Morris In praise of


SEVERAL NAMES STAND OUT in any study of the early years of Royal Liverpool - Dowie, Dun, Kennard and Potter to name but four. James Muir Dowie and John Dun, arguably the founding fathers


of the


Club in May 1869, achieved immortality through two holes on the links being named after them. Colonel Kennard’s connections resulted in the royal accolade and thus appropriate stature for the Club. And Thomas Owen Potter’s


initiative led to the founding of the Amateur Championship in 1885. Of the players, Ball, Hilton and Graham were prominent names among the locally born with Hutchinson and Hutchings from further afield. However the name Morris is the


ever present thread running through the Club’s first sixty years—Jack Morris. Employed on the 14th July 1869 to look after the course, make and repair clubs and give lessons, he died sixty years later in 1929 as a Life Member of the Club. Thanks to the family’s exploits at St


Andrews and Prestwick the Morris name resonated through the world of golf in the second half of the nineteenth century. Old Tom Morris


Jack (1821-1908)


and his son Tommy (1851-1875) both won the Open four times. The son’s successes included three


years in succession from 1868 making the Belt, the then trophy, his property. After a year without a Championship he then became the first winner of the present Claret Jug in 1872. The tragedy of his early death in 1875 aged 24 of a broken heart following the death of his wife in childbirth undoubtedly deprived him of further Open victories and of setting unbeatable records. Alongside his record as a player Old


Above: Jack Morris


The Morris name resonated through the world of golf


12 ROYAL LIVERPOOL GOLF CLUB MAGAZINE 2 017


Tom was a skilled clubmaker and after a spell at Prestwick became the much respected professional at St Andrews until his death in 1908. He was based in premises alongside the 18th hole of the Old Course, a hole that is named after him. The Morris family was large. Old Tom had two brothers and four sisters. Jack


ANTHONY SHONE CELEBRATES A MAN WHOSE DEDICATION TO GOLF AND ROYAL LIVERPOOL GOLF CLUB WAS EXEMPLARY.


was the son of an older brother, George, making him part of a special heritage. Naturally the priority on forming a golf club at Hoylake was laying out a course to play on. This task was given to a good amateur golfer, Robert Chambers of the Edinburgh publishing family and a son-in-law of Dowie. To assist him he brought George Morris, Old Tom’s brother, and Jack came as well. After a spell in service in the Chambers home in Edinburgh George had taken a position at Carnoustie where Jack had learnt his golf. Jack liked what he saw when he


came to Hoylake to such an extent that he accepted a position with the newly formed Club. George was sceptical as to the prospects and expected to see his son back in Scotland before long. He was wrong! Jack became part of Hoylake remaining until his death sixty years later at the age of 82. By today’s requirements the position


Jack Morris took up was onerous. Nowadays looking after the course and members’


playing needs is the


responsibility of two well qualified people with a team of helpers. In 1869 it was Jack Morris with negligible assistance! To start with he had a workshop in a loose box behind the Royal Hotel where the Club was based. On the building of the present clubhouse in 1895 he was given more space at the south end of the building in the room that became the ladies lounge prior to becoming a staff room, the caddy master and club storage being below on the ground floor. On top of


routine activities in the early days the extension of the course


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