William Morris was born into a ‘countryfied’ family settled in Walthamstow to the north of 1830s London. The family was by no means a poor one as his father was a successful broker in the City. A few years later the family (including nine children) moved to a grand property on the edge of Epping Forest – Woodford Hall.

Growing up in this environment introduced Morris to the themes of Nature that would permeate his designs in later life. In addition to spending a great deal of his idyllic early years riding and enjoying the countryside Morris read a lot, stirring his imagination with the medieval tales of Sir Walter Scott and others.

This all ended in 1847 when his father died and he was sent away to a “very rough” school. He hated it. His unhappiness with his new life meant that he had to seek entertainment and solace from other sources and fortunately the school (Marlborough College) was surrounded by beautiful countryside and it had a very well stocked library.

In 1853 Morris moved onto university, reading theology at Exeter College, Oxford with the intention of becoming a clergyman, however, a chance meeting with Edward Burne-Jones altered this and so started a lifelong friendship. With a group of friends he read as much as he could about Chaucer, Keats and others. He was particularly inspired by the works of John Ruskin such as The Stones of Venice which shows Morris that ‘art is the expression of man’s pleasure in his labour’.

This understanding led to Morris’ championing the use of handmade items – spurning the increasing use of machinery – he believed in the honesty of a man’s labours and the materials around him, that working conditions should be good and that peace, harmony and art should stand side by side.