MORLAND, George (1643-1712), of Elvet, Durham and Greystones, co. Dur.

Morland’s father served as clerk of assize on the northern circuit before the Civil War, in which he seems to have avoided commitment. He played no active part in local affairs during the Interregnum, but was sufficiently prosperous to buy the manor of Greystones in 1653. He regained office at the Restoration, though described by a hostile source as ‘a temporizing Presbyterian’. By supporting the petition for Durham’s representation in Parliament, he incurred Bishop Cosin’s displeasure.3Durham Univ. Lib. Mickleton Spearman mss 2/67; CSP Dom. 1664-5, p. 567; Surtees, iii. 274; iv. pt. 2, p. 18; C. Sharp, Parl. Rep. Dur. (1831), p. ix; Cosin Corresp. (Surtees Soc. lv), 211-12, 218, 227.

Morland was presumably a Tory, since he was retained on the Durham corporation under the new charter of 1685; but he was one of the ‘prime justices’ removed from the county bench as opponents of James II’s religious policy in 1688. However, he was chosen for Durham city in the abortive election of December and was re-elected in the following month at the head of the poll. According to Anthony Rowe he voted to agree with the Lords that the throne was not vacant. An inactive Member of the Convention, he was appointed only to the committees for restoring corporations and for providing maintenance for the children of Sidney Wortley Montagu. Re-elected in 1690 he was reckoned a government supporter. He was buried on 26 Mar. 1712 at St. Oswald’s, Durham, the only member of his family to sit in Parliament.4HMC Le Fleming, 210; Sharp, 35; Surtees, iii. 276.