Biography of Edward Coley Burne-Jones 1st Baronet 1833-1898

Edward Coley Burne-Jones 1st Baronet 1833-1898 is in Painters.

Before 28 Aug 1833 [his father] Edward Richard Jones and [his mother] Elizabeth Coley were married.

On 28 Aug 1833 Edward Coley Burne-Jones 1st Baronet was born to Edward Richard Jones and Elizabeth Coley at 11 Bennets Hill. His mother died six days later.

From 1844 Edward Coley Burne-Jones 1st Baronet (age 10) attended King Edward VI Grammar School. From 1848 to 1852 Edward Coley Burne-Jones 1st Baronet attended Birmingham School of Art after which he studied theology at Exeter College, Oxford University where he became a friend of William Morris (age 9), where, together with a group of friends they became known as the Birmingham Set who formed a society "The Brotherhood".

Life of William Morris. Jun 1852. At the beginning of June, 1852, Morris (age 18) went up to Oxford, and passed the matriculation examination at Exeter. This was with the view of going into residence after the Long Vacation. But the college was then so full that his entry had to be deferred till the Lent term of 1853. He returned to Mr. Guy's meanwhile, and read with him for six months more, going with him for the Long Vacation to Alphington, in Devonshire, and returning to Walthamstow for the remainder of the year. At the examination in the Hall of Exeter there had sat next him another boy who had come up for the same purpose from King Edward's Grammar School, Birmingham, and was destined to be his most intimate and lifelong friend, Edward Burne-Jones (age 18).

1856 to 1861. Edward Coley Burne-Jones 1st Baronet (age 22). "The Blessed Damozel".

Watercolor, gouache, and shell gold on paper mounted on canvas.

In 09 Jun 1856 Edward Coley Burne-Jones 1st Baronet (age 22) and [his future wife] Georgiana Macdonald Lady Burne-Jones (age 15) were engaged.

Around 1857 Simeon Solomon (age 16) was introduced by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (age 28) to members of the Pre-Raphealite Brotherhood including Algernon Charles Swinburne (age 19) and Edward Coley Burne-Jones 1st Baronet (age 23).

Letters of Dante Gabriel Rossetti. In Feb 1857 Dante Gabriel Rossetti (age 28) wrote to William Bell Scott (age 46):

Two young men, projectors of the "Oxford and Cambridge Magazine," have recently come up to town from Oxford, and are now very intimate friends of mine. Their names are Morris (age 22) and Jones (age 23). They have turned artists instead of taking up any other career to which the university generally leads, and both are men of real genius. Jones's designs are marvels of finish and imaginative detail, unequalled by anything unless perhaps Albert Durer's finest works' (W. B. Scott, Memoirs, ii. 37).

In Oct 1857 Jane Morris nee Burden (age 17) and her sister Elizabeth Burden (age 15) attended a performance of the Drury Lane Theatre Company in Oxford. Jane Burden was noticed by Dante Gabriel Rossetti (age 29) and Edward Burne-Jones (age 24) who asked her to model for them.

1860. Edward Coley Burne-Jones 1st Baronet (age 26). "Rosamund's Bower". Queen Eleanor has found Rosamund, her husband's mistress, in the maze. She will kill her (poison) then follow the thread to get out. See Memorials of Edward Burne-Jones.

1860. Edward Coley Burne-Jones 1st Baronet (age 26). "Clara von Bork 1560". This picture depicts Clara von Dewitz, the wife of Marcus Bork, another character from Meinhold's novel 'Sidonia the Sorceress'. See Memorials of Edward Burne-Jones.

1860. Edward Coley Burne-Jones 1st Baronet (age 26). Sidonia von Bork is the central character in Wilhelm Meinhold's gothic romance 'Sidonia the Sorceress'. See Memorials of Edward Burne-Jones.

Memorials of Edward Burne-Jones 1860. Before 23 May 1860. Since the time that Rossetti (age 32) was called away from Oxford, in October, 1857, by the illness of Miss Siddal (age 30), he and Edward (age 26) had been less together, but there had been no decrease of affection between them, and so it was of the most vital interest to us when we learnt that Gabriel was to be married about the same time as ourselves. He and Edward at once built up a plan for our all four meeting in Paris as soon as possible afterwards; I went home to Manchester to make my preparations, and it was decided that the fourth anniversary of our engagement, the 9th of June, should be our wedding-day. The conditions on which we started life were, practically no debts, except of work to Mr. Flint, and the possession of about £30 in ready money; and I brought with me a small deal table with a drawer in it that held my wood-engraving tools. Three days before our marriage, however, came a note from the unfailing Mr. Flint: "The two pen-and-ink drawings are to hand to-day. I enclose order for £25 which you may need just now." So here was riches.

Memorials of Edward Burne-Jones 1860. 09 Jun 1860. The 9th of June fell on a Saturday, and we decided to go no further that day than to Chester, where we should see its curious streets and attend service at the Cathedral [Map] on Sunday; Gabriel (age 32) and his wife (age 30) were by this time in Paris [Map], and we hoped to join them a few days later. But this was not in store for us, for unhappily Edward (age 26) had been caught in a rain-storm a day or two before and already had a slight sore-throat, which now so quickly grew worse that by noon on Sunday he was almost speechless from it and in the hands of a strange doctor. This illness was a sharp check, and we found ourselves shut up for some days in a dreary hotel in an unknown place; but a gleam of satisfaction reached us when the doctor spoke of me to Edward as "your good lady," and gave me directions about what was to be done for the patient, with no apparent suspicion that I had not often nursed him before. Trusting in this and in some half-used reels of sewing cotton ostentatiously left about, as well as a display of boots which had already been worn, we felt great confidence that no one would guess how ignominiously newly-married we were.

On 09 Jun 1860 Edward Coley Burne-Jones 1st Baronet (age 26) and Georgiana Macdonald Lady Burne-Jones (age 19) were married at Manchester Cathedral [Map].

Memorials of Edward Burne-Jones 1860. After In the unsettled week before his marriage Edward (age 26) had amused himself by painting some figures upon a plain deal sideboard which he possessed, and this in its new state was a delightful surprise to find. "Ladies and animals" he called the subjects illustrated, and there were seven pictures, three on the cupboard doors in front and two at each end, which shewed them in various relations to each other. Three kind and attentive ladies were feeding pigs, parrots and fishes; two cruel ones were tormenting an owl by forcing him to look at himself in a round mirror, and gold fish by draining them dry in a net; while two more were expiating such sins in terror at a hideous newt upon the garden path and the assault of a swarm of angry bees. Mrs. Catherwood gave us a piano, made by Priestly of Berners Street, who had patented a small one of inoffensive shape that we had seen and admired at Madox Brown's (age 39) house; we had ours made of unpolished American walnut, a perfectly plain wood of pleasing colour, so that Edward could paint upon it. The little instrument when opened shows inside the lid a very early design for the "Chant d' Amour," and on the panel beneath the keyboard there is a gilded and lacquered picture of Death, veiled and crowned, standing outside the gate of a garden where a number of girls, unconscious of his approach, are resting and listening to music. The lacquering of this panel was an exciting process, for its colour had to be bedeepened by heat while still liquid, and Edward used a red-hot poker for the work.

Memorials of Edward Burne-Jones 1860. After 09 Jun 1860. It was quite clear that we must give up Paris and get to our own home as soon as the doctor gave Edward (age 26) leave to travel; so ruefully enough I wrote to Gabriel (age 32) and told him how things were; and his answer was a comfort to us, for he reported that they were both tired of "dragging about," and looked forward with pleasure to sitting down again with their friends in London as soon as possible. "Lizzie (age 30) and I are likely to come back with two dogs," he continues, "a big one and a little one. We have called the latter Punch in memory partly of a passage in Pepys's Diary, "But in the street. Lord, how I did laugh to hear poor common persons call their fat child Punch, which name I do perceive to be good for all that is short and thick." We have got the book with us from Mudie's, and meant to have yelled over it in company if you had come to Paris. We are now reading Boswell's Johnson, which is almost as rich in some parts." This reading of Boswell resulted in the water-colour drawing of "Dr. Johnson at the Mitre "which Rossetti brought back with him from Paris.

Samuel Johnson: On 18 Sep 1709 he was born. On 13 Dec 1784 he died.

1861. Edward Coley Burne-Jones 1st Baronet (age 27). "The Annunciation and the Adoration of the Magi". See Memorial of Burne-Jones.

1861. Edward Coley Burne-Jones 1st Baronet (age 27). Pen-and-ink design of "Childe Roland". See Memorials of Edward Burne-Jones.

1861. Edward Coley Burne-Jones 1st Baronet (age 27). "Clerk Saunders". The incident depicted comes at the end of the ballad of 'Clerk Saunders', when Margaret is visited by the spirit of her dead lover, the Clerk of the title, who has been murdered by her brothers. See Memorial of Burne-Jones.

On 21 Oct 1861 [his son] Philip Burne-Jones 2nd Baronet was born to Edward Coley Burne-Jones 1st Baronet (age 28) and [his wife] Georgiana Macdonald Lady Burne-Jones (age 21). He was baptised at Manchester Cathedral [Map] with his godfathers, by proxy, being John Ruskin (age 42) and Dante Gabriel Rossetti (age 33). See Memorials of Edward Burne-Jones.

1863. Edward Coley Burne-Jones 1st Baronet (age 29). Portrait of his wife [his wife] Georgiana Macdonald Lady Burne-Jones (age 22).

1864. Edward Coley Burne-Jones 1st Baronet (age 30). Portrait of Jane Morris nee Burden (age 24), and his sisters-in-law [his sister-in-law] Alice Macdonald (age 26), [his sister-in-law] Agnes Macdonald Lady Poynter (age 21) and [his sister-in-law] Louisa Macdonald (age 19) listening to his wife [his wife] Georgiana (age 23) reading aloud.

Alice Macdonald: On 04 Apr 1837 she was born to Reverend George Browne Macdonald and Hannah Jones at Birmingham, Warwickshire. On 18 Mar 1865 John Lockwood Kipling and she were married at St Mary Abbots Church, Kensington. On 22 Nov 1910 she died. She was buried at St John's Church, Tisbury.

Louisa Macdonald: In 1845 she was born to Reverend George Browne Macdonald and Hannah Jones at Birmingham, Warwickshire. In 1925 she died.

1866. Edward Coley Burne-Jones 1st Baronet (age 32). Study of Maria Terpsithea Cassavetti aka Zambaco (age 22).

In 1866 Edward Coley Burne-Jones 1st Baronet (age 32) and his family moved to 41 Kensington Square.

In 1866 Maria Terpsithea Cassavetti aka Zambaco (age 22) left her husband in France and returned to London to live with her mother around which time she first met Edward Coley Burne-Jones 1st Baronet (age 32).

1866. Edward Coley Burne-Jones 1st Baronet (age 32). "The Princess Sabra Led to the Dragon". Model Julia Prinsep Jackson (age 19).

Around Jul 1866 [his daughter] Margaret Burne-Jones was born to Edward Coley Burne-Jones 1st Baronet (age 32) and [his wife] Georgiana Macdonald Lady Burne-Jones (age 25) at 41 Kensington Square.

1868. Edward Coley Burne-Jones 1st Baronet (age 34). "Woman's Head. Study of "Le Chant D'Amour". Probably his wife [his wife] Georgiana Macdonald Lady Burne-Jones (age 27).

1870. George Frederick Watts (age 52). Portrait of Edward Coley Burne-Jones 1st Baronet (age 36).

Around 1870. Edward Coley Burne-Jones 1st Baronet (age 36). "Cupid and Psyche". The models Marie Spartali aka Stillman (age 25) and Maria Terpsithea Cassavetti aka Zambaco (age 26).

Around 1870. Edward Coley Burne-Jones 1st Baronet (age 36). "Phyllis and Demophoon". Model Maria Terpsithea Cassavetti aka Zambaco (age 26). The moment after the embraces the almond tree into which she was said to have transformed after death.

Around 1870. Edward Coley Burne-Jones 1st Baronet (age 36). Study of Maria Terpsithea Cassavetti aka Zambaco (age 26).

1870. Edward Coley Burne-Jones 1st Baronet (age 36). Portrait of Maria Terpsithea Cassavetti aka Zambaco (age 26).

1871. Edward Coley Burne-Jones 1st Baronet (age 37). Drawing of Maria Terpsithea Cassavetti aka Zambaco (age 27).

Between 1873 and 1878. Edward Coley Burne-Jones 1st Baronet (age 39). Study for "Laus Veneris". Model Sarah Cox aka Fanny Cornforth (age 37).

Between 1873 and 1878. Edward Coley Burne-Jones 1st Baronet (age 39). "Laus Veneris" or "The Praise of Venus". From the poem Laus Veneris by Algernon Charles Swinburne (age 35).

1874. Frederick Hollyer (age 35). Photograph of the Burne-Jones and Morris families including William Morris (age 39), Jane Morris nee Burden (age 34), Edward Coley Burne-Jones 1st Baronet (age 40) and [his wife] Georgiana Macdonald Lady Burne-Jones (age 33).

1874 to 1877. Edward Coley Burne-Jones 1st Baronet (age 40). "The Beguiling of Merlin". Model Maria Terpsithea Cassavetti aka Zambaco (age 30). In the collection of the Lady Lever Art Gallery [Map]. The painting was commissioned by Frederick Richards Leyland (age 42).

1875. St Leonard's Church, Ribbesford [Map]. Window designed by Edward Coley Burne-Jones 1st Baronet (age 41), made by William Morris and Co. Dedicated to Hannah Jones, Burne-Jones's mother-in-law. The centrepiece is of a beggar girl being given a new cloak.

Hannah Jones: Before 21 Jul 1840 Reverend George Browne Macdonald and she were married.

1878. Edward Coley Burne-Jones 1st Baronet (age 44). "Danae and the Brazen Tower". The model Marie Spartali aka Stillman (age 33)

1879. Edward Coley Burne-Jones 1st Baronet (age 45). "Annunciation". Model Julia Prinsep Jackson (age 32).

1882. Edward Coley Burne-Jones 1st Baronet (age 48). "The Tree of Forgiveness". Model Maria Terpsithea Cassavetti aka Zambaco (age 38).

1883. Edward Coley Burne-Jones 1st Baronet (age 49). Full-size preparatory cartoon for "King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid".

From 1883. Edward Coley Burne-Jones 1st Baronet (age 49). Portrait of his wife [his wife] Georgiana Macdonald Lady Burne-Jones (age 42) and their children [his son] Philip Burne-Jones 2nd Baronet (age 21) and [his daughter] Margaret Burne-Jones (age 16).

Margaret Burne-Jones: Around Jul 1866 she was born to Edward Coley Burne-Jones 1st Baronet and Georgiana Macdonald Lady Burne-Jones at 41 Kensington Square. In 1953 she died.

1883. Edward Coley Burne-Jones 1st Baronet (age 49). Portrait of Violet Lindsay Duchess Rutland (age 26).

1883. Edward Coley Burne-Jones 1st Baronet (age 49). Gouache preparatory sketch for "King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid".

1884. Edward Coley Burne-Jones 1st Baronet (age 50). "King Cophetua and the Beggar Maid". Model probably the artists wife [his wife] Georgiana Macdonald Lady Burne-Jones (age 43). Inspired by Tennyson's (age 74) poem The Beggar Maid. The painting was purchased Edward Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie 1st Earl Wharncliffe (age 56).

Around 1886. Edward Coley Burne-Jones 1st Baronet (age 52). Portrait of his daughter [his daughter] Margaret Burne-Jones (age 19).

On 04 Jan 1892 Frederick Richards Leyland (age 60) died. He was buried at Brompton Cemetery, Kensington where he has a monument designed by Edward Coley Burne-Jones 1st Baronet (age 58).

On Tuesday the 4th January 1892 the 60 year shipping magnate Frederick Richards Leyland was travelling on the Metropolitan Line with Colonel Robert Rainsford Jackson, the managing director of the National Telephone Company (of which Leyland was also president).. Within a few minutes of entering a first class carriage in Cannon Street Leyland was gasping for air and clutching his chest. At Mansion House station Colonel Jackson summoned the train’s guard for help. At Blackfriars the train was held in the platform whilst the Station Inspector, who suspected that Leyland was already dead, called for a stretcher and had him removed from his carriage and put in his office. A doctor was sent for who arrived at 5.15pm and confirmed the Inspectors suspicions, Leyland had died of a heart attack. An inquest was held on 7 January ("death by natural causes" the verdict) and the funeral at Brompton took place next day, on the Friday morning.

The London Gazette 26509. Whitehall, May 3, 1894

The Queen (age 74) has been pleased to direct Letters Patent to be passed under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, granting the dignity of a Baronet of the said United Kingdom unto Edward Coley Burne Burne-Jones (age 60), of Rottingdean, in the county of Sussex, and of the Grange, in the parish of Fulham, in the county of London, Esquire, and the heirs male of his body lawfully begotten. [Note. [his wife] Georgiana Macdonald Lady Burne-Jones (age 53) by marriage Lady Burne-Jones of Rottingdean in Sussex and The Grange in Fulham in London]

1895. Edward Coley Burne-Jones 1st Baronet (age 61). Portrait of Gwendolen Gascoyne-Cecil (age 34).

Gwendolen Gascoyne-Cecil: On 28 Jul 1860 she was born to Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil 3rd Marquess Salisbury. On 28 Sep 1945 Gwendolen Gascoyne-Cecil died.

St Germans Priory [Map]. South Chapel and East Window by William Morris (age 61) and Reredos. To the glory of God this window is dedicated by the donor Alfred Burton in the year 1896. This enormous five-light window is one of the largest in Cornwall. All of the ten main figures and angels in the tracery were designed in 1895 for the South transept window of Albion Congregational church, Ashton-under-Lyne. They were repeated at St Germans the following year in this window donated by Alfred Burton. The angel tracery for St Germans, however, is far superior to the tracery at Ashton-under-Lyne. Burne-Jones (age 62) was paid £300 for his Ashton designs, and it was common practice for all the major Victorian studios subsequently to reuse the design cartoons for future commissions.

1898. [his son] Philip Burne-Jones 2nd Baronet (age 36). Portrait of his father Edward Coley Burne-Jones 1st Baronet (age 64).

On 17 Jun 1898 Edward Coley Burne-Jones 1st Baronet (age 64) died. His son [his son] Philip Burne-Jones 2nd Baronet (age 36) succeeded 2nd Baronet Burne-Jones of Rottingdean in Sussex and The Grange in Fulham in London.

On 02 Feb 1920 [his former wife] Georgiana Macdonald Lady Burne-Jones (age 79) died.

Memorials of Edward Burne-Jones. Memorials of Edward Burne-Jones was written by his wife Georgiana Macdonald Lady Burne-Jones and published in 1906 by The Macmillan Company.

Edward Coley Burne-Jones 1st Baronet aged 37 from the portrait by George Frederick Watts.