Monarch Victoria Nationality Irish | Succeeded by Peter O\'Brien Name Michael 1st | |
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Preceded by George Augustus Chichester May Died 8 September 1901
Spiddal, County Galway Alma mater Trinity College, Dublin | ||
Michael Morris, Baron Morris and 1st Baron Killanin PC (14 November 1826 – 8 September 1901), known as Sir Michael Morris, Bt, from 1885 to 1889, was an Irish lawyer and judge. He was Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench for Ireland from 1887 to 1889 and sat in the House of Lords as a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary from 1889 to 1900.
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Background and education
Born in Galway, Morris was educated at Galway College and Trinity College, Dublin, graduating BA in 1847.
Legal and judicial career
After being called to the Irish bar in 1849, Morris was appointed High Sheriff of Galway Town for 1849–50. Eight years later he was made recorder of Galway, and in 1863 became one of the country's Queen's Counsels. Elected to Parliament in 1865 as Liberal member for Galway, Morris became a Conservative the following year when he took office in Lord Derby's administration as Solicitor-General for Ireland. In late 1866 he was appointed Attorney-General for Ireland, and the following year became third Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, eventually being made its Chief Justice in 1876.
In 1885, Morris was created a Baronet, of Spiddal in the County of Galway, and two years later he was appointed Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench for Ireland. In 1889, on being made a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary, he was given a life peerage as Baron Morris, of Spiddal in the County of Galway, and sworn a member of the Privy Council. Eleven years later, on his retirement from office, Lord Morris was made an hereditary peer as Baron Killanin, of Galway in the County of Galway.
Judgements
Family
Lord Morris died at Spiddal in September 1901, aged 74, and was buried at Galway.
He married, in 1860, Anna Hughes, daughter of Henry George Hughes, Baron of the Court of Exchequer. They had four sons and six daughters. The eldest son Martin Morris was an MP and succeeded in the barony of Killanin and baronetcy. Another son was George Henry Morris.