Biography of William Morris

William Morris was a nineteenth century artist, designer and poet.
When and Where was he Born?
24th March 1834, Elm House, Walthamstow, London, England.
Family Background:
William Morris was 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).
Timeline of William Morris:
1840: The Morris family moves to Woodford Hall, near Epping Forest.
1847: Death of Morris’s father.
1848: He goes to Marlborough College.
1851: Morris visits the Great Exhibition in London. He studies at home for his examinations.
1852: Morris finishes his education privately with the Reverend F. B. Guy.
1853: He begins theological studies at Oxford University.
1855: He is granted a private income.
1856: Morris becomes an articled Clerk to G.E. Street.
1857: He helps to paint the frescoes at the Oxford Union.
1859: He marries Jane Burden, a model, on 26th April.

1860: The couple 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.
1864: He issues his first design of wallpaper called “Trellis”.
1865: The family moves to 26 Queen Square, Bloomsbury, London.
1866: Morris is given the jobs of decorating the Green Dining Room in the South Kensington Museum and the Armoury and Tapestry Rooms at St. James’s Palace.
1869: Morris begins working on calligraphy and illuminating manuscripts.
1871: He travels around Iceland. He takes on the joint tenancy of Kelmscott Manor in Oxfordshire with Dante Gabriel Rossetti. His wife Jane and Rossetti have an affair.
1872: He moves from Bloomsbury to Horrington House in Chiswick.
1873: He visits Italy and Iceland. He designs his first chintz pattern called “Tulip and Willow”.
1874: The affair between Rossetti and Jane comes to an end.

1875: He makes his first two designs for Wilton Carpets. He buys out his partners to form the firm Morris and Company.
1876: Morris serves as an examiner at the South Kensington School of Art.
1877: He takes up carpet weaving. He founds the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings and gives lectures in public on the decorative arts.
1878: He moves to 26 Upper Mall, Hammersmith, London.
1879: Morris becomes Treasurer of the National Liberal League.
1881: The Merton Abbey Works are established. He begins weaving tapestries.
1882: He takes on Frank Brangwyn as an apprentice.
1883: Morris joins the Social Democratic Federation. He is made an honorary Fellow of Exeter College. He becomes an advisor to the new Kensington Museum on carpets.
1884: Morris becomes the leader of the Socialist League. He 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: The Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society is founded by Walter Crane.
1889: Morris goes to Paris to attend the Second International Conference of Socialists.
1890: The Kelmscott Press is founded. Morris withdraws from the Socialist League. The Birmingham Guild of Handicrafts is formed. Morris and Co open a furniture factory in Pimlico.
1892: He refuses the offer of becoming Poet Laureate.
1893: the first issue of the journal “The Studio” is published.
1895: Morris starts to become ill.
1896: He travels in Norway. The Kelmscott Chaucer is completed. He dies later that year.
(1898): The Kelmscott Press is wound up.
When and Where did he Die?
4th October 1896, Hammersmith, London, England of tuberculosis.
Age at Death:
62.
Written Works:
1858: “The Defence of Guenevere and Other Poems.”
1867: “The Life and Death of Jason.”
1868: “The Earthly Paradise.”
1870: “The Volsunga Saga”.
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.” “The Aims of Art”.
1888: “A Dream of John Ball and a King’s Lesson”. “Signs of Change.”
1889: “The House of the Wollings.”
1891: “The Story of the Glittering Plain.” “News from Nowhere.” (published as a book for first time). “Poems by the Way”.
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.
Site of Grave:
St. George’s Church, Kelmscott, Oxfordshire.
Places of Interest:
CAMBRIDGESHIRE:
The Stained Glass Museum, Ely.
GLOUCESTERSHIRE:
Kelmscott Manor, Kelmscott near Lechlade.
Memorial Cottage, Kelmscott.
KENT:
The Red House, Near Bexley Heath. (Owned by the National Trust).
LONDON:
William Morris Gallery,Water House, Lloyd Park, Walthamstow.
Merton Abbey Works, Merton.
Red House, Bexley Heath.
St. James Palace.
Victoria and Albert Museum.
6 Queen’s Square, Westminster.
OXFORDSHIRE:
All Saint’s Church, Middleton Cheney.
St. Mary’s Church, Bloxham.
NORFOLK:
Norwich Castle Museum.
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. It has a room devoted to William Morris.