MORLEY, Sir William (1606-1658), of Halnaker, Boxgrove, Suss.

Morley has to be distinguished from a namesake, an uncle who was living in Chichester by 1605.17 Cal. of Suss. Mar. Lics. ed. E.H.W. Dunkin and E.W.D. Penfold (Suss. Rec. Soc. xii), 182. His father, Sir John Morley, originally came from Suffolk but purchased property in Sussex, where he was elected twice for New Shoreham and twice for Chichester. At the age of three Morley, together with Humphrey May* and May’s brother-in-law, (Sir) William Uvedale*, were granted the reversion of the clerkship of Star Chamber.18 C66/1809, m.14. Sir John died in 1622, while Morley was still under-age, and consequently Morley became a ward of the Crown. As Sir John had requested in his will, the wardship was purchased by May, Thomas Bowyer* and two others for £1,500, a very large sum which presumably reflected the size of the estate.19 WARD 9/162, f. 420; PROB 11/140, f. 424. In 1625 Morley was knighted and married the daughter of the attorney-general, (Sir) Robert Heath*, who had been a business associate of his father’s.20 P.E. Kopperman, Sir Robert Heath 1575-1649, p. 65.

Morley was returned for Guildford in February 1626 following Sir Richard Shilton’s decision to sit for Bridgnorth. Shilton was the solicitor general, and probably owed his election to Heath, who had close connections with Guildford’s corporation.21 Surr. Hist. Cent. BR/OC/1/2, ff. 81v, 103v. It was presumably also Heath who nominated his son-in-law as Shilton’s replacement. Morley played no recorded part in the second Caroline Parliament, and there is no evidence that he sought re-election in 1628. However, his continued interest in parliamentary affairs is shown by a letter he wrote to Sir John Oglander* in February 1629 thanking the latter for providing ‘copious’ news of the House’s proceedings. Morley’s own views are indicated by his comment that ‘your foundation being so well grounded, principally for religion, ... that I hope there will be a settled peace and union for the future good of church and commonwealth’.22 I.o.W. RO, OG/CC/12.

Morley was appointed sheriff of Surrey and Sussex in 1636, when he did his best to collect Ship Money arrears. Two years later he surrendered his interest in the clerkship of Star Chamber. He sat for Chichester in the Long Parliament until disabled as a royalist in November 1642. He paid a fine of £1,000 to recover his sequestrated estates, and thereafter preserved a cautious neutrality.23 M.F. Keeler, Long Parl. 280-1; SO1/3, f. 104. He made his will on 14 June 1658 and was buried at Boxgrove nine days later. The following October a royalist correspondent reported that he had cut his throat, and that his estate was worth £3,000 a year. His son was returned for Sussex at a by-election in 1667.24 PROB 11/286, f. 359; Add. 5699, f. 154v; Goodwood Estate Archives, i. 46; CCSP, iv. 92.