James Morrison (businessman)
James Morrison (1789–1857) was a British millionaire businessman and Whig Member of Parliament.
Upbringing and family
Morrison was the son of an
His children included
Career
Morrison began his career working in a London warehouse. Effort eventually secured him a partnership in the general drapery business in Fore Street, London of Joseph Todd, whose daughter he married. The firm became known as Morrison, Dillon & Co, and later was converted into the Fore Street Limited Liability Company.[2]
Morrison worked to small margins, with a rapid circulation of capital, his motto being "small profits and quick returns". He made a fortune, much of which went to buying land in
From his arrival in London, Morrison was associated with the
In the 1830s, Morrison established the American trading company, Morrison, Cryder & Co., and invested heavily in the railway industry both in the United States and in France. On 17 May 1836, he made an able speech on moving a resolution urging the periodical revision of tolls and charges levied on railroads and other public works. In 1845, he moved similar resolutions and, again in March 1846, when he finally succeeded in obtaining a select committee for the better promoting and securing of the interests of the public in railway acts. His draft report, not altogether adopted, was drawn with great skill and many of its principles were adopted in subsequent legislation.[2]
An entirely self-educated man, Morrison built up a large library. He was likewise collected pictures by the Old Masters, Italian and Dutch, together with the English school of painters. It was a "collection of a very high class".[2] Morrison housed his collection in his London house in Harley Street, and at Basildon Park in Berkshire which, by 1842, had completely replaced the Pavilion at Fonthill (Wiltshire) as his favoured country estate. It included works by Constable, Da Vinci, Hogarth, Holbein, Poussin, Rembrandt, Reynolds, Rubens, Titian, Turner, Cuyp, Jan Steen, Murillo and Van Dyck.
Notes
- ^ Jones 2004.
- ^ a b c d e Goodwin 1894.
References
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Goodwin, Gordon (1894). "Morrison, James". In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 39. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
- Jones, Charles (2004). "Morrison, James (1789–1857)". doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/19326. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
Further reading
- Dakers, Caroline (2005) James Morrison (1789–1857), 'Napoleon of Shopkeepers', Millionaire Haberdasher, Modern Entrepreneur. In: Fashion and Modernity. Berg, Oxford, pp. 17–32. ISBN 1-84520-027-6
- Dakers, Caroline (2012) A Genius for Money: Business, Art and the Morrisons. Wiley. ISBN 9780300112207