Arthur Conan Doyle became acquainted with Morel through the work of the Congo Reform Association. In his novel "The Lost World" (1912), he used Morel as an inspiration for the character of Ed Malone. Philosopher and activist Bertrand Russell said of Morel, "No other man known to me has had the same heroic simplicity in pursuing and proclaiming political truth." George Orwell, writing in 1946, described Morel as "heroic but rather forgotten man." Author Jasper Morel Fforde states that Morel is his great-grandfather.