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Derek Morris, 1932-2024: A Life

Jump to: Timeline, Local History Timeline Airborne Gravity AVOSS, Notes

Derek Morris's interests covered meteorology, geophysics and local history in a possibly unique manner that he thought challenged the memes of the “Two Culture Society”: the split between the sciences and the humanities much discussed in the 1960s by Dr C. P. Snow.¹

A Sixth form visit to the Science Museum in 1948 triggered Derek's interest in meteorology, which he was able to follow during National Service with the RAF, and subsequently with the Meteorological Office. On promotion to the Met Office's instrument research department at Harrow he was encouraged to begin a part-time physics degree at Sir John Cass College, London. Subsequently awarded a County Scholarship for full time study he selected geology as his third subject, and encouraged, initially by Dr John Prentice, and then by Professor John Kirkaldy went on to complete a degree in Geology and Physics at Queen Mary College. In 1957 he was awarded a two-year scholarship in Geophysics at the Royal School of Mines by Shell.

Huntings and Geophysics

Unfortunately in 1959, Shell, decided it did not want to employ any of the six or so geophysicists it was supporting at RSM at a time when the only oil companies employing geophysicists in London were BP and the Iraq Oil Company, and neither were recruiting. This was before North Sea exploration began. Derek spent a year with the Geological Survey working on regional gravity surveys in Dorset, Scotland and Northern Ireland before moving to Hunting Geology and Geophysics Ltd in 1960 where he remained until 1987.

His first overseas project was a year-long study of groundwater in the Porali River Basin in Baluchistan, in the then West Pakistan. Using resistivity surveys the field work for the Pakistan Water and Power Development Agency was extended into the inter-montane basins of Wadh and Ornach, towards Quetta.²

On return to the UK Derek developed Huntings capacity to undertake engineering geophysical surveys: working on resistivity surveys for gravel companies and on a ground magnetometer survey of part of the route of the M1 through the Nottinghamshire coal field area successfully looking for old workings. He also carried out surveys in Jordan and Libya, and was involved in the trials to find a marine seismic system that could resolve the geology on the proposed route of the Channel tunnel.

In 1963 he moved into airborne geophysics, initially as on-site geophysicist for an aeromagnetic survey for Gulf Oil working offshore Ethiopia. Subsequently under the guidance of the late Professor David Boyd³ he was involved in the processing and interpretation of the surveys flown world-wide by Huntings for oil and mining companies, and the United Nations. He was particularly responsible for a series of non-exclusive surveys that Huntings flew for oil companies in the North Sea and to the west of the Hebrides towards Rockall.

Huntings embraced two major changes in airborne surveys: the introduction of digital recording (thought impossible in 1962) and developments in multi-channel gamma ray spectrometers. With the cooperation of the Geological Survey five radioactive sites in south-west England were selected in 1967 and tests flown over them to determine the value of the first commercially available four-channel gamma ray spectrometer. Subsequently, the gamma ray spectrometer became an essential component of surveys were flown world-wide, particularly in the 1970s search for uranium deposits. It was a Hunting's survey that discovered in 1970 the famous Nabarlek uranium mine in Australia's Northern Territory for Queensland Mines Ltd.⁴

Derek also oversaw the purchase by Huntings of the Daedulas multi-spectral scanner, which became widely used by NERC in the UK, and by many organizations in the USA, South Africa, Botswana and Australia. Huntings was also the first company to offer oil companies in London time on a Landmark work station for seismic interpretation.

Derek was Managing Director from 1982 until the company was closed in 1987 as oil prices plummeted and Saudi Arabia failed to make major contract payments.

From 1987 to 1997 Derek was Managing Director of Terrahunt Geoscience Ltd, which provided consultancy and geological mapping services in the UK and overseas. Of particular importance was his design and supervision of the airborne geophysical surveys for NIREX of their sites at Sellafield and Dounreay. In July he organised for DTI a Seminar on mineral and oil exploration in collaboration with the Office de Mines Tunis and the British embassy.

Throughout his career Derek was in demand for lectures on airborne geophysics, which took him, amongst many others, to Argentina for UNESCO, to Kuwait for OPEC and to China to address their leading experts in oil and mining geophysics.

A Fellow of the Geological Society since 1957, in October 1991 he was elected a Chartered Geologist. In 1973, Derek was a founding member and first Treasurer of the Remote Sensing Society. He also served on NERC committees concerned with remote sensing.

From 1984 until 1987 Derek was a Council member and then Vice-president of the Mineral Industry Research Organisation (MIRO), which organized pre-competitive research for international mining companies, including GENCOR and RTZ. From 1987 until 1997 he was MIRO's research coordinator for mineral exploration research. The main focus was on developing software for the interpretation of multi-spectral data from aircraft and satellite instruments and work on the feasibility study for the Australian multi-spectral satellite project, ARIES-1.

Local History

As a student at Queen Mary College, and living in a settlement in Bethnal Green, Derek became interested in history of East London in the 18th century. In retirement he returned to his earlier interests and this has led to four books,⁵ of which Professor Jerry White, Birkbeck College wrote that:

Revelatory is not too strong a term for the work undertaken here. The popular understanding of the East End of London at any time up to the First World War is of a uniformly bleak, often terrible, place of desperate poverty. This monochrome picture has been challenged by historians who have stressed the importance of an indigenous merchant and industrial class, especially in the years before 1800. But we have never before had revealed to us in such immense and convincing detail just how prosperous, diverse and cultured this–East End heritage was in fact. And we have never been given such a picture before because no one had undertaken the sheer hard work of uncovering a history long buried in land tax returns, rate books, wills, deeds and insurance policies.
Anyone interested in London’s extraordinary history owes a true debt to Derek Morris and Ken Cozens. In many ways it is not surprising that their background is different from the academic traditions in which most historians are presently schooled. These volumes are a labour of love, and love of a subject is not readily nurtured in a climate where books have often to be written for their effect on careers and institutions rather than for enlightenment of the reader. Derek Morris is a scientist by training who returned to an early passion for history in retirement; Ken Cozens is now a specialist in maritime history but who made a living in banking and event catering. They eloquently prove that anyone can become a historian: anyone, that is, who is passionate and inquisitive and dauntless enough, and prepared to put in endless hours at the desk. That this has been no thankless task is shown by the admiring reception among many general readers and academic historians that the first three volumes in this series elicited at home and abroad.
This fourth volume triumphantly extends their enterprise. The greatest revelation for the modern reader will be the depth and richness (in all senses) of the cross-class complexity of this district during the period under review.

To accompany his books Derek has published dozens of papers, led numerous walks and given dozens of talks.

Derek's other interests included hill walking, tennis and squash, which he played until he was 72, when he reached the quarter-final of the first National Over-70s squash tournament.

Timeline

1932: Born 10 June Ilford Essex
1940: My father and his company United Artists Ltd were evacuated from Soho to Gerrards Cross and we moved from Ilford to 30 First Avenue Amersham.
I went to school in Amersham but as I failed the 11 plus exam I did not go to Amersham Grammar School but to a school in Chesham. This was followed by 5 years at High Wycombe Technical College where I finished in 1950 with very good O Level equivalent results and then an Inter B.Sc. in Mathematics (Pure and Applied), Physics and Geography
1951–1952: National Service with Royal Air Force working in the upper air balloon sounding unit at Leuchars near Dundee after square bashing at Padgate near Warrington and training near Kings Lynn.
Met Adrian Mitchell, who later became a well-known poet and playwright who died 2009. Also Graham Parker, who made a career as a TV weather forecaster and we are still friends.
1953: Joined the Meteorological office as a Scientific Assistant and after training in Harrow I was posted to Bovingdon airfield near Hemel Hempstead. I was promoted to an AEO.
1953–1954: Assistant Experimental Officer in the Instrument Research Division, Meteorological Office, Harrow. In October 1953 I began a part time B. Sc. degree (mathematics, physics and geology) at Sir John Cass College in City of London.
1954: Went full time at Sir John Cass College on a Bucks County Major scholarship worth £300 per annum. Met Dennis Wang. Transferred to QMC in 1955 to concentrate on geology and physics. I thought my career prospects better in geophysics than with the Meteorological Office. A major figure in the students Union was Bryan Benjamin, History, who died in 2009.
1957: B, Sc General Honours in physics and geology, Queen Mary College, University of London. Our Professor was Dr Kirkaldy.
Shell scholarship in geophysics at Imperial College
1958: DIC (Applied Geophysics), Royal School of Mines
Shell took us to Holland for two months and we worked on a seismic crew working just east of the Zeider Sea.
First US satellite launch of Explorer 1, which was a cosmic ray detector
1959: M. Sc in Geophysics, Royal School of Mines.
Amongst the students at IC at this time were: Don Tarling, who went onto become a Professor of Geophysics at Plymouth University and specialised in rock magnetics. Alan Douglas, who after a time in Australia became an expert in the use of seismology in the detection of nuclear explosions and a Professor of Geophysics at Reading University. Francis Everitt completed a Ph. D. on rock magnetism under Professor Patrick Blackett in 1960. In 1762 he went to Stanford University to work on Gravity Probe B, a satellite based technology using gyroscopes cooled to very low temperatures to test Einstein’s theory of relativity. In the event it took over 40 years before the system was launched in April 2004. He became Professor of Physics at Stanford University and authored over 90 papers. Dave Agarwal from India has remained a friend and made a career in commercial geophysics before moving to Houston USA, where he still lives.
1959–1960: Geological Survey, South Kensington working on regional gravity surveys in Scotland, Northern Ireland and south-west England
1960: Join Hunting Geology and Geophysics Ltd in Boreham Wood as a geophysicist.
First contract carrying out a ground water survey in the Porali river basin of what was then West Pakistan. The Porali River flowed south through the mountains of Baluchistan past the small town of Las Bela into the Indian Ocean and I used electrical resistivity methods to determine the depth to the water table and the areas of saline ground water. We were working for the Water And Power Development Agency.
Met the Queen at a rain-soaked soiree.
1960's: Back in the UK I started the application of geophysical methods to engineering problems with some success that led to a new division being formed.
Used magnetometers on the proposed route of the M1 through the Nottinghamshire coalfields in a successful attempt to locate old coal workings. Also worked in Belfast using magnetometer to locate volcanic dykes and used resistivity methods on quarry sites in south of England.
Used resistivity methods on a groundwater survey west of Tripoli in Libya and seismic and resistivity methods in research in Jordan in the rift valley, researching dam sites.
Then moved into airborne geophysics checking data processing, which in those days was entirely analogue. Worked on interpretation of a UNDP a survey in Uganda. Then went out to Asmara in Ethiopia to supervise a survey for Gulf Oil Company over the Red Sea.
About 1964 was asked to investigate the possibility of digital recording in an aircraft of the data from our various instruments.
1964: Published The Application of Resistivity Methods to Ground-water Exploration of Alluvial Basins in Semi-Arid Areas²
5 July 1965: Son, Richard James Morris, born.
1969: Gave a presentation on Airborne gamma ray spectrometer surveys to the Summer School “Geological prospecting for radioactive minerals” at E.N.I., Milan
1969: Article in Hunting Group Review “New airborne exploration methods” described the recent developments in airborne gamma ray spectrometers and thermal scanners.
1969–1970: I asked Huntings permission to take a part time Diploma in Management Studies at the Hatfield College of Technology. Was awarded a Diploma in June 1970 and my thesis was on Future of Remote Sensing. First satellites had been launched in 1958.
First Landsat launched by NASA in 19?? And Landsat 4 was launched in July 1982 and Landsat 5 in 1984 since when there has been a continuous development and launching of satellites, with increasing range of multi-spectral instrumentation including the thermal infra-red and radar wavelengths. Huntings was continuously in the lead in developing the techniques needed to understand these new and large datasets and to improve methods of interpretation on a regional and continental basis.
1970–1982: I was responsible for a series of aeromagnetic surveys flown by Huntings over the North Sea, an area north-west of Shetland and an area in the north east Atlantic that extended as far west as Rockall, for consortia of oil companies.
1982: Made Managing Director of Hunting Geology and Geophysics Ltd
1983: Article in “Achievement”: Offshore China: Special Issue on “Value of aeromagnetic surveys in offshore oil exploration”. China was just opening up its offshore areas for oil exploration and we flew several surveys for western oil companies.
1984–1997: Mineral Industry Research Organisation (MIRO): I was involved with MIRO from 1984 when I joined the Council, rising to vice-president in the late 1980's.
From 1987 until 1997 I was research coordinator for mineral exploration research. The main focus was on developing software for the interpretation of multi-spectral data from aircraft and satellite instruments and work on the feasibility study for the ARIES-1 project.
In October 1996 The West Australian announced that a consortium of mining companies and remote sensing centres in Australia had launched a $1.2 million feasibility study to build the polar-orbiting ARIES-1 [Australian Resource Information and Environmental Satellite]. The project had arisen from 20 years of research and development by CSIRO and the mining industry. The lead in Australia was Dr Jon Huntingdon, Chief Research Scientist, Group Leader, Mineral Mapping Technologies, CSIRO, and followed AMIRA Project P435 “Mineral mapping with field spectroscopy”. I was involved in the UK and Europe as the point of contact with MIRO members and government departments in raising the necessary finance and building awareness of the opportunities. I was asked to represent some of the companies at the first steering committee meeting of sponsors in Canberra in October 1996. The trip started in Sydney carried on to Canberra then Perth in a week.
Although the feasibility study was successful the project did not proceed further mainly because of expected tax breaks in Australia for the research and development did not arise. However in subsequent years multi-spectral satellites were built by NASA and other government agencies in Japan, India, etc.
I arranged a workshop in UK for 17-18 June 1997, which enabled MIRO members to experience modern software for processing multi-spectral airborne and satellite data. At the HP Centre in Thrale Berkshire CHK
1985: Met with Dr Nick Lockerbie Professor Gordon Donaldson of Strathclyde University to discuss their idea of Airborne Gravity Surveys, details below.
1991: Elected a Chartered Geologist of the Geological Society.
1995: Approached by Clive Hayley, Simon Fraser, Nick Fraser Dr Alexey Veryaskin and Vladimir Koutsaenko to discuss the AVOS project.
1996
: Went to Morocco for DTI in an attempt to organise a conference to display British mining technology and consultants. This followed a successful conference in Tunisia.
February 1987: Made redundant by Huntings
1987–1998: Terrahunt Geoscience Ltd: Started Terrahunt Geoscience Ltd with offices in London Colney.
Our employees were: Richard Morris, director; Stephen Simson, director; Mick McDonough, geologist and company secretary; Christopher Johns, geologist; Alistair Buckle, draughtsman; Peter Danter, administrator, driver; Arthur Warren, administrator formerly navigator with Hunting; Robert Talbot, CAD draughtsman; Tony Weller, draughtsman; John McDonald, geologist.
We had three main areas of business: Supply consultant geologists and geophysicists; Selling aeromagnetic data from North Sea and Atlantic flown by Huntings; CAD colour plotting service based on a very fast ZEROX Versatec electrostatic plotter.
1990
: In February Terrahunt carried out a very successful shallow reflection survey over a lignite deposit on the eastern side of Lough Neagh, Northern Ireland. The work was carried out with equipment developed at Leicester University, and a Bison 24 channel engineering seismograph. We use a ‘Buffalo’ gun firing blank shot gun cartridges. As Northern Ireland was still suffering from the internal conflicts our presence needed approval in the form 31/10 “Consent of Officer of Police to purchase or acquire explosives for a purpose other than blasting” and special security arrangements.
1993
: February Consultant to a Spanish oil company for an aeromagnetic survey flown by Geoterrex of an area south west of Luxor Egypt
1995
: July organised a DTI Seminar on mineral and oil exploration in collaboration with the Office de Mines Tunis and British embassy.
1996
: Preliminary visit to Morocco to see if can organise a DTI Seminar on mineral and oil exploration in collaboration with the Office de Mines Rabat and British embassy.
1996–97
: Consultant to MIRO on the Australian led ARIES-1 multi-spectral satellite feasibility study.
1997
: February employed by European Union in Botswana to review EU spending on the mineral industry.
1997
: Closed London Colney office and moved CAD plotting service to St Albans Photoprint Ltd.
25 July 1998
: Mick McDonough, geologist and Terrahunt Company secretary died from a massive heart attack while walking to our office in St Albans
September 1998
: Terrahunt ceased trading.
2001
: Wrote an article “Value of gravity and magnetic surveys in the exploration of the North West European Continental Shelf, 1945-75 in First Break, September, Vol. 19, 9 the official publication of the European Association of Geoscientists and Engineers in a Special Topic Non-Seismic technology
2002–2024: United Nations Association: I was interested in the UN from a Conference that I attended as a Sixth former in about 1947/8 at the Central Hall, Westminster.
Chairman, Harpenden UNA from 2002 until 2007. CHK
I was elected to represent the eastern region on the board of the UNA and went to meetings at their headquarters in Whitehall. A difficult time over finance and membership was about 5,000, when much large just after WW2. Discovered that a fellow member was Fanny Lines, who turned out to be Keith Cattell's sister-in-law, he is a cousin who lives in Canada..
Malcolm Harper was followed in 2004 by Sam Daws, who had worked at the UN in New York at a senior level, as First Officer in the Executive Office of the UN Secretary General.
I met Sir Richard Jolly, Harold Stern ex QMC,

Local History timeline

A full list of my books and papers can be found on the main Derek Morris page.

1881: My first paper was Christs Hospital School, Cockney Ancestor, No. 12, Autumn, 1981. Re Henry Bagot Morris, 1794 - 1874 and James Bagot Morris 1869 -?.
1989: gave talk to East of London Family History Society
1990: Wrote article for East London History Society
2000: Published Captain Cook in Mile End Old Town 1764 –1779 the first of many articles in Cook’s Log the journal of the Captain Cook Society
2002: First edition of Mile End Old Town, 1740 –1780; a Social History of an Early Modern London Suburb, East London History Society.
2007: Second edition, Mile End Old Town, 1740 –1780; a Social History of an Early Modern London Suburb, East London History Society.
2009: Wapping 1600-1800, A social history of an Early Modern London Maritime Suburb, with Ken Cozens,
2011: Whitechapel 1600-1800: A social history of an early modern London Inner Suburb.
2014: London's Sailortown, 1600-1800: Shadwell and Ratcliff, a social history, with Ken Cozens, East London History Society
2022: In May 2022 i presented a paper on the Precinct of St Katharines by the Tower at the Docklands History Group at the Museum of London entitled “London's Sailortown”

Airborne Gravity

In 1950s Hunting Survey Corporation of Toronto were attempting the development of airborne gravity detectors.

In 1970s professor Ho Jung Palj at university of Maryland designed a superconducting gravity gradiometer. The machine measures the difference in displacement of two masses and the superconducting circuit reduces the dynamic range over which the instrument must operate.

The instrument was very stable over periods of months and could detect displacement of 1 to the minus 15 metres.

In October 1985 a meeting with Dr Nick Lockerbie Professor Gordon Donaldson of Strathclyde University to discuss their ideas. Strathclyde had been developing since 1980 a single axis [vertical] gravity gradiometer based on super-conducting technology and reference to developments in University of West Australia. This was hopefully a MIRO project but nothing came of it. The advantages of gradiometers is that they are insensitive to linear accelerations hence data output and do not require an Eotvos correction.

In September 1995 scientists from Bell Aerospace Co. of Buffalo, USA presented a paper on the first test of the Bell Aerospace gravity gradiometer conducted in April 1994 over a buried salt structure in the Mississippi Canyon area in the Gulf of Mexico. The GSS was a recently declassified gravity sensing system that contained the then only moving base gravity gradiometer. The system measures both gravity acceleration and gravity gradients, yielding six measurements that defined the local gravity field and its gradients in 3 dimensions. The quality of the data was said to be excellent and gravity gradients were resolved to 0.5 Eotvos and gravity to 0.07 mGal. However they were only allowed to use de-classified data by the US Navy. Costs?

AVOSS

In September 1995 I was approached by Clive Hayley, a lawyer, Simon Fraser an oceanographer turned entrepreneur, Nick Fraser Dr Alexey Veryaskin and Vladimir Koutsaenko of Gravitec Instruments Ltd 5 Upper Wimpole Street London.

By March 1996 I asked was to provide help in their need to understand the potential for a radical new airborne gravity gradiometer. This had been developed by an eminent Russian scientist, and I was given their proposal and made comments on it in July 1996. I was also offered but declined, a senior management position in the new venture, basically I thought I was already at some risk with Terrahunt and was unsure of their funding and background.

An international patent had been granted in April 1996 and in August 1996 I visited Glasgow with Neil Fraser and again in September I was in contact with the Oil and Gas Projects and Supplies Office Glasgow re possible government sponsorship.

1996 USA tour flew to New York 9 November for meeting with Schlumberger then Houston, SEG Denver 10-15 November.

December 1996 I continued contacting further oil and mining companies in an effort to find funding.

July 1997 lunch with Neil McClaurin Exploration manager RTZ Newbury SEG Dallas November 1997 did I go? NO

I organised presentations in London 9 June 1997? and USA Houston 3 June Denver

SHELL and Schlumberger evaluated the technology and concluded it was the way forward.

Unfortunately BHP were far advanced with the development of the Falcon system based on older Bell aerospace technology CHK.

In UK Oxford Instruments in September 1997 were developing a Superconducting gravity gradiometer with a firm in Cambridge.

Notes

C. P. Snow, The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution, 1959
Derek Morris, “The Application of Resistivity Methods to Ground-water Exploration of Alluvial Basins in Semi-Arid Areas, Journal of the Institution of Water Engineers, Vol. 18, No. 1, February 1964, 59-65
Derek Morris, “Professor David Murray Boyd, 1926-2016”, Geoscientist, 1 August 2017
J. Lally and Z. Bajwah, Uranium Dposits of the NT, Report 20, Northern Territory Geological Survey, 2006
Derek Morris and Ken Cozens, London's Sailortown, 1600-1800: Shadwell and Ratcliff, a social history, East London History Society, 2014,
Jerry White, Preface in London's Sailortown, 1600-1800. 2014

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