Identity:

John Morley, Viscount Morley of Blackburn, was an author, journalist and MP, the son of a Lancashire surgeon. He married Mary Ayling in 1870.

Life:

Morley started his career in the early 1860s writing for the Saturday Review. His liberal and reformist ideas attracted a large circle of admirers including John Stuart Mill, and led to his appointments as editor of the Fortnightly Review in 1867 and the Pall Mall Gazette in 1880. Morley left the Pall Mall in 1883 when, after two failed attempts, he was elected Liberal MP for Newcastle. From then on his energies were largely focused on politics (he was twice appointed Chief Secretary for Ireland under Gladstone) although he also continued his career as a political essayist and biographer.

Bibliography:

Dictionary of National Biography, Osford, 2004, online edition (accessed 5 April 2004).