William Morris, 1st Viscount Nuffield

The Right Honourable
The Viscount Nuffield
GBE CH FRS
Morris c. 1920
Born
William Richard Morris

(1877-10-10)10 October 1877
Worcester, Worcestershire, England
Died22 August 1963(1963-08-22) (aged 85)
Nuffield, Oxfordshire, England
Occupation(s)Motor manufacturer and philanthropist
Known for
Spouse
Elizabeth Anstey
​
(m. 1903)​

William Richard Morris, Viscount Nuffield, GBE, CH, FRS (10 October 1877 – 22 August 1963), was an English motor manufacturer, philanthropist and prominent financier of the British fascist movement. He was the founder of Morris Motors Limited and is remembered as the founder of the Nuffield Foundation, the Nuffield Trust and Nuffield College, Oxford, as well as being involved in his role as President of BUPA in creating what is now Nuffield Health. He took his title from the village of Nuffield in Oxfordshire, where he lived.

Initially Morris Motors relied heavily on Oxford's local labour force,[1] and William Morris became the largest employer in the city.[2] However during the 1920s and 1930s, Oxford saw a dramatic size and population increase following large numbers of unemployed people from depressed areas of Britain seeking work in Morris's factories. This time period was marked with frequent attempts of industrial action protesting against the low pay and poor working conditions in Morris's factories. The first successful strike in a Morris factory was achieved in 1934, led by Communist Party activist Abe Lazarus with support from local Labour Party activists.[3]

William Morris was politically anti-union, anti-Semitic, and a key financier of Sir Oswald Mosley and British fascism.[4] Morris gave Mosley £35,000 to fund the anti-Semitic newspaper Action,[5] and £50,000 in 1930 to finance Mosley's fascist New Party,[6][7][8] which was subsequently absorbed into the British Union of Fascists (BUF).[2][9] Morris was also a subscriber to anti-Jewish publications, and his personal papers detailed his belief that the government of England was controlled by Jews.[10] Despite Morris's personal political beliefs, the workers employed in his factories contributed to ushering a wave of left wing political activism across Oxford during the 1930s.[11]

  1. ^ Bowie, Duncan (2018). Reform & Revolt in the City of Dreaming Spires: Radical, Socialist and Communist Politics in the City of Oxford 1930-1980. London: University of Westminster Press. p. 139. ISBN 978-1-912656-12-7.
  2. ^ a b Renton, Dave (1996). Red Shirts and Black: Fascists and Anti-Fascists in Oxford in the 1930s. Oxford: Ruskin College Library. p. 3. ISBN 0900183-19-5.
  3. ^ Bowie, Duncan (2018). Reform & Revolt in the City of Dreaming Spires: Radical, Socialist and Communist Politics in the City of Oxford 1930-1980. London: University of Westminster Press. p. 179. ISBN 978-1-912656-12-7.
  4. ^ Renton, Dave (1996). Red Shirts and Black: Fascists and Anti-Fascists in Oxford in the 1930s. Oxford: Ruskin College Library. p. 53. ISBN 0900183-19-5.
  5. ^ Adeney, Martin (1993). Nuffield: A Biography. Robert Hale. pp. 122–130. ISBN 9780709051237.
  6. ^ Simkin, John (1997). "Oswald Mosley and Fascism in Britain". Spartacus Education. Retrieved 11 November 2022.
  7. ^ Rubin, Bert (2010). "The Rise and Fall of British Fascism: Sir Oswald Mosley and the British Union of Fascists" (PDF). Intersections. 11 (2): 341.
  8. ^ Overy, R. J. (1 September 2017). "Morris, William Richard, Viscount Nuffield". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/35119. ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. Retrieved 11 November 2022.
  9. ^ McShane, Clay (2017). The Automobile: A Chronology of Its Antecedents, Development, and Impact (ebook). Taylor & Francis. p. 78. ISBN 9781351666688.
  10. ^ Renton, Dave (1996). Red Shirts and Black: Fascists and Anti-Fascists in Oxford in the 1930s. Oxford: Ruskin College Library. pp. 3–4. ISBN 0900183-19-5.
  11. ^ Bowie, Duncan (2018). Reform & Revolt in the City of Dreaming Spires: Radical, Socialist and Communist Politics in the City of Oxford 1930-1980. London: University of Westminster Press. p. 180. ISBN 978-1-912656-12-7.