Henry Canova Vollam ("
H. V.")
Morton (26 July, 1892–18 June, 1979) was a
journalistA journalist is a person who practises journalism, the gathering and dissemination of information about current events, trends, issues, and people while striving for viewpoints that are not biased.Reporters are one type of journalist...
and pioneering travel writer from
BirminghamBirmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands county of England. Birmingham is the second-most populous British city, with a population of 1,006,500 ....
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, best known for his prolific and popular books on Britain and the
Holy LandThe Holy Land , generally refers to the geographical region of the Levant called Land of Canaan or Land of Israel in the Bible, and constitutes the Promised land...
. He first achieved fame in 1923 when, while working for the
Daily ExpressThe Daily Express is a conservative, British tabloid newspaper. It is a middle-market title, the flagship title of Express Newspapers and is currently owned by Richard Desmond...
, he scooped the official
TimesThe Times is a UK daily newspaper. Times may also refer to:In newspapers:*The Times, a Chicago newspaper group*The Times *The Times , Louisiana*The Times of India...
correspondent during the coverage of the opening of the
Tomb of TutankhamonKV62 is the tomb of Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings , which became famous for the wealth of treasure it contained. The tomb was discovered in 1922 by Howard Carter, underneath the remains of workmen's huts built during the Ramesside Period; this explains why it was spared from the worst of...
in
EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia...
.
Morton was born at Ashton Under Lyne,
LancashireLancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Lancashire County Council is based in Preston. However, Lancaster is still considered to be the county town...
, the son of Joseph Morton, editor of the
Birmingham MailThe Birmingham Mail is a tabloid newspaper based in Birmingham, UK but distributed around Birmingham, The Black Country, Solihull, Warwickshire and parts of Worcestershire and Staffordshire. The newspaper, which was re-branded from the Birmingham Evening Mail in October 2005, is one of the biggest...
, and of Margaret Maclain Ewart, a philanthropist.
Henry Canova Vollam ("
H. V.")
Morton (26 July, 1892–18 June, 1979) was a
journalistA journalist is a person who practises journalism, the gathering and dissemination of information about current events, trends, issues, and people while striving for viewpoints that are not biased.Reporters are one type of journalist...
and pioneering travel writer from
BirminghamBirmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands county of England. Birmingham is the second-most populous British city, with a population of 1,006,500 ....
,
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, best known for his prolific and popular books on Britain and the
Holy LandThe Holy Land , generally refers to the geographical region of the Levant called Land of Canaan or Land of Israel in the Bible, and constitutes the Promised land...
. He first achieved fame in 1923 when, while working for the
Daily ExpressThe Daily Express is a conservative, British tabloid newspaper. It is a middle-market title, the flagship title of Express Newspapers and is currently owned by Richard Desmond...
, he scooped the official
TimesThe Times is a UK daily newspaper. Times may also refer to:In newspapers:*The Times, a Chicago newspaper group*The Times *The Times , Louisiana*The Times of India...
correspondent during the coverage of the opening of the
Tomb of TutankhamonKV62 is the tomb of Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings , which became famous for the wealth of treasure it contained. The tomb was discovered in 1922 by Howard Carter, underneath the remains of workmen's huts built during the Ramesside Period; this explains why it was spared from the worst of...
in
EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia...
.
Private life
Morton was born at Ashton Under Lyne,
LancashireLancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Lancashire County Council is based in Preston. However, Lancaster is still considered to be the county town...
, the son of Joseph Morton, editor of the
Birmingham MailThe Birmingham Mail is a tabloid newspaper based in Birmingham, UK but distributed around Birmingham, The Black Country, Solihull, Warwickshire and parts of Worcestershire and Staffordshire. The newspaper, which was re-branded from the Birmingham Evening Mail in October 2005, is one of the biggest...
, and of Margaret Maclain Ewart, a philanthropist. He was educated at
King Edward's SchoolKing Edward's School is an independent secondary school in Birmingham, England, founded by King Edward VI in 1552. It is part of the Foundation of the Schools of King Edward VI in Birmingham, and is widely regarded as one of the most academically successful schools in the country, according to...
in
BirminghamBirmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands county of England. Birmingham is the second-most populous British city, with a population of 1,006,500 ....
.
He firstly married Dorothy Vaughton (born c. 1886/7) on 14 September 1915; they divorced and he then married Violet Mary Muskett, neé Greig (born c. 1900/01), herself a divorcee, on 4 January 1934: she survived him.
In the late 1940s he moved to
South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country located at the southern tip of Africa, with a coastline on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. To the north lie Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland, while Lesotho is an independent country surrounded by South Africa.Modern...
, settling near
Cape TownCape Town is the second most populous city in South Africa, and the largest in land area, forming part of the City of Cape Town metropolitan municipality. It is the provincial capital of the Western Cape, as well as the legislative capital of South Africa, where the National Parliament and many...
and became a South African citizen.
Journalism
After leaving school, Morton entered journalism on the staff of the newspaper edited by his father, the
Birmingham Gazette and Express. After two years, he became its assistant editor in 1912. He then moved to
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
, and spent most of the rest of his British career there, on various national newspapers and magazines. His first job in the capital was as a freelance, lineage reporter for the Evening Standard.
He served in the
Warwickshire YeomanryThe Warwickshire Yeomanry was a yeomanry regiment of the British Army, first raised in 1794, which served as a cavalry and dismounted infantry regiment in the First World War and as a cavalry and an armoured regiment in the Second World War, before being amalgamated into The Queen's Own...
during
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
, but saw no action. After the war, he returned to London and journalism, from 1919 on the
Evening StandardThe London Evening Standard is a free local daily newspaper, published in tabloid format in London, England. It is the dominant regional evening paper for London and the southeast of England, with coverage of national and international news and a strong emphasis on City of London finance...
, and from 1921 on the
Daily ExpressThe Daily Express is a conservative, British tabloid newspaper. It is a middle-market title, the flagship title of Express Newspapers and is currently owned by Richard Desmond...
. His columns on London life in the latter became very popular. In 1923 he achieved world-wide fame for his reports on the opening of the
tomb of TutankhamunKV62 is the tomb of Tutankhamun in the Valley of the Kings , which became famous for the wealth of treasure it contained. The tomb was discovered in 1922 by Howard Carter, underneath the remains of workmen's huts built during the Ramesside Period; this explains why it was spared from the worst of...
, as he successfully out-manoevered the official Times journalist who had been given exclusive rights to the story. From 1931 - 1942, he was "special writer" at the
Daily HeraldThe Daily Herald was a British newspaper, published in London from 1912 to 1964 . It ceased publication when it was relaunched as The Sun.- Origins :...
.
Travel writing
Morton's first book,
The Heart of London, appeared in 1925, and was a development of his popular
Daily Express columns. In 1926, as
motoringMotoring may refer to:* 310 Motoring, an automotive customization garage based in Los Angeles, California* AA Motoring Trust* Best Motoring International, Japanese automobile magazine* driving* Motoring...
was becoming established in the UK, he set off to drive around England in a bull-nosed
MorrisThe Morris Motor Company was a British car manufacturing company. After the incorporation of the company into larger corporations, the Morris name remained in use as a marque until 1984 when British Leyland's Austin Rover Group decided to concentrate on the more popular Austin marque.-Early...
, an early mass-produced motor-car. His account of these travels and of the England of the 1920s was published in 1927 as
In Search of England, a best-seller that established him as one of the leading travel-writers of the age. A number of similar books dealing with different regions of the UK followed.
Even greater acclaim greeted Morton's first foreign travel book,
In the Steps of the Master (1934), which sold over half a million copies. The Master was
JesusJesus of Nazareth —also known as Jesus Christ or occasionally Jesus the Christ—is the central figure of Christianity. Within most Christian denominations...
, and the book an account of Morton's travels in the
Holy LandThe Holy Land , generally refers to the geographical region of the Levant called Land of Canaan or Land of Israel in the Bible, and constitutes the Promised land...
. This was soon followed by
In the Steps of St. Paul (1936), which presents a picture of Ataturk's
TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey
, is a Eurasian country that stretches across the Anatolian peninsula in Western Asia and Thrace in the Balkan region of southeastern Europe...
. This was followed by
Through Lands of the Bible (1938) in which he visits
EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Western Asia...
,
PalestinePalestine is a conventional name used, among others, to describe a geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands.As a geographical term, Palestine can also refer to 'ancient Palestine,' an area...
,
SyriaSyria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south and Israel to the southwest....
and
IraqIraq , officially the Republic of Iraq , also known as Mesopotamia, is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert.Iraq shares borders with Jordan to the west, Syria...
, and gives a marvellous picture of this now vanished scene. Extracts from all three books were combined and published as
Middle East during
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
for the servicemen stationed there.
After the war, Morton turned his attention to
South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country located at the southern tip of Africa, with a coastline on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. To the north lie Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland, while Lesotho is an independent country surrounded by South Africa.Modern...
, publishing
In Search of South Africa in 1948. In the late 1950s and early 1960s he wrote a number of books dealing with
ItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
.
A Traveller in Italy deals with North Italy.
A biography, by Michael Bartholomew, based on Morton's private papers, titled
In search of H.V.Morton was published by Methuen in 2004.
Honours
He became a Fellow of the
Royal Society of LiteratureThe Royal Society of Literature is the "senior literary organisation in Britain". It was founded in 1820 by King George IV, in order to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". The Society's first president was Thomas Burgess, who later became the Bishop of Salisbury...
(FRSL).
GreeceGreece , officially the Hellenic Republic , is a country in southeastern Europe, situated on the southern end of the Balkan Peninsula....
made him a Commander of the Order of the Phoenix in 1937 and he was awarded the Italian Cavaliere,
Order of MeritThe Order of Merit
is an order recognizing distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or for the promotion of culture...
in 1965.