 Morrell became a demonstrator in physiology at the Oxford university museum under George Rolleston.In 1874 he married his third cousin, Emilia Alicia Morrell (1854–1938), granddaughter of one of the founder of Morrells Brewery and the richest heiress in Oxfordshire.He was the Conservative Member of Parliament for Woodstock, from 1891 to 1892 and again from 1895 till 1906.