James Morrison

Who was James Morrison?

Major James Archibald Morrison DSO was a British Conservative Party politician.

Morrison was the son of Alfred Morrison, of Fonthill House, and the grandson of James Morrison. Hugh Morrison was his elder brother and Lord Margadale his nephew.

A rower and expert shot, Morrison became a second lieutenant in the 4th Battalion, Oxfordshire Light Infantry on 12 December 1891, and transferred to the 4th Middlesex Volunteer Rifle Corps on 15 May 1895. He transferred to the Grenadier Guards on 5 February 1895, and subsequently fought in the Second Boer War.

He was elected as Member of Parliament for the Wilton division of Wiltshire at an unopposed by-election in July 1900. He was re-elected at 1900 general election, but at the 1906 election he lost his seat to the Liberal Party candidate. In 1910, he inherited Basildon Park from his uncle Charles, and was elected MP for Nottingham East. He resigned the seat in 1912 by the procedural device of accepting the post of Steward of the Manor of Northstead.

Morrison made major improvements to the Basildon estate, building new cottages and pumping stations to supply it with water. When the First World War broke out, he returned to the Grenadier Guards. Harold Macmillan served as a lieutenant under his command. Badly wounded at the Battle of the Somme, he was invalided out of the Army and turned over Basildon Park for use as a Guards' convalescent home. He was awarded the DSO in 1916.