He was the youngest son of John Morley, a hosiery manufacturer with premises in Nottingham who opened offices in Wood Street, London; his mother was Sarah Poulton of Maidenhead.

A contemporary biographer, writing in the Annual Register of World Events, considered that he would be remembered by posterity as "one of the leading merchant princes and philanthropists of the century".

In his autobiography, Josiah Henson records, I received numerous tokens of regard from many philanthropic gentlemen while I was in London, which I shall never forget; but I was particularly touched by the special kindness of Samuel Morley, Esq., and George Hitchcock, Esq., of St. Paul's Churchyard.

There is a statue to Samuel Morley in Bristol, and a second memorial above his place of interment in Dr Watts' Walk, Abney Park Cemetery, Stoke Newington, London.

The latter is designed with elegant simplicity, as a large raised tomb, with a plain pediment to each end for nonconformists, even those as wealthy as Samuel Morley, generally resisted ostentatious memorials.

A bust of Morley, by Joseph Else, is to be found at the Waverley Street entrance to The Arboretum, Nottingham with lettering beneath his likeness describing him as an MP, merchant and philanthropist.