year 1961–1962 |date=1962 |journal=Annual Report of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society |page=1}}</ref><ref name=":0" />
===York Conservation Trust=== The York Conservation Trust (YCT) was formed as Ings Property Company Limited in 1945 by JBM and his brother Cuthbert Morrell, who had both been buying medieval properties in York for many years, which they restored and rehabilitated, together with Dr Morrell’s son Mr William Bowes Morrell. In 1976 they bequeathed all the properties in the company to the current registered charity, York Conservation Trust Limited.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.yorkconservationtrust.org/aims.html|title=A Brief History and Vision for the Future|publisher=York Conservation Trust|date=24 March 2009|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090324093510/http://www.yorkconservationtrust.org/aims.html|archivedate=24 March 2009}}</ref>
==Legacy== A plaque to Morrell is on the exterior of 111 Walmgate, also known as Bowes Morrell House.<ref name=":0">{{cite web |url=https://yorkcivictrust.co.uk/heritage/civic-trust-plaques/john-bowes-morrell-1873-1963/ |title=John Bowes Morrell (1873–1963) |publisher=York Civic Trust |accessdate=23 June 2022}}</ref> The library, built on the campus of the University of York was named after Morrell in 1966.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.york.ac.uk/about/departments/support-and-admin/information-services/50/library/#:~:text=The%20JB%20Morrell%20Library%20opens,Hall%20to%20their%20new%20home. |title=50 years of Information: 1966 |publisher=University of York |accessdate= 23 June 2022}}</ref>
==Select publications== *Morrell, J.B. 1928. ''How York Governs Itself: Civic Government as Illustrated by the County of the City of York''. *Morrell, J.B. and Watson, A.G. (eds) 1933. ''Whitehall at York. How York is governed by the ministers of the Crown''. *Morrell, J.B. 1944. ''York Monuments (The Arts and Crafts in York)''. *Morrell, J.B. 1947. ''The Biography of the Common Man of the City of York as recorded in his epitaph''. *Morrell, J.B 1949. ''Woodwork in York''. *Morrell, J.B 1955. ''“The City of Our Dreams”''.
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Morrell, John Bowes}} Category:1873 births Category:1963 deaths Category:Lord mayors of York Category:Members of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society Category:People educated at Bootham School Category:People associated with the University of York