John Bowes ('J.B.') Morrell (1873-1963) was a York author and historian. He was Lord Mayor of York and a leading figure in the local movement to establish a university in York. 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. He bought many newspapers, including the Birmingham Gazette, Lincolnshire Chronicle, and Westminster Press.

He wrote books, especially about York which he loved; eg. '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.

JBM's father was William Wilberforce Morrell (1837-1904), a bank manager at York, and the author of 'The History of Selby' which was illustrated by his sister Jemima.

His mother was Lydia Hutchinson (Morrell) (1832 - 1939) [1]

JBM married Bertha Spence Watson (1877 - 1954) in the Friends Meeting House at Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1902. See here for her mother's 'Family Chronicles': "1877 ... our Darling little Bertha was given to us on the 18th of May. I recovered nicely, & the new baby, like all of her sisters in turn before her, was much made of, & considered the greatest treasure ..."

The YCT was formed as Ings Property Company Limited in 1945 by JBM and his brother Cuthbert Morrell, who had both been buying medieval properties in York for many years, which they restored and rehabilitated, together with Dr Morrell’s son Mr William Bowes Morrell. In 1976 they bequeathed all the properties in the company to the current registered charity, York Conservation Trust Limited [2]

• Bowes Morrell House, 111 Walmgate, York
• The JBM Library

• 1928:How York Governs Itself: Civic Government As Illustrated By the County of the City of York
• 1933:Whitehall at York. How York is governed by the ministers of the Crown. Edited by J. B. Morrell and A. G. Watson, etc.
• 1949:WOODWORK IN YORK
• 1976: The Patronage of Science in the Nineteenth Century. By R. Fox, J. B. Morrell, D. S. LO. Cardwell, R. M. Macleod, W. H. Brock by G. L'E., ed. Turner
• 1980:The History of the Early British Association for the Advancement of Science