Author: Morley, Richard
Biography:
MORLEY, Richard (1775-1855: ancestry.com)
He was born at Sneinton (pronounced and often spelled Snenton), on the outskirts of Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, and baptised at the Castle Gate Meeting House (Independent), Nottingham, on 20 Feb. 1775, the son of Mary (Hardy) and Samuel Morley, who had married in 1764. The family were well established hosiers in Nottingham and became even more prosperous after Richard’s elder brother John left, about 1796, to set up and run the London branch of the business. Richard took charge of the Nottingham firm. On 4 June 1799 he married Ann (Nancy) Deverill (1775-1852) in an Anglican ceremony at Clifton, Notts. They went on to have ten children, seven of whom grew to maturity, including five sons of whom three went into the business. As Morley’s first collection of poems, published for the Philanthropic Society, might suggest, he was an active philanthropist who supported local charities and served, for example, as Visitor at the General Hospital. He was elected to the town Council in 1835, served as a magistrate from 1836 to his death, and was twice elected mayor, in 1837 and 1841. At the time of his death he was still a deacon in the Castle Gate Meeting. He died at home at Sneinton on 31 Aug. 1855. (ancestry.com 19 Feb. 2024; findmypast.com 19 Feb. 2024; Edwin Hodder, The Life of Samuel Morley [1887], 5-8; ODNB [Samuel Morley, 1809-86] 19 Feb. 2024; Nottingham Review 8 Oct. 1819, 12 Nov. 1819; Patriot [London] 3 Sept. 1855)
Other Names:
- R. Morley