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23rd July 2018
Born on the 21st July 1840, Georgiana Burne-Jones was the wife of Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood artist Edward Burne-Jones. She was also the mother of the painter Philip Burne-Jones, auntie to the famous Rudyard Kipling and close friend of William Morris and George Eliot.
Born Georgiana MacDonald into a strict, God fearing family, according to Jan Marsh’s “Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood,” reading Shakespeare and attending the theatre were both forbidden and were considered a sin in her family due to their morality. Both her dad and grandfather were Methodist ministers.
Born the fifth of eleven children, her sister Alice married Edward Pointer, who was an artist and became the Director of the National Gallery and subsequently the President of the Royal Academy. Her other sister Louisa gave birth to who would become the future Prime Minister – Stanley Baldwin and their other sister Alice, was the mother of the famous Rudyard Kipling.
The MacDonald sisters were raised in a lower-middle class household and denied the luxury of both education and social advancement. It’s interesting then, as Judith Flanders points out in her book “A Circle of Sisters: Alice Kipling, Georgiana Burne-Jones, Agnes Poynter and Louisa Baldwin” “As wives and mothers, they connected a famous painter, a president of the Royal Academy, a prime minister and the uncrowned poet laureate of the Empire.”
Best known as Georgia, she’d known Edward since she was a child. His childhood was much different to hers, much more free and arty, born in Birmingham to Edward Richard Jones who was a frame maker at Bennetts Hill. Burne-Jones attended King Edward VI Grammar School in Birmingham from 1844 and then the Birmingham School of Art from 1848 to 1852. He went on to study theology at Oxford’s Exeter College were he met William Morris due to their joint interest in poetry, which would be the start of their life long friendship and mutual interests.
In 1856 he became engaged to Georgie who adored him and around this time, he introduced her to his Oxford friends, Morris, Rossetti and Millais. She spoke with a passion of this time in her book, “The Memorials of Edward Burne-Jones” for which she became well known;
“I wish it were possible to explain the impression made upon me as a young girl whose experience so far had been quite remote from art, by sudden and close intercourse with those to whom it was the breath of life. The only approach I can make to describing it is by saying that I felt in the presence of a new religion. Their love of beauty did not seem to me unbalanced, but as if it included the whole world.”
They married on 9th June 1860 when Georgiana was 19 and Edward 27. At this point, they had already been engaged for four years – to the very day. Their join possessions amassed ₤30 and a deal table containing her engraving tools. After their wedding, she was swept into Edward’s creative world and made friends with Lizzie Siddal, who Dante Gabriel Rossetti married around the same time. They lived in rented rooms in Great Russell Street and they spent early years of their marriage filled with happiness, including a summer at Red House with William Morris and his wife Jane, spending their days working together on decorating projects.
They had their first child, Philip on 21st October 1861. In the summer of 1864, Philip and then subsequently, Georgiana contracted scarlet fever, which caused her to give premature birth to their second child Christopher, who also had scarlet fever and tragically died soon after birth. She was ill herself for months and afterwards understandbly refused to return to the rooms where the horrendous illness and death had occurred. Moving to 41 Kensington Square, she gave birth to their third child, Margaret in 1866.
Though Edward Burne-Jones was hugely successful and remains well known for his life work today, we can’t overlook Georgiana’s own work. Attending the Government School of Design (part of the South Kensington museums complex – today the building part of the Victoria and Albert Museum.) She later spoke that she learnt little of importance here, and in 1856, took lessons from Ford Madox Brown and painted a model in his studio. Though there are few surviving examples of her artwork, a pencil rendering of a dead bird is today held by Tate Britain.
In 1861 when Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. was created, Jane Morris directed the embroidery side of the business and Georgiana herself was employed painting tiles. Following Philips birth, she became a full time mother. She spoke candidly about this time, “I remember the feeling of exile with which I now heard through its closed door the well-known voices of friends together with Edward’s familiar laugh, while I sat with my little son on my knee and dropped selfish tears on him as ‘separator of companions and the terminator of delights'” (The Memorials of Edward Burne-Jones, Vol 1, 1904.)
Just like the other wives and friends of the Pre-Raphaelite women, Georgiana has been depicted in a number of drawings and paintings by her husband and his friends. In fact, in Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, you can see 22 year old Georgiana immortalised in time, dated 1863 and heavily influenced by a Renaissance portraiture, one of his first attempts at a formal portrait, it even has a latin inscription. Though there are many others by Edward and also her brother in law Edward Poynter.
Another famous portrait of her began in 1883 and shows Georgiana holding a herbal with Philip at an easel aged around 22 and Margaret behind him aged around 17. Burne-Jones amended and played around with the portrait and it was still deemed unfinished by him by his death – it was never exhibited in his lifetime.
After suffering a lingering illness and according to his doctor, “simply being William Morris, and having done more work than most ten men” in October 1896, Edward Burne-Jones was devastated and his health declined as a result – they’d been friends and partners since college. In 1898 he came down with influenza and after recovering, suffered a heart attack on 17th June 1898. He had a service held at Westminster Abbey after the intervention of the Prince of Wales – the very first time an artist was honoured.
In life, he dreaded that someone unsympathetic would write the biography of his life and so had asked Georgiana to write it, which after his death aged 58, she did, living in the memories of their lives together and all they achieved, published 6 years later over two volumes.
Georgiana died February 2nd 1920 following a short artist, remembered as Edward’s wife, dedicated wife, artist, writer and Pre Raphaelite model.
Featured image: Title: Georgiana Burne-Jones, their children Margaret and Philip, Artist: Edward Burne-Jones (1833–1898)
Posted in News by Laura
It’s coming home! 🏴 To celebrate, take 15% off our website all weekend with code: HOME at checkout ⚽️ Hurry it ends Tuesday 🌿
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#williammorris #england #itscominghome⚽️ #britishbusiness #floralprint
The latest project, a little quilted jacket! ✨ Our William Morris Merton Blue cotton fabric is looking gorgeous, we’ll show you it when it’s finished ☺️ Remember if you’re quilting, our cotton fabric is perfect for the projects and we have lots of complimenting designs and colour ways within our range! 🪡
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#merton #quiltedjacket #quiltingfabric #quiltingfabrics #fabricstack
We’re often asked what the different weights of our fabrics are and what projects they’d be good for. These are our three different types of fabrics in our Brother Rabbit red colourway - cotton on the right, heavyweight in the middle and pvc on the left ✨ As you can see on the second photo, and as the name suggests, our heavyweight fabric has a thicker, heavier weave which makes it good for projects such as curtains and light upholstery 🪡 Our cotton fabric is perfect for quilting and projects such as dress making but honestly the amount of crafts that can be made out of them both are endless! 🫶🏻 Our pvc fabric is great to put straight on the table as it won’t fray so doesn’t need a hem and is easy to maintain as it’s wipe clean! All our fabrics are sold by the half metre and if you’d like a sample of any of our fabrics in any weight just let us know and we’ll get a free sample sent to you! 💌
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#williammorris #cottonfabric #quiltingfabric #curtainfabric #ukfabric
Our William Morris range is a gorgeous mix of colours and florals, which is your favourite? In some designs such as Strawberry Thief, Brother Rabbit, Willow Bough and Mallow we have different colour ways that we digitally print in the UK so check our website for the full range! 🫶🏻
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#williammorris #preraphaelite #quiltingfabric #fatquarters #britishbusiness
Perhaps the most famous Morris design, Strawberry Thief was registered in 1883, inspired by Morris watching the thrushes stealing strawberries from under his fruit nets at the beautiful @kelmscottmanor 🍓 It was printed using the indigo dye technique, which was labour intensive and first attempted in 1875 but not perfected for 8 years 🎨 We also print Strawberry Thief in a beautiful red 🫶🏻
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#strawberrythief #historicdesigns #britishdesign #kelmscottmanor
Gorgeous Golden Lily, designed in 1897, it’s been a timelessly popular design ever since but did you know that it really increased in popularity in the 1960s when the Beatles George Harrison wore a Golden Lily shirt? ✨
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#goldenlily #wmorris #georgeharrison #englishsummer #englishdesign
Daisy is a special one to many as it was the second ever design Morris created, in 1864, made up of repeating drawn Meadow Daisies 🌼
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#morrisandco #preraphaelite #preraphaelites #daisy #daisydesign
We print Willow Bough in this beautiful blue and also in green 🌿 First designed in 1887, it was first produced as a wallpaper design which May Morris, Williams daughter, used to decorate her bedroom before being adapted for fabric in 1895 when it was block printed in Merton Abbey 🌿
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#maymorris #mertonabbey #mertonabbeymills #willowbough
Trellis is a special design as it was the first wallpaper he designed for his company, Morris & Co. In 1864 🌿 It was inspired by the rose trellis in the garden of his stunning home @redhousent that he co designed with his friend and architect, Philip Webb
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#philipwebb #redhouse #trellis #rosetrellis
We print Mallow in a wine colourway and this beautiful forest green colour ✨ It was first printed in 1879 and used to hang in the wonderful Arts & Crafts home, @standennt in the Croxley bedroom 🫶🏻
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#a
you’ve got to make everything an event, including breakfast! 🥐
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On the table;
Willow Bough blue placemats- £38.99
Willow Bough blue napkins- £20.99 ✨
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#williammorris #williammorrisdesign #willowbough #preraphaelites #floralhome
Have you seen our forest green colourways of Mallow and Brother Rabbit? 🌿 We brought them out last year and were so happy that they’re ever so popular with everyone 💚 This week we’ve also got a 10% discount running on our website with code: floralsummer 🌅
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#williammorris #williammorrisfabric #wmorris #williammorrisdesign #preraphaelite
Did you know all our fabrics are printed and all our products manufactured in the UK? 🤍 It’s important to us that our William Morris fabrics are all high quality and the printed colours all beautiful to ensure all his designs live on timelessly to a high standard 🇬🇧
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Products featured; our Daisy William Morris tea towel - £10.99 ✨
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#williammorris #wmorris #morris #floralteatowel #floralhome
A moment for the greens! 💚 Can you name all these beautiful green William Morris designs? 🌿 All digitally printed here in the UK 🇬🇧 The good thing seeing them all together is you can see which work together for a sewing project or quilt, or layered together for your next tablescape! 🫧
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#williammorris #williammorrisdesign #williammorrisfabric #preraphaelites #floralfabrics
Did you know we do bundles of our fabric offcuts? 🌿 Perfect for sewer and quilters, they’re various sizes and designs and available on our Etsy and website - this is our latest “almost fat quarter” bundle that all are almost 50cm pieces, you could even make double sided cushions or anything! What would you create? 🪡🧵 (message us if you’d like a link to our bundles!🫧)
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#williammorris #fatquarters #fatquarterbundle #preraphaelite #quiltingcotton
With this hot weather upon us, if you’re like us and using it to get all your washing out and dry, we thought we’d tell you our washing guidelines! 🫧 We’d recommend folding your fabric face to face when in the wash (so pattern side to pattern side!) to protect the print and then wash at 30 degrees, hang on the line to dry! 🧺 All our fabrics are digitally printed in the UK and products manufactured in the UK 🇬🇧
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#williammorris #goldenlily #flowerscape #wmorris #preraphaelite
All our wonderful William Morris fabrics are digitally printed here in the UK, creating high quality print in incredible colour ways, if you’re quilting and crafting from our cotton and heavyweight cotton fabrics, we thought it’d be handy to have all the pattern repeats in an easy to save post ☺️
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#williammorris #craftingfabric #quiltingfabric #floralfabrics #patternfabric
Merton in blue is one of the most beautiful William Morris designs, a timeless blue and white, it was first designed in 1888!
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#williammorris #wmorris #morrisdesign #merton #preraphaelite
If you’d like a sample of Merton, just send us a message and we’ll get one sorted out for you!
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#williammorris #floralfabric #blueandwhite #blueandwhitefabric #tablescape
Have you seen Merton before? It’s so underrated as a Morris design we think! It was actually the first design that he printed on rotary screens under the name “Morris & Co.” After their rebrand from “Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co.’” 🌿 We’re just appreciating it during peony season!
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#peony #peonyseason #morris #morrisandco #preraphaelites
Taking a closer look at beautiful Lily design, a timeless design Morris designed in 1874, if you’d like a sample of Lily, just let us know! 💌
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The table details;
Lily napkins- £16.99 for 4
Lily tablecloths- starting from £29.99 depending on size
Also mentioned;
Lily cotton by the half metre- £9.25
Lily heavyweight cotton by the half metre- £10.25
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#williammorris #wmorris #preraphaelites #lily #quiltingcotton
When cutting fabric stacks, we always wonder what is being made from them, we often get messages about quilts being stitched together with various tonal colours, curtains ready to be part of daily life or dresses being sewn to be worn to the next big event, so if you ever make anything from our fabrics- whether it be a huge project or a tiny one made of our scrap bundles, do let us know what you make! 🪡🧵
Can you name the designs within the photo? All sold by the half meter, £18.50 per metre of cotton, £20.50 per metre of heavyweight cotton 🫶🏻
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#williammorris #wmorris #morrisfabric #floralfabric #quiltingcotton
Putting the spotlight on Mallow Forest Green, we love this design so much it’s so effortlessly beautiful, it’s been admired in homes for more than 147 years since William Morris designed it ✨
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The table details;
Mallow napkins- £16.99
Mallow tablecloths- starting at £29.99 depending on size
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#williammorris #weddingtablescape #weddingtableflowers #preraphaelites #artsandcraftsmovement
Mid week tables require; a vase of gorgeous fresh flowers, as many sweet treats as you can get your hands on, and of course, a gorgeous tablecloth set- this Willow Bough blue is one of our all time favourite William Morris designs, it’s utterly timeless and so beautiful 🌿
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The table details;
Willow Bough blue napkins- £16.99
Willow Bough tablecloths- starting at £29.99 depending on size
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#williammorris #williammorrisdesign #willowbough #englishdesign #myfloralhome
A little update from us 🇬🇧
From 1st July, our product prices will be increasing due to continued rises in manufacturing and material costs.
We’ve worked hard to absorb these increases for as long as possible, but to continue providing the quality you expect from us, a small price adjustment is now necessary.
Every product we create is proudly printed and manufactured here in the UK, using high-quality materials and processes that ensure a finish we’re proud of. Our fabrics are all digitally printed to give a crisp finish.
If you’ve been thinking about placing an order, now is the perfect time — all orders placed before 1st July will be at our current prices.
To thank you for your support, we’re offering an exclusive discount before the new prices take effect.
Use code: thankyou
Enjoy 10% off your order until 14th June
This is the perfect opportunity to place your order at current prices and enjoy an additional saving before the increase.
Thank you for supporting a UK small business and for choosing quality. We truly appreciate every order ❤️
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#uksmallbiz #madeintheuk #williammorris #fabricstore #floralfabric
Aren’t these the most gorgeous blooms!! 🫶🏻 This is our William Morris Compton design and it’s so underrated as a design, it’s beautiful year round because all the different details can be brought out of it, pair it with springtime greens to pop the green tones or autumnal burnt oranges during the colder months, it’s so versatile! ✨ Swipe to see my little photoshoot gatecrasher 😂
All our products are digitally printed and manufactured in the UK 🇬🇧
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#williammorris #williammorrisdesign #compton #artsandcraftsmovement #cottagecorekitchen
Bringing nature indoors, we our gorgeous oven gloves thrown over the cooker- a chic way to make something practical beautiful too! 🫶🏻
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#williammorrisfabric #williammorris #wmorris #floralkitchen #pimpernel
Gorgeous postbox 📮 If you’d like a free sample of any of our fabrics just send us a message and we’ll get them sent out to you 💌 If you’re ordering from abroad, we will always take the parcel to the post office to make sure we’re comparing different postage methods to get the best postage prices for you- we’re wanting to spread the floral goodness global! Today I pottered to the post office to send a lovely pvc apron to Australia which is amazing that Morris is well known world wide! 🐨🦘🇦🇺
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#williammorris #williammorrisdesign #smallukbusiness #fabricdesign #postboxesofinstagram
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