FAQs

Your Cart

Close
Paper Plane Your order qualifies for free standard delivery
Subtotal £0.00
Delivery £0.00
Order Total £0
Checkout Securely

10 Facts about William Morris

13th October 2018

We love writing about William Morris – his life, his work and his legacy. There’s so much behind his work; from his inspirations and the pioneering processes that he achieved to print his fabric to his politics and literature and poems. 

But – what might you not know about him? Here are our 10 quirkiest William Morris facts…

 

1. His nickname was Topsy

After a character in “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”

 

2.  He was married with two daughters

One of the most famous muses of all time, he married Jane Burden They met after she was spotted by Rossetti and Edward Burne-Jones; friends of Morris’ and members of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. They saw her in the audience of a theatre in Oxford and wanted her to model for their art – Rossetti decided she’d be perfect for his Queen Guinevere. Though initially resisting, she eventually sat for their paintings and was soon engaged to be married to Morris. 

They had two daughters together; Jenny and May Morris. 

 

3. His wife Jane had a well known affair with his friend Rossetti                                    

As we said, Jane actually met Rossetti first. Though there was apparently an attraction between the two from the very beginning, he was already engaged to be married to Lizzie Siddal. Before he died, he did tell a friend that he went through with the marriage “out of a mistaken sense of loyalty and fear of giving pain” despite have fallen for another. Jane, from a poor family, couldn’t have rejected a proposal from a wealthy man and Morris, due to inheritance from his father, was a wealthy 24 year old who did adore Jane. 

The charming Rossetti, following the death of Lizzie Siddal in 1862, woo’d Jane and she frequently modelled for him over the years. The betrayal didn’t end there – Morris and Rossetti joined a lease on Kelmscott Manor and it enabled Jane and Rossetti to become even closer. Over the years, it even caused Morris to take a trip to Iceland to both explore and clear his head away from what was going on at his home. 

The affair was ended in 1876 following the decline of Rossetti’s health and addictions. When asked years later, Jane did admit to loving him. As a widow, she did confess she never truly Morris but never had any regrets as to the choice she made, “I suppose if I was young again I should do the same thing.”

 

4. He had strong political views

A socialist, Morris was more than just a designer. In 1884, Morris founded the Socialist League. In 1885 he was even arrested for disorderly conduct during a socialist demonstration. He’s famously quoted, ““…I do not want art for a few; any more than education for a few; or freedom for a few…” 

 

5. He was intended to be a man of the cloth

Along with his friend Edward Burne-Jones, they decided to become clergymen – their aim was to live a life of chastity and channel their energies into artistic pursuit. Ultimately, after a trip to Belgium and Northern France, they were inspired by Medieval churches and cathedrals and were inspired to dedicate themselves to a life of art instead. 

 

6. Not content with just textile and wallpaper designs, Morris also founded the Kelmscott Press. 

He wrote of the venture – “Here is a new craft to conquer and to perfect.” Printing began at the press in Spring 1891. He designed multiple fonts including “Golden” Roman typeface and “Troy” Gothic type along with “Chaucer.”

He worked to create beautiful books in regards to their designs which took into account their type, image and decorative elements – you can see beautiful examples of what he achieved today if you do a quick search on the Kelmscott Press.

 

7.  He travelled Iceland

Along with Faulkner, W.H. Evans and Magnusson, in July 1871, Morris left for Iceland. He visited twice and helped to form and confirm his political views on the inequality of the classes after he saw the poverty levels here. 

 

8. Morris, Marhsall, Faulkner & Co. – The Firm.

In April 1861, Morris, along with his friends; Edward Burne-Jones, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Philip Webb, Ford Madox Brown, Charles Faulker and Peter Paul Marshall, set up the decorative arts firm. It was in response to the fact he bought Red House and was unable to furnish it with textiles that were up to his standard and taste. He wanted to create and he saw an opportunity here. In March 1875, Morris disbanded the company and it led on to become Morris & Co. with the original partners working on their individual projects. However, lifelong friends Burne-Jones and Philip Webb remained producing designs for Morris & Co.

 

9. His legacy. 

His designs remain popular across generations and years. You’ll be just as likely to see his designs being crafted into beautiful furniture in stately homes as you will seeing the designs adorning the walls in quirky cafes. You might have spotted that our fabric was featured on the Alan Carr Christmas special last year – a nod to the fact Morris’ designs are often seen on Gogglebox on the couch of one of the couples. This season, you’ll see his designs strutting down the catwalk as part of H&M’s latest collection. Though his legacy includes his literature, poetry and political vision, his designs are really popular today, if not actually growing in popularity and awareness. Influencing designers and artists of today, along with everyone else who simply love his designs. 

 

10. His life work.

He achieved so much during his life, from his designs to work in politics and his writing – not to mention his pioneering methods of production in printing both textiles and literature with the Kelmscott Press. He did so much that upon his death, his physician gave cause of death as, “Simply being William Morris, and having done more work than most ten men.”

Related Articles

Post Title

Walter Crane (1845-1915)

Walter Crane (1845-1915) moved in the same circles as William Morris and was an important figure in the Arts and Crafts Movement.  Crane first met ...

Post Title

William Morris

  "... For a single instant I saw her sitting there, as of old, in the garden hard by the river, under the gold-dropping laburnums,...

Post Title

“Life Starts All Over Again When It Gets Crisp In The Fall” – F. Scott Fitzgerald

As the Summer months come to a close (sporadic as the sunshine was), we're getting really excited for the Fall/Autumn. Changing out home furnishings is...

Happy first day of Spring 🌷what’s your favourite thing about spring? 🌱 Ours is of course all the stunning flowers blooming all around us 🪴 To get 15% off our website to bring some florals indoors, use code; SPRING at checkout on our website 🤍
•
•
•
#williammorris #williammorrisfabric #williammorrisdesign #morrisdesign #williammorriscollection #spring #springflorals #springflowers #flowerarrangement #flowerarranging
Our fat quarters are ideal for quilting or patchwork projects, in all our licensed William Morris designs we also sell them in bundles 🌿 Our website has 15% off everything at the moment with code; SPRING 🌷
•
•
•
#williammorris #quilting #quiltingfabric #quiltingcotton #quiltingshop #cottonfabric #cottonfabricstore #uksmallbusiness #sewersgonnasew #patchwork #sewhappy #fatquarter #fatquarterquilt
A bit of a different one today, and we’re very amateur so don’t zoom in on our planting too much, but isn’t spring lovely tidying up the greenhouse ready to plant in? 🌱 Next up is getting some tomato plants and might even take on a dahlia or two! 🤍 If you’re a gardener and know how to keep this grape vine alive, do let us know how 😂
•
•
•
#williammorris #williammorrisfabric #pvcfabric #greenhouse #greenhousegardening #tidymygreenhouse #gardening #gardeninglove #flowergarden #greenhousegardening #mygreenhouse #springplanting #springgarden #springgardening #springgardeningtips
Celebrating International Women’s Day today 🤍 As a female founded and run business, it’s always important for us to look at the women throughout history that have been empowered and made a difference. Few have made such a difference than May Morris, not only an expert in embroidery and design, she ran the embroidery department at her father’s business, Morris & Co. She also founded the Women’s Guild of Arts as the Art Workers Guild did not admit women - like her father was a true pioneer at the time with her talent and activities to progress women’s rights - a remarkable woman indeed 🌿 We were lucky enough to see some stunning original May Morris embroideries at our friends @williammorrissocietyuk - she was a true talent 🧵🪡
•
•
•
#maymorris #maymorrisembroidery #maymorris #artist #embroidery #embroideryinstaguild #williammorris #internationalwomensday #internationalwomensday2025 #womenrun #womenrunbusiness #ukbusiness #morrisandco #florals #artsandcraftsmovement #womensguildofarts
Give us all the spring florals, we’re absolutely ready for the blooms to bloom this spring 🌷🌿 To celebrate, use code: SPRING on our website for 15% off everything (including our beautiful spring sale with exclusive colour ways and different products!) 🌱 Hope you’re all enjoying the sunshine today 🌞
Beautiful William Morris Daisy is on the table today 🌼
•
•
•
#springtime #springflowers #springflowers🌸🌺🌼🌷❤️ #floralsyourway #floralsforspring #williammorris #morris #morrismagpie #preraphaelite #daisy
Celebrating World Book day with a coffee meeting over one of our favourite books; our French archive ⚜️ Filled to the brim with beautiful designs, we might have picked a couple to be our new designs! Quilters, you’re going to want to watch this space! 🫶🏻 If anyone’s interested in how we bring a new design to life, let us know we’d be happy to film it for you! 🥰
•
•
•
#floraltablecloth #williammorris #brotherrabbit #frencharchive #quiltingfabric #printedintheuk #worldbookday #bookday #newdesign #independantbusiness #florals #sewistsofinstagram #haberdashery
A little afternoon tea set up 🧸 Using stunning Willow Bough blue, we thought this is a perfect William Morris kids afternoon tea party 🤍
•
•
•
#williammorris #willowbough #blueflorals #blueandwhite #blueandwhitehome #preraphaelite #afternoontea #teddybearspicnic #kidspartyideas #peterrabbit #peterrabbitparty
Prepping some beautiful blooms 🌷 Got to include our fabulous William Morris tea towels of course 🩷
•
•
•
#floralhome #myfloraldays #myfloraljoys #myfloralgaff #flowers #flowerstagram #williammorris #preraphaelite #williammorrisfabric #independantbusiness
Stunning Daisy is on the table 🫶🏻 Daisy was the first design William Morris produced so it’s always such a special one amongst his fans ✨
•
•
•
#floraltablecloth #placemats #placematset #daisy #williammorrisdesign #williammorris #williammorrisfabric #fabric #floralfabric #florals #floraltable
Pack a fabric stack order with us ✨ which William Morris design is your fave? 🤎
•
•
•
#williammorris #williammorrisfabric #williammorrisdesign #williammorrisfabrics #fabric #fabricstack #fabricstash #packanorderwithme
Oh Compton we love you! 🧡 All the details within Compton are so stunning, the winding leaves and florals, did you know it was the last design Morris himself before he passed? 🤎
featuring; William Morris Compton, our licensed digitally printed design ✨
•
•
•
#compton #comptondesign #williammorrisdesign #williammorris #williammorrisfabric #williammorrisfabrics #fabrics #fabric #floralfabric #digitallyprinted #ukindependentbusiness #craftingfabric
Back in stock alert! 🐇 One of our all time favourite designs is William Morris Brother Rabbit and we’ve just digitally printed it on cotton in the red everyone has always loved so much from our licensed collection 🥰 
•
•
•
#williammorris #williammorrisfabric #williammorrisdesign #williammorrisfabrics #fabric #brotherrabbit #brerrabbit #digitalprint #printedintheuk #preraphaelite #floraldesigner
📣 We’ve got a big announcement! 📣 We are now digitally printing our fabrics 🎉 Still printed in the United Kingdom (of course!) we always aim to bring you the highest quality, licensed William Morris designs (and exclusive florals but more on that later..) and by digitally printing them we can really focus on the details within the fabric, you can see how crisp all the aspects within the design are here: the little strawberries and the birds are so clear in the design 🍓 Printed onto high quality cotton, we’re so pleased to be able to print Morris designs displaying all the details just as he drew all those years ago 🎨 Timeless designs that when he was printing his designs in Merton Abbey Mill using the Indigo dye technique he’d never have been able to imagine the progress made that we can now digitally print them! 🤍 Strawberry Thief red is now back in stock, such a gorgeous design we adore it ♥️
•
•
•
#williammorris #williammorrisfabric #williammorrisfabric #williammorrisfabrics #florals #preraphaelite #digitalprint #digitalprinting #strawberrythief
To celebrate Valentine’s Day this week, we’ve been looking through some Pre-Raphaelite love quotes including this one from Dante Gabriel Rossetti ♥️ They sure knew how to write poetry, we’ll share more of their beautiful words this week ✨
•
•
•
#dantegabrielrossetti #rossetti #preraphaelite #preraphaelites #preraphaelitebrotherhood #poetry #lovepoetry #lovequotes #valentines
Today’s tablescape feels very Valentines pretty 🤍 Beautiful Charlotte Rose is our design from our French archive, so timeless it’s on our table constantly through the year 🌹
•
•
•
#floraltablecloth #diningtable #mydiningtable #homestyling #floralhomestyling #floralhome #frenchflorals #frenchcountrystyle #printedintheuk #ukindependentbusiness #independantbusiness #valentinesflorals #valentinestable
We’re closed for holiday soon! 🪩 From the 21st Jan- 6th Feb we’ll be taking a little break, so make sure your orders are placed before then, or we will send it when we’re back ✨ since we’re treating ourselves, we thought we’d treat you too with 15% off our website with code; MORRIS - valid until we close 🤍
•
•
•
#williammorris #williammorrisfabric #williammorrisdesign #artsandcraftsmovement #artsandcrafts #preraphaelite #preraphaelites #preraphaelitebrotherhood
Merry Christmas everyone! 🎄 We hope you’ve all had a wonderful day ✨
•
•
•
#williammorris #williammorrisfabric #williammorrisdesign #williammorrisfabrics #preraphaelite #florals #christmastable #tablescape
There’s still time to get your Christmas shopping ticked off! ✨ Free gift wrap on your orders and 10% off everything with code; festive 🎄 Just email us or message us to let us know you’d like us to gift wrap your order ☺️
•
•
•
#williammorris #williammorrisdesign #williammorrisfabric #preraphaelite #christmasgift #willowbough #floraltable #florals
Loving cutting beautiful fabric stacks this Christmas! 🎄 A fabric stack is an ideal gift for quilters and crafters in your life, they’ll be able to enjoy using them for their next project ✨
•
•
•
#williammorris #williammorrisdesign #williammorrisfabric #preraphaelite #fabricstash #fabricstack #printedintheuk #shopindependent