The firm of Morris, Marshall, Faulkener & Company was founded in 1862 to give concrete expression to the artistic aims of William Morris and others involved in the Pre-Raphaelite movement. It was dissolved in 1874 and replaced by the firm of Morris & Company.
The two firms produced furnishings of many kinds but were perhaps most famous for their stained-glass windows, many of which were designed by Sir Edward Burne-Jones. The designs were executed at the Merton Abbey Works by J H Dearle. The letters from Morris and from Burne-Jones, who after Morris's death had to take more part in the supervision of the work, to Dearle are therefore working notes, often written in haste and containing only allusive references to work in hand. Most of the letters are undated and it has therefore been necessary to date them from internal evidence. Reference books consulted include:
M Bell, "Sir Edward Burne-Jones", 1898, hereafter cited as Bell, and G Burne-Jones, "Memorials of Sir Edward Burne-Jones", two volumes, 1904, hereafter cited as "Memorials". Bell, Appendix III, lists cartoons for stained glass windows, with the location of the windows, for the years 1857-1893, but after 1893 gives only the number of windows in each church. Bell's list, however, only cites the first occasion on which a cartoon was used. As many designs were in fact executed more than once, dating by Bell's list is not wholly reliable. The help of the staff of Birmingham City Museum and Art Gallery, who provided information from Burne-Jones' Accounts, hereafter cited as ACC, the Revised Glass Cartoon Index, hereafter cited as RGCI, and Case Book, hereafter cited as CB, is gratefully acknowledged |