Ralph Morice was educated at Cambridge; he graduated B.A. in 1523, and commenced M.A. in 1526. He became secretary to Cranmer in 1528 before his elevation to the archbishopric, and continued in the office until after Edward VI's death. In 1532 he went with Latimer, his brother, and others to see James Bainham [q. v.] in Newgate before his execution. On 18 June 1537 he and his father received a grant of the office of bailiff for some crown lands, and in 1547 he was made registrar to the commissioners appointed to visit the dioceses of Rochester, Canterbury, Chichester, and Winchester. His duties while secretary to the archbishop were severe. In a memorial printed in the Appendix to Strype's 'Cranmer,' and addressed to Queen Elizabeth, he speaks of writing much in defence of the ecclesiastical changes, and as he mentions that he 'most painfullie was occupied in writing of no small volumes from tyme to tyme' much of his work must have been anonymous. He had the farm of the parsonage of Chartham in Kent that is to say he put in a curate, keeping the rest of the revenues. The curate, one Richard Turner, got into trouble for protestant preaching in 1544, but Morice managed to clear him. Under Mary, Morice was in some danger. His house was twice searched, and he lost many of his papers, and had to fly. He was imprisoned, but escaped. The close of his life he passed at Bekesborne in Kent (Hasted, Kent, iii. 715). There he fell into poverty, and stated in one of his petitions to Queen Elizabeth that he had four daughters whom he wanted means to marry. Three of these, however, Margaret, Mary, and Anne, were married in January and February 1570-1. Alyce Morice, who was buried 25 Feb. 1561-2, may have been his wife. The date of his own death is uncertain.
Morice, from his official position, was in possession of much information, and helped Foxe and others in their literary researches, chiefly by supplying them with his 'Anecdotes of Cranmer.' This compilation was used by Strype in his 'Memorials of Cranmer,' and was reprinted from the manuscript at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, in 'Narratives of the Reformation' (Camd. Soc.) Morice gave other assistance to Foxe, and wrote an account of Latimer's conversion, which is printed in Strype's 'Memorials' and in Latimer's 'Works.' The original is in Harl. MS. 422, art. 12. Art. 26 in the same manuscript, an account of the visit to Bainham, appears in Strype, Latimer's 'Works,' and in Foxe. Harl. MS. 6148 consists of copies of letters written by Morice on the archbishop's business. Transcripts by Strype of some of these form Lansdowne MS. 1045. They have been published by Jenkyns and Cox in their editions of Cranmer's 'Works.'
[Cooper's Athenæ Cantabr. i. 294; Narratives of the Reformation, ed. Nichols (Camd. Soc.), passim; Letters and Papers Henry VIII; Dixon's Hist. of Church of Engl. ii. 347; Cranmer's Remains, ed. Jenkyns, vol. i. p. cxviii; Todd's Life of Cranmer.]
MORICE, Sir WILLIAM (1602–1676), secretary of state and theologian, born in St. Martin's parish, Exeter, 6 Nov. 1602, was the elder son of Dr. Evan Morice of Carnarvonshire, who was chancellor of Exeter diocese in 1594, and died in 1605. His mother was Mary, daughter of John Castle of Scobchester in Ashbury, Devonshire; she became in 1611 the third wife of Sir Nicholas Prideaux of Solden, Devonshire, and died on 2 Oct. 1647. His younger brother, Laurence, died young, and the whole property came into the possession of the elder boy. William was educated 'in grammar learning' at Exeter, and entered at Exeter College, Oxford, as a fellow-commoner about 1619, when he was placed under the care of the Rev. Nathanael Carpenter [q. v.] and was patronised by Dr. Prideaux, its rector, who prophesied his rise in life. He graduated B.A. on 27 June 1622, and gave his college a silver bowl weighing seventeen and three-quarter ounces. For some years his life was spent in his native county, first at West Putford and afterwards at Werrington, which he bought of Sir Francis Drake in 1651. He also made considerable purchases of landed property near Plymouth, including the manor of Stoke Damerel. In 1640 he was made a county justice, and in 1651 he was appointed high sheriff of Devonshire. On 15 Aug. 1648 Morice was returned to parliament for Devonshire, but never sat, and was excluded in 'Pride's Purge.' On 12 July 1654 he was re-elected, and he was again returned in 1656, but was not allowed to sit, as he had not received the approval of the Protector's council, whereupon he and many others in a similar position published a remonstrance (Whitelocke, Memorials, pp. 651-3, 698). The borough of Newport in Cornwall, where he enjoyed great interest, chose him in 1658 and again in April 1660, when he preferred to sit for Plymouth, for which he had been returned 'by the freemen,' and he continued to represent that seaport until his death. Morice was related, through his wife, to General Monck, whose property in Devonshire was placed under his care. The general possessed 'a great opinion of his prudence and integrity,' and imposed implicit reliance in
