Harold Arthur Morris
Encyclopedia
Harold Arthur Morris was the fifth person to be awarded the Freedom of the City
of Kimberley
, South Africa, an honour conferred in 1967 in recognition of outstanding services to the City and the Northern Cape
. Morris was born in Rondebosch
, Cape Town, on 4 May 1884 and died in Kimberley aged 93 on 3 June 1977.
Preparatory School and afterwards an Honorary Canon
of St. George's Cathedral, Cape Town
. The three boys grew up with their parents at Feldhausen ('The Grove') in Claremont and at Bishops (Diocesan College). Morris's elder brother, Edward, an attorney at Nqamakwe, Transkei, died during the 1918 influeza epidemic, while the youngest of the siblings, Hugh, as a medical graduate from Edinburgh
and a fine artist, who rose to the rank of captain in the Great War, was killed by a sniper behind enemy lines in 1915 while sketching enemy positions.
Morris was educated at Diocesan College
, 1893–1901, and began an engineering career in Cape Town
in 1902. As a qualified journeyman in 1907 he helped install a Pelton wheel
hydro electric scheme in the Hex River Valley, and the first 2 200 Volt high tension switchboard at the Dock Road Power Station for Cape Government Railways
. Subsequently joining the staff of the English-owned "Koffyfontein Mine Ltd", he went to the Free State mining town of Koffiefontein
in 1909. In 1912 he qualified as an engineer, being awarded Certificate No 11 which, in 1967, was the oldest valid professional engineering certificate in South Africa.
Morris volunteered for service, first in local hostilities when he joined Cullinan's Horse, a mounted unit forming part of a surprise "Eastern Force" for an intended cross-desert attack on the German rear in South West Africa
(the Germans had surrendered, however, by the time the force reached its destination). He then worked his passage to England, as a Third Engineer in S.S. Galway Castle, and joined the Royal Engineers
. As a Sergeant he took a searchlight contingent to the front. Commissioned in 1918 as 2nd Lieutenant, No 5 Anti Aircraft Searchlight Section, H.A. Morris was awarded a Military Cross
"for continuous excellent work and disregard of personal danger, though constantly bombed, machine gunned and sometimes shelled in front of Arras and in the advance on Valenciennes and Mons". He later led his section on the great march across the Rhine as part of the Army of Occupation
in Germany.
as a construction electrician, resigning in 1926 to take up the post of "City Electrician" with the Kimberley City Council – or as "City Electrical Engineer" as the position came to be designated from 1930 onwards.
continued. He encouraged the use of electrical appliances to increase the load, revenue and size of the municipal network. Morris later recalled that although Kimberley was famed for its early street lighting, he'd been astonished on his first day with the municipality to have a staff member report for paraffin and fodder for his horse, his job being to light up the rather primitive lamps in the "far West End" of the city. For prioritising the extension of electric street lighting in the poorer parts of town, Sol Plaatje
was to inscribe a copy of his novel Mhudi (1930) to "Mr H.A. Morris, with the author's compliments and happy memories of the lights of the first Electric City on the Continent of Africa."
In 1941 dual control of Kimberley's electrical reticulation was finally ended, and, as Morris put it, the city regained its birthright. The department expanded rapidly.
planned its Trans-Africa Air Service, Kimberley upgraded its aerodrome
. This new venture was included in the engineer's portfolio, which became "City Electrical and Airport Department". The Kimberley airfield's night lighting was proclaimed the best on the continent and was subsequently copied by Johannesburg.
In 1934 the Kimberley Air Rally, largely organized by H.A. Morris, attracted 20 000 spectators, hugely popularising aviation. He was a co-founder of the Municipal Airports Association, and launched the Kimberley Aviation Society (1936). In 1938, with impending war, he submitted a scheme to set up a pilot training school "on the safest aerodrome in the world where the highest possible number of flying hours could be had". The Union Defence Force
and Royal Air Force
leased the whole municipal airport in Dec 1939 for this purpose. During the war, as a 'key man', he was prevented from volunteering for service and so remained in Kimberley.
region, with Kimberley as 'capital', and in that year he was responsible for publishing a map in which the name "Northern Cape" was used for the first time to define the area. Thinking along these lines dated back at least to 1936 when he and George Robertson approached Eskom
with proposals for power lines along the Vaal and Modder Rivers to feed the Kimberley region. In 1946, with Russell Elliott and Graham Eden, he co-founded the Northern Cape and Adjoining Areas Development Association, publishing further pamphlets and maps to promote this hitherto neglected region which held enormous potential, particularly in terms of its mineral wealth. (Jottings amongst Morris's personal papers indicate a search for a name for the region that would not require translation – "Nova Kaap" being one possibility – but "Northern Cape" was the name that stuck).
In 1944 H.A. Morris, upon retirement, was re-employed as Municipal Development Officer. One of his campaigns at this time was for the generation of electricity for the Northern Cape using Vierfontein low-grade coal. The idea was taken up in due course. From 1946 he was a member of the fund-raising committee for the building of the Northern Cape Technical College, the William Humphreys Art Gallery
and the Theatre complex.
of Kimberley and was also the recipient of a Rotary
Honours Award. The citation, referring to Morris's "yeoman service in pioneering the establishment of the Northern Cape and Adjoining Areas Regional Development Association" which had "proved to be of inestimable benefit to the City of Kimberley and the Region as a whole", as well as his having been "a leading figure in promoting the interests of the City of Kimberley in the early years of commercial aviation in South Africa," was handed to Mr Morris by the Mayor
, Councillor G.B. Haberfeld, during a municipal ceremony.
Following his death in 1977 the Intake Substation at Homestead, Kimberley, was opened and named the Harold Morris Substation.
in Kimberley in April 1920 and the couple had a daughter, Elizabeth, and a son, Roger. In 1947 H.A. Morris and his son Roger Morris, with Graham Eden, founded an electrical firm named Morris & Eden Pty Ltd, later Morris Radio Engineers (Pty) Ltd. Morris's sister-in-law, Olive Grant Vigne McIntyre, was City Librarian of Kimberley.
Freedom of the City
Freedom of the City is an honour bestowed by some municipalities in Australia, Canada, Ireland, France, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, the United Kingdom, Gibraltar and Rhodesia to esteemed members of its community and to organisations to be honoured, often for service to the community;...
of Kimberley
Kimberley, Northern Cape
Kimberley is a city in South Africa, and the capital of the Northern Cape. It is located near the confluence of the Vaal and Orange Rivers. The town has considerable historical significance due its diamond mining past and siege during the Second Boer War...
, South Africa, an honour conferred in 1967 in recognition of outstanding services to the City and the Northern Cape
Northern Cape
The Northern Cape is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, part of an international park shared with Botswana...
. Morris was born in Rondebosch
Rondebosch
Rondebosch is one of the Southern Suburbs of Cape Town, South Africa. It is primarily a residential suburb, with a medium-size shopping area, a small business district as well as the main campus of the University of Cape Town.-History:...
, Cape Town, on 4 May 1884 and died in Kimberley aged 93 on 3 June 1977.
Early life and education
H.A. Morris was the second of three sons of the Revd Henry Elliott Morris, who was the head of the Diocesan CollegeDiocesan College
The Diocesan College, or Bishops as it is more commonly known, is an independent, all-boys school situated in the suburb of Rondebosch in Cape Town, South Africa...
Preparatory School and afterwards an Honorary Canon
Canon (priest)
A canon is a priest or minister who is a member of certain bodies of the Christian clergy subject to an ecclesiastical rule ....
of St. George's Cathedral, Cape Town
St. George's Cathedral, Cape Town
St George's Cathedral is the Anglican cathedral in Cape Town, South Africa. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Cape Town....
. The three boys grew up with their parents at Feldhausen ('The Grove') in Claremont and at Bishops (Diocesan College). Morris's elder brother, Edward, an attorney at Nqamakwe, Transkei, died during the 1918 influeza epidemic, while the youngest of the siblings, Hugh, as a medical graduate from Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
and a fine artist, who rose to the rank of captain in the Great War, was killed by a sniper behind enemy lines in 1915 while sketching enemy positions.
Morris was educated at Diocesan College
Diocesan College
The Diocesan College, or Bishops as it is more commonly known, is an independent, all-boys school situated in the suburb of Rondebosch in Cape Town, South Africa...
, 1893–1901, and began an engineering career in Cape Town
Cape Town
Cape Town is the second-most populous city in South Africa, and the provincial capital and primate city of the Western Cape. As the seat of the National Parliament, it is also the legislative capital of the country. It forms part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality...
in 1902. As a qualified journeyman in 1907 he helped install a Pelton wheel
Pelton wheel
The Pelton wheel is an impulse turbine which is among the most efficient types of water turbines. It was invented by Lester Allan Pelton in the 1870s. The Pelton wheel extracts energy from the impulse of moving water, as opposed to its weight like traditional overshot water wheel...
hydro electric scheme in the Hex River Valley, and the first 2 200 Volt high tension switchboard at the Dock Road Power Station for Cape Government Railways
Cape Government Railways
The Cape Government Railways was the government-owned railway operator in the Cape Colony from 1874 until the creation of the South African Railways in 1910.-Private railways:...
. Subsequently joining the staff of the English-owned "Koffyfontein Mine Ltd", he went to the Free State mining town of Koffiefontein
Koffiefontein
Koffiefontein is a small farming town in the Free State province of South Africa. Farming in the district focuses on cattle and sheep farming with lucerne, potatoes and ground nuts being the main crops sown. There are also a cheese factory and vineyards in the town...
in 1909. In 1912 he qualified as an engineer, being awarded Certificate No 11 which, in 1967, was the oldest valid professional engineering certificate in South Africa.
World War I
With the outbreak of World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
Morris volunteered for service, first in local hostilities when he joined Cullinan's Horse, a mounted unit forming part of a surprise "Eastern Force" for an intended cross-desert attack on the German rear in South West Africa
South West Africa
South-West Africa was the name that was used for the modern day Republic of Namibia during the earlier eras when the territory was controlled by the German Empire and later by South Africa....
(the Germans had surrendered, however, by the time the force reached its destination). He then worked his passage to England, as a Third Engineer in S.S. Galway Castle, and joined the Royal Engineers
Royal Engineers
The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually just called the Royal Engineers , and commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps of the British Army....
. As a Sergeant he took a searchlight contingent to the front. Commissioned in 1918 as 2nd Lieutenant, No 5 Anti Aircraft Searchlight Section, H.A. Morris was awarded a Military Cross
Military Cross
The Military Cross is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers and other ranks of the British Armed Forces; and formerly also to officers of other Commonwealth countries....
"for continuous excellent work and disregard of personal danger, though constantly bombed, machine gunned and sometimes shelled in front of Arras and in the advance on Valenciennes and Mons". He later led his section on the great march across the Rhine as part of the Army of Occupation
Army of Occupation
Army of Occupation is a term for an army occupying conquered territory, and has been used for many armies in many eras including:*The Army of Occupation of the U.S...
in Germany.
Kimberley
Morris returned to South Africa after the war and went to Kimberley to join De BeersDe Beers
De Beers is a family of companies that dominate the diamond, diamond mining, diamond trading and industrial diamond manufacturing sectors. De Beers is active in every category of industrial diamond mining: open-pit, underground, large-scale alluvial, coastal and deep sea...
as a construction electrician, resigning in 1926 to take up the post of "City Electrician" with the Kimberley City Council – or as "City Electrical Engineer" as the position came to be designated from 1930 onwards.
Developing Kimberley's electrical reticulation
His first task was to re-organise the obsolete electrical reticulation of the city, although dual control by Kimberley and De BeersDe Beers
De Beers is a family of companies that dominate the diamond, diamond mining, diamond trading and industrial diamond manufacturing sectors. De Beers is active in every category of industrial diamond mining: open-pit, underground, large-scale alluvial, coastal and deep sea...
continued. He encouraged the use of electrical appliances to increase the load, revenue and size of the municipal network. Morris later recalled that although Kimberley was famed for its early street lighting, he'd been astonished on his first day with the municipality to have a staff member report for paraffin and fodder for his horse, his job being to light up the rather primitive lamps in the "far West End" of the city. For prioritising the extension of electric street lighting in the poorer parts of town, Sol Plaatje
Sol Plaatje
Solomon Tshekisho Plaatje was a South African intellectual, journalist, linguist, politician, translator, and writer. The Sol Plaatje Local Municipality, which includes the city of Kimberley, was named after him.-Early life:...
was to inscribe a copy of his novel Mhudi (1930) to "Mr H.A. Morris, with the author's compliments and happy memories of the lights of the first Electric City on the Continent of Africa."
In 1941 dual control of Kimberley's electrical reticulation was finally ended, and, as Morris put it, the city regained its birthright. The department expanded rapidly.
Kimberley Airport and Aviation
In 1930-31, when Imperial AirwaysImperial Airways
Imperial Airways was the early British commercial long range air transport company, operating from 1924 to 1939 and serving parts of Europe but especially the Empire routes to South Africa, India and the Far East...
planned its Trans-Africa Air Service, Kimberley upgraded its aerodrome
Aerodrome
An aerodrome, airdrome or airfield is a term for any location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve cargo, passengers or neither...
. This new venture was included in the engineer's portfolio, which became "City Electrical and Airport Department". The Kimberley airfield's night lighting was proclaimed the best on the continent and was subsequently copied by Johannesburg.
In 1934 the Kimberley Air Rally, largely organized by H.A. Morris, attracted 20 000 spectators, hugely popularising aviation. He was a co-founder of the Municipal Airports Association, and launched the Kimberley Aviation Society (1936). In 1938, with impending war, he submitted a scheme to set up a pilot training school "on the safest aerodrome in the world where the highest possible number of flying hours could be had". The Union Defence Force
Union Defence Force
The Union Defence Force may refer to a former or current military organization:* the South African Army from 1912 to 1957* the military of the United Arab Emirates...
and Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
leased the whole municipal airport in Dec 1939 for this purpose. During the war, as a 'key man', he was prevented from volunteering for service and so remained in Kimberley.
The Northern Cape
In 1943 Morris conceived the idea of a Northern CapeNorthern Cape
The Northern Cape is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, part of an international park shared with Botswana...
region, with Kimberley as 'capital', and in that year he was responsible for publishing a map in which the name "Northern Cape" was used for the first time to define the area. Thinking along these lines dated back at least to 1936 when he and George Robertson approached Eskom
Eskom
Eskom is a South African electricity public utility, established in 1923 as the Electricity Supply Commission by the government of South Africa in terms of the Electricity Act . It was also known by its Afrikaans name Elektrisiteitsvoorsieningskommissie . The two acronyms were combined in 1986 and...
with proposals for power lines along the Vaal and Modder Rivers to feed the Kimberley region. In 1946, with Russell Elliott and Graham Eden, he co-founded the Northern Cape and Adjoining Areas Development Association, publishing further pamphlets and maps to promote this hitherto neglected region which held enormous potential, particularly in terms of its mineral wealth. (Jottings amongst Morris's personal papers indicate a search for a name for the region that would not require translation – "Nova Kaap" being one possibility – but "Northern Cape" was the name that stuck).
In 1944 H.A. Morris, upon retirement, was re-employed as Municipal Development Officer. One of his campaigns at this time was for the generation of electricity for the Northern Cape using Vierfontein low-grade coal. The idea was taken up in due course. From 1946 he was a member of the fund-raising committee for the building of the Northern Cape Technical College, the William Humphreys Art Gallery
William Humphreys Art Gallery
The William Humphreys Art Gallery, in Kimberley, South Africa, was opened in 1952 and named after its principal benefactor, William Benbow Humphreys...
and the Theatre complex.
Freeman of the City
In 1967 H.A. Morris was made a Freeman of the CityFreedom of the City
Freedom of the City is an honour bestowed by some municipalities in Australia, Canada, Ireland, France, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, Spain, the United Kingdom, Gibraltar and Rhodesia to esteemed members of its community and to organisations to be honoured, often for service to the community;...
of Kimberley and was also the recipient of a Rotary
Rotary International
Rotary International is an organization of service clubs known as Rotary Clubs located all over the world. The stated purpose of the organization is to bring together business and professional leaders to provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help...
Honours Award. The citation, referring to Morris's "yeoman service in pioneering the establishment of the Northern Cape and Adjoining Areas Regional Development Association" which had "proved to be of inestimable benefit to the City of Kimberley and the Region as a whole", as well as his having been "a leading figure in promoting the interests of the City of Kimberley in the early years of commercial aviation in South Africa," was handed to Mr Morris by the Mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
, Councillor G.B. Haberfeld, during a municipal ceremony.
Following his death in 1977 the Intake Substation at Homestead, Kimberley, was opened and named the Harold Morris Substation.
Family
H.A. Morris married Mavis Aitken Hull McIntyre (granddaughter of Kimberley pioneers David McIntyre and George Henry Hull) at St Cyprian's CathedralSt Cyprian's Cathedral, Kimberley
The Cathedral Church of St Cyprian the Martyr, Kimberley, is the seat of the Bishop of the Anglican Diocese of Kimberley and Kuruman, Anglican Church of Southern Africa. It became a Cathedral when the Synod of Bishops gave a mandate for the formation of the new Diocese of Kimberley and Kuruman in...
in Kimberley in April 1920 and the couple had a daughter, Elizabeth, and a son, Roger. In 1947 H.A. Morris and his son Roger Morris, with Graham Eden, founded an electrical firm named Morris & Eden Pty Ltd, later Morris Radio Engineers (Pty) Ltd. Morris's sister-in-law, Olive Grant Vigne McIntyre, was City Librarian of Kimberley.