Career
The "JBM Library" at the University of York is named after him. He joined Rowntree"s Cocoa Works when he was 17, becoming Director at 25. He was Mayor of York in 1914 and again in 1950.
He helped found the University of York and the Borthwick Institute for Archives.
He bought many newspapers, including the Birmingham Gazette, Lincolnshire Chronicle, and Westminster Press. He wrote books, especially about York which he loved.
East.g. "York Monuments", and "Woodwork at York".
He was made an Honorary Freeman of the City of York, given honorary degrees to universities, and declined a knighthood. His mother, born Lydia Hutchinson (1832–1939) married the non-conformist Morrell, who was a Wesleyan Methodist, whilst it appears she was a Quaker.
Their extreme religiosity seems to have been behind John"s activism in Liberal Politics from a young age. Her mother"s Family Chronicles explained that in "1877.
In 1884 John attended Bootham School, a Quaker establishment.
In 1976 they bequeathed all the properties in the company to the current registered charity, Limited. Bowes Morrell House, 111 Walmgate, York
The JBM Library.
