Atkinson Morley (1781 - 14 July 1858) was a British hotelier. He was responsible for

Morley's Hotel Morley's Hotel was a building which occupied the entire eastern side of London's Trafalgar Square, until it was demolished in 1936 and replaced with South Africa House. It was next to St Martin-in-the-Fields Church. It was designed by the archi ...

, designed by

George Ledwell Taylor George Ledwell Taylor (31 March 1788 – 1 May 1873) was an architect and landowner who lived in London. Life Taylor was born on 31 March 1788 and educated at Rawes's academy, Bromley. He became a pupil of the architect James Burton, and on ...

and which occupied the entire eastern side of London's

Trafalgar Square Trafalgar Square ( ) is a public square in the City of Westminster, Central London, laid out in the early 19th century around the area formerly known as Charing Cross. At its centre is a high column bearing a statue of Admiral Nelson commem ...

, from 1832, until it was demolished in 1936 and replaced with

South Africa House South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþaz ...

Early life

Atkinson Morley was born in 1781, the son of

David Hatton Morley David Hatton Morley (1746 - 8 April 1810) was a British coffee house keeper, and owned the British Coffee House at 27 Cockspur Street, London. He was born in 1746 in Scotter, Lincolnshire, the son of William Morley and Anne Mercer. In 1771, he mar ...

, who owned the

British Coffee House The British Coffee House was a coffeehouse at 27 Cockspur Street, London. It is known to have existed in 1722, and was run in 1759 by a sister of John Douglas (bishop of Salisbury), and then by Mrs. Anderson, and was particularly popular with t ...

, which was rebuilt by

Robert Adam Robert Adam (3 July 17283 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him. With his ...

in 1770, at 27

Cockspur Street Cockspur Street is a short street in the City of Westminster, London, within which a very short part of Trafalgar Square links Charing Cross to Pall Mall/Pall Mall East at the point where that road changes name, opposite the traffic exit from ...

Career

In 1822 he owned the British Hotel at 25 Cockspur Street, but sold it to buy the Burlington Hotel at 19-20

Cork Street Cork Street is a street in Mayfair in the West End of London, England, with many contemporary art galleries, and was previously associated with the tailoring industry. It is part of the Burlington Estate, which was developed from the 18th centu ...

, before in 1831-31 building

at 1-3

. He was a governor at

St George's Hospital St George's Hospital is a large teaching hospital in Tooting, London. Founded in 1733, it is one of the UK's largest teaching hospitals and one of the largest hospitals in Europe. It is run by the St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundatio ...

, and had been

Florence Nightingale Florence Nightingale (; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during the Crimean War, i ...

's landlord, when she lived in

Old Burlington Street Old Burlington Street is a street in central London that is on land that was once part of the Burlington Estate. Location The street runs north–south from Boyle Street to Burlington Gardens and is crossed only by Clifford Street. History ...

Death

At his death on 14 July 1858 he was living on

. He is buried in

Highgate Cemetery Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in north London, England. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East Cemeteries. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for some of the people buried there as ...

Legacy

He left £5000 to

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = � ...

for the Atkinson Morley surgical scholarships. His donation of £100,000 to

"for receiving, maintaining, and generally assisting convalescent poor patients", enabled the

Atkinson Morley Hospital Atkinson Morley Hospital (AMH) was located at Copse Hill near Wimbledon, South-West London, England from 1869 until 2003. Initially a convalescent hospital, it became one of the most advanced brain surgery centres in the world, and was involved i ...

to be built in 1869.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morley, Atkinson 1781 births 1858 deaths British hoteliers Philanthropists from London Burials at Highgate Cemetery Businesspeople from London 19th-century British philanthropists 19th-century British businesspeople