Bob Morris in 1999

Univ’s Archivist, Dr Robin Darwall-Smith, has provided the following tribute.

We deeply regret to report that Robert “Bob” Morris MBE, who worked as a member of staff at Univ from 1949 until 2007, died on the morning of 10 November 2026 aged 92.

Bob started work at Univ in 1949 aged 14, joining his brother Derek (who died in 2002), who had been a Scout and a Porter before moving to the Works Department. Bob also became a scout and remembered how students were woken up in the morning by a scout (in this case, Bob) knocking on the bottom of their stairs with a big mallet. Bob used to joke that this practice stopped in his time, because the students could not stand his whistling the same tune every morning! In those days, Bob came in early in the morning to clean students’ rooms, would go home at 2pm after lunch, and then come back in at 6pm to serve at Formal Hall.

After two years’ break for national service, Bob came back to Univ to work in the Buttery, before working in Durham Buildings 1 and then in the JCR. He eventually rose to be appointed Head Scout. Outside work, Bob was encouraged by Norman Dix to take up rowing, even winning some rowing cups with his brother Derek, and played some cricket. He also helped to look after Norman in his last years.

Bob Morris with Lady Crewe at the opening of the new JCR in 2018, named in Bob’s honour

Bob retired as Head Scout in 1999 and was awarded the MBE for services to Higher Education in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List that year. He continued, however, to run JCR teas, becoming a well-loved figure among yet more generations of Univ men and women, until he finally retired in 2007, having served Univ for almost six decades. When the Junior Common Room moved to its new site in Durham Buildings in 2018, it was named the “Robert Morris Room” in his honour.

In the University College Record of 2007, Pete Surr, our then JCR President, wrote that “Bob Morris has been an inspiration to students and a friendly face for all the time that we have been here.” Many Old Members will share Pete’s sentiments and will join us in sending their deepest condolences to Bob’s family and friends.

An obituary to Bob will appear in the 2027 Record. The College flag will be flying at half-mast for a week in Bob’s memory.