Unjust War. To the Working Men of England

Details

Date: 5.1877
Object Type: archival
Catalogue number: J143
Designer and maker: Morris, William, 1834, 1896
Credit notes: Presented by Mrs. J,W. Mackail, 1946

William Morris’s original hand written manuscript on the Eastern Question Association (May 1877). The finished tract read:

Friends and fellow-citizens:–
there is danger of war; bestir yourselves to face that danger. If you go to sleep, saying we do not understand it, and the danger is far away you may wake and find the evil fallen upon you, for even now it is at the door. Take heed in time and consider it well, for a hard matter it will be for most of us to bear war taxes, war prices, war losses of wealth and work, and friends and kindred; we shall pay heavily, and you, friends of the working classes, will pay the heaviest.

And what shall we buy at this heavy price? Will it be glory and wealth and peace for those that come after us?

Alas! no; for those are the gains of a just war; but, if we wage the unjust war that fools and cowards are bidding us wage to-day, our loss of work will buy us loss of hope, our loss of friends and kindred will buy us enemies from father to son.

“An unjust war!” I say: for do not be deceived; if we go to war with Russia now, it will not be to punish her for evil deeds done, or to hinder her from evil deeds hereafter, but to put down just insurrection against the thieves and murderers of Turkey; to stir up a faint pleasure in the hearts of the no-nothing fools that cry out without meaning for a “spirited foreign policy,” to guard our well-beloved rule in India from the coward fear of an invasion that may happen a hundred years hence – or never; to exhibit our army and navy once more before the wondering Eyes of Europe; to give a little hope to our holders of Turkish bonds:– Working-men of England, which of these things do you think worth starving for, worth dying for? Do all of them rallied into one make that body of ENGLISH INTERESTS we have heard of lately?

And who are they who flaunt in our faces the banner inscribed on one side “ENGLISH INTERESTS,” and on the other “RUSSIAN MISDEEDS?” Who are they that are leading us into war? Let us look at these saviours of England’s honour, these champions of Poland, these scourgers of Russia’s iniquities! Do you know them? Greedy gamblers on the Stock Exchange, idle officers of the army and navy (poor fellows!), worn-out mockers of the clubs, desperate purveyors of exciting war news for the comfortable breakfast tables of those who have nothing to lose by war; and lastly, in the place of honour, the Tory Rump, that we fools, weary of peace, reason, and justice, chose at the last election to represent us; and above all their captain, the ancient place-hunter, who, having at last climbed into an earl’s chair, grins down thence into the anxious face of England, while his empty heart and shifty head is compassing the stroke that will bring on – our destruction perhaps, our confusion certainly. O shame and double shame if we march under such leadership as this in an UNJUST WAR against a people who are NOT our enemies, against Europe, against freedom, against nature, against the hope of the world.

Working men of England, one word of warning yet. I doubt if you know the bitterness of hatred against freedom and progress that lies at the hearts of a certain part of the richer classes in this country; their newspapers veil it in a kind of decent language, but if you were to hear them talking among themselves, as I have done, I know not whether scorn or anger would prevail in you at their folly and insolence. These men cannot speak of your order, of its aims, of its leaders, without a sneer or an insult. These men, if they had the power (may England perish rather!) would thwart your just aspirations, would silence you, would deliver you bound hand and foot for ever to irresponsible capital. And these men, I say it deliberately, are the heart and soul of the party that is driving us to an UNJUST WAR. They can harm us but little now; but if war comes, UNJUST WAR, with all its confusion and anger, who shall say what their power may be, what step backward we may make. Fellow-citizens, look to it, and if you have any wrongs to be redressed, if you long to lessen those inequalities whihc have been our stumbling block since the beginning of the world, then cast aside sloth, and cry out against an UNJUST WAR, and urge us of the Middle Classes to do no less, so that we may all protest solemnly and perseveringly against out being dragged (and who knows for why?) into an UNJUST WAR, in which, if we are victorious, we shall win shame, loss and rebuke, and if we are overpowered – what then?

Working-men of England, I do not believe that in the face of your strenuous opposition, the opposition of those men whom War most concerns, any English Government will be so mad as to wrap England and Europe in an UNJUST WAR.

“A LOVER OF JUSTICE.”

Details

Date: 22.07.1869
Object Type: archival
Material: paper
Catalogue number: J849
Publisher: Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co.

This printed receipt is for a payment of 19 shillings from Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. to F.R. Leach & Co. The receipt is dated 22nd July 1869 for ‘Man’s time at Liverpool’. During this period Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and Co. were working on stained glass windows for St John the Baptist Church in Tuebrook, Liverpool. The church in Liverpool was designed by the Gothic Revival architect G.F. Bodley, with the highly decorated interior of the church a collaboration between Bodley, Charles Kempe, Leach and Morris.

Details

Date: 30.03.1904
Dimensions: 21.4 x 32
Object Type: archival
Material: pen on paper
Technique: hand-written
Catalogue number: J2201
Author: De Morgan, William (1839 - 1917)
Recipient: Morris & Co.
Credit notes: Gift from the Friends of the William Morris Gallery, 2015

This letter is a response from the ceramicist William De Morgan to an enquiry from Morris and Co. about the use of leadless glazes in his pottery. In the letter, (which he wrote from Florence, Italy) de Morgan describes how ‘twenty five years ago half my men were lead-poisoned in Chelsea and I determined either to put an end to poisonous glazes or to give up business all together‘.

De Morgan expresses some frustration in his letter to ‘the nonsense…being talked on the matter‘ of lead glazes. By the early twentieth century the issue of lead poisoning had become a significant matter of public concern. A wide body of scientific and medical information was produced concerning the danger to factory workers who came into contact with lead, as well as the use of lead paint in homes. This was picked up in the popular press and the health risks associated with lead became more widely known among ordinary people.

Lead glazes allow for a very shiny and transparent finish, which De Morgan’s ceramics were famed for. His relationship with Morris & Co. started in the 1860s when William Morris commissioned his friend to decorate tiles for his decorating firm. Later, Morris & Co. sold a large range of De Morgan’s ceramics which had become highly fashionable.

De Morgan was extremely knowledgeable on the subject of ceramic glazes- studying historic techniques used in the Middle East and Italy and experimenting in his workshop to produce high quality ceramics. In the letter he goes on to explain how he did not give up the use of lead- ‘all I found needful to be done was to make certain that the lead in our(?) mixture should be contained in a completely melted and insoluble glass before pulverizing- In this form it is as non-poisonous as the flint-glass (so called) tumbler or wine-glass out of which the whole world drinks without fear everyday‘. By melting the lead compounds with other materials such as silica to form a glass ‘frit’ or ‘flux’, lead glazes were much safer to use than the previous raw lead compounds since they were less soluble in stomach acids.

Details

Date: c.1911
Object Type: archival
Catalogue number: J2186
Publisher: Morris & Co. Decorators Ltd, 449 Oxford Street, London
Credit notes: Presented by Mrs Kathleen Wells, 1957

Whilst the Coronation throne, known historically as St Edward’s throne is an ancient wooden chair used by British monarchs for centuries, other thrones are used during the ceremony and often made new for each monarch. The coronation of George V and his wife, Mary as king and queen of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and empress and emperor of India, took place at Westminster Abbey, London, on Thursday 22 June 1911. The king and queen’s enthronation throne (used following the crowning of the King on St. Edwards Chair) and footstall were covered in William Morris’s ‘St. Jamess’ design in a red silk damask and designed by the firm based on the James I throne at Knowle House. Morris & Co. exploited this commission for publicity purposes, issuing this brochure along with images of other royal furniture, such as the thrones used by the king and queen at the Investiture of H.R.H. The Prince of Wales which were designed and made by Morris & Co., as well as thrones made by Morris & Co., for ceremonies at Holyrood Palace, Scotland. Morris & Co. were also commissioned with the embroidered altar hanging used at Westminster Abbey during the oblation ceremony, in which the king and queen make an offering to God. The figures in the hangings were designed by William Lethaby and the pupils of the Royal College of Art.

Details

Date: 1883
Object Type: archival
Catalogue number: J151
Designer and maker: Morris, William, 1834, 1896
Credit notes: Presented by Mrs. J,W. Mackail, 1946

A sheet of notes by William Morris on his French edition of Karl Marx’s ‘Capital’. The notes comprise passages from Volume I, chapter 14, section 5: The Capitalistic Character of Manufacture.

Details

Date: 06.12.1939
Object Type: archival
Catalogue number: J2448
Recipient: Morris | Effie | Miss
Author: Culmer, George
Credit notes: Gift of Effie M. Morris, 1971

Letter from George Culmer to Effie Morris regarding his wife, Ada’s death. Ada Culmer was Jenny Morris’s carer, after marrying George, the couple cared for Jenny (who lived with epilepsy) together until 1917. In the letter George expresses his shock that Ada had died, writing: ‘Only the day before she saw the specialist she had the Knitting Guild here for the afternoon and a fortnight before spent a weekend with Mrs Gill who is very grieved that she has gone’. The Mrs Gill he refers to is possible Alice Gill, William Morris’s younger sister indicating that the Culmer’s kept up good relations with the Morris family. The letter continues with a reference to his reading the final two books of May Morris’s ‘Collected Works of William Morris’.

Details

Date: 11 July 1938
Object Type: archival
Catalogue number: J910xvii
Recipient: Peirce, Mary
Credit notes: Gift of Edith Armstrong-Hunter, 1998

Postcard sent to Mary Peirce from a friend visiting in Iceland. Mary and her sister Margaret accompanied May Morris and Mary Lobb on a trip to Iceland in 1931. The address on the postcard reveals Mary was living in Bryn Mawr, Pennysylvania.

Details

Date: c.1871
Object Type: archival
Material: pen on paper
Technique: hand-written
Catalogue number: J2419
Author: Morris | May | 1862 | 1938
Recipient: Morris (née Burden) | Jane | 1839 | 1914
Credit notes: Presented by C.E. Robins, 2007

This letter was written by May Morris to her mother Jane, around 1871. It describes her and her sister Jenny’s visit to stay with their grandmother Emma Morris and their aunt, possibly at Leyton House where Emma lived until July 1871, afterwhich she moved to The Lordship, Much Hadham. In the letter May mentions flowers in Epping Forest, suggesting the letter was written at Leyton as the Forest is nearer to Epping Forest than Much Hadham.

Details

Date: 5 July 1870
Object Type: archival
Material: pen on paper
Technique: hand-written
Catalogue number: J2418
Author: Morris | May | 1862 | 1938
Recipient: Morris (née Burden) | Jane | 1839 | 1914
Credit notes: Presented by C.E. Robins, 2007

This letter was written by May Morris to her mother Jane in 1870 when she was eight years old. It describes her and her sister Jenny’s first visit to Naworth Castle in July 1870. Naworth was the Cumbrian home of George and Rosalind Howard, good friends of the Morris family. During the trip, George Howard sketched May and her older sister Jenny for an oil portrait (now in the collection of Society of Antiquaries, Kelmscott Manor). May also wrote an account of her trip to Naworth, also in the William Morris Gallery’s collection (J2416).

Details

Date: June 1870
Object Type: archival
Material: pen on paper
Technique: hand-written
Catalogue number: J2417
Author: Morris | May | 1862 | 1938
Recipient: Morris (née Burden) | Jane | 1839 | 1914
Credit notes: Presented by C.E. Robins, 2007

This letter was written by May Morris to her mother Jane around 30 June 1870 when she was eight years old. It describes her and her sister Jenny’s first visit to Naworth Castle in June-July 1870. Naworth was the Cumbrian home of George and Rosalind Howard, good friends of the Morris family. During the trip, George Howard sketched May and her older sister Jenny for an oil portrait (now in the collection of Society of Antiquaries, Kelmscott Manor). May also wrote an account of her trip to Naworth, also in the William Morris Gallery’s collection (J2416).

Details

Date: December 1870
Dimensions: 16.4 x 11.2
Object Type: archival
Material: pen on paper
Catalogue number: J2416
Author: Morris | May | 1862 | 1938
Credit notes: Presented by C.E. Robins, 2007

This diary was written by May Morris in December 1870 when she was eight years old. It describes her and her sister Jenny’s first visit to Naworth Castle from 27^th June 1870. Naworth was the Cumbrian home of the Howard family, good friends of the Morris family. In the the first couple of pages May provides a description of her character and appearance:

“Having spent the greater past of last summer amongst the beautiful hills of Cumberland with my sister Jane, I write this short account of our doings for the benefit of our Mamma and in case this little story should fall into the hands of someone that does not know me I shall now present a description of myself. I am a great tomboy but I was not such a great one there because I was afraid of setting the little children we were staying with a bad example. I shall be nine next twenty fifth of March. I am very untidy and always very dirty and sometimes I am ashamed to say very naughty. I have got light curly hair cut on my forehead. My eyes are blue. I am neither fat nor very thin. Now I have described myself I will have my readers judge whether I am pretty or ugly. If I write a long preface I shall have nothing to say in my book. Mary Morris”

The proceeding pages describe May’s explorations of the local countryside and the events that occured during her holiday. Jane Morris refers to this journal in a letter to George Howard 19th December 1870: ‘May, I believe is writing a Journal of all their proceedings at Naworth’. (Howard Collection)

Details

Date: c. 1899-1902
Object Type: archival
Material: pen on paper
Technique: hand-written
Catalogue number: J561iv
Artist: Morris | May | 1862 | 1938
Credit notes: Transferred from the Victoria and Albert Museum, whom presented by Dr. Robert Steele

This lecture note dates from May Morris’s time teaching embroidery at Birmingham Municipal School of Art and the Central School of Arts and Crafts in London. The notes and sketches set out her plans for practical lessons, covering design, technique and materials.

Details

Date: c. 1899-1902
Object Type: archival
Material: pen on paper
Technique: hand-written
Catalogue number: J561xiii
Artist: Morris | May | 1862 | 1938
Credit notes: Transferred from the Victoria and Albert Museum, whom presented by Dr. Robert Steele

Details

Date: c. 1899-1902
Object Type: archival
Material: pen on paper
Technique: hand-written
Catalogue number: J561xii
Artist: Morris | May | 1862 | 1938
Credit notes: Transferred from the Victoria and Albert Museum, whom presented by Dr. Robert Steele

Details

Date: 17 February 1873
Dimensions: 6.3 x 10.7
Object Type: archival
Catalogue number: PhJ902xxxix
Recipient: Burden, Elizabeth (13.12.1841 - 22.08.1924)
Author: Welby, Victoria (1837 - 1912)
Credit notes: Given by Stephanie Godwin

This envelope was sent from Victoria Welby (1837– 1912), Head of the Royal School of Needlework to Bessie Burden, the letter it contained does not survive. Burden started working at the RSN in early 1873, but in February, a few days after receiving the letter in this envelope, she wrote to inform Welby that she would not continue working there on the same terms, she was also worried that the School were planning to exhibit embroidered figures stitched by her pupils with her name attached in an upcoming exhibition at the South Kensington Museum. The details of this exchange are detailed in ‘Elizabeth Burden and the Royal School of Needlework’ by Lynn Hulse in The Journal of the William Morris Society, Winter 2014.

Object Type: archival

Pages

Archives

Categories