Who was William Morris?
Artist, Poet and Designer.
Date and Place of Birth:
24th March 1834, Elm House, Walthamstow, London,
England.
Family Background:
Born into a comfortably off middle class family.
Education:
Marlborough College. Studied for Holy Orders
at Exeter College, Oxford (where he met Burne-Jones).(Renounced
the church and then studied architecture).
Chronology/Biography of William Morris:
1840: Family moves
to Woodford Hall.
1847: Death of his
father.
1851: Visits the
Great Exhibition in London.
1852: Finishes his
education privately with the Reverend F. B. Guy.
1855: Is granted
a private income.
1856: Becomes an
articled Clerk to G. E. Street.
1857: Helps to paint
the frescoes at the Oxford Union.
1859: After marrying
the model Jane Burden they move into the Red House at Upton in Kent,
which he designed and furnished with help from the architect Philip
Webb.
1861: Morris, Marshall
and Faulkner and Co is founded. Birth of his daughter Jenny.
Broadway Tower, Worcestershire which Morris hired.
(© A Blagg)
1862: Morris's firm
exhibit at the International Exhibition. Birth of his daughter May.
1865: The family
moves to 26 Queen Square, Bloomsbury, London. Is given the jobs
of decorating the Green Dining Room in the South Kensington Museum
and the Armoury and Tapestry Rooms at St. Jame's Palace.
1869: Begins working
on calligraphy and illuminating manuscripts.
1871: Travels around
Iceland. Takes on the joint
tenancy of Kelmscott Manor in Oxfordshire with Dante Gabriel Rossetti.
1872: Moves from
Bloomsbury to Horrington House in Chiswick.
1873: Visits Italy
and Iceland.
1874: His firm is
reconstituted as Morris and Company.
1875 He makes his
first two designs for Wilton Carpets.
1876: Serves as
an examiner at the South Kensington School of Art.
1877: Takes up carpet
weaving. Founds the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings.
Lectures in public on the decorative arts.
1878: Moves to 26
Upper Mall, Hammersmith, London.
1879: Becomes Treasurer
of the National Liberal League.
1881: Establishment
of Merton Abbey Works. Begins weaving tapestries.
1882: Takes on Frank
Brangwyn as an apprentice.
1883: Joins the
Democratic Federation.
1884: Becomes the
leader of the Socialist League. Lectures on textile fabrics at the
International Health Exhibition
1885: He is arrested
after an assault on a policemen but is later released as a well
known man of letters.
1887: Riots take
place in Trafalgar Square.
1888: Founding of
the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society by Walter Crane.
1889: Goes to Paris
to attend the International Conference of Socialists.
1890: The Kelmscott
Press is founded. He withdraws form the Socialist League.
1892: Refuses the
offer of becoming Poet Laureate.
1893: First issue
of the journal "The Studio" is published.
1895: Starts to
become ill.
1896: Travels in
Norway.
Written Works:
- 1858: “The Defence
of Guenevere and Other Poems.”
- 1867:
“The Life and Death of Jason.”
- 1868:
“The Earthly Paradise.”
- 1872: “Love
is Enough, A Morality.”
- 1874:
“The Aeneid of Virgil.”
- 1876: “The Story
of Sigurd the Volsung and the Fall of the Niblungs.”
- 1882: “Hopes
and Fears for Art.” “Ouida.” ” In Maremma.”
- 1885:
“Chants for Socialists.”
- 1886: “The
Pilgrims of Hope.”
- 1887: “The
Odyssey.”
- 1888:
"A Dream of John Ball and a King's Lesson". "Signs
of Change."
- 1889:
“The House of the Wollings.”
- 1890:
“News from Nowhere.”
- 1891: “The
Story of the Glittering Plain.”
- 1894:
“The Wood Beyond the World.” "How I became a Socialist".
- 1895:
“Child Christopher and Goldikind the Fair.”
- 1896:
“The Well at the World's End.”
- (1912):
“Collected Works.”
Marriage:
26th April 1859: To Jane Burden a model.
Places of Interest:
LONDON:
Merton Abbey Works, Merton
Red House, Bexley
St. James Palace
Victoria and Albert Museum
Water House, Lloyd Park, Waltham Forest
6 Queen's Square, Westminster
OXFORDSHIRE:
All Saint's Church, Middleton Cheney
Memorial Cottage, Kelmscott
Kelmscott Manor
St. Mary's Church, Bloxham
WOLVERHAMPTON:
Wightwick Manor (Holds many original Morris decorations
even though he never visited himself).
WORCESTERSHIRE:
Broadway Tower, at the top of Fish Hill, near
Broadway. Has a room devoted to William Morris.
Date and Place of Death:
3rd October 1896, Hammersmith, London, England.
Age at Death:
62.
Site of Grave:
St. George’s Church, Kelmscott, Oxfordshire.
