Sir John Morris, 1st Baronet (15 July 1745 – 25 June 1819) was a Welsh

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

 industrialist. He was the second son of Robert Morris, a Shropshire

Shropshire

Shropshire is a county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. It borders Wales to the west...

 entrepreneur who came to Swansea

Swansea

Swansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. Swansea is in the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower Peninsula and the Lliw uplands...

 in 1724 to supervise the Llangyfelach Copper Works, founded in 1717. Morris took over control of the works when the owner, John Lane, was declared bankrupt in 1726.

The family expanded their copper-smelting and coal-mining interests in the Swansea valley throughout the remainder of the eighteenth century, John Morris initiating in 1768 the building of the planned village of Morris Town (today known as Morriston

Morriston

Morriston is a community in the City and County of Swansea, Wales and falls within the Morriston ward. Morriston is sometimes referred to as a distinct town , however Morriston never had a town charter, and is now part of the continuous urban area around Swansea, the centre of which lies three...

) to house the company's workers. In 1806 he was created a Baronet, of Clasemont in the County of Glamorgan.