The William Morris Society Ticket Portal

Wednesday 24th September, 6pm-7pm

William Morris’s lifelong love for the River Thames is well known, and the relationship went much deeper than simple appreciation. This talk will explore Morris’s designs for printed fabrics, showing how the river and its tributaries were present at every stage of the fabric-making process: both as a key source of design inspiration and as a key industrial resource at his factory on the River Wandle.

This event is part of the Totally Thames Festival, an annual celebration of what is arguably London’s biggest natural asset; the River Thames.

Dr. Sarah Mead Leonard is an independent scholar and freelance cultural heritage consultant. Her PhD, titled “‘The beauty of the bough-hung banks’: William Morris in the Thames Landscape”, was completed in 2020. She is now developing a book on the subject.

Wednesday 15th October 6pm-7pm

Join Robert on a captivating tour of this atmospheric house, featuring poems inspired by its objects and spaces, as well as collaborative artworks created by artist Jessica Palmer who worked with Robert on a joint Summer of Creativity outreach project at Kelmscott Manor.

Robert Seatter was the first ever poet in residence at Kelmscott Manor, the ‘heaven on earth’ retreat of William Morris from 1871 to 1896. Out of his residency came The House of Words, a unique collection of poems exploring the diverse themes of the house from creativity and making to love and desire, as well as probing the deeper question of what Morris’s legacy means to the England of now, struggling to define itself between the pull of the past and the invitation of the future. 

Robert Seatter is an experienced performer and poet, as well as a broadcaster and history author. He has published eight poetry collections from Seren/Two Rivers Press/Paekakiriki Press, the latest of which are My Lover as Houdini and The House of Words. He has won numerous awards and prizes for his writing including Forward Poetry Prize, National Poetry Competition, London Poetry Competition and Housman Poetry Prize.. His work has been featured on TV, Radio, and even the London buses. He was Chairman of The Poetry Trust which ran the acclaimed Aldeburgh Poetry Festival, and is currently Chairman of The Poetry Archive. He is based in London where he works as Head of BBC History. In 2022 he published Broadcasting Britain: 100 years of the BBC for the Corporation’s centenary, as well as presenting a major linked series on Radio 4. www.robertseatter.co.uk

Wednesday 15th October 6pm-7pm

Join Robert on a captivating tour of this atmospheric house, featuring poems inspired by its objects and spaces, as well as collaborative artworks created by artist Jessica Palmer who worked with Robert on a joint Summer of Creativity outreach project at Kelmscott Manor.

Robert Seatter was the first ever poet in residence at Kelmscott Manor, the ‘heaven on earth’ retreat of William Morris from 1871 to 1896. Out of his residency came The House of Words, a unique collection of poems exploring the diverse themes of the house from creativity and making to love and desire, as well as probing the deeper question of what Morris’s legacy means to the England of now, struggling to define itself between the pull of the past and the invitation of the future. 

Robert Seatter is an experienced performer and poet, as well as a broadcaster and history author. He has published eight poetry collections from Seren/Two Rivers Press/Paekakiriki Press, the latest of which are My Lover as Houdini and The House of Words. He has won numerous awards and prizes for his writing including Forward Poetry Prize, National Poetry Competition, London Poetry Competition and Housman Poetry Prize.. His work has been featured on TV, Radio, and even the London buses. He was Chairman of The Poetry Trust which ran the acclaimed Aldeburgh Poetry Festival, and is currently Chairman of The Poetry Archive. He is based in London where he works as Head of BBC History. In 2022 he published Broadcasting Britain: 100 years of the BBC for the Corporation’s centenary, as well as presenting a major linked series on Radio 4. www.robertseatter.co.uk

Wedesday 22nd October 11am-12noon

The William Morris Society was founded in 1955 to make the work and ideas of William Morris more widely known, in the belief that they are as important today as in his lifetime. Over the last sixty year the Society has built up a wonderful collection of designs, wallpapers, textiles, Kelmscott Press books, ceramics and archive material. The Society’s collection is an invaluable aspect of the Society’s work, especially for education and interpretation, enabling successive generations to discover the rich and diverse achievements of Morris and his circle.

Please join us as we explore some of the key objects from the William Morris Society’s collection as we celebrate seventy years since the Society’s foundation.

Wednesday 3rd December 6pm-7pm

Karen Livingstone will talk about her new book, Women Pioneers of the Arts & Crafts Movement which is a celebration of the work and ambition of the women who were at the heart of the most influential art and design movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. She will shine a light on the vital contribution of figures such as May Morris, Gertrude Jekyll, Annie Garnett, and many others, and describes the Arts and Crafts Movement from the perspective of these women who worked against the odds as artists, makers, teachers, authors, and entrepreneurs. Women of the era took part in, and often led, the founding of exhibitions, societies, art schools, and small craft industries. Some were activists and social disruptors while using their skills and talents to make a living. Karen’s talk will highlight the versatility and range of these talented women, who worked across a host of disciplines, including textile design, embroidery, bookbinding, illustration, painting, enameling, stained glass, metalwork, furniture design, and architecture.

Karen Livingstone is Deputy Director (Masterplan, Exhibitions and Design) at the Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge. She is a Fellow of Murray Edwards College, Cambridge, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. She was curator of the V&A exhibition ‘International Arts and Crafts’ in 2005, and her publications include the accompanying catalogue International Arts and Crafts (co-edited with Linda Parry), Essential Arts and Crafts (2005), C.F.A Voysey, Arts and Crafts Designer (with Linda Parry and Max Donnelly, 2016) and Voysey’s Birds and Animals (2020).

Thursday 27th November 6pm-9pm

What was the world of textiles out of which William Morris' practice emerged? And what inspired his designs? This talk examines the bright, simplistic embroidery that had a monopoly on British stitching before the Arts and Crafts movement and explores the historical textiles Morris took inspiration from for his own textile designs. 

Dr Isabella Rosner is the curator of textiles at the Royal School of Needlework and research consultant at Witney Antiques. She is a 2023 BBC/AHRC New Generation Thinker and author of Stitching Freedom: Embroidery and Incarceration (Common Threads Press). Isabella also hosts the Sew What? podcast about historical needlework and those who stitched it.

Location:  William Morris Society, 26 Upper Mall, W6 9TA and Linden House, Upper Mall, W6 9TA

6pm: Drinks reception at the William Morris Society, 26 Upper Mall, W6 9TA

7pm: Walk 5 mins to Linden House, Upper Mall, W6 9TA

7.30pm: Lecture at Linden House commences

8.30pm: Lecture at Linden House concludes

Depart or return to the William Morris Society, 26 Upper Mall, W6 9TA for further discussion 

Thursday 27th November 7.30pm-8.30pm

What was the world of textiles out of which William Morris' practice emerged? And what inspired his designs? This talk examines the bright, simplistic embroidery that had a monopoly on British stitching before the Arts and Crafts movement and explores the historical textiles Morris took inspiration from for his own textile designs. 

Dr Isabella Rosner is the curator of textiles at the Royal School of Needlework and research consultant at Witney Antiques. She is a 2023 BBC/AHRC New Generation Thinker and author of Stitching Freedom: Embroidery and Incarceration (Common Threads Press). Isabella also hosts the Sew What? podcast about historical needlework and those who stitched it.

Location:  Online

7.30pm: Lecture streamed live from Linden House commences

8.30pm: Lecture streamed live from Linden House concludes

Wednesday 21st January 6pm-7pm

The Journal of William Morris Studies has published around 120 articles, exploring all areas of Morris’s social, political and environmental thought as well as his energetic political activism. The new anthology from the archives of JWMS, William Morris's Socialism and Politics: Claiming a Decent Life, edited by John Blewitt and published by the University of Exeter Press on 4 November 2025, offers a selection of these articles, revealing many original insights, as well as unearthing fresh material from the archives.

The lifetime trajectory of Morris’s political and social values emerges from, interconnects with and informs the many other areas of his work.

At the present moment in history, when disillusion and distrust of politics and politicians is most significant, a figure such as Morris offers renewal and hope.

John Blewitt will discuss the book, Morris's politics and some of his activities, not least how he inspired many members of the newly formed Independent Labour Party in the 1890s and early years of the twentieth century. John Blewitt is editor of the Journal of William Morris Studies and author of William Morris and the Instinct for Freedom (Merlin Press, 2019) and editor of William Morris and John Ruskin: A New Road on Which the World Should Travel (University of Exeter Press, 2019). He worked for many years in further and higher education and lives near Skipton in Yorkshire.

Wednesday 28th January 2026 9.30am- 4.30pm

Taking place in the atmospheric surroundings of Kelmscott House – the home of William Morris from 1878 – this unique one-day workshop and masterclass is a wonderful opportunity to follow in the footsteps of William Morris. Working where William Morris created some of his best-known designs, you will be able to immerse yourself in a world of creativity and making inspired by the traditions of the Arts and Crafts movement.

Discover the joy of adding painterly botanical elements to your knitting. Sharing the techniques she uses as an experienced artist, designer and knitter, Dee Hardwicke will guide you through the process of observing and interpreting flowers and foliage through pastel drawing and Swiss darning (duplicate stitch), a versatile embroidery technique that enables you to ‘paint’ with yarn.

Arriving at Kelmscott House, by the riverside in London’s Hammersmith, the day will begin with a brief welcome talk by a member of the William Morris Society team. This will introduce you to the house and some of the instantly recognisable work that William Morris created there, really setting the scene for the workshop.

Your own day of creativity will take place at tables dressed with gorgeous still lifes of flowers and foliage, knitted swatches, beautiful yarns, and art materials. Based on detailed observation of these still lifes, Dee will begin by leading you through the process of creating your own botanical artwork in pastels. No drawing skills are required since the workshop is suitable for participants of all artistic abilities, including complete beginners.

Dee will explain how to chart your botanical motifs, also showing you how these versatile charts can be used for everything from Swiss darning and intarsia to cross stitch. You will then discover how to select yarn palettes and how to place motifs to maximum effect, really bringing them to life and finding your creative signature.

Throughout the afternoon, Dee will take you through the process of embroidering your motifs – using Swiss darning – onto a knitted sampler-style square that you will have prepared for the workshop. As you will see, Swiss darning is a wonderful technique that creates a beautiful, painterly layered effect over the knitted stitches below. 

This very special workshop will introduce you to a world where yarn meets nature. With a focus on observation, colour, and texture – which were all at the heart of William Morris’s practice – this masterclass offers a window into new ways of seeing and making. You will leave with practical skills, inspiration, and your own botanical artwork ready to bloom across your knitting.

This creative workshop is designed especially for confident knitters who are curious to explore the world of artistic embellishment. No drawing skills are required since the workshop is suitable for participants of all artistic abilities, including complete beginners. No knitting skills are required for the class itself but experience with basic stocking stitch is essential. You also need to bring along a knitted square to embroider on as outlined below.

Homework

Please bring a knitted square in stocking stitch, measuring at least 20 x 20 cm since you’ll be Swiss darning your botanical motifs onto it (you could bring a rectangle if you prefer but it must be at least 20 cm wide and 20 cm long). Please work with a 4ply or DK weight yarn. The tension isn’t crucial but tension consistency, neatness, and a densely knitted fabric will benefit your completed work. Suggested tension, 26 sts x 36 rows / 10cm in stocking stitch, after blocking. 

Please bring:

• Your knitted square or rectangle (as outlined above)
• A tapestry needle for embroidery if you have a favourite, although these will be provided on the day
• A selection of yarns from your stash if you would like to use some of your favourites for your embroidery but Dee will be bringing a selection of yarns to work with
• Embroidery scissors if you would like to bring your own, although scissors will be available
• An apron or old shirt to protect your clothes as pastels can get slightly messy!

Lunch

There will be a break of 45 minutes for lunch. You're welcome to bring your own lunch to eat in the Library of Kelmscott House, or to head out. (nearby cafés include The Elder Press).

This workshop is limited to 12 participants, so early booking is essential