John Morris (historian)
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John Robert Morris (8 June 1913 – 1 June 1977) was an English historian who specialised in the study of the institutions of the Roman Empire and the history of Sub-Roman Britain. He is best known for his book The Age of Arthur (1973), which attempted to reconstruct the history of Britain and Ireland during the so-called "Dark Ages" (350–650 AD) following the Roman withdrawal, based on scattered archaeological and historical records. The book was heavily criticised by other academic historians.
Morris read modern history at Jesus College, Oxford, from 1932 to 1935, and served in the Army during the Second World War. After the war, he held a Leon Fellowship at the University of London and a Junior Fellowship at the Warburg Institute. In 1948 he was appointed Lecturer in Ancient History at University College, London. He worked in India in 1968 and 1969 as a lecturer for the Indian University Grants Commission, before returning to UCL to become Senior Lecturer in Ancient History, a post he held until his death.
In 1952 Morris founded the historical journal Past & Present, which he edited until 1960, and remained chairman of the editorial board until 1972. He was one of the writers, along with A. H. M. Jones and J. R. Martindale, of The Prosopography of the Later Roman Empire, a biographical dictionary of the years 284–641, the first volume of which was published in 1971. He also instigated the publication of a new edition of the Domesday Book, and edited the Arthurian Period Sources series. His last book was Londinium: London in the Roman Empire, published posthumously in 1982.[1][2]
Morris was a socialist and anti-war campaigner. He stood unsuccessfully for Parliament in 1935 as a Labour Party candidate, and was for a time secretary to the Labour MP George Strauss. He was a founder-member of the Committee of 100, an anti-war group founded by Bertrand Russell in 1960, and was later involved in the Institute for Workers' Control.
In 1975 Morris wrote the script "Domesday Republished" for the Look, Stranger BBC-TV series.[3][4]
Morris died on 1 June 1977 in London.[2]
