| 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:
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.
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).
Date and Place of
Death: 3rd October 1896, Hammersmith, London, England.
Age at Death:
62.
Site of Grave:
St. George’s Church, Kelmscott, Oxfordshire.
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