Henry James Morgan was born on November 14, 1842, in Quebec City, Quebec.

He was a Canadian civil servant, lawyer, author, and editor. In 1853, he began work as a page in the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada and later served as a sessional clerk of the assembly and as a private secretary to several government officials. During the late 1850s, he also was a correspondent for several newspapers. In 1862, he attended Morrin College in Quebec. After Confederation, he was employed as a clerk with the Canadian Department of the Secretary of State. Around this time, he also studied law at McGill College and was called to the Quebec and Ontario bars in 1873. Promoted chief clerk in 1875, Morgan retained an influential archival position of the Keeper of the Records until 1883. In 1878, he published "The Canadian Legal Directory", which included descriptions of the court procedures, lists of lawyers across Canada, and biographical sketches of the judges. Between 1879 and 1887, he began, with the aid of various assistants, "The Dominion Annual Register and Review" (1879-1887), which was the first annual record of the important political, social, and general topics of the year. In 1895, he retired from the public service, and, from then until his death, he devoted himself to the preparation of his most widely used compendium, “The Canadian Men and Women of the Time”. The first edition, containing biographies of 2,773 notable Canadians, appeared in 1898 and was regarded as the immediate precursor of the “Canadian Who’s Who” when the latter began publishing in 1910.

In 1873, he married Emily Constance Richards (1853–1901). He died on December 27, 1913, in Brockville, Ontario.