Michael Morris, 1st Baron Killanin

Michael Morris, 1st Baron Killanin PC, QC (14 November 1826 – 8 September 1901), known as Sir Michael Morris, Bt, from 1885 to 1889 and as The Lord Morris between 1889 and 1900, 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.

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 eight years later 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,^[1] 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 Irish 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,^[2] 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,^[3] and sworn a member of the Privy Council.^[4] Eleven years later, on his retirement from office, Lord Morris was made a hereditary peer as Baron Killanin, of Galway in the County of Galway.^[5]

Family

Lord Killanin died at Spiddal in September 1901, aged 74, and was buried at Galway. He married Anna Hughes, daughter of Henry George Hughes, Baron of the Court of Exchequer (Ireland) . His son Martin Morris succeeded in the barony of Killanin and baronetcy.

References

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Lord Killanin