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118-580: Founded in 1879 as the North End Industrial Home by volunteers from the Associated Charities as a settlement house serving the needs of recent immigrants, North Bennet Street Industrial School was officially incorporated in 1885. The vocational and preparatory programs underwent changes throughout the nineteenth and twentieth century and the school assumed its present name and mission in 1981. The North End Industrial Home

236-685: A 13-episode poem, The Pilgrims of Hope , which was set in the period of the Paris Commune. From November 1886 to January 1887, Morris's novel A Dream of John Ball was serialised in Commonweal . Set in Kent during the Peasants' Revolt of 1381, it contained strong socialist themes, although it proved popular among those of different ideological viewpoints, resulting in its publication in book form by Reeves and Turner in 1888. Shortly after,

354-500: A book of Morris's poems, The Defence of Guenevere , which was largely self-funded by the author. It did not sell well and garnered few reviews, most of which were unsympathetic. Disconcerted, Morris would not publish again for a further eight years. In October 1857 Morris met Jane Burden , a woman from a poor working-class background, at a theatre performance. Rossetti initially asked her to model for him. Controversially both Rossetti and Morris were smitten with her; Morris, however, began

472-608: A branch at North Bennet Street Industrial School in 1899, with Edith Guerrier serving as librarian. Guerrier started evening discussion groups that, with the help of Edith Brown, developed into the Saturday Evening Girls Club. Alvin E. Dodd was hired as the first professional administrator of the school in 1907. Dodd divided the school into several departments: plastic and graphic arts, mechanical arts, household arts, library, gymnasium, clubs, social service house, and buildings and administration. Each department

590-476: A child, Morris was kept largely housebound at Elm House by his mother; there, he spent much time reading, favouring the novels of Walter Scott . Aged 6, Morris moved with his family to the Georgian Italianate mansion at Woodford Hall , Woodford, Essex , which was surrounded by 50 acres of land adjacent to Epping Forest . He took an interest in fishing with his brothers as well as gardening in

708-591: A close friend. Morris soon relocated to Street's London office, in August 1856 moving into a flat in Bloomsbury in Central London with Burne-Jones, an area perhaps chosen for its avant-garde associations. Morris was fascinated by London but dismayed at its pollution and rapid expansion into neighbouring countryside, describing it as "the spreading sore". William Morris became increasingly fascinated with

826-410: A collection of Morris's essays, Signs of Change , was published. Our business [...] is the making of Socialists, i.e. convincing people that Socialism is good for them and is possible. When we have enough people of that way of thinking, they will find out what action is necessary for putting their principles in practice. Therefore, I say, make Socialists. We Socialists can do nothing else that

944-549: A correspondence and occasional visits, although she found him extremely paranoid and was upset by his addiction to chloral . She last saw him in 1881, and he died in April the following year. Morris described his mixed feelings toward his deceased friend by stating that he had "some of the very greatest qualities of genius, most of them indeed; what a great man he would have been but for the arrogant misanthropy which marred his work, and killed him before his time". In August 1883, Janey

1062-593: A greater appreciation of the country than he had on his previous trip. In April 1879 Morris moved the family home again, this time renting an 18th-century mansion on Hammersmith 's Upper Mall in West London that was owned by the novelist George MacDonald . Morris named it Kelmscott House and re-decorated it according to his own taste. In the House's grounds he set up a workshop, focusing on the production of hand-knotted carpets. Excited that both of his homes were along

1180-474: A house outside London where his children could spend time away from the city's pollution. He settled on Kelmscott Manor in the village of Kelmscott , Oxfordshire , obtaining a joint tenancy on the building with Rossetti in June. Morris adored the building, which was constructed circa 1570, and would spend much time in the local countryside. In contrast, Rossetti was unhappy at Kelmscott, and eventually suffered

1298-700: A lease on the seven-acre former silk weaving factory, the Merton Abbey Works , next to the River Wandle on the High Street at Merton , Southwest London (not to be confused with the adjacent Merton Abbey Mills , home of the Liberty Print Works.) After he moved his workshops to the site, the premises were used for weaving, dyeing, and creating stained glass; within three years, 100 craftsmen were employed there. Working conditions at

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1416-707: A mental breakdown. Morris divided his time between London and Kelmscott, however when Rossetti was there he would not spend more than three days at a time at the latter. He became fed up with his family home in Queen Square, deciding to obtain a new house in London. Although retaining a personal bedroom and study at Queen Square, he relocated his family to Horrington House in Turnham Green Road, West London, in January 1873. This allowed him to be far closer to

1534-507: A number of household servants. Meanwhile, changes were afoot at the Firm as Faulkner left, and to replace him they employed a business manager, Warrington Taylor, who would remain with them till 1866. Taylor pulled the Firm's finances into order and spent much time controlling Morris and ensuring that he worked to schedule. During these years the Firm carried out a number of high-profile designs; from September 1866 to January 1867, they redecorated

1652-497: A philanthropic philosophy of "elevation by contact", the Associated Charities volunteers sought to improve the circumstances of the poor through visitation and by way of example. The volunteers taught sewing and laundry classes to those they called the "worthy poor": widows, single women, and women supporting their husbands. Class participants received instruction and wages for piece work. Pauline Agassiz Shaw joined

1770-572: A portrait by establishment painter George Frederic Watts . Morris was keenly interested in Icelandic literature, having befriended the Icelandic theologian Eiríkur Magnússon . Together they produced prose translations of the Eddas and Sagas for publication in English. Morris also developed a keen interest in creating handwritten illuminated manuscripts, producing 18 such books between 1870 and 1875,

1888-553: A rally against military intervention. Morris eventually became disillusioned with the EQA, describing it as being "full of wretched little personalities". He nevertheless joined a regrouping of predominantly working-class EQA activists, the National Liberal League , becoming their treasurer in summer 1879; the group remained small and politically ineffective, with Morris resigning as treasurer in late 1881, shortly before

2006-501: A regular at the socialist International Club in Shoreditch , East London , however he avoided the recently created Fabian Society , deeming it too middle-class. Although a Marxist, he befriended prominent anarchist activists Stepniak and Peter Kropotkin , and came to be influenced by their anarchist views, to the extent that biographer Fiona MacCarthy described his approach as being "Marxism with visionary libertarianism". As

2124-572: A relationship with her and they were engaged in spring 1858; Burden would later admit that she had never loved Morris. They were married in a low-key ceremony held at St Michael at the North Gate church in Oxford on 26 April 1859, before honeymooning in Bruges , Belgium, and settling temporarily at 41 Great Ormond Street, London. Morris desired a new home for himself and his daughters resulting in

2242-429: A result, sales increased and its popularity grew. By 1880, Morris & Co. had become a household name, having become very popular with Britain's upper and middle classes. The Firm was obtaining increasing numbers of commissions from aristocrats, wealthy industrialists, and provincial entrepreneurs, with Morris furnishing parts of St James's Palace and the chapel at Eaton Hall . As a result of his growing sympathy for

2360-548: A sense of movement; none of his paintings are dated later than 1862. Instead he focused his energies on designing wallpaper patterns, the first being "Trellis", designed in 1862. His designs were produced from 1864 by Jeffrey and Co. of Islington , who created them for the Firm under Morris's supervision. Morris retained an active interest in various groups, joining the Hogarth Club , the Mediaeval Society, and

2478-547: A shared attitude to life, both being keenly interested in Anglo-Catholicism and Arthurianism . Through Burne-Jones, Morris joined a group of undergraduates from Birmingham who were studying at Pembroke College : William Fulford (1831–1882), Richard Watson Dixon , Charles Faulkner , and Cormell Price . They were known among themselves as the "Brotherhood" and to historians as the Birmingham Set . Morris

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2596-471: A strong socialist movement; calling on activists to boycott elections, he hoped that socialists would take part in a proletariat revolution and help to establish a socialist society . Bax taught Morris more about Marxism , and introduced him to Marx's collaborator, Friedrich Engels ; Engels thought Morris honest but lacking in practical skills to aid the proletarian revolution. Morris remained in contact with other sectors of London's leftist community, being

2714-605: A traumatic miscarriage and an addiction to laudanum ; she would die of an overdose in February 1862. In April 1861, Morris founded a decorative arts company, Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. , with six other partners: Burne-Jones, Rossetti, Webb, Ford Madox Brown, Charles Faulkner, and Peter Paul Marshall . Operating from premises at No. 6 Red Lion Square , they referred to themselves as "the Firm" and were intent on adopting Ruskin's ideas of reforming British attitudes to production. They hoped to reinstate decoration as one of

2832-535: Is Enough , a poetic drama based on a story in the Medieval Welsh text, the Mabinogion . Illustrated with Burne-Jones woodcuts, it was not a popular success. By 1871, he had begun work on a novel set in the present, The Novel on Blue Paper , which was about a love triangle; it would remain unfinished and Morris later asserted that it was not well written. By early summer 1871, Morris began to search for

2950-772: Is a trifling evil compared with the inequality of classes." Morris and Burne-Jones then spent time with one of the Firm's patrons, the wealthy George Howard, 9th Earl of Carlisle and his wife Rosalind, at their Medieval home in Naworth Castle , Cumberland . In July 1874, the Morris family then took Burne-Jones's two children with them on their holiday to Bruges , Belgium. However, by this point Morris's friendship with Rossetti had seriously eroded, and in July 1874 their acrimonious falling out led Rossetti to leave Kelmscott, with Morris's publisher F.S. Ellis taking his place. With

3068-514: Is recognised as one of the most significant cultural figures of Victorian Britain . He was best known in his lifetime as a poet, although he posthumously became better known for his designs. The William Morris Society founded in 1955 is devoted to his legacy, while multiple biographies and studies of his work have been published. Many of the buildings associated with his life are open to visitors, much of his work can be found in art galleries and museums, and his designs are still in production. Morris

3186-524: Is unknown if their affair was ever sexual, although by this point other members of the group were noticing Rossetti and Janey's closeness. Imagining the creation of an artistic community at Upton, Morris helped develop plans for a second house to be constructed adjacent to Red House in which Burne-Jones could live with his family; the plans were abandoned when Burne-Jones's son Christopher died from scarlet fever . By 1864, Morris had become increasingly tired of life at Red House, being particularly unhappy with

3304-426: Is useful." — William Morris From January to October 1890, Morris serialised his novel News from Nowhere in Commonweal , resulting in improved circulation for the paper. In March 1891 it was published in book form, before being translated into Dutch, French, Swedish, German and Italian by 1900 and becoming a classic among Europe's socialist community. Combining utopian socialism and soft science fiction ,

3422-476: The Golden Fleece . In contrast to Morris's former publication, The Life and Death of Jason was well received, resulting in the publishers paying Morris a fee for the second edition. From 1865 to 1870, Morris worked on another epic poem, The Earthly Paradise . Designed as a homage to Chaucer, it consisted of 24 stories, adopted from an array of different cultures, and each by a different narrator; set in

3540-574: The Houses of Parliament intrinsically corrupt and capitalist. Personal issues between Morris and Hyndman were exacerbated by their attitude to British foreign policy; Morris was staunchly anti-imperialist while Hyndman expressed patriotic sentiment encouraging some foreign intervention. The division between the two groups developed into open conflict, with the majority of members sharing Morris's position. In December 1884 Morris and his supporters – most notably Ernest Belfort Bax and Edward Aveling – left

3658-548: 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, fabrics, furniture, and stained glass windows. In 1875, he assumed total control of the company, which was renamed Morris & Co. Morris rented

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3776-655: The 1880s Morris became a committed revolutionary socialist activist until his final acceptance of parliamentary socialism at 1896. He founded the Socialist League in 1884 after an involvement in the Social Democratic Federation (SDF), but he broke with that organisation in 1890. In 1891, he founded the Kelmscott Press to publish limited-edition, illuminated -style print books, a cause to which he devoted his final years. Morris

3894-471: The 3 to 4 hours spent commuting to his London workplace on a daily basis. He sold Red House, and in autumn 1865 moved with his family to No. 26 Queen Square in Bloomsbury, the same building to which the Firm had moved its base of operations earlier in the summer. At Queen Square, the Morris family lived in a flat directly above the Firm's shop. They were joined by Janey's sister Elizabeth Burden and

4012-452: The Abbey were better than at most Victorian factories. However, despite Morris's ideals, there was little opportunity for the workers to display their own individual creativity. Morris had initiated a system of profit sharing among the Firm's upper clerks, however this did not include the majority of workers, who were instead employed on a piecework basis. Morris was aware that, in retaining

4130-831: The Armoury and Tapestry Room in St James's Palace , in the latter year also designing the Green Dining Room at the South Kensington Museum (it is now the Morris Room at the Victoria and Albert Museum). The Firm's work received increasing interest from people in the United States, resulting in Morris's acquaintance with Henry James and Charles Eliot Norton . However, despite its success,

4248-579: The British socialist movement grew it faced increased opposition from the establishment, with police frequently arresting and intimidating activists. To combat this, the League joined a Defence Club with other socialist groups, including the SDF, for which Morris was appointed treasurer. Morris was passionate in denouncing the "bullying and hectoring" that he felt socialists faced from the police, and on one occasion

4366-681: The Corps of Artist Volunteers, the latter in contrast to his later pacifism. Meanwhile, Morris's family continued to grow. In January 1861, Morris and Janey's first daughter was born: named Jane Alice Morris , she was commonly known as "Jenny". Jenny was followed in March 1862 by the birth of their second daughter, Mary "May" Morris . Morris was a caring father to his daughters, and years later they both recounted having idyllic childhoods. However, there were problems in Morris's marriage as Janey became increasingly close to Rossetti, who often painted her. It

4484-623: The Devon Great Consols, selling his remaining shares in the company. 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, Staffordshire . As a result, Morris would spend time with Wardle at his home on various occasions between summer 1875 and spring 1878. Deeming

4602-520: The Firm included furniture, architectural carving, metalwork, stained glass windows, and murals. Their stained glass windows proved a particular success in the firm's early years as they were in high demand for the surge in the Neo-Gothic construction and refurbishment of churches, many of which were commissioned by the architect George Frederick Bodley . Despite Morris's anti-elitist ethos, the Firm soon became increasingly popular and fashionable with

4720-445: The Firm was not turning over a large net profit, and this, coupled with the decreasing value of Morris's stocks, meant that he had to decrease his spending. Janey's relationship with Rossetti had continued, and by the late 1860s gossip regarding their affair had spread about London, where they were regularly seen spending time together. Morris biographer Fiona MacCarthy argued that it was likely that Morris had learned of and accepted

4838-719: The Hall's grounds, and spent much time exploring the Forest, where he was fascinated both by the Iron Age earthworks at Loughton Camp and Ambresbury Banks and by the Early Modern Hunting Lodge at Chingford . He also took rides through the Essex countryside on his pony, and visited the various churches and cathedrals throughout the country, marveling at their architecture. His father took him on visits outside of

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4956-590: The House was nevertheless unique, with Morris describing it as "very mediaeval in spirit". Situated within an orchard, the house and garden were intricately linked in their design. It took a year to construct, and cost Morris £4000 at a time when his fortune was greatly reduced by a dramatic fall in the price of his shares. Burne-Jones described it as "the beautifullest place on Earth." After construction, Morris invited friends to visit, most notably Burne-Jones and his wife Georgiana , as well as Rossetti and his wife Lizzie Siddal . They aided him in painting murals on

5074-571: The North End Union, while continuing administrative and financial support. The board voted to drop "Industrial" from the school's name and rewrote the school's articles of organization so that the objective was to "train adults, who have completed a minimum of secondary level education, in trades that require primarily manual skills and individualized work". The program offerings in carpentry, cabinet and furniture making, locksmithing, jewelry making and repair, and piano technology were expanded in

5192-722: The President of the Althing , Jón Sigurðsson , with Morris being sympathetic to the Icelandic independence movement . From there, they proceeded by Icelandic horse along the south coast to Bergþórshvoll , Þórsmörk , Geysir , Þingvellir , and then back to Reykjavík, where they departed back to Britain in September. In April 1873, Morris and Burne-Jones holidayed in Italy, visiting Florence and Siena . Although generally disliking

5310-555: The SDF; the first major schism of the British socialist movement. In December 1884, Morris founded the Socialist League (SL) with other SDF defectors. He composed the SL's manifesto with Bax, describing their position as that of "Revolutionary International Socialism", advocating proletarian internationalism and world revolution while rejecting the concept of socialism in one country . In this, he committed himself to "making Socialists" by educating, organising, and agitating to establish

5428-674: The Utopian News from Nowhere (1890), and the fantasy romance The Well at the World's End (1896). In 1877, he founded the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings to campaign against the damage caused by architectural restoration. By the influence of medievalism and Christian socialism in the 1850s he became an skeptical of industrial capitalism, after reading works of Henry George , Alfred Russel Wallace , and Karl Marx in

5546-513: The abolition of national debt, nationalisation of land, banks, and railways, and the organisation of agriculture and industry under state control and co-operative principles. Some of his DF comrades found it difficult to reconcile his socialist values with his position as proprietor of the Firm, although he was widely admired as a man of integrity. The DF began publishing a weekly newspaper, Justice , which soon faced financial losses that Morris covered. Morris also regularly contributed articles to

5664-535: The art of a group of painters who had emerged in London in 1848 calling themselves the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood . The Pre-Raphaelite style was heavily Medievalist and Romanticist, emphasising abundant detail, intense colours and complex compositions; it greatly impressed Morris and the Set. Influenced both by Ruskin and by John Keats , Morris began to spend more time writing poetry, in a style that

5782-606: The artists Arthur Hughes , Thomas Woolner , and Ford Madox Brown . Tired of architecture, Morris abandoned his apprenticeship, with Rossetti persuading him to take up painting instead, which he chose to do in the Pre-Raphaelite style. Morris aided Rossetti and Burne-Jones in painting the Arthurian murals at the Oxford Union , although his contributions were widely deemed inferior and unskilled compared to those of

5900-428: The birth of two girls, Emma in 1829 and Henrietta in 1833, before William's birth. These children were followed by the birth of siblings Stanley in 1837, Rendall in 1839, Arthur in 1840, Isabella in 1842, Edgar in 1844, and Alice in 1846. The Morris family were followers of the evangelical Protestant form of Christianity, and William was baptised four months after his birth at St Mary's Church, Walthamstow . As

6018-530: The bourgeoisie, particularly following their exhibit at the 1862 International Exhibition in South Kensington , where they received press attention and medals of commendation. However, they faced much opposition from established design companies, particularly those belonging to the Neo-Classical school. Morris was slowly abandoning lithography and painting, recognising that his work lacked

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6136-470: The brain". Instead he preferred the writings of William Cobbett and Sergius Stepniak , although he also read the critique of socialism produced by John Stuart Mill . In May 1883, Morris was appointed to the DF's executive committee, and was soon elected to the position of treasurer. Devoting himself to the socialist cause, he regularly lectured at meetings across Britain, hoping to gain more converts, although

6254-435: The cause, of Morris's circle of artistic comrades, only Webb and Faulkner fully embraced socialism, while Swinburne expressed his sympathy with it. In 1884 the DF renamed itself the Social Democratic Federation (SDF) and underwent an internal reorganisation. However, the group was facing an internal schism between those (such as Hyndman), who argued for a parliamentary path toward socialism, and those (like Morris) who deemed

6372-767: The centre-left Liberal Party who opposed Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli 's alliance with the Ottoman Empire ; the Association highlighted the Ottoman massacre of Bulgarians and feared that the alliance would lead Disraeli to join the Ottomans in going to war with the Russian Empire . Morris took an active role in the EQA campaign, authoring the lyrics for the song "Wake, London Lads!" to be sung at

6490-473: The clergy. On a subsequent visit to Birmingham, Morris discovered Thomas Malory 's Le Morte d'Arthur , which became a core Arthurian text for him and Burne-Jones. In January 1856, the Set began publication of The Oxford and Cambridge Magazine , designed to contain "mainly Tales, Poetry, friendly critiques and social articles". Funded mainly by Morris, who briefly served as editor and heavily contributed to it with his own stories, poems, reviews and articles,

6608-410: The colours to be of inferior quality, Morris rejected the chemical aniline dyes which were then predominant, instead emphasising the revival of organic dyes, such as indigo for blue, walnut shells and roots for brown, and cochineal , kermes , and madder for red. Living and working in this industrial environment, he gained a personal understanding of production and the lives of the proletariat, and

6726-540: The company's other partners drifting off to work on other projects, Morris decided to consolidate his own control of the Firm and become sole proprietor and manager. In March 1875, he paid £1000 each in compensation to Rossetti, Brown, and Marshall, although the other partners waived their claims to financial compensation. That month, the Firm was officially disbanded and replaced by Morris & Co , although Burne-Jones and Webb would continue to produce designs for it in future. This accomplished, he resigned his directorship of

6844-638: The construction of the Red House in the Kentish hamlet of Upton near Bexleyheath , ten miles from central London. The building's design was a co-operative effort, with Morris focusing on the interiors and the exterior being designed by Webb, for whom the House represented his first commission as an independent architect. Named after the red bricks and red tiles from which it was constructed, Red House rejected architectural norms by being L-shaped. Influenced by various forms of contemporary Neo-Gothic architecture,

6962-421: The country were incorporated into the program. The school's 1885 charter defined NBSIS as "an institution for training in industrial occupations persons of all ages, and for other educational and charitable work, and for furnishing opportunities for instruction and amusement to them, including libraries, reading rooms and whatever else may contribute to their physical and moral well being". By 1891, manual training

7080-428: The country, Morris was interested in the Florentine Gothic architecture. Soon after, in July, Morris returned to Iceland, revisiting many of the sites he had previously seen, but then proceeding north to Vatna glacier and Fljótsdalur . His two visits to the country profoundly influenced him, in particular in his growing leftist opinions; he would comment that these trips made him realise that "the most grinding poverty

7198-430: The county, for instance to Canterbury Cathedral , the Chiswick Horticultural Gardens, and to the Isle of Wight , where he adored Blackgang Chine . Aged 9, he was then sent to Misses Arundale's Academy for Young Gentlemen, a nearby preparatory school; although initially riding there by pony each day, he later began boarding, intensely disliking the experience. In 1847, Morris's father died unexpectedly. From this point,

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7316-436: The course of the River Thames , in August 1880 he and his family took a boat trip along the river from Kelmscott House to Kelmscott Manor. Morris became politically active in this period, coming to be associated with the radicalist current within British liberalism . He joined the Eastern Question Association (EQA) and was appointed the group's treasurer in November 1876. EQA had been founded by campaigners associated with

7434-423: The division between employer and employed, the company failed to live up to his own egalitarian ideals, but he defended this, asserting that it was impossible to run a socialist company within a competitive capitalist economy. The Firm itself was expanding, opening up a store in Manchester in 1883 and holding a stand at that year's Foreign Fair in Boston . Janey's relationship with Rossetti had continued through

7552-399: The existence of their affair by 1870. In this year he developed an affectionate friendship with Aglaia Coronio, the daughter of wealthy Greek refugees, although there is no evidence that they had an affair. Meanwhile, Morris's relationship with his mother had improved, and he would regularly take his wife and children to visit her at her house in Leyton . He also went on various holidays; in

7670-419: The family relied upon continued income from the copper mines at Devon Great Consols , and sold Woodford Hall to move into the smaller Water House . In February 1848 Morris began his studies at Marlborough College in Marlborough, Wiltshire , where he gained a reputation as an eccentric nicknamed "Crab". He despised his time there, being bullied, bored, and homesick. He did use the opportunity to visit many of

7788-541: The fine arts and adopted an ethos of affordability and anti-elitism. For additional staff, they employed boys from the Industrial Home for Destitute Boys in Euston , central London, many of whom were trained as apprentices. Although working within the Neo-Gothic school of design, they differed from Neo-Gothic architects like George Gilbert Scott who simply included certain Gothic features on modern styles of building; instead they sought to return completely to Medieval Gothic methods of craftmanship. The products created by

7906-419: The first of which was A Book of Verse , completed as a birthday present for Georgina Burne-Jones. 12 of these 18 were handwritten copies of Nordic tales such as Halfdan the Black , Frithiof the Bold , and The Dwellers of Eyr . Morris deemed calligraphy to be an art form, and taught himself both Roman and italic script, as well as learning how to produce gilded letters. In November 1872 he published Love

8024-401: The furniture, walls, and ceilings, much of it based on Arthurian tales, the Trojan War , and Geoffrey Chaucer 's stories, while he also designed floral embroideries for the rooms. They also spent much time playing tricks on each other, enjoying games like hide and seek , and singing while accompanied by the piano. Siddall stayed at the House during summer and autumn 1861 as she recovered from

8142-526: The group's collapse. However, his discontent with the British liberal movement grew following the election of the Liberal Party's William Ewart Gladstone to the Premiership in 1880. Morris was particularly angered that Gladstone's government did not reverse the Disraeli regime's occupation of the Transvaal , introduced the Coercion Bill , and oversaw the Bombardment of Alexandria . Morris later related that while he had once believed that "one might further real Socialistic progress by doing what one could on

8260-457: The home of Burne-Jones, with the duo meeting on almost every Sunday morning for the rest of Morris's life. Leaving Jane and his children with Rossetti at Kelmscott, in July 1871 Morris left for Iceland with Faulkner, W. H. Evans, and Eiríkur. Sailing from the Scottish port of Granton aboard a Danish mail boat , they proceeded to the island via Tórshavn in the Faroe Islands before arriving at Reykjavík , where they disembarked. There they met

8378-436: The idea faded. In summer 1854, Morris travelled to Belgium to look at Medieval paintings, and in July 1855 went with Burne-Jones and Fulford across northern France, visiting Medieval churches and cathedrals. It was on this trip that he and Burne-Jones committed themselves to "a life of art". For Morris, this decision resulted in a strained relationship with his family, who believed that he should have entered either commerce or

8496-493: The idyllic Medievalist depictions of rural life which appeared in the paintings of the Pre-Raphaelites, and spent large sums of money purchasing such artworks. Burne-Jones shared this interest, but took it further by becoming an apprentice to one of the foremost Pre-Raphaelite painters, Dante Gabriel Rossetti ; the three soon became close friends. Through Rossetti, Morris came to associate with poet Robert Browning , and

8614-651: The late 14th century, the synopsis revolved around a group of Norsemen who flee the Black Death by sailing away from Europe, on the way discovering an island where the inhabitants continue to venerate the ancient Greek gods. Published in four parts by F. S. Ellis , it soon gained a cult following and established Morris's reputation as a major poet. By 1870, Morris had become a public figure in Britain, resulting in repeated press requests for photographs, which he despised. That year, he also reluctantly agreed to sit for

8732-552: The leading figure in the League, Morris embarked on a series of speeches and talks on street corners, in working men's clubs , and in lecture theatres across England and Scotland. He also visited Dublin , there offering his support for Irish nationalism , and formed a branch of the League at his Hammersmith house. By the time of their first conference in July 1885, the League had eight branches across England and had affiliations with several socialist groups in Scotland. However, as

8850-515: The lines of ordinary middle-class Radicalism", following Gladstone's election he came to realise "that Radicalism is on the wrong line, so to say, and will never develope [sic] into anything more than Radicalism: in fact that it is made for and by the middle classes and will always be under the control of rich capitalists". In 1876, Morris visited the Church of St John the Baptist, Burford , where he

8968-477: The magazine lasted for twelve issues, and garnered praise from Tennyson and Ruskin. Having passed his finals and been awarded a BA , Morris began an apprenticeship with the Oxford-based Neo-Gothic architect George Edmund Street in January 1856. His apprenticeship focused on architectural drawing, and there he was placed under the supervision of the young architect Philip Webb , who became

9086-461: The many Medieval buildings in Oxford. This interest was tied to Britain's growing Medievalist movement, a form of Romanticism that rejected many of the values of Victorian industrial capitalism . For Morris, the Middle Ages represented an era with strong chivalric values and an organic, pre-capitalist sense of community, both of which he deemed preferable to his own period. This attitude

9204-659: The mid-1980s with courses in bookbinding, violin making, and preservation carpentry. These programs were specifically selected because bench skill programs in these fields were either lacking or underrepresented in the United States. Accreditation from the National Association of Trade and Technical Schools (NATTS) was awarded to the North Bennet Street School in 1982, and the United States Department of Education classified

9322-587: The newspaper, in doing so befriending another contributor, George Bernard Shaw . His socialist activism monopolised his time, forcing him to abandon a translation of the Persian Shahnameh . It also led to him seeing far less of Burne-Jones, with whom he had strong political differences; although once a republican , Burne-Jones had become increasingly conservative, and felt that the DF were exploiting Morris for his talents and influence. While Morris devoted much time to trying to convert his friends to

9440-512: The ongoing restoration of Tewkesbury Abbey and was vociferous in denouncing the architects responsible, something that deeply upset Street. Turning SPAB's attention abroad, in Autumn 1879 Morris launched a campaign to protect St Mark's Basilica in Venice from restoration, garnering a petition with 2000 signatures, among whom were Disraeli, Gladstone, and Ruskin. In summer 1881, Morris took out

9558-481: The others. At Rossetti's recommendation, Morris and Burne-Jones moved in together to the flat at Bloomsbury's No. 17 Red Lion Square by November 1856. Morris designed and commissioned furniture for the flat in a Medieval style, much of which he painted with Arthurian scenes in a direct rejection of mainstream artistic tastes. Morris also continued writing poetry and began designing illuminated manuscripts and embroidered hangings. In March 1857 Bell and Dandy published

9676-539: The prehistoric sites of Wiltshire, such as Avebury and Silbury Hill , which fascinated him. The school was Anglican in faith and in March 1849 Morris was confirmed by the Bishop of Salisbury in the college chapel, developing an enthusiastic attraction towards the Anglo-Catholic movement and its Romanticist aesthetic. At Christmas 1851, Morris was removed from the school and returned to Water House, where he

9794-433: The program. The course was terminated in the 1950s. Following World War I, Greener introduced a number of vocational classes for veterans, including watch repair, cabinet making, carpentry, printing, and jewelry engraving. Between 1946 and 1947, Greener introduced the trade courses that continue to be the basis for the school: cabinet and furniture making, jewelry making and engraving, carpentry, and piano tuning. Watch repair

9912-454: The ranks of the volunteers in 1880. She founded a kindergarten and nursery school in the building and donated the money needed to lease the building for five years. The North End Industrial Home grew as a school for children and their mothers, as well as a training ground for prospective teachers. Recreation rooms, a lending library, and social clubs for working adults were also housed in the building. North Bennet Street Industrial School (NBSIS)

10030-478: The role of honorary secretary and treasurer, most of the other early members of SPAB were his friends, while the group's program was rooted in Ruskin's The Seven Lamps of Architecture (1849). As part of SPAB's campaign, Morris tried to build connections with art and antiquarian societies and the custodians of old buildings, and also contacted the press to highlight his cause. He was particularly strong in denouncing

10148-413: The rural retreat of Kelmscott Manor , Oxfordshire , from 1871 while also retaining a main home in London. He was greatly influenced by visits to Iceland with Eiríkur Magnússon , and he produced a series of English-language translations of Icelandic Sagas. He also achieved success with the publication of his epic poems and novels, namely The Earthly Paradise (1868–1870), A Dream of John Ball (1888),

10266-534: The school as a post-secondary institution. Associated Charities Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include the details below. Request from 172.68.168.237 via cp1104 cp1104, Varnish XID 207011332 Upstream caches: cp1104 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 07:46:15 GMT William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896)

10384-578: The school to join the National Society for the Promotion of Industrial Education as its business manager, leaving George C. Greener, the former ceramics instructor, as the new director of the school. Drawing inspiration from John Ruskin and William Morris , two leaders of the Arts and Crafts Movement , Greener introduced weaving and courses in making light fixtures to the school. Greener provided

10502-481: The school with a new motto: "Hand and mind lead to life". The school's finances were precarious, and the copies of early American lighting fixtures produced by the students were sold to fund school programs. Similarly, the homespun, vegetable-dyed cloth produced by the weaving program was marketed through the Industrial Arts shop on Charles Street at the foot of Beacon Hill to provide income to both students and

10620-456: The school's director through the 1980s. With middle-income professionals replacing immigrant populations in the North End, and other publicly funded organizations in place to serve the poor, NBSIS became known primarily as a center for training in fine crafts. In the 1980s, North Bennet Street Industrial School began transferring responsibilities for the operation of social service programs to

10738-478: The school. The homespun cloth department lasted until 1932. During this time, NBSIS, in cooperation with the City of Boston, developed a power machine operating class that paid wages to girls as they studied, combining academic work in the morning and vocational work in the afternoon. Local businesses, such as Filene's and Jordan Marsh, marketed aprons, curtains, shirts, lingerie and hospital garb produced by students in

10856-437: The sloyd method of instruction involved using craft projects to facilitate education, aiming to "arouse a desire and pleasure in work; to accustom students to independence; to instill virtues of exactness, order and accuracy: and to train the attention". Students were given progressively more difficult projects that built on each other and they were expected to work on them as independently as possible. Gustaf Larsson became head of

10974-428: The sloyd program in 1891 and published a quarterly periodical on the principles of instruction. The school instituted training for teachers in the sloyd methodology, and Larsson estimated that over three hundred teachers had graduated from the sloyd training class by 1903. The sloyd project-based mode of teaching is still the basis of craft curriculums at North Bennet Street School. The Boston Public Library established

11092-560: The strikers. The following month he marched in a central London demonstration commemorating the first anniversary of Marx's death and the thirteenth anniversary of the Paris Commune . Morris aided the DF using his artistic and literary talents; he designed the group's membership card, and helped author their manifesto, Socialism Made Plain , in which they demanded improved housing for workers, free compulsory education for all children, free school meals, an eight-hour working day ,

11210-713: The summer of 1866 he, Webb, and Taylor toured the churches of northern France. In August 1866 Morris joined the Burne-Jones family on their holiday in Lymington , while in August 1867 both families holidayed together in Oxford. In August 1867 the Morrises holidayed in Southwold , Suffolk , while in the summer of 1869 Morris took his wife to Bad Ems in Rhineland-Palatinate , central Germany, where it

11328-493: The very few necessary and inevitable utterances of the century". Morris adopted Ruskin's philosophy of rejecting the tawdry industrial manufacture of decorative arts and architecture in favour of a return to hand-craftsmanship, raising artisans to the status of artists, creating art that should be affordable and hand-made, with no hierarchy of artistic mediums. Ruskin had achieved attention in Victorian society for championing

11446-462: The working-classes and poor, Morris felt personally conflicted in serving the interests of these individuals, privately describing it as "ministering to the swinish luxury of the rich". Continuing with his literary output, Morris translated his own version of Virgil 's Aeneid , titling it The Aeneids of Vergil (1876). Although many translations were already available, often produced by trained Classicists, Morris claimed that his unique perspective

11564-596: Was a required part of public school education. NBSIS administered woodworking classes for boys and cooking classes for girls until 1913, when the public school system assumed responsibility for pre-vocational training. Public schools continued to rent equipment and space at North Bennet Street until 1937. Printing, taught by Louis Hull, was offered as one of the first courses offered to pre-vocational students. In 1889, Mrs. Shaw brought Carl Fullen and Lars Eriksson, along with other sloyd teachers, to NBSIS. Originating in Sweden,

11682-670: Was a small, fledgling and vaguely defined movement, with only a few hundred adherents. Britain's first socialist party, the Democratic Federation (DF), had been founded in 1881 by Henry Hyndman , an adherent of the socio-political ideology of Marxism , with Morris joining the DF in January 1883. Morris began to read voraciously on the subject of socialism, including Henry George 's Progress and Poverty , Alfred Russel Wallace 's Land Nationalisation , and Karl Marx 's Das Kapital , although admitted that Marx's economic analysis of capitalism gave him "agonies of confusion on

11800-518: Was also offered at this time. Greener retired in 1954 and Ernest Jacoby, a Harvard graduate, was hired as the new director. As the demographics of the North End and the needs of the nation shifted NBSIS when from training recent immigrants to training returning World War II veterans and disabled students referred by the Massachusetts Rehabilitation Commission. Jacoby retired in 1976 and Thomas B. Williams served as

11918-468: Was an English 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. His literary contributions helped to establish the modern fantasy genre, while he helped win acceptance of socialism in fin de siècle Great Britain. Morris

12036-489: Was appalled at the restoration conducted by his old mentor, G. E. Street. He recognised that these programs of architectural restoration led to the destruction or major alteration of genuinely old features in order to replace them with "sham old" features, something which appalled him. To combat the increasing trend for restoration, in March 1877 he founded the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB), which he personally referred to as "Anti-Scrape". As he adopted

12154-839: Was arrested himself after fighting back against a police officer; a magistrate dismissed the charges. The Black Monday riots of February 1886 led to increased political repression against left-wing agitators, and in July Morris was again arrested and fined for public obstruction while preaching socialism on the streets. Morris oversaw production of the League's monthly—soon to become weekly—newspaper, Commonweal , serving as its editor for six years, during which time he kept it financially afloat. First published in February 1885, it would contain contributions from such prominent socialists as Engels, Shaw, Paul Lafargue , Wilhelm Liebknecht , and Karl Kautsky , with Morris also regularly writing articles and poems for it. In Commonweal he serialised

12272-438: Was as "a poet not a pedant". He also continued producing translations of Icelandic tales with Magnússon, including Three Northern Love Stories (1875) and Völuspa Saga (1876). In 1877 Morris was approached by Oxford University and offered the largely honorary position of Professor of Poetry. He declined, asserting that he felt unqualified, knowing little about scholarship on the theory of poetry. In summer 1876 Jenny Morris

12390-612: Was assigned a head and board members oversaw departments through committees. Certificates were awarded to individuals who completed prevocational and evening classes. A formal partnership developed between the North Bennet Street Industrial School and the Boston Trade School for the education of young women. By 1911, 28 salaried teachers and over fifty volunteers participated in teaching eleven hundred enrolled students. In 1915, Dodd left

12508-684: Was born at Elm House in Walthamstow , Essex , on 24 March 1834. Raised into a wealthy middle-class family, he was named after his father, a financier who worked as a partner in the Sanderson & Co. firm, bill brokers in the City of London . His mother was Emma Morris (née Shelton), who descended from a wealthy bourgeois family from Worcester . Morris was the third of his parents' surviving children; their first child, Charles, had been born in 1827 but died four days later. Charles had been followed by

12626-566: Was born in Walthamstow , Essex , to a wealthy middle-class family. He came under the strong influence of medievalism while studying classics at Oxford University , where he joined the Birmingham Set . After university, he married Jane Burden , and developed close friendships with Pre-Raphaelite artists Edward Burne-Jones and Dante Gabriel Rossetti and with Neo-Gothic architect Philip Webb . Webb and Morris designed Red House in Kent where Morris lived from 1859 to 1865, before moving to Bloomsbury , central London. In 1861, Morris founded

12744-575: Was compounded by his reading of Thomas Carlyle 's book Past and Present (1843), in which Carlyle championed Medieval values as a corrective to the problems of Victorian society. Under this influence, Morris's dislike of contemporary capitalism grew, and he came to be influenced by the work of Christian socialists Charles Kingsley and Frederick Denison Maurice . At the college, Morris met fellow first-year undergraduate Edward Burne-Jones , who became his lifelong friend and collaborator. Although from very different backgrounds, they found that they had

12862-446: Was diagnosed with epilepsy . Refusing to allow her to be societally marginalised or institutionalised, as was common in the period, Morris insisted that she be cared for by the family. When Janey took May and Jenny to Oneglia in Italy, the latter suffered a serious seizure, with Morris rushing to the country to see her. They then proceeded to visit a number of other cities, including Venice , Padua , and Verona , with Morris attaining

12980-493: Was disgusted by the poor living conditions of workers and the pollution caused by industry; these factors greatly influenced his political views. After learning the skills of dyeing, in the late 1870s Morris turned his attention to weaving, experimenting with silk weaving at Queen's Square. In the Spring of 1877, the Firm opened a store at No. 449 Oxford Street and obtained new staff who were able to improve its professionalism; as

13098-437: Was founded in 1881 and formally incorporated in 1885, following the purchase of the building at 39 North Bennet Street. Founded to help immigrants transition to American life, NBSIS pioneered a holistic approach to community service a century before the term became popular. NBSIS offered job skill training classes to men and unmarried women, mothers were offered courses in home economics, and various social clubs and summer trips to

13216-402: Was hoped that the local health waters would aid her ailments. While there, he enjoyed walks in the countryside and focused on writing poetry. Morris had continued to devote much time to writing poetry. In 1867 Bell and Dandy published Morris's epic poem, The Life and Death of Jason , at his own expense. The book was a retelling of the ancient Greek myth of the hero Jason and his quest to find

13334-539: Was imitative of much of theirs. Both he and Burne-Jones were influenced by the Romanticist milieu and the Anglo-Catholic movement, and decided to become clergymen in order to found a monastery where they could live a life of chastity and dedication to artistic pursuit, akin to that of the contemporary Nazarene movement . However, as time went on Morris became increasingly critical of Anglican doctrine and

13452-584: Was introduced to the poet Wilfrid Scawen Blunt , with whom she embarked on a second affair, which Morris might have been aware of. In January 1881 Morris was involved in the establishment of the Radical Union , an amalgam of radical working-class groups which hoped to rival the Liberals, and became a member of its executive committee. However, he soon rejected liberal radicalism completely and moved toward socialism . In this period, British socialism

13570-476: Was originally established at 39 North Bennet Street in 1879 by fifty volunteers from an organization known as the Associated Charities as a settlement house serving the needs of recent immigrants in Boston's North End. In the late nineteenth century, the North End was among the most densely populated areas in the United States. The low-rent tenements near the docks had been drawing immigrants for generations. Driven by

13688-570: Was privately tutored by the Reverend Frederick B. Guy, Assistant Master at the nearby Forest School . In June 1852 Morris entered Exeter College at Oxford University , although, since the college was full, he went into residence only in January 1853. He disliked the college and was bored by the manner in which they taught him Classics . Instead he developed a keen interest in Medieval history and Medieval architecture, inspired by

13806-442: Was regularly criticised for doing so by the mainstream press. In November 1883 he was invited to speak at University College, Oxford , on the subject of "Democracy and Art" and there began espousing socialism; this shocked and embarrassed many members of staff, earning national press coverage. With other DF members, he travelled to Blackburn, Lancashire in February 1884 amid the great cotton strike, where he lectured on socialism to

13924-531: Was the most affluent member of the Set, and was generous with his wealth toward the others. Like Morris, the Set were fans of the poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson , and would meet together to recite the plays of William Shakespeare . Morris was heavily influenced by the writings of the art critic John Ruskin , being particularly inspired by his chapter "On the Nature of Gothic Architecture" in the second volume of The Stones of Venice ; he later described it as "one of

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