Lord Morris of Handsworth OJ, DL was born in Bombay, Jamaica and grew up in Cheapside, attending school in Mizpah. He arrived in Birmingham, England in 1954 and worked his way through the ranks of the Transport and General Workers Union to be elected as Britain's first black General Secretary in 1991 and re-elected in 1995. He retired from that post in October 2003 after 12 years.

Bill Morris has his public role in a variety of ways, and his appointments include:

  • Chair, The Morris Public Inquiry (into the professional standards and workplace issues of the Metropolitan Police; reported December 2004)
  • Non-Executive Director, Bank of England (1998-2005)
  • Member, Employment Appeals Tribunal (1988-2008)
  • Chancellor, University of Technology, Jamaica (2000-2010)
  • Chancellor, Staffordshire University (2004-2011)
  • Member, Cricket Board for England and Wales (2005-2015)
  • Member, Panel of Mergers and Takeovers (2005-2018)
  • Member, Board of Trustees Performance Birmingham Limited (the charitable trust that runs Birmingham Symphony Hall and Town Hall) (2008-2015)
  • Chair, Midland Heart housing association (2007-2014)

In October 2002 Bill Morris was awarded the Order of Jamaica by the Jamaican Government for services to international trade unionism.

In November 2003 he received a Knighthood from Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth.

In April 2006 Bill Morris was awarded a life peerage. He took his seat in the House of Lords on 13 June 2006 and took the title: Lord Morris of Handsworth. He retired on 21 July 2020.

In 2008 he was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Staffordshire.


In 2005, the Trustees of the National Portrait Gallery in London commissioned a portrait of Bill Morris by John Keane.

 

Bill Morris
On his last day as General
Secretary of the T&G.