Alexander Morison

Sir Alexander Morison was born in Anchorfield, near Edinburgh, in 1779. He graduated MD from the University of Edinburgh before moving to London in 1808. His first appointment was as inspecting physician of lunatic asylums in Surrey in 1810. While working in London, Morison was president of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh from 1827 to 1829. In 1835 he was appointed physician to Bethlem Hospital. In 1838 Morison became personal physician to Princess Charlotte and later to her husband, Prince Leopold. He was knighted the same year. Morison later returned to Edinburgh, where he delivered unofficial courses of medical lectures, focusing on psychiatry. He died in Currie in 1866.

Legacy of Slavery

Morison was one of a group of 'heirs of Thomas Stratton' to Windsor Castle estate, a sugar and rum plantation, in Saint David, Jamaica in 1817. Morison’s wife (Mary Morison nee Cushnie) was his cousin, and had also, separately, been an heir to the Thomas Stratton estate. Mary had also previously received an additional share of the same estate on the death of her father, Alexander Cushnie, in 1799. These inheritances helped to fund Morison’s early life and career, including the building of a property, Larchgrove.

Talk: Sir Alexander Morison and The Physiognomy of Mental Diseases

Blog: Sir Alexander Morison’s The Physiognomy of Mental Diseases

Online Exhibition: Asylum Patients in Art

Painting: Alexander Morison (19th century)

Painting: Alexander Morison (mid 19th century)

Digitised Collection: Patient illustrations

Biography: Alexander Morison