John Marcus Harston Morris (25 April 1915 – 16 March 1989) was an English
Anglican priest
A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deity, deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in parti ...
who founded the ''
Eagle
Eagle is the common name for the golden eagle, bald eagle, and other birds of prey in the family of the Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of Genus, genera, some of which are closely related. True eagles comprise the genus ''Aquila ( ...
'' weekly comic in 1950, launched the British edition of ''
Cosmopolitan
Cosmopolitan may refer to:
Internationalism
* World citizen, one who eschews traditional geopolitical divisions derived from national citizenship
* Cosmopolitanism, the idea that all of humanity belongs to a single moral community
* Cosmopolitan ...
'' in 1972, and was deputy chairman of the
National Magazine Company
National Magazine Company (or Nat Mags) is a British magazine publisher based in London. It was established in 1910 by William Randolph Hearst and was a wholly owned subsidiary of the Hearst Corporation.
Arnaud de Puyfontaine became chief execut ...
.
Early life
Born in
Preston, Lancashire
Preston () is a city on the north bank of the River Ribble in Lancashire, England. The city is the administrative centre of the county of Lancashire and the wider City of Preston, Lancashire, City of Preston local government district. Preston ...
, the son of a clergyman, Morris grew up in
Southport
Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...
.
He attended
Dean Close School
Dean Close School is a co-educational private boarding and day school (for pupils aged 3–18) in the public school tradition, located in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The school opened in 1886 and is divided into pre-prep, prepa ...
in
Cheltenham
Cheltenham () is a historic spa town and borough adjacent to the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort following the discovery of mineral springs in 1716, and claims to be the mo ...
, before reading Classics at
Brasenose College
Brasenose College (BNC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It began as Brasenose Hall in the 13th century, before being founded as a college in 1509. The library and chapel were added in the m ...
,
Oxford University
The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...
on an ecclesiastical scholarship, then theology at
Wycliffe Hall
Wycliffe Hall () is a permanent private hall of the University of Oxford affiliated with the Church of England, specialising in philosophy, theology, and religion. It is named after the Bible translator and reformer John Wycliffe, who was mast ...
.
Career
Morris was ordained deacon in Liverpool in 1939,
[Daniel Tatarsky, ''Dan Dare: The Biography'', Orion Books, 2010] and priest in 1940.
After a chaplaincy in the
RAF and postings in
Great Yarmouth
Great Yarmouth ( ), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside resort, seaside town which gives its name to the wider Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. Its fishing industry, m ...
, Norfolk and
Weeley
Weeley is a village and civil parish in Tendring District, Tendring, east Essex, England. The population of the parish at the 2011 Census was 1,768. It is served by Weeley railway station on the Sunshine Coast Line. It has bus links to Clacton-on ...
, Essex, he became
vicar
A vicar (; Latin: '' vicarius'') is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior (compare "vicarious" in the sense of "at second hand"). Linguistically, ''vicar'' is cognate with the English p ...
of
St James' Church, Birkdale
St James' Church is in Lulworth Road, Birkdale, Southport, Sefton, Merseyside, England, and is an active Anglican parish church in the diocese of Liverpool. It was built between 1856 and 1857, and later extended. One of its former vicars wa ...
, in 1945, where he published a magazine, ''The Anvil'', which contained illustrations and design by
Frank Hampson
Frank Hampson (21 December 1918 – 8 July 1985) was a British illustrator. He is best known as the creator and artist of Dan Dare and other characters in the boys' comic, the ''Eagle'', to which he contributed from 1950 to 1961.
Biograp ...
, articles by
C. S. Lewis
Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer, literary scholar and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Magdalen College, Oxford (1925–1954), and Magdalen ...
,
Harold Macmillan
Maurice Harold Macmillan, 1st Earl of Stockton (10 February 1894 – 29 December 1986), was a British statesman and Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1957 to 1963. Nickn ...
,
Dorothy L. Sayers
Dorothy Leigh Sayers ( ; 13 June 1893 – 17 December 1957) was an English crime novelist, playwright, translator and critic.
Born in Oxford, Sayers was brought up in rural East Anglia and educated at Godolphin School in Salisbury and Somerv ...
and
Chad Varah
Edward Chad Varah (12 November 1911 – 8 November 2007) was an English Anglican priest and social activist from England. In 1953, he founded the Samaritans, the world's first crisis hotline, to provide telephone support to those contemplating ...
, and short stories for children by
Geoffrey Trease
Robert Geoffrey Trease FRSL (11 August 1909 – 27 January 1998) was a prolific British writer who published 113 books, mainly for children, between 1934 and 1997, starting with '' Bows Against the Barons'' and ending with ''Cloak for a Spy'' i ...
, and circulated far beyond his parish,
although it did not sell well and put Morris in considerable debt.
In 1948 Morris and Chad Varah were part of a group of diocesan editors who formed the Society of Christian Publicity, which took over publishing ''The Anvil''. At its inaugural meeting Morris spoke about the kinds of periodical the Church should be publishing, including a "strip-cartoon magazine for children".
In February 1949 he wrote an article for the ''
Sunday Dispatch
The ''Sunday Dispatch'' was a prominent British newspaper, published between 27 September 1801 and 18 June 1961. It was ultimately discontinued due to its merger with the ''Sunday Express''.
History
The newspaper was first published as the ''Wee ...
'' entitled "Comics that bring Horror into the Nursery", in which he decried the violence and sensationalism of American crime and horror comics and their effects on British children, after which he and Hampson set out to produce a more wholesome, uplifting alternative.
They devised a proposed strip for the ''
Sunday Empire News
The ''Empire News'' was a Sunday newspaper in the United Kingdom.
The newspaper was founded in 1884 in Manchester as ''The Umpire''. A penny newspaper, it was the first successful provincial Sunday newspaper in England. Owned by H. S. Jennings, ...
'' called ''Lex Christian'', about the adventures of a brave inner-city parson, but it fell through after the paper's editor died.
They turned their attention to creating a new weekly comic, entitled the ''Eagle''. Hampson and fellow artist Harold Johns put together a series of dummies, and Morris presented them to various publishers, of whom
Hulton Press
Sir Edward George Warris Hulton (29 November 1906 – 8 October 1988) was a British magazine publisher and writer.
Early life
Hulton was born to Sir Edward Hulton, 1st Baronet, a newspaper publisher and racehorse owner originally from Manches ...
agreed to publish it.
The first issue proper went on sale on 14 April 1950.
Morris and his family moved to
Epsom
Epsom is a town in the borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England, about south of central London. The town is first recorded as ''Ebesham'' in the 10th century and its name probably derives from that of a Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain ...
, Surrey, in 1950, and Hampson set up a studio on their house. In November 1951 Morris launched ''
Girl
A girl is a young female human, usually a child or an adolescent. While the term ''girl'' has other meanings, including ''young woman'',Dictionary.com, "Girl"'' Retrieved January 2, 2008. '' daughter'' or '' girlfriend'' regardless of age ...
'', a girls' counterpart to the ''Eagle'', followed by ''
Robin
Robin most commonly refers to several species of passerine birds.
Robin may also refer to:
Animals
* Australasian robins, red-breasted songbirds of the family Petroicidae
* Many members of the subfamily Saxicolinae (Old World chats), inclu ...
'' (1953), for younger children, and ''
Swift
Swift or SWIFT most commonly refers to:
* SWIFT, an international organization facilitating transactions between banks
** SWIFT code
* Swift (programming language)
* Swift (bird), a family of birds
It may also refer to:
Organizations
* SWIF ...
'' (1954), for an audience younger than ''Eagle'' and ''Girl'' but older than ''Robin''.
From 1954 to 1959 he was managing editor of Hultons' ''
Housewife
A housewife (also known as a homemaker or a stay-at-home mother/mom/mum) is a woman whose role is running or managing her family's home—housekeeping, which may include Parenting, caring for her children; cleaning and maintaining the home; Sew ...
'' magazine, and he was also appointed a member of the Hulton Press management committee.
He left Hultons in 1959 when they were taken over by
Odhams Press
Odhams Press was a British publishing company, operating from 1920 to 1968. Originally a magazine publisher, Odhams later expanded into book publishing and then children's comics. The company was acquired by Fleetway Publications in 1961 and th ...
,
joining the
National Magazine Company
National Magazine Company (or Nat Mags) is a British magazine publisher based in London. It was established in 1910 by William Randolph Hearst and was a wholly owned subsidiary of the Hearst Corporation.
Arnaud de Puyfontaine became chief execut ...
, a subsidiary of the
Hearst Corporation
Hearst Corporation, Hearst Holdings Inc. and Hearst Communications Inc. comprise an American multinational mass media and business information conglomerate owned by the Hearst family and based in Hearst Tower in Midtown Manhattan in New York ...
, as editorial director.
However, he continued to write serials for the ''Eagle'' in the early 1960s, mostly on historical or religious subjects and often in collaboration with
Guy Daniel, including "The Golden Man", a biography of
Sir Walter Raleigh
Sir Walter Raleigh (; – 29 October 1618) was an English statesman, soldier, writer and explorer. One of the most notable figures of the Elizabethan era, he played a leading part in English colonisation of North America, suppressed rebellio ...
drawn by
Robert Ayton, and "The Road of Courage", a retelling of the life of Christ illustrated by Hampson and
Joan Porter.
Classic Bible Stories
''Eagle Times'', 9 March 2010
He became managing director and editor-in-chief of the National Magazine Company in 1964. He was responsible for launching the British edition of ''Cosmopolitan
Cosmopolitan may refer to:
Internationalism
* World citizen, one who eschews traditional geopolitical divisions derived from national citizenship
* Cosmopolitanism, the idea that all of humanity belongs to a single moral community
* Cosmopolitan ...
'', created the distributor Comag in association with Condé Nast
Condé Nast () is a global mass media company founded in 1909 by Condé Nast (businessman), Condé Montrose Nast (1873–1942) and owned by Advance Publications. Its headquarters are located at One World Trade Center in the FiDi, Financial Dis ...
, and increased the circulation of his magazines at a time when the market was declining. He became deputy chairman in 1979, received the OBE in 1983, and retired in 1984.
Personal life
Having been briefly engaged to model Rita Foyle, he married actress Jessica Dunning in 1941, and they had four children.
Later years and death
In his later years he lived in Midford
Midford is a village approximately south-south-east of Bath, Somerset, England. Although relatively small, it extends over 2 counties (Wiltshire and Somerset), is part of two unitary authorities (Wiltshire and Bath and North East Somerset) and ...
, Somerset, and died on 16 March 1989, aged 73, at the King Edward VII Hospital for Officers, London. A memorial service was held at St. Bride's, Fleet Street
Fleet Street is a street in Central London, England. It runs west to east from Temple Bar, London, Temple Bar at the boundary of the City of London, Cities of London and City of Westminster, Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the Lo ...
, where he had been honorary chaplain from 1952 to 1983.
References
Further reading
* Morris, Sally and Hallwood, Jan, ''Living with Eagles'', Lutterworth Press, 1998.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morris, Marcus
1915 births
1989 deaths
English comics writers
English magazine editors
Comic book editors
Comic book publishers (people)
20th-century English Anglican priests
British magazine publishers (people)
Officers of the Order of the British Empire
Clergy from Preston, Lancashire
People from Southport
Businesspeople from Preston, Lancashire
Christian comics creators