George Morrison (cricketer)

George Charles Morrison HRUA (27 June 1915 – 11 October 1993) was an Irish first-class cricketer and landscape artist.

Morrison was born at Downpatrick in January 1906, and was educated in Belfast at Methodist College Belfast, before going up to Queen's University Belfast.[1] Playing his club cricket for Queen's University Cricket Club and later North of Ireland,[1] Morrison made his debut in first-class cricket for Ireland against Yorkshire at Harrogate on Ireland's 1947 tour of England.[2] He made a further first-class appearance on the tour, against Derbyshire at Buxton.[2] He scored a total of 48 runs in these two matches,[3] as well as bowling fourteen wicket-less overs of medium pace.[4] Later that summer, he played two minor matches against the touring South Africans at Belfast.[5] He continued to play club cricket for North of Ireland until 1956, bringing to an end a seventeen-year association with the club.[1] Outside of cricket, he was a noted landscape painter.[1]

Morrison was a self-taught artist who was a Principal Lecturer in Education at Stranmillis College. He was a founding member of the Ulster Watercolour Society.[6] Morrison first exhibited his paintings at the Ulster Academy of Arts Spring Exhibition in 1945.[7] He returned to the same venue in 1946, 1948 and 1949 showing 3 paintings each year, with all but 1 being landscapes.[8] In 1950 he exhibited at the Belfast Museum and Art Gallery with the Royal Ulster Academy of Arts for the first time. He continued to show at their annual exhibitions every year until 1980, with the exception of 1971 and 1972 when due to civil unrest the annual event was cancelled. In the 30 years between 1950 and 1980, Morrison contributed a total of 63 paintings to the annual exhibitions of the RUA.[8] Morrison was elected an Associate of the RUA in 1964 and an Academician in 1975. He filled the role of chairman of the RUA in 1975.[6][9]

George Charles Morrison died suddenly at Stranmillis in Belfast on 11 October 1993.[1]