Henry Dearle designed this wallpaper for Morris & Co. in the late nineteenth century. The design combines roses and small birds on a spotted background. Tom tit is a shortened version of ‘Tom titmouse’, which is an old English folk name for the common garden bird the blue tit. The Morris & Co. assigned pattern colourway number was 340, coming before ‘Oak tree’ (designed c.1896) and after ‘Thistle’ (designed 1897), therfore it seems likely Dearle designed Tom Tit around the same time, c.1896-97. This example was formerly in the possession of the architect William Edward Brooks (1879-1945).
