MORLEY, William I (1653-79), of Glynde Place, Suss.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1660-1690, ed. B.D. Henning, 1983
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

13 Feb. - 22 May 1679

Family and Education

b. 10 Sept. 1653, 3rd but 2nd surv. s. of Herbert Morley, and bro. of Robert Morley. educ. Wadham, Oxf. 1668; I. Temple 1668. m. lic. 16 Aug. 1671, (with £6,000) Elizabeth da. and h. of George Clarke, Grocer, of Houghton Conquest, Beds. and London, 1da. suc. bro. 1671.1

Offices Held

Commr. for assessment, Suss. 1673-d.

Biography

Morley emulated his father’s generosity to evicted ministers by taking into his household a preacher named Zachary Smith, who became his chaplain and died at Glynde shortly before himself. He was returned to the first Exclusion Parliament for Lewes, five miles from Glynde, and was marked ‘honest’ on Shaftesbury’s list. From his lodgings in Threadneedle Street he seems to have attended Parliament regularly, being appointed to the committee of elections and privileges on 18 Mar. 1679. He was in the House for the Sunday session on 11 May, at which it was resolved to bring in an exclusion bill, when he was taken ill with smallpox. He evidently sent word of his illness on the next day, for he was given leave to go into the country, but he was too ill to leave his lodgings, where he died 11 days later, the last of the family. Nevertheless he was listed as voting for the committal of the bill on 21 May. Subject to the interest of his wife and infant daughter (who did not long outlive him), he bequeathed all his property to his cousin on the mother’s side, the son of John Trevor, to the detriment of his aunt’s husband, John Fagg I, with whom he had quarrelled over another inheritance. Trevor immediately established his claim in Chancery, and in October married Morley’s widow. Their son, John Morley Trevor, was MP for Sussex 1705-8 and Lewes 1712-19.2

Ref Volumes: 1660-1690

Author: B. M. Crook

Notes

  • 1. J. Comber, Suss. Genealogies, Lewes, 194; E. Suss. RO, Glynde Place Arch. 179; Suss. N. and Q. i. 57.
  • 2. E. Calamy, Account of Ejected of Ejected or Silenced Ministers, ii. 691; Glynde Place Arch. 208.