George Osborne Morgan

Who was George Osborne Morgan?

Sir George Osborne Morgan, 1st Baronet PC, QC, was a Welsh lawyer and Liberal politician.

Born at Gothenburg, Sweden, he was educated at Friars School, Bangor, Shrewsbury School and Balliol College, Oxford, and was a scholar of Worcester College, Oxford from 1847.

He became a barrister of Lincoln's Inn in 1853. He was Liberal MP for Denbighshire from 1868 to 1885, and for Denbighshire East from 1885 until his death. He introduced Burials Bill in 1870 [and introduced it for ten successive sessions until it was finally passed in 1880, allowing any Christian ritual in a parish cemetery, and the Places of Worship Bill, which became law in 1873. He was appointed a Queen's Counsel and a bencher of Lincoln's Inn in 1869, serving as treasurer from 1890. He was chairman of the House of Commons Select Committee on Land Titles and Transfer from 1878-9.Among his many Welsh involvements was support for the Welsh Sunday closing bill, disestablishment of the Welsh Church, supporting the University College of Wales at Aberystwyth.

He held office as Judge Advocate General under William Gladstone from 1880 to 1885, and was appointed a privy councillor in 1880.