View source for John Morrison, 2nd Viscount Dunrossil

{{Short description|British diplomat}}
{{Use British English|date=December 2010}}
{{More citations needed|date=April 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2019}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|honorific-prefix= [[Flight Lieutenant]] [[The Right Honourable]]
|name=The Viscount Dunrossil
|honorific-suffix= [[Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George|CMG]] [[Justice of the Peace|JP]]
|image=
|caption=
|order1=2nd
|office1=Viscount Dunrossil
|monarch1 = [[Elizabeth II]]
|term_start1=3 February 1961
|term_end1=22 March 2000
|lieutenant1=
|predecessor1=[[William Morrison, 1st Viscount Dunrossil]]
|successor1=[[Andrew Morrison, 3rd Viscount Dunrossil]]
|order2=
|office2=[[Lord Lieutenant of the Western Isles]]
| monarch2 = [[Elizabeth II]]
|term_start2=4 November 1993
|term_end2=22 March 2000
|lieutenant2=
|predecessor2=Granville Leveson-Gower, 5th Earl Granville
|successor2=[[Alexander Matheson (pharmacist)|Alexander Matheson]]
|order3=127th
|office3=Governor of Bermuda
| monarch3 = [[Elizabeth II]]
|term_start3=1983
|term_end3=1988
|lieutenant3=
|predecessor3=[[Richard Posnett|Sir Richard Posnett]]
|successor3=[[Desmond Langley|Sir Desmond Langley]]
|birth_date={{birth date|1926|5|22|df=y}}
|birth_place =
|death_date={{death date and age|2000|3|22|1926|5|22|df=y}}
|death_place=[[Lanzarote]]
|party =
|alma_mater = [[Oriel College, Oxford]]
|profession = Soldier, diplomat, colonial administrator
|spouse = Mavis Dawn Spencer-Payne <br>3 July 1951–1969<br> Diana Mary Cunliffe Vise<br>m. 1969
|children = 3 sons, 1 daughter
|religion =
|signature =
|footnotes =
}}
[[Flight Lieutenant]] '''John William Morrison, 2nd Viscount Dunrossil''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|CMG|JP}} (22 May 1926 &ndash; 22 March 2000) was a British [[diplomat]].  Lord Dunrossil was British High Commissioner to Fiji, Nauru and Tuvalu and later to Barbados. His career reached its peak when he was appointed Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Bermuda in 1983.  While in [[South Africa]] he supported [[Nelson Mandela]] during his imprisonment by helping him gain a law degree from the [[University of London]].
==Early life and education==
Morrison was educated at [[Fettes College]] in [[Edinburgh]] before serving in the [[RAF]] between 1945 and 1948 and reaching the rank of [[Flight Lieutenant]]. Between 1948 and 1950 he read History at [[Oriel College, Oxford]]; his course being shorter than the usual three years due to the Second World War. He became President of the Conservative Association during his time at Oxford.
==Career==
The early years of Morrison's diplomatic career were wide-ranging, including as Assistant Private Secretary to [[Philip Cunliffe-Lister, 1st Earl of Swinton|The Viscount Swinton]] and as First Secretary in [[Dacca]], [[East Pakistan]] (now [[Bangladesh]]). His career would go on to focus mainly on the [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] countries. In February 1961, he inherited the viscountcy of Dunrossil from his father, [[William Morrison, 1st Viscount Dunrossil]], who died in office as the [[Governor-General of Australia]].
Dunrossil was posted to South Africa, and was present during the trial of [[Nelson Mandela]] and his sentencing to 27 years' imprisonment.  He subsequently obtained study materials for Mandela in order that he might achieve a law degree from the [[University of London]].
His career reached its peak from 1978 onwards when he was appointed [[High Commissioner]] to [[Fiji]], [[Nauru]] and [[Tuvalu]]. He then became [[High Commissioner]] to [[Barbados]] and the Eastern Caribbean in 1982 before being appointed [[Governor of Bermuda|Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Bermuda]] in 1983. His time in Bermuda was very successful mainly, as John Ure argues, due to his "genial temperament" and "social standing" meaning that he was able to settle the troubles of the region that had preceded his appointment.<ref>[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/73798/?back=,35123 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]</ref> Lord Dunrossil was appointed a Companion of the [[Order of St Michael and St George]] (CMG) in 1981 for his diplomatic service.
==After Bermuda==
Upon retirement in 1988, Lord Dunrossil took on several [[directorships]] and also played an active part as a [[cross-bench]] [[peerage|peer]] in the [[House of Lords]]. He left the House in 1999 as he was not one of the elected [[hereditary peers]] allowed to remain in the Lords. Lord Dunrossil therefore devoted himself to spending time at Dunrossil House, his ancestral home in the [[Outer Hebrides]], becoming a [[Justice of the Peace]] (JP). He was appointed [[Lord Lieutenant of the Western Isles]] in 1993, holding this post until his death on holiday from a heart attack in [[Lanzarote]] in 2000.
==Personal life==
Lord Dunrossil married twice, firstly to Mavis Dawn Spencer-Payne on 3 July 1951. The couple had three sons and one daughter, including his heir, Andrew William Reginald Morrison, who was born in 1953. Mavis, Viscountess Dunrossil, is a governor of the [[Cotswold School]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Cotswold School in Bourton-on-the-Water celebrates 25 years|url=http://www.gloucestershireecho.co.uk/Cotswold-School-Bourton-Water-celebrates-25-years/story-21461595-detail/story.html|publisher=Gloucestershire Echo}}</ref>
He divorced his first wife in 1969 and remarried the same year to Diana Mary Cunliffe Vise who became Viscountess Dunrossil upon their marriage. The couple had two children.
==Arms==
{{Infobox COA wide
|image = [[File:Coronet of a British Viscount.svg|centre|150px]][[File:Dunrossil (England) Escutcheon.png|centre|200px]]
|name = William Morrison, 1st Viscount Dunrossil (except Scotland)
|notes = Earl Marshal’s Warrant 14 July 1952, Granted 14 August 1953. Agent Richmond Herald. Grants: 115 / 188.
|escutcheon = Azure on a Pale Ermine between two Gannets reversed volant to the dexter their wings expanded palewise proper a representation of the Mace of the House of Commons Or.
|crest = A Viking galley with one mast and sail furled proper flying from the masthead a pennon Argent charged with a raven volant Sable.
|motto = An Tighnearna Mo Bhuachaille (The Lord is my Shepherd)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/baz_manning/51832422086/in/album-72177720295872339/ |title=Speaker Morrison, 1951-1959. English arms. |date=January 2011 |publisher=Baz Manning |accessdate=21 January 2022}}</ref>}}
{{Infobox COA wide
|name = William Morrison, 1st Viscount Dunrossil (in Scotland)
|image = [[File:Coronet of a British Viscount.svg|centre|150px]][[File:Morrison Viscount Dunrossil.svg|centre|200px]]
|escutcheon = Per bend sinister Gules and Argent a Demi-Lion rampant issuant Or armed and langued Azure holding in his paws a Battleaxe the Shaft curved of the third and the Axehead of the fourth in chief and in base issuant from the Sea undy Vert and Or a Tower Sable Windows and Port Or over all a Bend sinister embattled Azure charged with an Open Crown Or jewelled Gules between two Fleurs-de-lys Argent;  within a Bordure Vert for difference.
|crest = Issuant from waves of the Sea Azure crested Argent a Mount Vert thereon an embattled Wall Azure masoned Argent charged with a Portcullis Or and issuant therefrom a Cubit Arm naked proper the hand grasping a Dagger Azure hilted Or
|supporters = On either side a Lion regardant Or armed and langued Gules collared Vert supporting between the exterior forepaw and interior hindpaw a Battleaxe Azure the shaft embowed
|motto = Above the Crest: Teaghlach Phabbay (The household or family of Phabbay); Below the Shield: An Tighnearna Mo Bhuachaille (The Lord is my Shepherd)
|coronet = Coronet of a Viscount
|notes = Petition to Lord Lyon 17 December 1959, matriculated 18 April 1960. (College of Arms: Scotland IV 143).
<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/baz_manning/51832772724/in/album-72177720295872339/ |title= Speaker Morrison, portrait armorial name plate. Scottish arms. |date= 10 September 2011 |publisher=Baz Manning |accessdate=21 January 2022}}</ref>
}}
==References==
<references/>
==External links==
*{{Hansard-contribs | mr-john-morrison-1 | the Viscount Dunrossil }}
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{{s-hon}}
{{s-bef | before=[[Granville Leveson-Gower, 5th Earl Granville|The Earl Granville]]}}
{{s-ttl | title=[[Lord Lieutenant of the Western Isles]] | years=1993&ndash;2000}}
{{s-vac | next=[[Alexander Matheson (pharmacist)|Alexander Matheson]]}}
{{s-reg|uk}}
{{succession box | before=[[William Morrison, 1st Viscount Dunrossil|William Morrison]] | title=[[Viscount Dunrossil]] | years=1961&ndash;2000 | after=Andrew Morrison}}
{{s-end}}
{{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dunrossil, John Morrison, 2nd Viscount}}
[[Category:1926 births]]
[[Category:2000 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Uist]]
[[Category:Nobility from the Outer Hebrides]]
[[Category:People educated at Fettes College]]
[[Category:Alumni of Oriel College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George]]
[[Category:Governors of Bermuda]]
[[Category:Scottish justices of the peace]]
[[Category:Lord-lieutenants of the Western Isles]]
[[Category:Scottish diplomats]]
[[Category:Viscounts in the Peerage of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:High commissioners of the United Kingdom to Barbados]]
[[Category:High commissioners of the United Kingdom to Fiji]]
[[Category:High commissioners of the United Kingdom to Nauru]]
[[Category:High commissioners of the United Kingdom to Tuvalu]]
[[Category:Hereditary peers removed under the House of Lords Act 1999|Dunrossil]]