William Morris (1834–96) was born in Walthamstow and was the son of a well-to-do bill broker and mining speculator who left his family in a reduced, but nevertheless very comfortable, position when he died in 1847. Morris went to Marlborough College the next year, and the family moved to what was then known as Water House (above), which was smaller than their previous house.
'WILLIAM
MORRIS
1834–1896
LIVED HERE 1848–1856
EDWARD
LLOYD
PUBLISHER
LIVED HERE
1857–1885'
The house has been the William Morris Gallery since 1950, and is set in what is now Lloyd Park.*
There is a 40ft moat at the back of the house where the Morris children used to fish, and skate on in the winter. They played on the island, William delighting in dressing up as a medieval knight.
*Lloyd Park was opened in the summer of 1900, with brass bands playing on the island. Subsequently, bands played every Sunday in August and September, the audience being so big that a second bridge had to be built.
William Morris in Bexleyheath, Kent: London #30
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