CharlesMorrisStPaulsChurchHalifaxNovaScotia

CharlesMorrisHouseLocationHalifaxNovaScotia

Charles Morris (8 June 1711 – buried 4 November 1781) army officer, served on the

Nova Scotia Council Formally known as "His Majesty's Council of Nova Scotia", the Nova Scotia Council (1720–1838) was the original British administrative, legislative and judicial body in Nova Scotia. The Nova Scotia Council was also known as the Annapolis Counci ...

, Chief Justice of the

Nova Scotia Supreme Court The Nova Scotia Supreme Court is a superior court in the province of Nova Scotia. The Supreme Court consists of 25 judicial seats including the position of Chief Justice and Associate Chief Justice. At any given time there may be one or more addit ...

(1776–1778) and, the

surveyor general A surveyor general is an official responsible for government surveying in a specific country or territory. Historically, this would often have been a military appointment, but it is now more likely to be a civilian post. The following surveyor gen ...

for over 32 years, he created some of the first British maps of Canada's

maritime region Maritime is the southernmost of Togo's five regions, with the country's only shoreline on the Bight of Benin. Tsévié serves as the regional capital. It is the smallest region in terms of area, but it has the largest population. Other major ...

and designed the layout of Halifax, Lunenburg, Lawrencetown, and Liverpool. In Halifax he laid out both the present-day down town core and the

Halifax Common The Halifax Common, in local popular usage often referred to as the Commons, is a Canadian urban park in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It is Canada’s oldest urban park. History The Halifax Common was originally a lightly forested swampy area which fo ...

History

He was born in Boston and when he first came to the colony he fought in the Battle of Grand Pré. The maps he produced and information he gathered about the disposition of Acadians villages during his surveying of the colony was later used by the Military authority in Halifax to initiate the

Expulsion of the Acadians The Expulsion of the Acadians, also known as the Great Upheaval, the Great Expulsion, the Great Deportation, and the Deportation of the Acadians (french: Le Grand Dérangement or ), was the forced removal, by the British, of the Acadian peo ...

during the

French and Indian War The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the st ...

. He was named to the Council 30 December 1755, and did not directly participate in the expulsion decision that July. He fought for and won the establishment of the

Nova Scotia House of Assembly The Nova Scotia House of Assembly (french: Assemblée législative de la Nouvelle-Écosse; gd, Taigh Seanaidh Alba Nuadh), or Legislative Assembly, is the deliberative assembly of the General Assembly of Nova Scotia Each General Assembly of the ...

(1758). Morris was instrumental in establishing

New England Planters The New England Planters were settlers from the New England colonies who responded to invitations by the lieutenant governor (and subsequently governor) of Nova Scotia, Charles Lawrence, to settle lands left vacant by the Bay of Fundy Campaign ...

in the colony. As chief justice, his most famous trial was of those who participated in the Eddy Rebellion (1776) at the outbreak of the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolu ...

Publications

* * * **(originally printed as a four pag
pamphlet
* * *

Legacy

* namesake of Morris Street, Halifax * namesake of Fort Morris (Nova Scotia) * Morris House (Halifax) which his son purchased and where he lived is the oldest wooden residence in Halifax

References

Endnotes Texts * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Morris, Charles (1711-1781) 1711 births 1781 deaths British emigrants to pre-Confederation Nova Scotia Politicians from Boston Colony of Nova Scotia judges

History

Publications

Legacy

See also

References