Alf Morris

Alfred Morris, Baron Morris of Manchester, AO, QSO, PC (born 23 March 1928) is a British Labour Co-operative politician and disability campaigner.

Background

Morris (one of the eight children of George Henry Morris and his wife Jessie Murphy) was raised in poor circumstances in Grace Street, Ancoats, Manchester. At the age of seven he watched his father waste away until death at the age of 44, leaving Alf's mother who was not entitled to a war widow's pension, until, that is, her local MP Harry Thorneycroft, took up her case, battling for three hard long years before he was successful. Forty years later, Morris himself put the matter right when given the great good fortune of changing the law affecting armed forces pensions when he became Minister for the Disabled in 1974.

In 1935 the Morris family left Ancoats and moved to a new housing project that had been built on farm land in the Parish of Newton Heath, here the family's lives improved. He was educated at Brookdale Park School Newton Heath, Manchester along with his fellow pupil Harold Evans, who, as editor of "The Sunday Times", wrote a leader saying that. "As time ticked away to the 1970 general election, Alf Morris's Bill was the only piece of legislation worth saving." He received matriculated through evening school tuition. He worked from the age of 14 as a clerk in the local Wilson's Brewery. His father suffered a long decline in health and eventual death arising from gassing during World War I.

Morris later studied at Ruskin College, Oxford (1949-1950), St Catherine's College, Oxford (BA modern history 1953) and the Department of Education, Manchester University.

Marriage

He has been married to Irene Jones since 1950. They have two sons and two daughters.

National Service

Morris served in the army, mainly in the Middle East (1946-1948).

Career

Morris worked as a Manchester schoolteacher and university extension lecturer in social history (1954-1956) and as an Industrial relations officer to the Electrical Supply Industry (1956-1964). He was a life member of the GMB Union. He served as President of the 1995 Co-operative Congress.Citation | title = Congress Presidents 1869-2002| url =http://archive.co-op.ac.uk/downloadFiles/congressPresidentstable.pdf|date=February 2002| accessdate =2008-05-10]

Morris served as Member of Parliament for Manchester Wythenshawe from 1964 until 1997. He served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Fred Peart, the Agriculture Minister.Affected by his father's experience Morris campaigned on behalf of the disabled; in 1970 he led the movement to bring in the Chronically Sick & Disabled Persons Act and in 1974 he became the first Minister for the Disabled anywhere in the world. In 1991 he introduced a Civil Rights (Disabled Persons) Bill and he has led campaigns on Gulf War Syndrome.He was created a life peer as Baron Morris of Manchester, of Manchester in the County of Greater Manchester in 1997.

His brother Charles Morris and his niece Estelle Morris have also served as Labour MPs.

Archives

* [http://archives.lse.ac.uk/dserve.exe?dsqServer=lib-4.lse.ac.uk&dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqCmd=Overview.tcl&dsqSearch=(RefNo='morris') Catalogue] of the papers of Alfred Morris at [http://www.lse.ac.uk/library/archive/Default.htm London School of Economics Archives]

References