Author: Morris, Thomas Linwell
Biography:
MORRIS, Thomas Linwell (1757-1804: findmypast.com)
His occupation is variously recorded as “pilot” (title-page) and “mariner” (burial). Both are consistent with the story he tells as “a rude unletter’d seaman” in The Daneid of having been a member of the crew of HMS Désirée at the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801—in Danish waters therefore “Daneid.” The work was published by his widow, whose address at the time was Back-street, Tyneside, and if he was the Thomas Morris buried at St. Andrew, Tyneside, on 3 Aug. 1804 the publication date must be later than is usually supposed, perhaps even 1805. (There is another, still later record of burial for a man of the same name at St. Andrew, Newcastle—the same church--on 30 Sept. 1805.) He was most probably the son of Matthew Morris, a pitman, and Ann Smiles, who had married at St. Andrew on 25 Jan. 1752 and had their son Thomas baptised there on 29 May 1757. The only public record that includes the distinctive middle name “Linwell” is the marriage record of 20 Jan. 1789, when he married Anne Bolton (b 1755) at Tynemouth. They soon had two children, Jane and John. Another child, Thomas, was born at Tynemouth but was buried at five days old on 8 Sept. 1803: Thomas Morris, waterman, is named as the father but there is no mother’s name given and she could have been Elizabeth Dixon, who had married Thomas Morris at Tynemouth on 1 Dec. 1800—and he might or might not be our author. No death record has been located for Anne Morris. The question is, which was the widow who brought about the publication of The Daneid? (findmypast.com 21 Feb. 2024; ancestry.com 21 Feb. 2024) HJ
Other Names:
- Thos. L. Morris