John Philip Morier

John Philip Morier (1776–1853) was an English diplomat.

The eldest of the four sons of Isaac Morier, and was born at Smyrna 9 November 1776; James Justinian Morier, David Richard Morier and William Morier were his brothers. He was known as Jack. The family returned to England in 1787, where he had school education under Samuel Jay at Greenwich, Andover and Eagle House, Wimbledon under Thomas Lancaster. He was placed in his father's counting house in 1793.

In 1794 Morier returned to Smyrna, working in the family business there. He was attached to the embassy at Constantinople on 5 April 1799, where he acted as private secretary to the ambassador, Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin.

Morier was despatched by Elgin on 22 December 1799 on special service of observation to Egypt. Elgin in fact wanted to take in the situation which he had faced on arrival, of William Sidney Smith running the negotiations between the Ottomans and the French. Morier was accompany the Grand Vizier in the Turkish expedition against General Jean Baptiste Kléber, whom Napoleon had left to hold the country. Morier joined the Turkish army at Arish, on the Egyptian frontier, 31 January 1800, and remained with it until July.

In March 1800 Morier was with the Grand Vizier, but felt it essential to inform Smith of the situation. He went to Damietta and set off in a small boat, searching for HMS Tigre; but was driven ashore and taken prisoner by the French. Moved to Rosetta and then Alexandria, he was able to benefit from a hostage exchange and was allowed to proceed by the French.

In December 1803 Morier was appointed consul-general in Albania, where the policy of Ali Pasha of Joannina, a semi-independent Ottoman vassal, was an ongoing concern for British and French diplomacy. This posting was new, and was also a move to restrict the freedom of action of the Levant Company; and in public the Company acquiesced. In 1805, however, there was a clash over duties collected by the Company's representative at Patras.

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