Portrait of Sir William Morice, Secretary of State to King Charles II, 1747

An engraving of Sir William Morice (1602-1676), Secretary of State to King Charles II, by Jacobus Houbraken. Published by I & P Knapton, London, 1747.

This engraving depicts a white middle-aged man, wearing a dark cloak with white lace neck detail and a shoulder-length wig. The image sits within an oval frame, adorned by drapes and leaf motifs. A plaque at the foot of the stone reads, ‘Sir William Morice Secretary of State to King Charles II.’ Below the print in small italic scroll reads, ‘In the Collection of Sir William Morice Bart, Impensis J. & P. Knapton Londini 1747, J. Houbraken sculps. Arnst. 1747.’

Born 6 November 1602, Morice was the first son of Evan Morice, chancellor of the diocese of Exeter between 1594-1605. After his studies at Exeter College in Oxford, Morice returned to Devon where he was mostly concerned with land management, including managing the estates of his wife’s kinsman, George Monck, becoming his ‘greatest confidant.’ At Monck’s request he was made Governor of Plymouth. Morice was later elected Member of Parliament for Devon in 1648, appointed High Sheriff of Devon in 1651, and after assisting in the Restoration of Charles II he was knighted in 1660. At this point he was elected as parliamentary representative of Plymouth, an office he retained until his death in 1676.
Morice owned the estate of Werrington, originally in Devon (transferred to Cornwall in 1966), and when he retired to his country seat in 1668, Morice “erected a fair library, valued at £1200, being choice books, richly bound”.

The artist, Jacob (Jacobus) Houbraken, was the leading portrait engraver in eighteenth-century Holland.

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