Background
Morel was born in the Avenue d'Eylau, Paris. His father, Edmond Morel de Ville, was a French civil servant; his mother, Emmeline de Horne, was from an English Quaker family. Edmond died when the boy was four and Emmeline subsequently fell out with her late husband's family. As a consequence, Emmeline changed her name to Deville and raised her son on her own. To remove her son from the family's influence, she worked as a teacher in order to afford to send him to boarding school at both Madras House school in Eastbourne and later at Bedford Modern School.
When Emmeline Deville fell ill in 1888, the money for school fees was no longer available and Edmund was forced to return to Paris to work as a bank clerk. He was able to move his mother back to Britain in 1891. Five years later he successfully applied for naturalisation as a British subject and anglicised his name. He married Mary Richardson that same year; they had five children.
Read more about this topic: E. D. Morel
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