Born on this day: Philip Webb

12th January 2018

Born on this day in 1831, he was an architect, designer and long time close friend with William Morris; the two worked together many times throughout their lives and were closely linked in their ideals as they were both members of the Arts and Craft movement. Webb is now widely considered as the ‘father’ of the movement!

We often speak about Webb in our blogs, especially when it comes to his work on Morris’ designs and the houses he designed – Red House in Bexleyheath (London) and Standen in West Sussex.

Morris and Webb met when Morris was 22 and Webb was 25, becoming friends for life, Webb called Morris, “the best man” he ever knew, showing the affection between the two. They bonded over their love of the arts, the English countryside, the buildings of the medieval era and their need to preserve them! The Arts & Craft Movement was actually a reaction to Victorian Industrialisation – killing the skills of traditional craftsmanship. Progress in machinery takes away from the traditional methods of art that they both were keen to revive and keep going for both buildings and furnishings. Webb was also the co-founder of the SPAB – Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings.

In terms of his childhood, it was a happy one – one of 11 children, he grew up in Oxford and showed an interest in the beautiful architecture all around him from a very young age. The cottages, churches and cottages sparked his lifelong love for architecture. His interest of preserving the older buildings began in 1852 when there was set to be an alteration to the spire of St Mary’s Church in Oxford. For the rest of his life he carried on his battle of preserve and restore old buildings to their former glory in an authentic way – traditional restoration instead of modernising them with their restoration.

His influences of the English countryside are clear throughout his work. His father took him for numerous visits during his childhood to the countryside and we can see the influence of this through his work. The birds and rabbits he drew in Morris’ Brother Rabbit is reflective of this – we license this beautiful design and think that this is a fantastically timeless design and one we can see Webb’s art at it’s best. His father encouraged his artistic talents – as he drew the plants and animals seen on their travels and his father secured tuition for him from a skilled botanical artist – Mrs Richardson.

Along with Morris, Edward Burne-Jones and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, they established the interior decorating and furnishing business, Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. which later became Morris & Co.

Stylistically, in the homes he designed, Webb embraced the comfortable and traditional, choosing functional over the ornate Victorian ornamentation. In his work we can see traditional English building methods with red bricks, sash windows, gables, steep-sloped roof and tall Tudor-like chimneys. For hobbies, as well as his art, he also loved horses, riding and keeping them he even designed stables for them. From being a young child until he died, he kept horses and when the time came that he was too restricted by his rheumatism to ride, he watched them run in the field behind his home.

We can clearly see Webb’s beautiful art in our licensed William Morris design, Brother Rabbit.

(Featured image is a Portrait of Philip Webb by Charles Fairfax Murray. ©National Portrait Gallery, London)

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Happy International Women’s Day! 🌍 We thought we’d celebrate by bringing you the words from some amazing Pre Raphaelite women, who’s talents shouldn’t have been so overlooked at the time (but luckily now are being celebrated with their contributions to the arts!) be sure to read into their stories if you have a minute today, they’re all so interesting ✨ As a business run by women, it’s always a day to celebrate 💜
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#internationalwomensday #iwd2026 #womensupportingwomen #preraphaelites #preraphaelitesisterhood

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Gorgeous Willow Bough blue on the table paired with layers of beautiful @burleighpottery plates 🤍 Always a stunning design to have on the table, did you know it was first produced in 1887, his daughter May Morris wrote of the design, “We were walking one day by our little stream that runs into the Thames and my father pointed out the detail and soon after the paper was done.” We love the behind the design info, painting a beautiful picture of how he was so inspired by nature 🌿
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#williammorris #williammorrisdesign #burleighpottery #uksmallbusiness #blueandwhitedecor

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#williammorris #wmorris #preraphaelites #floraltablerunner #ukdesigner

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#williammorrisfabric #williammorris #quiltingfabric #craftingfabric #sewingfabric

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#williammorris #wmorris #preraphaelites #easter #eastertablescape

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Beauty is always found in the details, our kitchen needs lots of different florals to bring colour and fun to the kitchen - this is our William Morris licensed design Willow Bough in Green, one of our favourite tea towels ✨ Do you have a favourite Morris design tea towel in your kitchen? 🤍
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#williammorris #williammorrisdesign #wmorris #preraphaelites #willowbough

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#quiltingcotton #craftingfabric #ukfabric #ukfabricshop #quiltingfabric

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#gardenflorals #gardensofengland #williammorris #wmorris #preraphaelites

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What makes our William Morris oven gloves special? Well….
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Happy Pancake Day! 🥞 With the sun finally shining here in Yorkshire we had to bring some of it inside with some flowers from the garden- gorgeous snowdrops down the table ☀️ This tablecloth is the beautiful William Morris Trellis, our licensed William Morris design and always a favourite of ours 🫶🏻 Is anyone else starting on the Easter eggs in February? It’s not just us right… 😉
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#williammorris #gardenflowers #snowdropseason #burleighpottery #pancakeday

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Hope everyone has had a wonderful weekend filled with love 🤍 Our Mallow Forest Green licensed William Morris design looked gorgeous on the table this weekend 🌱
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#williammorris #wmorris #tablescapestyling #floraltable #preraphaelites

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We thought we’d do a little spotlight onto all our designs the next few weeks to give more story behind them as they’re all so historic being licensed William Morris designs ✨ First designed in 1874, this is Lily, a beautiful design that incorporates the willow background with lilies and wild flowers 🫶🏻 The design must have been well loved by Morris himself- it was the wallpaper he used to decorate his bedroom at the gorgeous @kelmscottmanor - his home in Lechlade 🤍 Have you ever seen Morris’ Lily design? It’s one of our favourites 🤍
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#williammorris #wmorris #lily #floraltable #britishdesign

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Dressed for all seasons, we love that if you scroll down our page you can see how you can make timeless designs like this Merton William Morris licensed design beautifully dressed up all year round ✨ This would look beautiful for Valentine’s Day but scroll our page to see it dressed for Christmas- buy your favourite design and re-invent it year round 🤍
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#williammorris #williammorrisdesign #wmorris #valentines #valentinestablescape

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We’re back open ☺️ sorry we’ve been so quiet on here, we’ve had a few weeks off for holidays 🫶🏻 We’re back now and ready to send out your floral magic kitchenware and fabrics ✨
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#printedintheuk #uksmallbusiness #fabricstore #fabrics #valentines

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#smallbusinessowner #bridalbouquets #weddingtable #bouquet #floral

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Golden Lily on the table today 🧁 everything should feel special even a little coffee and cake with friends, so we dressed the table up for it to make it extra special, isn’t Golden Lily such a beautiful William Morris design, one of our all time favourites ✨
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#williammorris #wmorris #goldenlily #floraltable #floralprint

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Gorgeous William Morris Sweet Briar fabric! 🌿 Love the green leaves and pink flowers 🫶🏻 We have it in cotton, heavyweight cotton, and pvc, so you’ll find the perfect fit for your project ✨ 🪡🧵
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#williammorris #williammorrisdesign #fabricstash #ukfabric #wmorris

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We’re having a moving sale over on our website! ✨ There are some absolute bargains to be had, including all these items! 🛒 Remember we offer free UK postage on all orders too 🌿 Plus we have a 15% off code running at the moment with code; JAN15 🫶🏻
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#williammorris #wmorris #smallukbusiness #smallshop #floralprint

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We’ve got some fab bundles on our Etsy - we have a lot of offcuts from end of rolls and floral fabric magic can’t be wasted so we bundle them up ✨ Perfect for crafting, we have heavyweight fabric bundles and cotton available now, but hurry, they always sell out quick 🥰
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#williammorrisdesign #williammorris #wmorris #fabricstack #ukfabric

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Born on this day: Philip Webb

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