Born near Carmarthen, Wales, Morris is claimed as a Llandeilo artist who is not as well known as he deserves. From 1902-7 he studied At the Forbes School of Painting, and in 1909 went on to the Slade. There he worked under Henry TONKS, a doctor who had forsaken medicine for art. 'He was unexpectedly very keen on anatomy...and worked hard at painstaking studies of both surface anatomy and its underlying structure.' (Davies)  

His wife was Jessie PHILLIPS, a journalist and children's writer, and Carey illustrated not only his wife's books but also those of other authors. His great strength was portraiture, and many of these are still in private collections around his original home territory. At Newlyn he was a close friend of Hereward Hayes TRESIDDER and a contemporary of William PASCOE.

His address in 1915-17 was at Sandown Barracks on the Isle of Wight where he served with the IOW Rifles, and he was badly gassed in the trenches of Flanders in WWI. Later he and his wife moved to London and he kept a studio in Chelsea. Andrew McNeillie's third collection of poetry Slower (July 2006) includes a poem to the artist's memory, 'In Memoriam, Carey Morris, RA (1882-1968)'.  Though Morris exhibited at the RA, he was not elected as a member, and was not a Royal Academician.