Background
Morshead was born in Tavistock, Devon, the son of Reginald Morshead and Ella Mary Moreshead.
Morshead was born in Tavistock, Devon, the son of Reginald Morshead and Ella Mary Moreshead.
He was educated at Marlborough College and then, initially intending to pursue a career in the Royal Engineers, at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich.
In 1913 he relinquished his cadetship and entered Magdalene College, Cambridge. His studies were interrupted by the outbreak of the First World War, in which he saw active service on the Western Front and Italian Front as a commissioned officer in the Royal Engineers. He subsequently returned to Cambridge where he read Modern Languages.
Upon graduating he became librarian of the Pepys Library.
In 1926 he became Royal Librarian at Windsor Castle and served in the position until 1958. During the Second World War he commanded the 9th battalion, Berkshire Home Guard and from 1946 to 1958 was a Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Berkshire.
He was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath in 1953. Morshead was sent by George VI to Friedrichshof with Anthony Blunt in March 1945 to secure papers relating to the German Empress Victoria, the eldest child of Queen Victoria.
lieutenant is now believed that the pair were recorvering sensitive papers relating to correspondence between Edward VIII and Adolf Hitler.
From 1958 to 1971 he was given the honorary title of Emeritus Librarian by Elizabeth World War II He was portrayed by Derek Jacobi in the 2011 film My Week with Marilyn.
He was a close personal friend of George V and a member of the Roxburghe Club.