First Protestant missionary to China. He was born in Northumberland, England, the son of James Morrison, a member of Scottish Presbyterian Church. A Presbyterian himself, he became determined in his teenage years to become a missionary, and studied Latin, Greek and Hebrew by himself in preparation for his calling, despite opposition from his parents. In 1803 he was admitted to Hoxley Academy in London where he was trained as a minister. The following year he joined the London Missionary Society. Over the following few years he undertook various other academic pursuits, including further missionary training and Chinese language instruction. He was ordained in January 1807 and soon thereafter departed for China, arriving in Macao in September of that year. Soon thereafter he went to nearby Canton (modern day Guangzhou, Guangdong Province) where he continued learning Chinese. He soon fell ill and returned to Macao in mid 1808 to recover. While there he met Mary Morton, whom he married in 1809. Then he returned to Canton and began his work in earnest, serving formally as a translator for the East India Company while preaching the Gospel clandestinely, as preaching Christianity was illegal in China. During the following 12 years he headed a project to translate the Bible into Chinese. He also compiled a Chinese-English dictionary. When it came time to print his Bible and dictionary, he had to do so in Malacca, Malaya, due to the illegality of this act in China. While there, he founded a language school, the Anglo-Chinese College, an incarnation of which exists to this day in Hong Kong. His wife passed away in 1821, and in 1823 he returned to England where he taught Chinese and lectured as a leading authority on China; he also remarried. In 1826 he returned to Canton, and continued his work until he fell ill in 1834. He died shortly thereafter. The Morrison Chapel on the grounds of the Old Protestant Cemetery is named in his honor, as is Morrison Hall at the University of Hong Kong. In addition to the Bible and the dictionary, he published numerous other works, including Chinese language learning material, collections of sermons, memoirs and so forth, original copies of which are housed at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London.