Sir Ned

Actually, at this point in time, William Morris' hair should be completely white and Burne-Jones will need glasses for sketching (He'd had an eye operaton...Victorian eye operations, brrrrrr...) but I of course threw most realistic historical details out the window long ago.

Sir Galahad
Edward Burne-Jones

In my previous post, we saw that both men as boys were enamored by the romance of knights and chivalry. While as adults they both loved the same stories they had read years ago (Morris even wrote his own) their politics couldn't be more different.

Topsy, middle row, fifth from the right. You can't miss him.

William Morris was a very vocal member of the Socialist League. 

Georgie Burne-Jones
"I'm no LADY! Well, you know
 what I mean..."
Painting by her husband.

While Georgie Burne-Jones, Ned's wife, shared
Morris' views, Ned himself wanted nothing to do
with politics. Infact, when he was offered a baronetcy
 that would add the title "Sir" to his name, he
desperately hid his acceptance from Topsy
(who would throw a fit) as well as his wife,
 who probably threw an even bigger fit for
having "Lady" added to her name.

Infact, Morris finally did find out about his best friend's
knighthood from the newspaper. He at first
refused to believe it.

Ned's alleged reason for accepting a knighthood?

Ned as painted by his son, Philip Burne-Jones.

Philip Burne-Jones, who also
inherited his dad's love for cats.

He did it for his son, Philip, who would inherit the title.
Philip was also a painter who enjoyed the
good life a little too much.

(You can see a younger version of Phil at the
 easel in the above painting of his mother...) 

Topsy's final verdict on the situation?

"Well, a man can be an ass for
the sake of his children."

                                                                (That's his actual quote, by the way...)

Coming up next: I think we're finally ready for the craziness of "Ned's Angels"...