Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Morant, Philip
MORANT, PHILIP (1700–1770), historian of Essex, born in St. Saviour's parish, Jersey, on 6 Oct. 1700, was second son of Steven Morant, by his wife Mary Filleul (Payne, Armorial of Jersey, pt. v. pp. 294-5). After attending Abingdon school he matriculated at Oxford from Pembroke College as 'Mourant' on 17 Dec. 1717, and graduated B.A. in 1721 (Foster, Alumni Oxon. 1715-1886, iii. 994). At midsummer 1722 he declined the office of preacher of the English church at Amsterdam. In 1724 he was licensed to the curacy of Great Waltham, Essex, and assisted the vicar, Nicholas Tindal [q. v.], in the preparation of a new edition of Rapin's 'History of England.' Tindal made some acknowledgment of Morant's help in the preface to the first volume. Morant also translated the notes to De Beausobre and Lenfant's 'Commentary on St. Matthew's Gospel,' the text of which had been translated by Tindal (1727). As a member of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, Morant proceeded M.A. in 1729. In 1724 he presented to Edmund Gibson, bishop of London, a manuscript 'Answer to the First Part of the Discourse of the Grounds and Reasons of the Christian Religion, in a Letter to a Friend.' The Bishop of London, impressed by Morant's argumentative power and antiquarian learning, conferred much patronage on him. On Gibson's recommendation he was, on 16 Aug. 1732, nominated by Queen Caroline to the chaplaincy of the English episcopal church at Amsterdam, which he retained until 29 Sept. 1734. He was presented to the rectory of Shellow Bowells on 20 April 1733, to the vicarage of Broomfield on 17 Jan. 1733-4, to the rectory of Chignal Smealey on 19 Sept. 1735, to that of St. Mary at the Walls, Colchester, on 9 March 1737, to that of Wickham Bishops on 21 Jan. 1742-3, and to that of Aldham on 14 Sept. 1745, all being in Essex. He held the Colchester and Aldham cures conjointly. At Colchester he did much towards rescuing Archbishop Harsnett's library from destruction, and prepared a catalogue. On 20 Nov. 1755 he was elected F.S.A. On the recommendation of his son-in-law, Thomas Astle [q. v.], Morant was entrusted by a committee of the House of Lords with the preparation for the press of the ancient records of parliament. His knowledge of Norman French and skill as a palæographer qualified him for the work. He was responsible for the text and notes of the edition of the 'Rotuli Parliamentorum' during the period 1278-1413. He died at South Lambeth on 25 Nov. 1770, and was buried in Aldham Church. The east window of the chancel of the new church at Aldham was filled with stained glass by subscription in 1854, 'In memoriam Phil. Morant, A.M.' By Anne, daughter and coheiress of Solomon Stebbing of the Brook House, Great Tey, Essex, he had an only daughter, Anna Maria, who was married, on 18 Dec. 1765, to Thomas Astle, keeper of the records in the Tower of London (Transactions of Essex Archæolog. Soc. iv. 43-4). His library of books and manuscripts came into the possession of Astle. Many of the books are now in the Royal Institution; the manuscripts (excepting the Holman volumes, which were presented to the corporation of Colchester by Robert Hills of Colne Park, Essex) form part of the Stowe collection in the British Museum.
In 1748 Morant published his 'History and Antiquities of Colchester,' fol. (2nd edit. 1768), of which only two hundred copies were printed, at the joint expense of William Bowyer [q. v.] and himself. It is painstaking and accurate, but was burlesqued as diffuse by John Clubbe [q.v.] in 'The History and Antiquities of the ancient Village of Wheatfield' (1758). His great work, 'The History and the Antiquities of the County of Essex,' 2 vols. fol. 1760-8, with which the 'History of Colchester 'was incorporated, is based chiefly on the collections of Thomas Jekyll [q. v.] and William Holman [q. v.] On Holman's death in 1730 his manuscript history was placed in the hands of Nicholas Tindal, but he abandoned the project of editing it after two numbers had appeared. In 1739 Dr. Nathaniel Salmon purchased the manuscript with a view to publication. He, however, died in 1742, and the manuscript passed eventually into the hands of John Booth, F.S A., of Barnard's Inn, under-sheriff of Essex, from whom it was acquired about 1750 by Morant (cf. Gough, Anecd. of Brit. Topography, i. 370). As an editor Morant was more competent than either of his predecessors. As a manorial history his work is most useful, but the genealogies are often defective and inaccurate : no monumental inscriptions or extracts from parish registers are given, while the lists of incumbents mostly commence with the eighteenth century only. A comparison of the history
with the portion of the Holman manuscripts in the Colchester Museum (where the original manuscript of Morant's 'History' is also preserved) makes it apparent that Morant frequently neglected to make the best use of his materials. A third volume, containing additions and corrections, with arms and inscriptions, was promised, but never appeared. The book was reprinted in 1816 by Meggy & Chalk of Chelmsford.
Morant's other works are : 1. 'An Introduction to the Beading of the New Testament,' being a translation of that of MM. de Beausobre and Lenfant, prefixed to their edition of the New Testament, 2 vols. 4to, London, 1725-6. 2. 'The Cruelties and Persecutions of the Romish Church displayed,' 8vo, London, 1728 (translated into Welsh by Thomas Richards, 4to, Caer-Fyrddin, 1746). 3. < Remarks on the 19th Chap- ter of the II d Book of Mr. Selden's "Mare Clausum",' printed at the end of Falle's ' Cæsarea,' 8vo, 1734 and 1797. 4. Translation of the Notes in the second part of the 'Othoman History,' by Demetrius Cantimir, fol., London, 1735. 5. 'The History of England by way of Question and Answer,' revised and corrected for Thomas Astley, 12mo, London, 1737. 6. 'Account of the Spanish Invasion in 1588, by Way of Illustration to the Tapestry Hangings in the House of Lords and in the King's Wardrobe,' engraved and published by John Pine, fol. London, 1739 ; 2nd edit. 1753. 7. 'Geographia Antiqua & Nova,' with Cellarius's maps, 4to, London, 1742 (another edit. 1768), translated with additions from Da Fresiioy's 'Methode pour 6tudier la Geographic.' Under the signature 'C.' he wrote several articles for the first edition of the 'Biographia Britannica,' as well as that on Bishop Stillingfleet, which is unsigned. He revised, with numerous additions, Hearne's 'Ductor Historicus ' (1723), and left in manuscript a 'Life of King Edward the Confessor.'
In the British Museum are Morant's letters to Dr. Thomas Birch [q. v.], 1748-62 (Addit. MS. 4314), and copies of his letters to Browne Willis, 1745-59 (ib. 5841), and of a letter to Dr. William Richardson, 1740 (ib. 5860).
[Nichols's Lit. Anecd. ii. 201 n., 705, and elsewhere; Nichols's Illustr. of Lit.; Transactions of Essex Archseolog. Soc. ii. 148 ; Historians of Essex, III, 'Philip Morant' (a valuable article by Mr. C. F. D. Sperling in the Essex Review, January 1894); Ayscough's Cat. of MSS. in Brit. Mus. p. 719 ; Egerton MS. 2382, f. 179 ; Addit. MS. 23990, f. 62 ; Addit. (Cole) MS. vol. xxxiii. f. 104 ; Watt's Bibl. Brit.]