Jeremy Morse

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific-prefix = Sir

|name = Jeremy Morse

| honorific_suffix = KCMG

|image = Sir Jeremy Morse Telegraph.jpg

|image_size =

|caption =

| title = Chancellor of the University of Bristol

| order = 6th

| term_start = 1989

| term_end = 2003

| predecessor = Dorothy Hodgkin

| successor = The Baroness Hale of Richmond

|birth_name = Christopher Jeremy Morse

|birth_date = {{Birth date|df=y|1928|12|10}}

|birth_place = London, England

| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=y|2016|02|04|1928|12|10}}

| death_place = London, England

| alma_mater = New College, Oxford

| spouse = {{marriage|Belinda Mills|1955}}

| children = 5

| module =

}}

Sir Christopher Jeremy Morse KCMG (10 December 1928 – 4 February 2016) was an English banker, cruciverbalist and chess composer who was Chancellor of the University of Bristol from 1989 to 2003,{{cite web|url=http://www.bris.ac.uk/news/2004/375|title=Bristol University – News – 2004: Chancellor|access-date=5 February 2016}} and was chairman of Lloyds Bank.{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/bristol/2932938.stm|title=UK – England – Bristol/Somerset – New university chancellor nominated|date=23 May 2003|access-date=5 February 2016}}

Early life and education

Morse was born in Kensington, London, in 1928, the only son (he had a younger sister) of Francis John Morse, of Lenwade House, Norwich, and his wife, Kinbarra, daughter of barrister Edward Armfield-Marrow.{{Cite web |url=http://zulu.maia.ch/~iseli/cgi/twiki/bin/view/PCCC/ComposersNamesInVariousAlphabetsM |title=ComposersNamesInVariousAlphabetsM PCCC website |access-date=24 August 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928010627/http://zulu.maia.ch/~iseli/cgi/twiki/bin/view/PCCC/ComposersNamesInVariousAlphabetsM |archive-date=28 September 2007 |url-status=dead }}{{cite ODNB|doi = 10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.111069|title = Morse, Sir (Christopher) Jeremy (1928–2016), banker|last = Barber|first = Michael|date = 2020}} Francis John Morse, the second son of Sir George Henry Morse, a brewer and Lord Mayor of Norwich from 1922 to 1923, was from a junior branch of the landed gentry Morse family of Lound, Suffolk.Burke's Landed Gentry, 18th edition, vol. 1, ed. Peter Townend, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 1965, p. 511 The family were Quakers.

Morse was educated at West Downs School and Winchester College.{{cite web |title=Sir Jeremy Morse received Ad Portas |url=http://www.winchestercollege.org/sir-jeremy-morse-received-ad-portas- |publisher=Winchester College |access-date=22 January 2015 |archive-date=22 January 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150122160717/http://www.winchestercollege.org/sir-jeremy-morse-received-ad-portas- |url-status=dead }} He went on to attend New College, Oxford, after completing two years of national service with the 60th Rifles in Mandatory Palestine.Burke's Landed Gentry, 18th edition, vol. 1, ed. Peter Townend, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 1965, p. 511

Career

A career banker, Morse began with Williams and Glyn's Bank and went on to be chairman of Lloyds Bank between 1977 and 1993; assuming the role at age 48, he was the youngest head of a clearing bank. He served on the Board of the Bank of England as an executive director from 1965 to 1972, and as a non-executive from 1993 to 1997.[http://www.bankofengland.co.uk/publications/news/1997/007.htm Bank of England News release] retrieved 19 March 2009 He was also the first Chairman of the International Monetary Fund's Committee of Twenty (C20).{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GLyQ8iIjK3wC&q=Jeremy+Morse+C-n20&pg=RA1-PA468|title=Central Bank Cooperation at the Bank for International Settlements, 1930–1973|isbn=9780521845519|access-date=5 February 2016|last1=Toniolo|first1=Gianni|last2=Clement|first2=Piet|date=16 May 2005|publisher=Cambridge University Press }} In the 1975 New Year Honours, he was appointed Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) "for services to the reform of the international monetary system".{{London Gazette |issue= 46444|date= 31 December 1974|page=3|supp= y}}

He had a keen interest in cryptic crosswords and was a skilful writer of clues. His record of success in the clue-writing competitions of Ximenes and Azed was such that Azed's December 2008 Competition puzzle was dedicated to the occasion of his eightieth birthday.[http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-files/Guardian/documents/2008/12/04/1906dec7.pdf For CJM at 80] He had puzzles published under the pseudonym "Esrom" (his surname in reverse).[http://www.listenercrossword.com/PDF/Dinners/dinner93.pdf "Listener" Crossword Setters Dinner 1993]

In addition to crosswords, Morse had an interest in other types of word puzzles, and was a frequent contributor to Word Ways: The Journal of Recreational Linguistics. He was also a chess writer and wrote a book called Chess Problems: Tasks and Records.

Colin Dexter's fictional detective, Inspector Morse, was named after him.{{cite web|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/12140770/Sir-Jeremy-Morse-banker-obituary.html|title=Sir Jeremy Morse, banker – obituary|date=4 February 2016|work=The Daily Telegraph|access-date=4 October 2016}}

In 2006 Morse was awarded the title of World Federation for Chess Composition Honorary Master.

He was an honorary fellow of New College, Oxford,{{cite web|url=http://www.new.ox.ac.uk/emeritus-honorary-and-wykeham-fellows|title=Emeritus, Honorary and Wykeham Fellows|access-date=5 February 2016}} and of All Souls College, Oxford.[http://www.all-souls.ox.ac.uk/people.php?pos=14&people_title=Honorary%20Fellows List of Honorary Fellows of All Souls]

Personal life

In 1955, Morse married Belinda Marianne Mills, the daughter of Lt-Colonel Robert Breynton Yarnton Mills, OBE, MC, of the landed gentry Mills family of Sudgrove;Burke's Landed Gentry, 18th edition, vol. 1, ed. Peter Townend, Burke's Peerage Ltd, 1965, p. 511 they had three sons and two daughters (one of whom died from leukaemia at the age of four).

Morse died from complications of jaw cancer at Royal Trinity Hospice in London on 4 February 2016, at the age of 87.

References

External links

{{cite journal |last= Cowe|first=Roger|title= Sir Jeremy Morse obituary: Chairman of Lloyds Bank whose cerebral style was said to have been the model for the TV detective Inspector Morse |journal= The Guardian |date= 8 February 2016 |url= https://www.theguardian.com/business/2016/feb/08/sir-jeremy-morse-obituary|access-date= 3 May 2019}}
{{cite journal |last=Childs |first=Martin |title=Sir Jeremy Morse: Banker who steered Lloyds from the brink of disaster and was the inspiration for Colin Dexter's fictional detective |journal= The Independent |date= 10 February 2016 |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/sir-jeremy-morse-banker-who-steered-lloyds-from-the-brink-of-disaster-and-was-the-inspiration-for-a6866156.html |access-date= 4 May 2019 }}
{{cite news |title= Sir Jeremy Morse: Erudite banker and crossword expert who was the inspiration for the fictional Inspector Morse|journal= The Times |date=6 February 2016 |url=https://www.thetimes.com/business-money/companies/article/sir-jeremy-morse-d7tnj8hdkpw |access-date= 4 May 2019}}

{{succession box|title=Chancellor of the University of Bristol|before=Dorothy Hodgkin|after=The Baroness Hale of Richmond|years=1989–2003}}

Category:1928 births

Category:2016 deaths

Category:20th-century English businesspeople

Category:Alumni of New College, Oxford

Category:British chairpersons of corporations

Category:Bankers from London

Category:Chairmen of Lloyds Banking Group

Category:Chancellors of the University of Bristol

Category:Chess composers

Category:Crossword creators

Category:Deaths from cancer in England