He was the eldest son of William Edward Morris, a deputy-registrar of the Anglican Diocese of Melbourne, and his second wife Clara Elizabeth (née French).

[5] Will's younger brother, Major General Basil Morris, was an Australian Army officer who served in both the First and Second World Wars.

[5] Beginning in July 1900, Morris pursued his studies at Ridley Hall, a theological college in Cambridge, England.

[9][3] His readings on the medieval period may have influenced him in choosing St Magnus, Earl of Orkney, as Churchie's patron saint.

[10] Around this time he became influenced by the concept of "Muscular Christianity",[3] a philosophical movement that originated from English public schools during the Victorian era.

[5] Despite advice from his father to slow down his rapidly-developing religious career, Morris became a deacon of the Church of England on 22 December 1901.

[15] A young idealist, Morris moved to London to work as Assistant-Curate at the Church of St Mary in Whitechapel, a historically impoverished area.

[14] Morris was ordained as a priest in St Paul's Cathedral on 7 June 1903 by Bishop of London Arthur Winnington-Ingram.

[16] Suspicious of dogma, Morris had a moral disregard for "institutional expressions of faith", which occasionally brought him into conflict with the Church.

Archbishop Keith Rayner has described Morris as "a broad churchman whose religious understanding focused on the 'crises of humanity'".

[14] In Whitechapel, Morris was visited by Bishop of Stepney Cosmo Gordon Lang (future Archbishop of Canterbury).

Morris proposed special missions for wharf labourers and their families, who made up the majority of the parish.

[14][3] Frustrated with the Anglican clergy, Morris left the St Barnabas parish in 1907 and found his vocation in teaching.

The Andrews family, friends of Morris and his wife Ethel Remfry, owned a large house in Toowong named Ardencraig.

Morris and Ethel proposed the establishment of an Anglican private school at Ardencraig, in exchange for the tuition of the Andrews' three sons.

[17][7] However, it received attention from prominent figures in Queensland's Anglican community, such as Archbishop of Brisbane St Clair Donaldson, allowing Morris to enhance the school.

[10] Archbishop Donaldson developed an educational policy where the Anglican diocese would take over the administration of school's associated with the Church.

[20] Due to increasing enrolment numbers, Morris decided to purchase land in East Brisbane and once again move the school.

[10] The foundation stone was laid in October 1917,[7] establishing Churchie at its present site in Oaklands Parade, East Brisbane.

[10][3] On 10 June 1918, Governor of Queensland Sir Hamilton Goold-Adams officially opened the Church of England Grammar School.

During Morris's tenure as headmaster, he rarely mentioned religion outside of church services, as he believed that Churchie's Christian values were so ingrained into the school that any further embellishments were unncessary.

[26][27] After his return from England, Morris met Ethel Ida Remfry, a friend of his sister Marcia.

According to historian John Cole, Morris's anti-socialism and intellectualism were incompatible with Ethel's feminism and modernist views.

[3] Morris was appointed as an honorary Canon of St John's Cathedral on 1 September 1935 by Archbishop William Wand.