William Morris Studios (Westminster) was an English stained-glass studio active in the first half of the twentieth century. Despite its name, it was entirely unrelated to the Arts and Crafts firm Morris & Co. founded by William Morris (1834–1896), and represents a distinct strand of commercial and ecclesiastical glazing in England.

Founding and early history

The studio was established around 1901 in Westminster, London, by William Thomas Morris (1874–1944). It developed out of the family glazing business previously known as Morris & Sons, founded by his father Richard Morris, who died around 1901. Following his father’s death, William Thomas Morris reorganised the business under his own direction.

From an early stage, the firm was conscious of the potential for confusion with the well-known Arts and Crafts workshop at Merton Abbey. Contemporary records therefore frequently refer to the business as William Morris Studios, a name adopted specifically to distinguish it from the earlier and more famous Morris & Co.

Practice and style

William Morris Studios specialised in stained glass, leaded lights, metal casements, and associated architectural glazing. Its output was primarily ecclesiastical, supplying parish churches across England, alongside secular glazing commissions.

Stylistically, the studio’s work differs markedly from the Pre-Raphaelite and Arts and Crafts idiom associated with Morris & Co. Designs tend toward clear narrative composition, conventional Gothic framing, and restrained ornament, reflecting mainstream early twentieth-century ecclesiastical taste rather than artistic revivalism.

Key designers associated with the studio include Frederick Miller Baker, who served as chief designer during the 1920s, and Frederick W. Cole (1908–1998), who joined the firm in 1926 and later became its most prominent figure. Cole played a significant role in the studio’s later development and post-war revival.

Later history

In 1935, the business was acquired by the Pollard Group, after which it continued to operate from premises in Rochester Row, Westminster. These premises were destroyed by bombing in 1941 during the Second World War.

After the war, in 1946, Frederick W. Cole re-established the stained-glass operation under the auspices of the Pollard Group. The studio continued to produce stained glass into the post-war period, before the Pollard Group withdrew from the field in 1958, leading to the closure of the firm.

Assessment

Although often confused by name with the Arts and Crafts workshop of William Morris, William Morris Studios (Westminster) represents a separate and later tradition of English stained glass. Its work belongs to the pragmatic, workshop-based production of the early and mid-twentieth century, forming part of the wider landscape of parish-church glazing in the interwar and post-war periods.