Morris designed, about 1750, Kirby Hall, Yorkshire, in the interior of which John Carr of York [q. v.] was employed. The plans are said to have been suggested by the owner, S. Thompson. In 173(5 he erected a bridge (after a design of Palladio) in the grounds of Wilton in Wiltshire.
He published: 1. 'An Essay in Defence of Ancient Architecture,' London, 1728. 2. 'Lectures on Architecture,' London, 1734; 2nd pt. 1736; 2nd edit, of pt. i. 1759. The lectures were delivered between 22 Oct. 1730 and 13 Jan. 1734-5 before a 'Society for the Improvement of Knowledge in Arts and Sciences,' established by Morris himself. Part ii. is dedicated to Roger Morris, to whom he acknowledges obligations. 3. 'Rural Architecture,' London, 1750 (at which time Morris was residing in Hyde Park Street). 4. 'The Architectural Remembrancer,' London, 1751. 5. 'Architecture Improved,' London, 1755. 6. 'Select Architecture,' London, 1755, 1759. Morris was also part author of 'The Modern Builder's Assistant,' with T. Lightoler and John and William Half-penny [q. v.], London, 1742, 1757. 'An Essay on Harmony,' London, 1739, ascribed (with a query) to Morris by Halkett and Laing (Dict. Anon, and Pseudon. Lit.), was more probably by John Gwynn [q. v.] It is included in a list of Gwynn's works in an advertisement at the end of his 'Qualifications and Duty of a Surveyor.' Morris drew the plates for several of his own works.
[Dict. of Architecture; Builder, 1875, pp. 881-2; Morris's Works (in Brit. Museum and Soane Museum); Thorne's Environs of London, p. 276; Bartlett's Wimbledon, p. 69. For plans, elevations, and views of executed works, see Adams's Vitruvius Scoticus, plates 71-4, and Neale's Seats, 1st ser. vol. vi. 1823, for Inverary Castle; Campbell's Vitruvius Britannicus (edit. Woolfe and Gandon), vol. iv. plates 1-3, for Lodge in Richmond Park; ib. vol. iv. plates 26-7, and Lysons's Environs, ii. p. 402, for Brandenburgh House; Campbell, vol. iv. plates 75-7, engravings by Woolletr, and W. Angus, 1787, for Coomb Bank; ib. vol. v. plates 20-2, for Wimbledon House; ib. vol. v. plates 70-1, and engraving by Basire for Kirby Hall; Campbell, ib. vol. v. plates 88-9, engraving by Fourdrinier (drawn by Morris), by E. White (drawn by J. Rocque), another by Eocque in 1754, Watts's Seats, lxxxii. (from a picture by E. Wilson), for bridge at Wilton.]
MORRIS, ROGER (1727–1794), lieutenant-colonel, American loyalist, born in England on 28 Jan. 1727, was third son of Roger Morris of Netherby, in the North Riding of Yorkshire, by his first wife, the fourth daughter of Sir Peter Jackson, kt. He was appointed captain in Francis Ligonier's regiment (48th foot), of which Henry Seymour Conway [q. v.] was lieutenant-colonel, 13 Sept. 1745. The regiment served at Falkirk and Culloden and in Flanders. Morris went with it to America in 1755, and was aide-de-camp to Major-general Edward Braddock [q. v.] in the unfortunate expedition against Fort Duquesne, where he was wounded. Had the enterprise proved successful, Braddock proposed to bring a provincial regiment, serving with the expedition, into the line, and make Morris lieutenant-colonel of it (Winthrop Sargent, in Trans. Hist. Soc. Pennsylvania). Morris served at the siege of Louisburg, and was employed against the Indians on the frontier of Novia Scotia. On 16 Feb. 1758 he was promoted to a majority in the 35th foot, and in the same year he married. He was with Wolfe at Quebec, where he was wounded; with James Murray (1729-1794) [q. v.] at Sillery; and commanded one of the columns of Murray's force in the advance on Montreal. On 19 May 1760 he was made lieutenant-colonel 147th foot . He served as aide-de-camp to Generals Thomas Gage [q.v.] and Jeffrey Amherst, lord Amherst [q.v.], at various times. He sold out of the army in 1764, and settled at New York city, where he was made a member of the executive council in December of the same year. He built a mansion on the Hudson, where he lived with his wife until their property was confiscated in 1776. The house was Washington's headquarters at one time. Morris's plate and furniture were sold by auction some weeks later. Morris returned to England, and died at York 13 Sept. 1794. Morris married Mary Philipse, who was born in 1730 at the Manor House, Hudson's River, the daughter of Frederick Philipse, the second lord of the manor. She was a handsome, rather imperious brunette, whom Fenimore Cooper drew as his heroine in 'The Spy.' In 1756, when on a visit to her brother-in-law, Beverley Robinson, at New York, she captivated George Washington, who was a guest in the house. She is said to have rejected his suit. Any way, she married Morris in 1758. American writers have speculated what might have been the consequence to American independence had Washington become united to so uncompromising a loyalist. Mrs. Morris inherited a large estate, part of which was in Putnam county, New York, including Lake Mahopac. This she used to visit half-yearly, to instruct her tenants in household and religious duties, until 1776, when it was confiscated. She, her sister Mrs. Beverley Robinson, and Mrs. Charles Inglis are said to have been the only three women attainted
