Morris

Submitted by edpope on

Morris 27.10.1799 at Kemble's. In Godwin's 1796 list for 1799 Morris (secret) / 31.10.1799 at theatre / 21.6.1800 at Reynolds' / 13.12.1801 again / 10.7.1802 at theatre / 30.10.1802 again / 5.11.1803 again / 1.2.1804 at Westminster Hall (& Agar) / 29.10.1805 Morrises at mrs Eastwick's / 24.2.1809 meet Morris

Possibly Robert Morris (Highfill, Burnim & Langhans fl 1768-1809 scene painter) but more likely David Edward Morris (will PCC 1842) brother-in-law of George Colman DNB 1762-1836 who gradually took over Colman's ownwership of the Haymarket theatre. When Colman first appeared in the diary on 5.6.1800 Godwin wrote call on "Christie (incog) and Colman (do)". My only guess as to what this was about relates to Holcroft and Godwin's idea that their names as radicals were bad selling points for their plays. But it is striking that Colman got the (incog) and Morris the (secret) if they were the two brothers-in-law and theatre managers. David Morris wrote to Godwin in 1821 about his free theatre tickets (Bodleian Abinger c12 f106). (See also Lacy, Willoughby). Since Morris was a common name, the last two entries outside the theatre context could easily have been others, for example, at Westminster Hall, the barrister Edward Morris or the attorney Joseph Morris (Law List 1800). William St Clair in The Godwins and the Shelleys p196 suggests Morris may have been the pseudonym of Arthur O'Connor DNB 1763-1852 citing Albert Goodwin The Friends of Liberty p436, but O'Connor was in prison in Scotland from 1798 to 1802 and thereafter in exile in France.