Family and Education

b. 1723, 1st s. of Humphry Morice by his 2nd w. unm. suc. fa. 1731 and cos. Sir William Morice, 3rd Bt., to Werrington 1750.

Offices Held

Clerk comptroller of the Green Cloth 1757-61; comptroller of the Household Dec. 1762-Apr. 1763; P.C. 10 Jan. 1763; warden of the stannaries 1763-83; recorder, Launceston 1771-82.

Biography

As the heir of Sir William Morice, Humphry Morice acquired not only considerable wealth but the control of the boroughs of Launceston and Newport. He also inherited Sir William Morice’s feud with the Duke of Bedford, who offered, ‘if he would have nothing to do’ with Henry Pelham, to ‘withdraw all opposition and leave his towns absolutely to himself’.1 Morice reported this to Henry Pelham, informing him that he had rejected the Duke’s offer and would ‘choose none but what are agreeable to his Majesty, and particularly that the two Tories now chosen there he had no thoughts of electing again’.2 He was as good as his word, but in spite of his steady adherence to successive governments, he never attained more than minor office. He died at Naples, 18 Oct. 1785.

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754

Author: Eveline Cruickshanks

Notes

• 1. Pelham to Newcastle, 21 May 1752, Add. 32727, f. 230.
• 2. Same to same, same date (ostensible letter to be shown to the King), ibid. f. 242.