William Morrison
British politician
Died when: 67 years 177 days (809 months)Star Sign: Leo
William Shepherd Morrison, 1st Viscount Dunrossil, GCMG, MC, PC, QC (10 August 1893 – 3 February 1961), was a British politician.He was a long-serving cabinet minister before serving as Speaker of the House of Commons from 1951 to 1959.
He was then appointed as the 14th Governor-General of Australia, in office from 1960 until his death in 1961.Morrison was the son of a Scottish farmer, born in the small village of Torinturk, Argyll.
He attended George Watson's College and then went on to the University of Edinburgh; his studies were interrupted by World War I, where he served with the Royal Field Artillery and won the Military Cross.
Training as a lawyer, Morrison was called to the bar in 1923 and began working as a private secretary to Thomas Inskip, the Solicitor General.
After several previous attempts, he was elected to the House of Commons in 1929, representing a constituency in Gloucestershire for the Conservative Party.
In 1936, after several years as a junior minister, Morrison was made Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries by Stanley Baldwin.He also served as a minister under Neville Chamberlain and Winston Churchill, including as Minister of Food (1939–1940), Postmaster General (1940–1943), and Minister of Town and Country Planning (1943–1945).
Morrison was elevated to the speakership following the 1951 general election.He was praised for his impartiality, especially during the heated debate on the Suez Crisis, and was raised to the viscountcy when his term ended.
Lord Dunrossil became governor-general in 1960, on the nomination of Robert Menzies, but served only a year before dying in office.
