Father: William Morris.
Mother: Emma Morris.
Wife: Jane Burden (m. 1859).
Daughter: Jenny (b. 1861), May Morris (b. 1862).
Date of Birth: 24 March 1834.
Birth Place: Walthamstow, England.
Date of Death: 3 October 1896 (aged 62).
Death Place: London, England.
Cause of Death: Unspecified.
Remains: Buried, Kelmscott House.
Remains: Buried, Kelmscott House.
Gender: Male
Race or Ethnicity: White
Nationality: English
Education: Exeter College, Oxford, Marlborough College, University of Oxford
Occupation: Artist, designer, writer, socialist
Known for: Wallpaper and textile design, fantasy fiction/medievalism, socialism
Notable Work(s): News from Nowhere, The Well at the World's End.
Artwork: La belle Iseult, Peacock and Dragon, The Vision of the
Holy Grail, David's Charge to Solomon, Self-portrait, The Worship of the
Shepherds, Saint Cecilia, Strawberry Thief, Windrush, Acanthus.
English Artist, designer, writer, and socialist William Morris (1834-1896)
was one of the most versatile and influential men of his age, the last
major English romantics and a leading champion and promoter of
revolutionary ideas as a poet. He was the early founder of the socialist
movement in Britain.
Early Life: William Morris
was born on 24th March 1834 in Walthamstow, a quiet village east
of London. He was the third child and the eldest son of William Morris, a
partner in the firm of Sanderson & Co., bill brokers in the City of
London. His mother Emma Morris was a teacher of music in Worcester.
Morris's childhood was a happy one. He learned to read early. When he
was four years old he was familiar with most of the Waverley novels. He
studied with his sister's governess until he was nine. Morris was
educated at Marlborough and Exeter College. In June 1852 Morris, who had
vague notions of becoming a High-Church Anglican clergyman, entered
Exeter College at Oxford entered Exeter College, Oxford, though since
the college was full, he was unable to go into residence until January
1853. At Oxford University Morris met Edward Burne-Jones and Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Morris joined a Birmingham group. The three men were all artists and formed a group called the Brotherhood.
Later Life: In 1857 Morris joined with Edward Burne-Jones and Dante Gabriel Rossetti to paint frescoes for the Oxford Union. He also began writing poetry and in 1858 his book The Defence of Guenevere and Other Poems
was published. In 1860 Morris commissioned Philip Webb to design
Morris's famous Red House in South London: Morris and his friends and
acquaintances decorated the house themselves in a properly mediaeval
fashion, building all the furnishings, designing stained glass windows,
painting murals, and weaving tapestries, designing textiles and
discovered that they enjoyed it. In the 1870's Morris had begun to take
an active interest in politics but he became upset by the aggressive
foreign policy of the Conservative Prime Minister, Benjamin Disraeli. In
began writing to newspapers and publishing pamphlets where he attacked
Disraeli and supported the anti-imperialism of the Liberal Party leader,
William Gladstone.
In 1875 William Morris took over the business as Morris & Co. It
produced furniture, stained glass windows, utilitarian objects of metal
and ceramics, wallpaper, textiles, jewellery, etc. In January 1883, Morris
was enrolled among the members of the Democratic Federation, the forerunner
of the Social Democratic Federation. Over the next two years, Morris
and party founder Henry Hyndman worked together as the best-known
leaders of the fledgling organisation. For the rest of the decade, his
creative efforts sprang from his socialist politics. Morris joined the
Social Democratic Federation (SDF) and began contributing articles to
its journal Justice. In December 1884, Morris left the SDF and along
with Walter Crane, Eleanor Marx and Edward Aveling formed the Socialist
League. In 1891, Morris founded the Kelmscott Press at Hammersmith. 1894
brought the publication of The Wood Beyond the World, perhaps the finest of Morris's prose fantasies. In 1896, The Well at the World's End was published.
Writing: William Morris wrote many books. He also wrote various articles for newspapers and translated large numbers of mediaeval and classical
works. Here are some of those:-
- The Defence of Guinevere, and Other Poems (1858)
- The Life and Death of Jason (1867)
- The Earthly Paradise (1868-70)
- Love is Enough, or The Freeing of Pharamond (1872)
- Three Northern Love Stories (1875)
- Virgil's Aeneid (1875)
- The Story of Sigurd the Volsung and the Fall of the Nibelungs (1876)
- A Dream of John Ball (1886)
- Homer's Odyssey (1887)
- The House of the Wolfings (1888)
- The Roots of the Mountains (1889)
- News from Nowhere (1890)
- The Story of the Glittering Plain (1890)
- The Well at the World's End (1892)
- The Wood Beyond the World (1892)
Death: William Morris became seriously ill with kidney disease. He died on 3rd October 1896 at the age of 62 in London, England.
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