His father was a justice of the peace, and in 1841 became the first Roman Catholic to be High Sheriff of Galway Town, an office his son also held.

Elected to Parliament in 1865 as Liberal member for Galway,[1] Morris became a Conservative the following year when he took office in Lord Derby's administration as Solicitor-General for Ireland.

In 1885, Morris was created a Baronet, of Spiddal in the County of Galway,[2] and two years later he was appointed Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench for Ireland.

In 1889, on being made a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary, he was given a life peerage as Baron Morris, of Spiddal in the County of Galway,[3] and sworn a member of the Privy Council.

Another son was Lt. Col. George Henry Morris, who was the first commanding officer to lead an Irish Guards battalion into battle and was killed in action during the Retreat from Mons in September 1914.