Sons- and daughters-in-law of Robert and Elizabeth Spence Watson

THE NEW PRINCIPAL OF THE FRIENDS' HIGH SCHOOL.—The committee of the Friends High School notify in another column that their newly appointed principal Mr Edmund I. Gower who is an honours B.A. of London University will commence his duties early next year. He is described as a man with a cultured and polished manner and as exploiting a thoroughly good influence. His forte appears to be in the direction of the classics, English literature and history but he manifests interest in scientific research, astronomy being a favourite study. Some of the leading educational authorities in the Society of Friends say of him that he is a man of exceptional ability, a good and interesting teacher with great power of quiet control and that though a strong disciplinarian he enters heartily into the boys' games as well as being very resourceful in leisure pursuits. He is now first assistant master at Saffron Walden School where he remains until the end of this Year.

MEMORIAL CHURCH YOUNG PEOPLE'S GUILD.

MR. EDMUND I. GOWER, B.A., will deliver a Lecture in the Memorial Hall on TUESDAY EVENING, at 8 p.m., on "London to San Francisco." The Lecture will be illustrated by numerous Lantern Views. Collection.

EDMUND J. GOWER, who left York in 1899 and followed Benjamin Le Tall to Hobart, resigned the Headmastership of that school last year. With a partner he has acquired the Boa Vista Estate, on the outskirts of the town, where the King's Grammar School is now carried on by them. The property comprises a fine house and seven acres of grounds and playing fields. It is, however, a Church of England School, for boys only, and does not, therefore, compete to any great extent with the Friends' High School. The first term began in January, with some forty or fifty boys

Edmund Gower is back in England & another discreditable chapter in Hobart history is closed. I sent a Hobart paper to the Friend, & they put in a paragraph about a farewell gathering for him there.

interested in palaeobotany but his outstanding contribution was to convert the Manchester department into a centre of excellence in terms of botanical research and teaching in the North of England (Thomas, 1953). By tireless lobbying and fund raising, he achieved this by an expansion of the facilities from a humble one-roomed laboratory on the first floor of the Beyer building to several larger laboratories acquired from the Main Building and by the departure of Engineering to another site. In 1911, new purpose-built accommodation with rooftop greenhouses was opened and this greatly enlarged the facilities available for botany teaching and research. Weiss also oversaw the establishment of the Botany Experimental Grounds on Whitworth Lane in Fallowfield.

The wedding of Miss Evelyn Spence Watson, daughter of Dr and Mrs Spence Watson, and Mr F. Ernest Weiss, Professor of Botany at Owens College, Manchester, took place yesterday.

Professor Frederick Ernest Weiss was born on the 20th of November, 1865, and is thus forty one years of age to-day. He is a native of Huddersfield, and is the son of Mr. Charles Weiss, merchant, of that town. He had an international education, having studied at the Gymnasia of Heidelberg and Neuchatel, the International College, Isleworth, and University College, London. At the last-named institution he was Assistant Professor in Botany. He became Professor of Botany in Owens College in 1892, and he remains in that capacity in the University of Manchester. It is not surprising to find that his recreations include gardening and mountain-climbing, seeing that both these pursuits keep him in pleasurable touch with his scientific calling.

At first his laboratory accommodation was confined to a single room, but his fame as a teacher gradually spread, and more and more students were attracted to the study of botany. After some temporary expedients, a new block of laboratories was built for him in 1911. Manchester became the main centre of botanical teaching and research in the North of England, and among the men whom he trained many have since become eminent in their subject.

"Professor F.E. Weiss, the ex-Vice-Chancellor of the University of Manchester, has been elected chairman of a committee of the Federation of Manchester and District Women Suffrage Societies, which is endeavouring to raise funds to equip a field hospital for foreign service, and most probably in Serbia."

of Easdale, Disley, Cheshire; Assist. Prof., University College, London; President of Manchester Microscopical Society ; Past-President of Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society. Recreations : Mountain climbing, gardening. Club : London University.

Professor F.E. Weiss, D.Sc., F.R.S., has been appointed Pro-Vice-Chancellor of Manchester University. Our Friend is a son-in-law of the late Dr. Robert Spence Watson.

There was one big interruption to our life—this was when my Father had a sabbatical year from University. We went to live in lodgings in East Sheen, so that he could work at Kew.

THIS is the first of a series of talks in which Professor Weiss will let listeners into some of the secrets of plant life—a subject on which he is an acknowledged expert. He has occupied the Chair of Botany in the University of Manchester since 1892, and is a past Vice-President of the University ; and his name is well known to readers of the botanical periodicals.

IN this series of talks, Professor Weiss is treating of plants not as individuals, but as members of communities, adapting themselves to the conditions of life imposed on them by the rest. Last week he talked of plant communities in the woodlands ; today, in his second talk, he will deal with the plants of the meadows, their mutual rivalries and the devices that they adopt in order to survive.

THIS is the third of Professor Weiss's talks, in which he tells of the way in which plants adopt themselves to their neighbours in the plant community. In the hedgerows, for instance, with which he will deal today, the competition for light causes many of the smaller kinds to develop a twining habit, and they climb up on their taller rivals in order to reach the life-giving rays of the sun.

IN this talk Professor Weiss, the Professor of Botany at Manchester University, continues his account of plant life in its community aspect, the relations of plants with each other, and the way in which plant neighbours influence one another's development and habits. In the particular case of marsh and pond plants, about which he will talk today, their whole existence is conditioned by the struggle for air.  

IN the bleak atmosphere of the moorlands plant life has to struggle hard to survive.
How the conditions of the struggle affect the relations of moorland plants with one another will be the subject of Professor Weiss's talk today. 

WITH this talk Professor Weiss, who holds the chair of Botany in the University of Manchester, concludes the series in which he has described the community life of plants and the way in which their development is modified, not only by their environment generally, but by each other.

Then, in 1930 [ . . . ] my father, who had been Professor of Botany at Owens College, Manchester since 1898—even before it had university status—retired. We sold our Disley house. My parents, who needed to rest and reflect before they decided where they wanted to live, settled in Switzerland, in the Pension des Narcisses, above Montreux.

. . . my parents were determined to travel to Italy, where they had spent their honeymoon, including Sicily into the bargain. We started there at Palermo, Syracuse, Agrigento and Taormina, then back to Naples, Rome and Florence.

Returning from Italy we spent some of the summer months in the high Alps, my father botanising and my mother and I just revelling in the Alpine meadows. We also went climbing [ . . . ]

He had been President of many societies including: the Manchester Microscopical Society, the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, the South Eastern Union of Scientific Societies, the Botany Section of the British Association and he was to become President of the Linnean Society from 1931–34. He served on the Council of the Royal Society from 1924–1925. He was undoubtedly a man of high reputation and enormous energy who played a prominent role in the progress and development of the University, in the expansion of the Manchester Museum and in the intellectual life of the city (Thomas, 1953)

My parents decided to move to Guildford. This would enable my father to get up to London for scientific meetings and to work at the Linnean Society where he had for a time been President. He had also been offered laboratory facilities at Wisley to carry out research, mainly on primulas. He was a long-standing member of the Royal Horticultural Society and he was on its Council.

My parents found a newly-built house in Merrow, just outside Guildford, which had been empty for a year and was still as dry as a bone, with no sign of damp, and the right size. It stood in a newish road leading to woods and with meadows all around, not far from the small railway station and the main road to London, along which the Green Line bus service ran through Wisley. The name of the road was Woodway, I think. It was lovely and my father created a wonderful garden there from scratch. It seemed ideal, so we moved in as soon as we could, after a stay, most eccentrically for us, in the Army & Navy Bridge Club.

PROF. FREDERICK WEISS.

All real lovers of the countryside and its wild flowers will give strong support to the movement for nature reserves which Professor Frederick Weiss spoke of in addressing the Educational Association Conference on the disappearance of many specimens of wild flower.

The growth of towns and the ravages of those who pluck plants and blooms thoughtlessly were mentioned by the Professor as causes of the trouble.

As one of our leading botanists, Professor Weiss is anxious that some thing should be done to stay the destruction. President of the Linnean Society and a Fellow of the Royal Society, he is a Yorkshireman, his native town being Huddersfield.

Professor Weiss has devoted a lifetime to botany and nature study, and after being assistant professor in botany at University College, London, he spent nearly 40 years as Professor of Botany in Manchester University. For two years he accepted the post of Vice-Chancellor of the University.

The Professor says that the general public do not realise the danger that is overtaking the flora of the country.

"Although Professor Weiss had retired from the chair of botany in 1931 he remained active and during the academic year 1934/35 was invited to serve as Acting Professor of Botany at Cairo University."

. . . Father took every care of Hans that he could. He took Hans to see a doctor, a psychiatrist, who I think told him that Hans was really psychotic. He also got him somewhere to love and I think, although I can't remember the details, found a Roman Catholic priest who employed him as an organist, before helping him to get back to Vienna.

The decision to form the new division—which has been termed a "world brains trust"—was made by the General Committee of the British Association on Wednesday of last week, when it was stated that the organisation would co-ordinate work dealing with the social relations of science both at home and abroad.

It is hoped that the work of the Committee will start almost immediately.

Mother stayed the night at Aunt Evie's. Returned on the 6th rather worried about Uncle Ernest.

He had been President of many societies including: the Manchester Microscopical Society, the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society, the South Eastern Union of Scientific Societies, the Botany Section of the British Association and he was to become President of the Linnean Society from 1931–34. He served on the Council of the Royal Society from 1924–1925. He was undoubtedly a man of high reputation and enormous energy who played a prominent role in the progress and development of the University, in the expansion of the Manchester Museum and in the intellectual life of the city (Thomas, 1953).

His passing severs one of the few remaining links between the biology of to-day and of that great period of high endeavour, great enthusiasm and high hopes, which have been so amply fulfilled. Among the young men who drew their inspiration from Huxley, Vines, and their entourage, few could have done more than Weiss to spread a knowledge of, and an interest in plants as objects of truly scientific studies. Few men of his standing could have been more modest, more willing to help his students or other young scientists who came to him for assistance or advice. As a speaker and lecturer he was always lucid and interesting. As chairman of committees he was admirable in his grasp of the details of the business, and also in the tact with which he conducted the meetings. Above all he had a real gift for friendship. By his fine personal character he inspired and encouraged a large number of those who were privileged to know him. It may well be that his greatest contribution to knowledge is to be found, not in his own published work, but in the researches of those numerous students of plant life who came under his influence.

It is possible to trace back to his childhood and his schooldays almost all the subjects which interested John Bowes in later life. The little cupboard in which the nursery 'museum' was housed still exists: a humble forerunner of the Castle Museum in York which came into being largely as a result of John Bowes' efforts, and which is the best folk museum in England. His contribution to the School Essay Society was a paper on books printed in York, and the highest marks in his report were usually for history.

At a meeting of the York Chamber of Commerce last night, Mr. J.J. Hunt presiding, a paper on Imperial Federation was read by Mr. J. Bowes Morrell, and an interesting discussion followed.

I feel like a thief, to invade your family circle & carrying away Bertha & yet you have all said the nicest things possible, at least every one has except you, & I think I like your letter the best of all.

Bertha told me you were going to have an operation. I do not know whether your being in bed is because of it if so I hope you will soon get entirely well again, it is sufficiently depressing to be in bed without the bad news you have had.

Some day when you have got over your antipathy to your new brother in law I hope you will often be a visitor & that your visits may be long on our new home.

1901-12-31/1902-01-02

There was a large assembly at the Friends' Meeting House, Newcastle, yesterday afternoon, on the occasion of the marriage of Miss Bertha Spence Watson, daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Robert Spence Watson, Bensham Grove, Gateshead, with Mr. John Bowes Morrell, a director of Rowntree's, and son of Mr. and Mrs. Morrell, York.

. . . chaired the City's Public Library Committee 1905-20 and led the negotiations with the Carnegie Trustees for the replacement of the old public library in Clifford Street with a new building in Museum Street . . .

Morrell was one of a group of York liberals who as "Liberal Progressives" advocated the municipalisation of public utilities using profits to pay for an array of social reforms. In 1905 Morrell was the first Progressive elected to York City Council; he was re-elected in 1908 and in 1911. He soon achieved a reputation as an able councillor, keen to increase amenities for citizens and advance the city as a tourist and industrial centre.

Enormous Lloyd George meeting in Exhibition Buildings. Also Festival C.Rooms & Fishergate skating rink. [ . . . ] Thrilling meeting & Bowes in the chair. Made a speech exactly right. I was excited & Ber looked sweet. Lloyd George spoke splendidly, & Hamar Greenwood & A.S. Rowntree. Afterwards we went to hotel & Bowes introduced us to Lloyd Geo. who was v. nice & asked after Father & Mother. I wished F. was with us. We saw L. George off in the train. All most exciting.

. . . chaired the Museums and Art Gallery Committee 1912-52. In 1912 the City owned only a few uninspiring art works, badly housed in the Yorkshire Fine Art and Industrial exhibition building of 1879. With little available funding, the development of a serious art gallery was a slow process but Morrell patiently took opportunities

The King received the Lord Mayor of York (Mr. J. Bowes Morrell) and handed to him a new Cap of Maintenance, which his Majesty is presenting to the City of York.

Bowes & I are thinking of putting some money into the Bank in your name – which you can use for the children.

We propose to put in £100 now & another £400 in the next few years.

Please don't make any fuss about it – & undertake to use it all for yourselves or the children.

. . . elected chairman of the City Council's Finance Committee, a role in which he achieved tremendous standing and popular support as York's skilled "Chancellor of the Exchequer". His extensive business experience led him to advocate and achieve reforms in the council's organisation and structure to increase efficiency.

Morrell saw another opportunity in 1932 when Dr John Kirk, a retired Pickering general practitioner, put his collection of "bygones" up for sale. At that time York City Council was negotiating the takeover of the old Castle Prison site and Morrell immediately envisaged a folk museum housed in the historic setting of the old prison buildings. This plan was beset by problems not least its high cost and the need to convince councillors and citizens of its worth. Morrell conducted a sustained and ultimately successful campaign. The York Castle Museum was formally opened on 23 April 1938. Its most famous feature, the street "Kirkgate", brought in huge numbers of visitors and it gained worldwide fame. Morrell later commented: 'I suppose the best work I did was in getting the Castle Museum established.'

Morrell also played a vital role in the preservation of York's heritage. The Shambles had long been York's most famous medieval street but, by 1938, its buildings were in serious disrepair. The council set up a Shambles Area Committee in 1939 which was chaired by Morrell up to 1945. He oversaw the crucial first phase of work, facilitating funding for the purchase of properties from private owners before restoration could begin.

Of special interest to the exhibition is a section contributed by Alderman J. B. Morrell, which comprises a set of photographs of every street In York, providing examples of many of the principles of the historical section of the exhibition. Alderman Morrell has devoted many years to the collection of these photographs.

Etchings For Art Show at Lincoln

A collection of etchings illustrating the history of the art, has been loaned by Ald. J. B. Morrell, J.P., of York, for exhibition in the Usher Art Gallery, Lincoln.

Alderman Morrell is chairman of Westminster Press Provincial Newspapers, Ltd., to which group the "Nottingham Journal" belongs.

The date of the exhibition has not yet been decided.

Invited to be Lord Mayor of York

Mr. John Bowes Morrell, of Burton Croft, York, is likely to be the next Lord Mayor of York, an office which he held previously in 1914-15.

Conservative and Independent members of the City Council, who are now in the majority, decided some time ago to ask Mr. Morrell, who has been a life-long Liberal, to accept the office. Mr. Morrell has agreed to be nominated.

Mr. Morrell, who for 40 years was a member of the City Council, was one of the aldermen displaced by the Labour Party when it took control.

Mr. Morrell is chairman of directors of The Nottingham Journal, Ltd.

Protector of York

MR. JOHN BOWES MORRELL, who has been invited to serve as next Lord Mayor of York, has probably done more than anyone else in the past half century to preserve the historic monuments and architectural treasures of the city. Mr. Morrell, who is 76, was the founder-chairman of York Civic Trust, and has always played a leading role in the city's cultural societies. Although he is not a member of the Council, Mr. Morrell is chairman of the governing bodies of the Art Gallery and the renowned Castle Museum, and many of the museum's features are the product of his discernment.

Mr. Morrell, who will be the first non-member of the Council to become Lord Mayor since 1897, will bring wise and experienced statesmanship to the office. He was Lord Mayor from 1914-1915, Sheriff from 1938-39, and was a member of the Council for 40 years, including 25 years as chairman of the Finance Committee, until he was displaced by the Socialists in the 1945 Aldermanic elections. He is a man of pointed wit and charming manner, and his election will be a fitting honour to one who has served his city so well.

Morrell was a lifelong collector of art, furniture and historic objects, importing Georgian panelling and fireplaces into his mid-Victorian home, Burton Croft, and filling it with treasures. He was an inveterate patron of the local salerooms and antique dealers, and through this he was able to make many gifts to the city's library, art gallery, museum and Mansion House.

FREEDOM OF YORK FOR EX-SHERIFF

"THE longer you live in York the more its treasures unfold themselves. They are a legacy from the past to all its citizens which we must not only preserve but enrich for those who are pressing on our heels," said Mr. John Bowes Morrell, thanking York City Council at the Guildhall today for conferring on him the honorary freedom of the city.

Mr. Morrell served on the Council from 1905 to 1945, was Lord Mayor in 1914-15 and 1949-50, and sheriff in 1938-39. Last year, at the age of 77, he flew to America to publicise the York Festival of 1951.

The silver casket containing the scroll was handed to him by the Lord Mayor of York, Ald. Ernest Harwood.

"Life is very unequal; some have to spend their lives in Middlesbrough or even in Wigan," said Mr. Morrell. "It has been my good fortune to live for 75 years in York, and as if to add to the inequalities of life you have given me that great and most-prized honour, the freedom of our right noble city.

J.B. Morrell (1884-90) has received the Honorary Freedom of the City of York, in recognition of his services to the public life of the City for nearly fifty years. He was a member of the City Council from 1905 to 1945, Lord Mayor from 1914 to 1915 and again from 1949 to 1950, and Sheriff from 1938-39. In thanking the City Council for the honour which they had conferred on him, J.B. Morrell said that it had been his good fortune to live for seventy years in the City of York, and, as if to add to the inequalities of life, he had now been given the most prized honour, the Freedom of the City.

In honour of J. Bowes Morrell (1884–90), and in appreciation of his constant and devoted help for many years in the cultural life of the City of York and in the preservation of its ancient buildings, a portrait of him has been presented to the Corporation of the City by the members of various cultural organizations with which he is associated. In making the presentation, the Earl of Halifax said that J.B. Morrell had educated the thought and inspired the purpose of many York citizens and had let them to a fuller appreciation of the beauty of the City. The portrait is the work of Henry Carr, R.A., and it now hangs in the Council Chamber at the Guildhall.

Bowes offered to send me on a cruise with Edna. I declined. He is kind.

Further £250000 For A 'Varsity

YORK Academic Trust, sponsors of a movement to establish a University in York, today announces the receipt of two more offers from local charitable trusts worth more than £250,000 towards its objective.

The trustees of the C. and J.B. Morrell trust would like to make available to the university when established, £100,000 at the rate of £10,000 a year.

The Joseph Rowntree Social Service Trust Ltd. undertakes to transfer to the university Heslington Hall and its 17 acre grounds purchased from Lord Deramore in 1956, and to contribute £150,000 spread over ten years.

In September last the Joseph Rowntree Memorial Trust offered £100,000 for general purposes, plus "substantial additional support" for social science. Offers from local charitable trusts alone now total more than £350,000.

Though I'm sure I met Uncle Bowes (as we called him) more than once, I only remember visiting him once at Burton Croft, in York. I was very much in awe of the big house, stuffed with sculptures, pictures, Queen Anne cabinets with secret drawers, Japanese lacquer, &c.—a huge Buddha in the garden; also of Chef, his servant. He seemed nice, as I recall, but my awe was too great for any other response from me. We knew at home of his meetings, when Lord Mayor of York, with royalty—and indeed of his (I think rather remote) relationship to the Queen Mother. I remember Mum telling us that he used to refer to the present Queen as "dear Lizzie"! Dad told me a couple of years ago that he had been friendly with the old Princess Royal. I don't know how much substance there is in any of this. Nick Morrell tells me he had a fine private library of books about York . . . .

Thurs. April 18^th. Uncle Bowes 90^th Birthday.

Ruth and I caught the 9.0 a.m. train ex Kings X. arrived York 12.14 p.m. [ . . . ] We left our case at St. Mary's Hotel and drove straight to the Merchant Taylor's Hall for the reception. Uncle Bowes looking rather frail and a little bewildered & his handshake rather weak but otherwise very spruce. [ . . . ] The Lord Mayor, Alderman Cattle, read some telegrams and announced the York University's decision to make Uncle Bowes a Pro-Chancellor. The Menu (written with some amusing touches) was:–

Mistery soups (Clear or Chicken)

Ouse Salmon, New Market Potatoes, Peasholme Green Peas.

Apple Tree Farm Pie, Nell Gwynne Fruit Salad (as served in Clifton Manor), The Cream of York Society Mayne [Mayor?] Biscuits, Wensleydale Cheese.

Finest Coffee from H. Tuke, Tea Man, Coppergate

The toast "J.B.M." was proposed by W. Wallace, Esq. C.B.E. former Chairman of Rowntree's and supported by H.L Howarth of the Westminster Press.

In reply, Uncle Bowes began unsteadily, but got more and more confident and spoke for nearly 20 minutes, from notes, an amazing performance. He began by quoting from Alice in Wonderland

"The butter's spread too thick"

but added, with a twinkle in his eye and voice,

"I like butter."

He also quoted an invocation by (?) a public speaker:

"Lord give me something worth while to say and nudge me when to shut up"!

He had made one mistake in his life.—he was not born in York. Came to York with his brother from Selby at the age of 2 and lived there ever since. The Bank house in Parliament St. had no garden and they got their exercise on the walls of York. He remembers seeing the man making a Rope Walk in the Moat, lamplighters climbing up little ladders, and watching the Police from Silloth St. Station going on duty in single file. He remembered the sound made by the cups on the drinking fountain.

He reminisced about the Michaelmas Fair in Parliament St.

Later the family moved to a Georgian House in Holgate St.

His brother and himself became Day Scholars at Bootham and they had a Tandem Tricycle.

He was at school with Bernard Priestman—a Victorian Artist—who said he was unique in that he was "the oldest boy in the bottom of the school at one and the same time"!

About his work at Rowntrees (of which he became a Director) he said he had been influenced most of all by Joseph Rowntree. Joseph Rowntree had impressed upon his sons that "I want you to have other forms of service beside business".

Joseph (or a young?) Rowntree had taught him how to build a library. This was to write the words "With Kind Regards" above the name of the lender!

He spoke of his tour of Greece, when he had to ride (?on a donkey).

He first visited the U.S.A. when the safety bicycle had been introduced!

He visited it again at the time of the first York Festival, to help publicise the event. Received a Law Degree from Delphi, U.S.A. A Film Star was at the ceremony and he commended this idea to the Vice-Chancellor of York University!

Among other anecdotes were:–

"There was a Young lady of out East

Who lived on a Diet of Yeast

She said we are all plain

And we shall rise again [or "It is not at all plain That we shall rise again]

And I want to get started at least."

Mrs. Pankhurst encouraged some suffragettes who were depressed by saying:–

"Pray to God and she will help them".

[Afterwards, we heard he was upset at leaving out a page of his speech but no one noticed.]

[ . . . ] We went for a walk along the river bank to Clifton where they are building a bridge (Uncle Bowes had suggested this 40 years ago!). We called in at Burton Croft about 9.0 p.m. and looked at all the birthday cards around the drawing room while the family were finishing supper. Uncle Bowes had had a rest and seemed his usual self and sat and "gloated" over his presents and cards. He shows me the facsimile of the First Edition of the Public Ledger which had been made into a Blotter, & presented to him, suitably inscribed. We left before 10.0 p.m. and walked back to St. Mary's.

John Bowes Morrell, J.P., Litt.D. (1884-90) celebrated his ninetieth birthday on the 18th April, and a luncheon in his honour was given at the Merchant Adventurers' Hall by his many friends in York, at which he gave a lively, witty speech, recalling his many years in York and speaking of his hopes for the future. In appreciation of the constant support which he has given to the cultural life of the City, he was offered the Pro-Chancellorship of the University of York which he has done so much to establish. We were grieved to hear only a little more than a week later that he had died suddenly at his home in York. He will be remembered with admiration and affection.

He was known as "York's greatest benefactor". Walk around the city and you are never far from the influence of John Bowes Morrell. Every time a university student visits the JB Morrell Library, a shopper walks past the 14th century Bowes Morrell House on Walmgate or a visitor trips along Alderman's Way in the Castle Museum, they are reminded of his continuing presence.

So it is an irony that the home of this great conservationist looks set to be reduced to rubble.

Today Burton Croft has little charm. The gardens are overgrown and some of the windows boarded over. A casual passer-by looking at this Burton Stone Lane residence and learning it was to be replaced by flats may even think, "good riddance".

But then they wouldn't have seen Burton Croft at its best, when it resembled a miniature museum and played host to the great and the good of York. They would not know that it was from here that Alderman JB Morrell worked assiduously on so many plans which would see his city progress while its history was preserved.

John Bowes bought Burton Croft in 1908, for £2,800. By then, he had already packed a lot in. Born in 1873, the son of a York bank manager, he was educated at Bootham School. At 17 he finished his education and joined Rowntree and Co, rising to become the firm's youngest director at 25.

Four years later he married Bertha Spence Watson. They were to have three children.

In 1903 he entered the newspaper world as a director of the company which owned the Northern Echo. Later he would become chairman of the Westminster Press newspaper group, and took the helm at the Yorkshire Herald Newspaper Company, owners of the Evening Press, when it became part of the group in 1953.

A lifelong Liberal, he first stood for York City Council in 1905. Demonstrating his capacity for seeing what others missed, he included a proposal for a bridge over the Ouse at Clifton in his electoral address. Sixty years later, that idea became a reality.

It wasn't a desire for grand surroundings to match his growing status which prompted this York public servant to find a bigger home. John Bowes and Bertha's second daughter, Elizabeth, was born in 1907 and they wanted more space for the family. So they left their house in St Mary's for the more spacious Burton Croft.

In her 1966 biography of the Morrell clan, Three Generations: The Fortunes Of A Yorkshire Family, Anne Vernon went into some detail about Burton Croft.

She described the mid-19th century house as having four good rooms downstairs and five bedrooms and two dressing rooms above. An older wing, probably a farmhouse originally, contained the kitchens, the servants' quarters "and a garage for the motor-car which John Bowes had recently acquired, but practically never drove himself". There was also a large garden.

During the difficult days of the 1920s slump, Miss Vernon wrote, "the weekends at Burton Croft were a pleasant respite.

"The house was a place which bubbled now, with the vitality of the younger generation. There was a quite unstudied informality about John Bowes' household . . . When the son of the house went to Bootham School in 1926 there was what John Bowes describes as a 'constant stream of schoolchildren to lunch on Sundays'".

When the economy picked up, Alderman Morrell began to indulge his passion for collecting. In 1930 his annual income was more than £6,000. "He had always collected books," noted Miss Vernon. "Now he began to take an interest in pictures—some good, some bad, but most of them large—furniture, china, silver, and almost anything of an honourable age.

"Furthermore, as the older members of his own and Bertha's family had died, keepsakes from them had flowed into Burton Croft; things like Aunt Margaret's beautiful silver teapot, Aunt Jemima's portrait, and Great-Aunt Maria's grandfather clock."

The author went to visit JB Morrell at Burton Croft in 1962, when he was 88. It would have been impossible not to be curious about a house which featured a bronze statue of Buddha in the front garden.

By this time John Bowes was a widower, and his domestic affairs were kept in order by a housekeeper. It was a quiet house, and one room was particularly well soundproofed: the library.

"The morning saw him in his library, reading or answering his correspondence, or telephoning a friend about some committee or some plan," wrote Anne Vernon.

"The telephone in this room had the only concession to age in the whole house—a gadget which enlarged the numerals on the dial (John Bowes 'did not use glasses', in his own words, though he had once worn them for a time in middle age.)

". . .There were always plans on the desk; plans for the new university, plans for a folk park, plans for an extension to the museum. The whole room was lined with bookshelves, and dominated by a large head-and-shoulders bust of John Bowes himself, in the robes and chain he had twice worn as Lord Mayor of York."

In his high-backed leather chair in the library, JB Morrell put York to rights.

This work took many forms. It was John Bowes who spotted the potential of Pickering doctor John Lamplugh Kirk's collection of bygones, and pushed for the creation of what became York Castle Museum. Many of JB's own artefacts found a home there.

In 1946 he co-founded the York Civic Trust and remained its chairman until his death in 1963.

The trust protected the ancient streets from the sort of post-war regeneration which blighted so many British cities.

Four years later, aged 77, he embarked on a 10,000-mile ten-day tour of America to promote York's Festival Of The Arts.

But perhaps his greatest legacy is the University of York, which celebrates its 40th birthday this year.

John Bowes had been acquiring land at Heslington to build a folk park. But he soon realised that a university would be a worthier use of the site, and donated all 180 acres.

He also put forward the idea of a folk park complementary to the Castle Museum.

Today the council wants to build a shopping mall next to the museum, and knock down Burton Croft—as soon as the squatters who recently took up residence there have been evicted. Forty years after the death of York's greatest benefactor his principles appear to have been forgotten.

It may be a more fitting tribute to the memory of Alderman John Bowes Morrell if his Castle folk park dream were realised, and his home at Burton Croft were restored to its mid-20th century glory, complete with the legendary owner's art and book collections.

The Morrell Museum: that would be a fine addition to the places which bear his name.

Morrell worked for York, and he was York's own. This has led to a curious paradox. His name is still remembered within his own city, but he is almost unknown outside it. And yet he did so much to create modern York that his significance ought to be nationally appreciated. He was certainly as significant and transformative a figure within the history of York as his old chief Joseph Rowntree.

See also: Anne Vernon (1966) Three Generations. The Fortunes of a Yorkshire Family. London: Jarrolds

Also: W.B. Morrell (1981) 'A Previous Lord Mayor of York, J.B. Morrell (1884-90)', Bootham 33.7:330-332