The poet, novelist, translator, artist, designer, businessman, publisher and pioneer socialist, William Morris (1834-1896), made a tremendous impact on British art and society which still resonates today. This talk will focus on Morris’s activities in Leeds, Bradford and the surrounds looking at both the decorative design work of Morris & Co. At Bradford Cathedral, for private homes, and his work as a political lecturer, leader of the Socialist League and editor of one of the best socialist journals ever produced in Britain – Commonweal. In 1879 he spent a week in Leeds investigating the piracy of one of his carpet designs and later he visited Leeds, Bradford and Shipley lecturing on socialism at the Co-operative Hall (Shipley), the Temperance Hall and St George’s Hall (Bradford) and the Philosophical Hall and Grand Assembly Rooms (Leeds). William Morris was a pivotal influence for many of the founders of the Independent Labour Party, established in Bradford in 1893.

John Blewitt is editor of the Journal of William Morris Studies and author of William Morris and the Instinct for Freedom (Merlin Press, 2019). He is also editor of William Morris’s Politics and Socialism: Claiming a Decent Life (University of Exeter Press, forthcoming 2025).

Part of the Leeds400 celebrations in 2026.