William Morgan

This controversial, and fully illustrated book forms a cornerstone of the mythology surrounding anti-Freemasonry. Captain William Morgan, was a disenchanted Freemason, based in Batavia, New York. After he was ejected by the local lodge, he announced he would publish a book exposing the secretive Masonic rituals. Shortly before the book was published in 1826, Morgan disappeared, and three Free Masons were later convicted of kidnapping. Although there were claims that Morgan had been murdered, others say that he was forced to leave the country. The incident led to widespread hostility towards Freemasons in the United States.

To meet William Morgan is to encounter the eighteenth-century world of finance, science and politics. Born in Bridgend in 1750, his heritage was Welsh but his influence extended far beyond national borders, and the legacy of his work continues to shape life in the twenty-first century. Aged only twenty-five and with no formal training, Morgan became actuary at the Equitable, which was then a fledgling life assurance company. Known today as ‘the father of the actuarial profession’, his pioneering work earned him the Copley Medal, the Royal Society’s most prestigious award. His interests covered a wider scientific field, and his papers on electrical experiments show that he unwittingly constructed the first X-ray tube. Politically radical, Morgan’s outspoken views put him at risk of imprisonment during Pitt’s Reign of Terror. This biography, using unpublished family letters, explores Morgan’s turbulent private life and covers his outstanding public achievements. ‘William spent 56 years at the Equitable Life Assurance Company, where he learnt how to understand and manage financial risk. In 1789, for his work on the mathematics of life assurance, he was awarded the Copley Medal, the Royal Society’s most prestigious decoration. Subsequent generations have hailed him as ‘the father of the actuarial profession’ – recognition of his having established many of the rules and standards on which the science is based.’ Read more about this on page 6 of the Booklaunch https://edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk/html5/reader/production/default.aspx?pubname=&edid=eacd7c66-df5c-4335-86ee-cad05c826bda

This is the author's second novel, and like the first, also based on a true story. The first one titled, And the Sea Shall Hide Them, actually took place in history perhaps seventy years after the one you are about to read. This story centers around William Morgan, a Virginian living in Batavia, New York. He was a distant relative of the author. Morgan was of an impulsive nature, doing what he thought was the right thing to do. This eventually brought him in contention with the Masonic Order in Batavia, New York in 1826. His long and troublesome life eventually found him isolated on Utila Island in the Western Caribbean. He had been kidnapped! He was one of the first men to begin shipping bananas commercially to the United States, an enterprise that eventually grew into a vast business. Despite these good tidings, which included a loving wife and children, his life was a troubled one. However, his legacy to the small island of Utila was a noteworthy one, having a beneficial blessing on the early settlers of that island.

William Morgan (1930-2016) was a bold, innovative, and highly imaginative architect known internationally for fusing ancient and modern styles and for his early championing of green design principles. This extensively illustrated book traces Morgan's life story and the development of his singular design vision. Exploring Morgan's early influences, Richard Shieldhouse reveals the architect's childhood familiarity with pre-Columbian village sites and introduces college mentors who encouraged his interest in both architecture and archaeology. During navy service in the Pacific, Morgan studied ancient structures in Guam as well as Frank Lloyd Wright's design work in Japan. Later, his drive and discipline brought him into contact with leading architects such as Paul Rudolph at Harvard's Graduate School of Design, a hotbed of modernism at the time. From there, Morgan struck out on his own in Jacksonville, Florida, to shape the course of architectural history. This book tracks the evolution of Morgan's guiding ideas--economy, efficiency, visual delight, imaginative use of everyday materials, and environmental sensitivity. His most famous designs are featured with photographs, drawings, and the architect's own commentary. Structures such as the Dunehouses, a duplex built into the side of an oceanfront dune, represent Morgan's commitment to earth architecture. His plans for police headquarters and other public buildings incorporate green roofs, stepped terraces, pyramid forms, and other elements inspired by aspects of prehistoric design. Morgan was unique among architects for his interest in ancient North America and for blending a modern style characterized by its rejection of history with the design language of prehistory. Highlighting how his work has impacted many areas of architecture such as urban design, this book celebrates Morgan's continuing legacy.

William Morgan is a fundamental modernist whose work has for forty years remained absolutely true to the principles of modern architecture. Each of Morgan's designs can therefore be said to have a multitude of 'precedents' from throughout time, and not on

A complete record of the collection of designs in the V&A Museum, London.