Morris, The Reverend Francis Orpen

The Reverend Francis Orpen Morris (1810–1893) was an Anglo-Irish clergyman and prolific Victorian natural history writer, best known for richly illustrated works on British birds, butterflies, and country houses. A committed conservationist, Morris published some of the era’s most beloved and accessible nature books. His History of British Birds, widely admired for its hand-coloured plates, became a staple of middle-class homes. He also wrote Nests and Eggs of British Birds and A History of British Butterflies, published in multiple editions. Morris’s County Seats recorded Britain’s great houses and their owners in a grand topographical survey. Many of Morris’s works were illustrated by Benjamin Fawcett, with whom he had a long and productive collaboration. His books remain key works of 19th-century natural history and topography.