Fergus Dunlop Morton, Baron Morton of Henryton, MC, PC was a British judge who was a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary from 1947 to 1959.
Background and education
Born in Glasgow, Morton was the youngest child of George Morton and Janet, née Wilson. His father, from a farming family, left school aged thirteen and acquired a considerable fortune as a stockbroker. He was educated at Kelvinside Academy and then went to St John's College, Cambridge with an open scholarship in classics. Morton narrowly missed first class honours in part one of the classical tripos in 1909 owing to illness, before taking first class honours in part two of the law tripos in 1910, topping the class list.
Legal career
After a year with a firm of solicitors, Morton was called to the English bar by the Inner Temple in 1912, also joining Lincoln's Inn in 1914. He was first the pupil of the conveyancer A. L. Ellis, then of leading Chancery junior Dighton Pollock. On the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, he was commissioned as lieutenant into the Highland Light Infantry. He saw action in German East Africa, and was promoted to captain in 1915. In July 1918, he was awarded the Military Cross. Both of his brothers were killed in the war. From 1918-19, Morton was attached to the War Office, before resuming his career at the Chancery bar. His practice grew rapidly, and he became a King's Counsel in 1929. In 1932 he was elected a bencher of Lincoln's Inn.
Judicial career
Morton was appointed to the High Court of Justice in 1938, receiving the customary knighthood, and was assigned to the Chancery Division. From 1941, he chaired the Black List Committee for the following five years. He was appointed a Lord Justice of Appeal in 1944 and on this occasion was sworn of the Privy Council. Three years thereafter the number of the Lords of Appeal in Ordinary was increased to nine and one of the new seats was assigned to Morton. He obtained the traditional life peerage, taking the title Baron Morton of Henryton, of Henryton, in the County of Ayr. Morton joined the Council of Legal Education in 1949, which he left after four years. In 1950 he sat in the Committee on the Law of Intestate Succession and in the subsequent year he became chairman of the Royal Commission on Marriage and Divorce. Lincoln's Inn selected him its Treasurer in 1953. He retired as Lord of Appeal in 1959.
