Roger Morris

Roger Morris

Roger Morris
Person	Roger Morris
Title
First name	Roger
Middle name(s)
Last name	Morris
Suffix
Spouse of
Widow of
Occupation	Cooper
Secondary shorebased occupation
Mariner occupation
Associated with ship(s)
Training	Not apprentice
Is apprentice of
Was apprentice of
Had apprentice(s)
Citizen	Unknown
Literacy	Signature
Has opening text	Roger Morris
Has signoff text	Roger Morris
Signoff image	(Invalid transcription image)
Language skills	English language
Has interpreter
Birth street
Birth parish
Birth town
Birth county
Birth province
Birth country
Res street	Crutched Friars
Res parish	Saint Olave Hart Street
Res town	London
Res county
Res province
Res country	England
Birth year	1607
Marriage year
Death year
Probate date
First deposition age
Primary sources
Act book start page(s)
Personal answer start page(s)
Allegation start page(s)
Interrogatories page(s)
Deposition start page(s)	HCA 13/70 f.436v Annotate
Chancery start page(s)
Letter start page(s)
Miscellaneous start page(s)
Act book date(s)
Personal answer date(s)
Allegation date(s)
Interrogatories date(s)
Deposition date(s)	Jul 5 1655
How complete is this biography?
Has infobox completed	Yes
Has synthesis completed	No
Has HCA evidence completed	No
Has source comment completed	No
Ship classification
Type of ship
Silver Ship litigation in 1650s
Role in Silver Ship litigation

Biographical synthesis

Roger Morris (b. ca. 1607; d.?). Described in the Admiralty Court as a cooper, but describes himself as a winecooper.

Resident in Crutched Friars. Crutched Friars ran through both the parishes of Saint Catherine Coleman and Saint Olave Hart Street. Evidence from hearth tax and probate records suggest that Roger Morris may have been resident in Saint Olave Hart Street.

There is a 1666 hearth tax record of a "Roger Moores", six hearths, in the "Strett" in the parish of Saint Olave Hart Street.

There is a will of a Roger Morris, wine cooper of Saint Olave Hart Street proved on March 1st 1690, which possibly, but not definitely matches Roger Morris (b. ca. 1607; d.?).

Evidence from High Court of Admiralty

Forty-eight year old Roger Morris deposed on July 5th 1655 in the High Court of Admiralty. He was examined on an allegation in the case of "Stanton against Rich".

Roger Morris was employed by the London merchant Mr Robert Rich to help unload a number of ships at Cowes between January and March 1652. The ships had been seized by Captain Stanton by virtue of a commission of reprisal from the High Court of Admiralty. Stanton was commander of the ship the Elizabeth. Morris states that he ordered Stanton to go to sea on a number of occasions in January 1652, but that Stanton refused to do so, wanting to see what would become of the prizes he had already brought in.

Morris describes himself as a "wine-cooper by profession" and states that he was employed by Robert Rich to go to the Isle of Wight specifically "for and about the management and preservation of the wines seized and brought up thither there in the ships predeposed". Morris claims that there were six hundred tunnes of french wines on various ships at Cowes, which Robert Rich wanted brought up to London, but that Stanton was unwilling to let them go for several months. The wine was eventually brought to London in July 1652, but was "very much perished and leaked". Morris observed the poor condition of the wine being "necessitated to racke them aboard the shipp wherein they came being the Hoveling." In answer to interrogatories, Morris provided the information that Robert Rich had sold the wine at prices ranging from £25 to £27 per tun to "vintners of London, Salisbury and Bristol and Southampton."

Comment on sources

PROB 11/399 Dyke 45-90 Will of Roger Morris, Winecooper of Saint Olave Hart Street, City of London 01 March 1690