Lord Bill Morris

The University’s Chancellor, Lord Bill Morris of Handsworth OJ, stepped down in July following 7 years service.

He was given a warm farewell at the Chancellor’s Reception, which took place during the University’s Graduation Week celebrations and saw Bill being thanked by staff and students alike for his contributions to Staffordshire University.

View a picture gallery and celebration video of Lord Bill’s leaving party

Lord Bill Morris was born in Bombay, Jamaica in 1938 and lived with his parents in a small rural village in Cheapside, Manchester. He was educated at nearby Mizpah School where his ambition was to play cricket for the West Indies.

His wish to attend a prestigious agricultural college was halted when he had, in 1954, to join his recently widowed mother in Britain, living in Birmingham’s Handsworth district.

Bill’s trade union life began in 1958 when he joined the T&G and was later elected shop steward at Hardy Spicer in 1963. He held a wide range of elected positions within the T&G, including membership of its governing body, the General Executive Council. He also took advantage of the T&G's considerable education programme, learning about trade unions, labour history and industrial law and health and safety. He was appointed full-time T&G Officer in 1973, as Nottingham/Derby District Organiser and later Northampton District Secretary. In 1979 he was appointed National Secretary for the Passenger Services Trade Group, responsible for leading national negotiations in the bus and coach industries.

He became Deputy General Secretary in 1986, and as a result of a change in the law, was subsequently confirmed in that post by postal ballot four years later. He was also responsible for the union’s educational activities, equal opportunities and development of policies and services for women and young members. In 1991, Bill was elected General Secretary of the T&G by a postal ballot of members. He was the first black general secretary of a trade union and arguably one of the most influential black people in Britain.

In June 2006, the then titled Sir Bill Morris – was made a peer and awarded a new title, the Honourable Lord Morris of Handsworth OJ.  As a working peer Lord Morris pledged to champion “those without a voice” and his well informed opinions are sought at the highest level.

When Lord Morris was formally introduced to the House of Lords he was accompanied by two sponsors, one was The Right Honourable Lord Ashley of Stoke CH, Emeritus Chancellor at Staffordshire University.  The second sponsor was Baroness Howells of St David’s, a trustee of the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust who has served as an unofficial advisor to the Lawrence family.
Lord Morris’s full title refers to Birmingham’s Handsworth district, the area where he lived on arrival from Jamaica to the UK in the 1950s.