Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Morden, John
MORDEN, Sir JOHN (1623–1708), founder of Morden's College, Blackheath, son of George Morden (d. 1624), and grandson of Robert Morden of Thurlow in Suffolk, was born in the parish of St. Bride's, London, in the summer of 1623. As a 'Turkey' or Levantine merchant he, after some extraordinary vicissitudes, amassed a large fortune, returned to England 'from Aleppo' about the end of Charles II's reign, bought property in Charlton and Greenwich—his most considerable purchase being the manor of Wricklemarsh—and was on 20 Sept. 1688 made a baronet by James II. Morden was one of the twenty-four 'committees of the East India Company' to whom Robert Knox dedicated his 'Historical Relation of the Island of Ceylon' in 1681. He represented Colchester in parliament from 1695 to 1698, and was apparently a commissioner of excise in 1691. In 1695 he founded the excellent 'college' at Blackheath for the reception of 'poor, honest, sober, and discreet merchants who shall have lost their estates by accidents, dangers, and perils of the seas, or by any other accidents, ways, or means, in their honest endeavour to get their living by way of merchandising.' The pensioners were to be upwards of fifty years of age, bachelors or widowers, and members of the church of England. The first admission of members took place on 24 June 1700. The college, which is beautifully situated, is a quaint and spacious structure of richly coloured brick, with stone coigns and cornices, forming a quadrangle surrounded by piazzas. The building was designed by Sir Christopher Wren, and the chapel, consecrated by Bishop Sprati in 1705, contains some oak carving by Grinling Gibbons. Over the front are statues of Morden and his wife Susan, daughter of Sir Joseph Brand (d. 1674) of Edwardstone in Suffolk, and in the hall are their portraits, together with one of Queen Anne. An anagram and acrostic on John Morden ('I Honor Mend'), dated 1695, is also preserved in the college. In the chapel are the founder's arms, and a list of the benefactions made to the college since his death (given in Lysons, Environs of London, iii. 338). There is a cemetery (now disused) attached to the college.
Morden died on 6 Sept. 1708, and was buried on 20 Sept. in the chapel of his foundation. By his will, dated 15 Oct. 1702, and a codicil dated 9 March 1703, he endowed the college after his wife's death with a considerable real copyhold and personal property valued at about 1,300l. per annum. He placed in the college twelve 'decayed Turkey merchants,' each of whom wore a gown with his badge, and had 'a convenient apartment, with a cellar.’ Their number was reduced by Lady Morden, but increased upon her death, on 27 June 1721, when the whole estate came to the charity. The college is administered by a treasurer, appointed by seven trustees, and Morden also bequeathed 30l. per annum for a chaplain, whose stipend was increased by Lady Morden to 60l. Among the past chaplains of the college was Moses Browne [q. v.], who is buried in the cemetery. The college now affords rooms, attendance, and an annual income of 113l., to about forty pensioners. There are in addition about one hundred out-pensioners, with allowances varying from 80l. downwards.
[Hasted's Kent, i. cv, 16, 36, and Hundred of Blackheath, ed. Drake, p. 126.n; Burke's Extinct Baronetages, p. 367; Le Neve's Pedigrees of the Knights, 1873, p. 331; Elmes's Life and Time of Sir Christopher Wren, 1852; Official Return of Members of Parl.; Roget's 'Old Water-Colour' Society, i. 180; Lysons's Collectanea, iii. passim; Stow's Survey, ed. Strype, bk. i. p. 220; Luttrell's Brief Hist. Relation, vi. 347 ; Hist. Register, 1721, Chron. Diary, p. 28; Notes and Queries, 7th ser. x. 56; Hist. MSS. Comm. 13th Rep. App. v. 412; E. C. Lefroy's Echoes from Theocritus, &c., 1885, containing two sonnets (xxv and xxvi) on ‘A College for Decayed Merchants;’ information kindly supplied by Horatio Elphinstone Rivers, esq., treasurer of the college from 1872, who possesses a volume of notes, papers, portraits, and poetical effusions relating to the college.]