The Red House Circle
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Having left Marlborough School and his home in Essex, and prior to moving to Red House, Morris spent a number of years in Oxford - where he was a student and trained for a short time to be an architect - and London, where he set about establishing himself as an artist.
Though socially often awkward he had an ability - along with his student friend Ned Jones - to make contacts and develop a strong and long-lasting social network. He came under the patronage of both John Ruskin, the critic, and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, the painter and poet. He also formed strong friendships which were often to last him through his life, notably Jones, Philip Webb who was to be the architect of Red House, and Charlie Faulkner who was another Oxford friend.
The circle was held together by a common interest in artistic matters - though with representatives from a range of the arts - and, in particular, with a passion for the medieval and a contempt for modern society. Some were established artists, others making their way, and a few just passing through. They were mostly young, talented, excited (and excitable).
When the house was opened, Morris, Jones and Rossetti had all been married and children arrived quite quickly for Morris and Jones, so Red House was for all of them a turning point in their lives. Their original vision for the house - a community of artists living and working together was never realised in entirety but the five years at red House set them off individually on new paths and collectively into the 'Firm' - Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and Company (later Morris and Co.)