Morse was a prominent Swindon shopkeeper [2] He owned Morse's department store on Regent Street, Swindon the second most important of Swindon's stores for many years.[3] Mostly known as a grocer and draper, he also owned a chain of other shops in the south-west and a large mail order business.[4]
Morse was elected Liberal MP for the Wilton or South Division of Wiltshire at the 1906 general election. He gained the seat from the sitting Conservative, James Archibald Morrison by 4,272 votes to 3,458 a majority of 724 [6] Morse did not seek re-election in 1910 because of ill-health.[7] In 1908 he was one of the members of the British group of the Inter-parliamentary Union who attended its conference in Berlin.[8]
Morse was a devout member of the Primitive Methodist Church and was a delegate to its centenary conference in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.[7]
He also became Vice-president of the Primitive Methodist conference in 1896.[9]
Death
[edit]Levi Lapper Morse's memorial in Radnor Street Cemetery, Swindon.
He died at his home, The Croft, Swindon on 10 September 1913 aged 60 years.[7] Swindon solicitor A. Ernest Withy published notice of his estate in the London Gazette, 31 October 1913.[10]
He is buried in Radnor Street Cemetery, Swindon.[11]
^E. H. Goddard, The Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine; Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society, Item notes 1937-1939, p527
^Brian Bridgeman, Swindon Living Memories; Frith Publishers, 2003
