Last month’s meeting was a talk given by Jane Dew on William Morris - a British textile designer, poet, artist, writer and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He was a major contributor to the revival of traditional British textile arts and methods of production.
Morris was born in Walthamstow, Essex in 1834, to a wealthy middle-class family engaged in mining copper and arsenic in Cornwall. As a young lad, he took an interest in fishing with his brothers as well as gardening and exploring the forest, where he was fascinated both by the Iron Age earthworks. He also took rides through the Essex countryside on his pony, and visited the various churches and cathedrals throughout the country, marvelling at their architecture. His father took him on visits outside of the county, Canterbury Cathedral, the Chiswick Horticultural Gardens, and to the Isle of Wight.
In 1852, Morris entered Exeter College at Oxford University to study Classics and Theology where he met undergraduate Edward Burne-Jones, who became his lifelong friend and collaborator. Through Burne-Jones, Morris joined a group of undergraduates from Birmingham who were studying at Pembroke College:- William Fulford, Richard Watson Dixon, Charles Faulkner, and Cormell Price, known as the ‘Birmingham Set’. Like Morris, the Set were fans of the poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson, and the plays of William Shakespeare.
Webb and Morris designed Red House in Kent where Morris lived with his new wife, Jane Burden, from 1859 to 1865, before moving to Bloomsbury, central London. In 1861, Morris founded the Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. decorative arts firm with Burne-Jones, Rossetti, Webb, and others, which became highly fashionable and much in demand. The firm profoundly influenced interior decoration throughout the Victorian period, with Morris designing tapestries, wallpaper (Trellis), fabrics, furniture, and stained glass windows.
Morris believed that he had Welsh blood from his Grandmother and he spent a week with Webb, visiting towns including Machynlleth, Beddgelert, Bala, Dolgellau and Towyn.
In 1875, he assumed total control of the company, which was renamed Morris & Co. Now in complete control of the Firm, Morris took an increased interest in the process of textile dyeing and entered into a co-operative agreement with Thomas Wardle, a silk dyer who operated the Hencroft Works in Leek. As a result, Morris would spend time with Wardle at his home on various occasions between summer 1875 and spring 1878 (Wightwick Manor near Wolverhampton is a notable example of the Morris & Co. style, with lots of original wallpapers, fabrics, carpets, and furniture). William Morris suffered ill heath, and died in 1896, leaving two daughters.
The 2nd April meeting, starting at 8.00 pm is ‘Curious discoveries on the Staffordshire map’ by Shaun Farrelly
John Egginton