Jane Alice (Jenny) Morris (17 January 1861 – 11 July 1935) was an embroiderer. She was the elder daughter of

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) 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 traditiona ...

and

Jane Morris Jane Morris (née Burden; 19 October 1839 – 26 January 1914) was an English embroiderer in the Arts and Crafts movement and an artists' model who embodied the Pre-Raphaelite ideal of beauty. She was a model and muse to her husband Will ...

and sister to

May Morris Mary "May" Morris (25 March 1862 – 17 October 1938) was an English artisan, embroidery designer, jeweller, socialist, and editor. She was the younger daughter of the Pre-Raphaelite artist and designer William Morris and embroiderer and artists' ...

Life

Jenny Morris was born 17 January 1861 at Red House, Bexleyheath, the elder child of

, a designer, craftsman, and writer, and

(née Burden), an embroiderer in the

Arts and Crafts movement The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and America. Initiat ...

and artists' model. Her younger sister

was born a year later. Jenny and her sister May were schooled at home, briefly attending Notting Hill High School. Highly intelligent, Jenny passed her Cambridge local examinations and was destined for one of the woman's colleges at Oxford or Cambridge University. However in 1867, she developed

epilepsy Epilepsy is a group of Non-communicable disease, non-communicable Neurological disorder, neurological disorders characterized by a tendency for recurrent, unprovoked Seizure, seizures. A seizure is a sudden burst of abnormal electrical activit ...

. At first her symptoms were a relatively low level of severity, however as she got older her attacks got more frequent and severe. Whilst her parents were alive, Jenny lived at home in London, or for extended periods staying by the coast with a companion. After her mother died, her sister May took over responsibility for arranging her care. Along with her sister and mother, Jenny was skilled in embroidery, and examples of her work are in the collection of the

William Morris Gallery The William Morris Gallery is a museum devoted to the life and works of William Morris, an English Arts and Crafts designer and early socialist. It is located in Walthamstow at Water House, a substantial Grade II* listed Georgian home. The extens ...

, London. Although these pieces show fine workmanship, her embroidery was limited to personal items for the family. A collection of letters written by Jenny to her father's legal executor

Sydney Cockerell Sir Sydney Carlyle Cockerell (16 July 1867 – 1 May 1962) was an English museum curator and collector. From 1908 to 1937, he was director of the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, England. He was knighted in 1934. Biography Sydney Cockerell m ...

between 1897 and 1919 are in the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

. She died at

Over Stowey Over Stowey is a small village and civil parish in Somerset, South West England. A large part of the forest and open heath of the Quantock Hills is within the parish and it includes the hamlets of Plainsfield, Aley, Adscombe, Friarn and Bincomb ...

(in

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

) on 11 July 1935 at the age of 74 of diabetic complications. Jane and Jenny Morris circa 1864 by H. Smith.jpg, Jane and Jenny Morris circa 1864 by H. Smith Frederick Hollyer Morris and Burne-Jones Families 1874.jpg, Morris and Burne-Jones Families, Jenny seated far right, photographed by Frederick Hollyer, 1874

Notes

External links

Photographs of Jenny
at The National Portrait Gallery, London

Portraits of Jenny Morris
at the

br>

Works by Jenny Morris
at the

National Trust

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morris, Jane Alice 1861 births 1935 deaths British embroiderers British textile artists People educated at Notting Hill & Ealing High School People with epilepsy