W. H. Morris

William H. Morris is one of those problematic authors whose name is so common that locating information on his life is almost impossible and he remains something of an enigma. This is a shame as he was a very prolific author whose writing dates back to at least as early as 1923 when he can be found contributing stories to Chums, The Scout and The British Girl's Annual. His name is associated with a great many children's papers and annuals.

Morris appears to have spent his fifty-six plus years as a writer concentrating mostly on writing short stories. I emphasise appears as we know so little about him; one would expect an author to move with the changing markets and, as one market dries up, a jobbing writer would have to find other outlets. Towards the end of his life he did indeed pen a couple of historical novels, Peasant, Priest and Harlot (1978) and The Puritan and the Maid (1979) for Robert Hale and it was through their records that we were able to establish that Morris died on 6 January 1981.

For those of you who have not done any family history research, the death records in the UK are kept in large, quarterly volumes and the volume covering January 1981 also covers February and March of that year. There are five entries for a William H. Morris:

William Henry d. Walsall (born 27 Dec 1896)
William Henry d. Sunderland (born 12 Nov 1900)
William Henry d. Shewsbury (born 8 Jan 1904)
William Henry J. d. Gloucester (born 28 Apr 1901)
William Horace d. Camden (born 13 Sep 1897)

Until we know where "our" William H. Morris lived, it is impossible to tell which of these entries relates to the author. There are a couple of options for solving the dilemma, although both involve throwing money at the problem.

We can, however, fill in a little of his career between 1923 and 1981. In his early career he wrote at least two serials for Chums, 'King Cade' (1923) and 'The Road of Adventure' (1925), and a short story appeared in the Greyfriars Holiday Annual 1930 (1929). According to Bill Lofts & Derek Adley, long-time researchers into old boys' papers, Morris was one of the anonymous contributors to D. C. Thomson's Adventure story paper and also contributed anonymously to many Amalgamated Press junior titles: Chick's Own, Rainbow, Puck, Chips, Favourite Comic, Wonder, Butterfly, etc. He also wrote for Gem, the famous home of Tom Merry & Co., Little Folks and Young England.

Most, if not all, of these stories would have appeared in the 1920s and 1930s, as many of the titles listed above folded before, or due to, the advent of the Second World War. If we take an educated guess and say Morris was born in 1900 [our suspects above were born 1896-1904], it is likely that he served during the Great War, at least in the latter part [as he would not be allowed to volunteer until the age of 16]. I don't imagine he rose too high in the ranks and, given that he was not an officer, I somehow doubt he would have been called up for service during World War II as he was already around 40 years of age. He contributed a few stories to The Children's Newspaper in 1938-41, although we cannot take that as proof that he was not serving in some capacity.

His post-war career is also rather patchily documented. He was a prolific contributor to Girl in 1951-60 and seems to have concentrated his efforts on writing for girls and annuals. He wrote a number of stories for Schoolgirls' Own Library under the pen-names Elizabeth Dale and Susan Morris in 1959-62, and both pen-names also appeared in the pages of School Friend with serials such as 'Vicky of Silverlake Holiday Camp' (by Susan Morris, 1960) and 'Student Nurse Gillian' (by Elizabeth Dale, 1960-61).

Novels as Elizabeth Dale
Sue of the Moorland Riding School. London, Amalgamated Press (SOL 2/311), Aug 1959.

Novels as Susan Morris
Hazel—Hostess of the Holiday Coach. London, Amalgamated Press (SOL 2/294), Oct 1958.
Hostess of the Touring School. London, Amalgamated Press (SOL 2/305), Apr 1959.
The Spectral Skiers. London, Amalgamated Press (SOL 2/320), Dec 1959.
Sally of the "Gazette". London, Amalgamated Press (SOL 2/334), Jul 1960.
The Happy Castaways. London, Amalgamated Press (SOL 2/362), Sep 1961.
Drowned Village. London, Amalgamated Press (SOL 2/372), Feb 1962.

Morris then disappears from sight, perhaps into retirement or perhaps behind an as yet unidentified pen-name. The latter seems likely as, in 1978, a novel suddenly appeared from Robert Hale, the first of two historical tales he wrote for the firm. As mentioned previously, we have been able to establish that he died soon after their appearance.

I imagine that, should we be able to track them all down, the number of stories bearing Morris's name numbers in the hundreds; add to that the stories he penned anonymously and we have the beginnings of a remarkable output. How an author can write successfully for over fifty years without barely leaving a trace I find hard to imagine, although I suspect it reveals more about the poor state of research into once-popular magazines and annuals than it does about an author trying to obscure his output.

Update: 4 February 2008

A contact at Robert Hale informs us that William H. Morris lived in London, N.W.6, so it looks highly likely that William Horace Morris, who died in Camden in 1981 is our author. He was born on 13 September 1897, his birth registered at St. Pancras. It would appear that he was the son of Samuel Morris (a brickmaker) and his wife Selina, who were living with their four children at 94 Allcroft Road, St. Pancras in 1901. (Worth noting that there was another William H. Morris also living in St. Pancras at the time of the census, the son of William T. and Lizzie Morris, but the combination of Christian names (William and Horace) makes me pretty sure this second WHM is not our man.)

Not much more I can add. Samuel Morris married Selina Bryent [possibly a typo for Bryant] in 1885 and all their children were born in St. Pancras.