James Morris

Who was James Morris?

James Morris was a businessman, banker and political figure in Canada West.

He was born in Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland in 1798, settled with his family at Elizabethtown in Upper Canada in 1808 and was educated at Sorel in Lower Canada. He was appointed justice of the peace in 1825. In 1836, he began working at a bank in Brockville. In 1838, he was appointed to a commission which administered funds raised for canal building. He was involved in the founding of Queen's College, later Queen's University, at Kingston. He represented Leeds County in the Legislative Assemblies of Upper Canada and the Province of Canada from 1837 to 1844. In that year, he was appointed to the Legislative Council. In 1851, he became the first Canadian Postmaster General, also serving on the Board of Railway Commissioners and representing the government on the board of the Grand Trunk Railway. He was speaker of the Legislative Council from 1853 to 1854 and in 1858. He served as receiver general from 1862 until 1863, when he suffered a debilitating stroke.

He died at Brockville in 1865.

The town of Morrisburg was named after him.