Charles Morton (librarian)
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Charles Morton MD (1716–1799) was an English
medical doctor A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the study, diagnosis, prognosis ...
and
librarian A librarian is a person who professionally works managing information. Librarians' common activities include providing access to information, conducting research, creating and managing information systems, creating, leading, and evaluating educat ...
who became the principal librarian of the
British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...
.


Early life

Morton first attended
Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; ) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. Established in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince of Orange as a Protestantism, Protestant institution, it holds the d ...
from 18 September 1736. Some time before 1745, he moved to
Kendal Kendal, once Kirkby in Kendal or Kirkby Kendal, is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Westmorland and Furness, England. It lies within the River Kent's dale, from which its name is derived, just outside the boundary of t ...
, Westmoreland, where he practiced as a physician. He then practiced in London for several years, and on 19 April 1750 he was elected physician to the
Middlesex Hospital Middlesex Hospital was a teaching hospital located in the Fitzrovia area of London, England. First opened as the Middlesex Infirmary in 1745 on Windmill Street, it was moved in 1757 to Mortimer Street where it remained until it was finally clos ...
. He was admitted licentiate of the College of Physicians on 1 April 1751.


Career

He was elected a
Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...
on 16 January 1752 and was secretary of the Royal Society from 1760 to 1774. He was also a member of the Academy of St Petersburg. In 1754 also became physician to the
Foundling Hospital The Foundling Hospital (formally the Hospital for the Maintenance and Education of Exposed and Deserted Young Children) was a children's home in London, England, founded in 1739 by the philanthropy, philanthropic Captain (nautical), sea captain ...
. In June 1754, Lady Vere, wife of Vere Beauclerk, wrote a letter of recommendation for Morton to temporarily replace Dr. Conyers, who had recently resigned. The recommendation was followed through in July 1754 when he was appointed to attend for the time being. By 1756, he was appointed under librarian of the British Museum. At the British Museum, Morton was initially a medical under-librarian in charge of manuscripts in the
Cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...
, Harley, Sloane, and
Royal Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family or Royalty (disambiguation), royalty Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Ill ...
collections. On the death of
Matthew Maty Matthew Maty (17 May 1718 – 2 July 1776), originally Matthieu Maty, was a Dutch physician and writer of Huguenot background, and after migration to England secretary of the Royal Society and the second principal librarian of the British Museu ...
in 1776, Morton was appointed principal librarian and held the office till his death. Morton was a member of the
American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...
, elected in 1771. Morton died on 10 February 1799.


Marriages

Charles Morton was married three, or possibly four times; he married into the minor aristocracy. The identity of his son Charles Carr Morton's mother is not clear. Although Charles Carr Morton's mother is listed as Elizabeth Pratt in ''Burke's Landed Gentry'' 1852 (Morton of Kilnacrott), this is a conventional impossibility, as shown by the sequence of known events. ;Marriage to Mary Berkeley Morton first married Miss Mary Berkeley, niece of Lady Betty Germaine and granddaughter of Charles Berkeley, 2nd Earl of Berkeley, on 13 September 1744. at Kendal.''International Genealogical Index – Batch Number I029354''. They had one known child, Elizabeth Morton, born on 26 May 1745 also at Kendal.''International Genealogical Index – Batch Number C003112''. Her descendants, through James Dansie, have been tracked as descendants of the blood royal, on account of Mary Berkeley's ancestry. Elizabeth Morton married James Dansie, and they were the parents of Mary Dansie, who married John Freeman in 1798 and Elizabeth Dansie who married Richard Barneby. According to the 1812 edition of '' Collins' Peerage'', page 622, Mary Berkeley died on 10 March 1755.A different Mary Berkeley died in 1768 and subsequently was buried at Twickenham on 6 October 1768. ;Marriage to Mary Pratt Charles Morton's second known marriage, to Lady Savile (born Mary Pratt), took place on 25 August 1767 at St George Bloomsbury in London across the street from the
British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...
where he was employed. Morton's marriage date is often misidentified as 1772 but the ''Records of the Lumleys of Lumley Castle'' indicates Lady Savile was married to Captain Wallace in May 1744 and the marriage record at St George Bloomsbury identifies Mary Wallace as the Charles Morton's bride on 25 August 1767. Her mother, Honoretta Brooks Pratt, was the first cremated individual in England when she died on 26 September 1769, and Lady Savile's father, John Pratt, was the Vice Treasurer of Ireland. Lady Savile was 61 years old in 1767, and this was her third marriage. Her first marriage was to Sir George Savile, 7th Baronet on 19 December 1722 By this union she was mother to two daughters and one son: Arabella Savile, who married John Thornhay Hewet on 23 July 1744; and Barbara Savile, who married Richard Lumley, 1st Earl of Scarbrough on 26 December 1752; and Sir George Savile, 8th Baronet. Lady Savile's second marriage to Captain Wallace took place 8 months after George Savile died on 17 September 1743. Lady Savile died on 14 February 1791. Morton lived at Twickenham in the former home of Elizabeth Montagu, called Montagu House prior to his acquiring it and being termed Savile House thereafter. Lady Savile, at the age of 61, was too old to be the mother of Charles Carr Morton after she married Morton. ;Marriage to Elizabeth Pratt Charles Morton's third known marriage was to Elizabeth Pratt, who is said to have been age 35 at the time, also took place at St George Bloomsbury, on 25 April 1791, one month and two weeks after Lady Savile died. Elizabeth Pratt was the daughter of Reverend Joseph Pratt and a near relation to Lady Savile. As such, she lived in the same household as Morton and his wife Mary Pratt from as early as 6 January 1778. This is evidenced both her wedding announcement in the ''Gentleman's Magazine'', and also by the summary of a letter now in the Nottinghamshire Archives, which states: "Note from Eliza Pratt sending Lady Savile's compliments to Mr. Hewett and that she will be much obliged to him if he invites Dr. Morton to dine at Grosvenor St. next Saturday."
" Foljambe of Osberton (additional deposit): Deeds and Estate Papers [DD/FJ/11/1]"
'


Family

Charles Morton had 14 grandchildren by his son Charles Carr Morton. In a document at the Nottinghamshire Archives, Eliza Pratt writes: "...Dr. Morton intends putting him to Mr. Angelo's to ride and fence but he is not to go into the guards" which seems to indicate that Charles Carr Morton was anywhere from 16 to 18 years old in 1779, having been born around 1761–1763, six years after Mary Berkeley died, but four years prior to his marriage to Lady Savile. ''Burke's Landed Gentry'' identifies Elizabeth Pratt as Charles Carr Morton's mother. It is said that Elizabeth Pratt was 35 years old when she married Charles Morton in 1791, and therefore old enough to have been Charles Carr Morton's mother. However, Charles Carr Morton was married only 8 years after Elizabeth Pratt's marriage to Morton. On 1 May 1799 Charles Carr Morton married Charlotte Tatlow at Drumora Lodge in County Cavan, Ireland. By 5 January 1800, Charles Carr Morton was father to his first child Anna.


Publications

On 30 August 1748, Morton presented his doctoral dissertation about the whooping cough entitled ''De Tussi Convulsiva'' written entirely in Latin. In March 1767, Morton was put in charge of the publishing the Publications of the Domesday book since 1086, Domesday Book of 1086; a fact which caused resentment towards him from Abraham Farley, a deputy chamberlain of the Exchequer who for many years had controlled access to the Domesday Book in its then repository at the
Chapter House A chapter house or chapterhouse is a building or room that is part of a cathedral, monastery or collegiate church in which meetings are held. When attached to a cathedral, the cathedral chapter meets there. In monasteries, the whole communi ...
, Westminster, and furthermore had been involved in the recent Parliament Rolls printing operation. In 1768 Farley complained to the Treasury that he, not Morton, should be in charge of the project, while Morton, for his part, complained that he was being obstructed in his work by the staff at the Chapter House. Abraham Farley took over the project and published a new edition in 1783. Morton produced two large publications during his tenure at the Museum, both related to the activities of Sir Bulstrode Whitelocke including his ''Journal of the Swedish Embassy'' and ''Notes Upon the King's Writt''. In 1759, Morton wrote a series of articles in the '' London Magazine'' about how annuities should properly be calculated, first appearing on page 251, debated further on page 286 and answered by Morton on page 425.'
"The London magazine, or, Gentleman's monthly intelligencer, Volume 28 By Isaac Kimber, Edward Kimber Page 425"
''


Notes


References

;Attribution *


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Morton, Charles 1716 births 1799 deaths Leiden University alumni 18th-century English medical doctors English librarians Directors of the British Museum Fellows of the Royal Society