View source for John Morris-Jones

{{Short description|Welsh writer and academic (1864–1929)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}
{{Use British English|date=April 2012}}
[[File:Sir John Morris-Jones.jpg|thumb|right|John Morris-Jones, photograph by [[John Thomas (photographer)|John Thomas]],  {{circa|1885}}, when Morris-Jones was a student at Oxford]]
'''Sir John Morris-Jones''' (17 October 1864 – 16 April 1929) was a [[Wales|Welsh]] grammarian, academic and Welsh-language poet.
==Family and early life==

Morris-Jones was born John Jones, at [[Trefor, Bodffordd|Trefor]] in the parish of [[Llandrygarn]], [[Anglesey]] the son of Morris Jones first a schoolmaster, then a shopkeeper and his wife Elizabeth.  He had a younger brother William Jones. In 1868 the family moved to [[Llanfairpwllgwyngyll]] where he received elementary education. In 1876 he entered [[Friars School, Bangor]]. In 1879 the headmaster of Friars School, [[Daniel Lewis Lloyd]], was appointed to [[Christ College, Brecon]], and John Jones accompanied him there. In 1883 he attended [[Jesus College, Oxford]], where he graduated with honours in mathematics in 1887.<ref name="DWB">{{Cite DWB|last=Parry|first=Sir Thomas|author-link=Thomas Parry (author)|title=MORRIS-JONES (formerly JONES ), Sir JOHN (MORRIS) ( 1864 - 1929 ), scholar, poet, and critic|id=s-MORR-JOH-1864|date=1959}}</ref>
==Studies in Welsh literature==

While at Oxford, Morris-Jones studied Welsh books and manuscripts in the [[Bodleian Library]], and attended lectures by Sir [[John Rhys]] (1840–1915), the professor of Celtic.<ref name="DWB"/> Morris-Jones and Rhys prepared an edition of ''The Elucidarium and other tracts in Welsh from Llyvyr agkyr Llandewivrevi A.D. 1346'' (The Book of the [[Anchorite]] of [[Llanddewi Brefi]]), a collection of Medieval Welsh manuscripts in Jesus College Library, which they published in 1894.<ref name="DWB"/><ref>{{cite journal |last=Jones |first=Thomas |date= 1937|title=The Book of the Anchorite of Llanddewi Brefi (Llyvyr Agkyr Llandewivrevi) |url=http://welshjournals.llgc.org.uk/browse/viewpage/llgc-id:1177372/llgc-id:1178863/llgc-id:1178930/get650 |journal=Transactions and Archaeological Record, Cardiganshire Antiquarian Society |volume=12 |pages=65–66 |access-date=31 October 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Morris-Jones|first1=John|last2=Rhys|first2=John, Sir|author-link2=John Rhys|title=The Elucidarium and other tracts in Welsh from Llyvyr agkyr Llandewivrevi A.D. 1346 (Jesus college ms. 119)|date=1894|publisher=Oxford, Clarendon press |ol=6595516M|oclc=4577911|url=https://archive.org/details/elucidariumando00morrgoog}}</ref>

Morris-Jones was one of the original members of ''{{Interlanguage link|Cymdeithas Dafydd ap Gwilym|cy}}'' (the [[Dafydd ap Gwilym]] Society), which was founded in 1886 and is still a students' society.<ref name="DWB"/><ref>{{cite web|title=Cymdeithas Dafydd ap Gwilym (The Welsh Society)|url=https://ousu.org/organisation/6655/|website=Oxford University Students' Union|access-date=31 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161031151023/https://ousu.org/organisation/6655/|archive-date=31 October 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>
==Academic career==

In 1889 Morris-Jones was appointed as a lecturer in Welsh at the University College of North Wales, Bangor (now [[Bangor University]]) where he was promoted to professor in 1895,<ref name="DWB"/> a post he held until his death.

Morris-Jones worked to standardise Welsh [[orthography]].<ref name="DWB"/> His works, ''Welsh Orthography'' (1893) and ''[[s:A Welsh Grammar, Historical and Comparative|A Welsh Grammar, Historical and Comparative: phonology and accidence]]'' (1913),<ref>{{cite journal|title=Review of ''A Welsh Grammar, Historical and Comparative'' by J. Morris Jones|journal=The Athenaeum|page=106|issue=4475|date=2 August 1913|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.c109524956;view=1up;seq=124}}</ref> added to the status of the language and thus were well received in Wales. He was also founder and editor of the literary journal, ''{{Interlanguage link|Y Beirniad|cy}}'', published between 1911 and 1919. Morris-Jones was knighted in 1918,<ref>{{cite wikisource |title=New Year Honours. The Official Lists., New Peers And Baronets., Long Roll Of Soldiers |wslink=The_Times/1918/Honours/New_Year |anchor=John_Morris_Jones |newspaper=[[The Times]] |location=London |page=8; col B |issue=41675 |date=1 January 1918}}</ref><ref>''Syr John Morris-Jones'', in Bedwyr Lewis Jones (ed.) ''Gwŷr Môn'' (1979) Cyngor Gwlad Gwynedd. {{ISBN|0-903935-07-4}}</ref> after which he used the surname Morris-Jones.<ref>{{cite web|title=Sir John Morris-Jones|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/John-Morris-Jones|website=[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]|access-date=30 November 2016|date=20 March 2008}}</ref>

Morris-Jones was a commissioner of the [[Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales]] from 1920.<ref>{{cite book|title=An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments in Wales and Monmouthshire: VI - County of Merioneth|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rYDNTA2jeFUC&pg=PR7|year=1921|publisher=Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales|page=vii|id=GGKEY:U89CDD2G7U4}}</ref><ref name="Pryce2011">{{cite book|last=Pryce|first=Huw|title=J. E. Lloyd and the Creation of Welsh History: Renewing a Nation's Past|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C1CuBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA75|year=2011|publisher=University of Wales Press|isbn=978-0-7083-2390-8|page=75}}</ref>
==Translations==

In addition to his own poetry, Morris-Jones published influential translations into Welsh of the German poet [[Heinrich Heine]] (1797–1856) and the Persian [[Omar Khayyam]] (1048–1131).<ref name="DWB"/>
==Marriage and children==

In 1897 Morris-Jones married Mary Hughes of Llanfairpwllgwyngyll. They had four daughters. He died in Bangor on 16 April 1929, aged&nbsp;{{Age|1864|10|17|1929|4|16}}.<ref name="DWB"/>
==Legacy==

The Welsh-speaking hall of residence at [[Bangor University]] is named ''Neuadd John Morris-Jones'' (John Morris-Jones Hall) in his honour.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.bangor.ac.uk/accommodation/halls/jmj.php.en |title=JMJ Halls of Residence. Bangor University |access-date=2008-10-11}}</ref>

==References==
<references/>

'''''List of publications by Morris-Jones'''''
*[http://copac.ac.uk/search?&au=John+Morris%2DJones&sort-order=ti%2C%2Ddate List]

==External links==
{{wikisource|works=or}}
*[http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9053825/Sir-John-Morris-Jones ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' article]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morris-Jones, John}}
[[Category:1864 births]]
[[Category:1929 deaths]]
[[Category:People educated at Friars School, Bangor]]
[[Category:Welsh poets]]
[[Category:Welsh non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:Welsh scholars and academics]]
[[Category:Alumni of Jesus College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Academics of Bangor University]]
[[Category:Knights Bachelor]]