Jane Burden was born in
Oxford, the daughter of a
stableman, Robert Burden, and his wife Ann Maizey, who was a domestic servant or a laundress. At the time of her birth, her parents were living at St Helen's Passage, in the parish of
St Peter-in-the-East, off
Holywell Street in Oxford which has since been marked with a
blue plaque. Her mother Ann was
illiterate and probably came to Oxford as a
domestic servant. Little is known of Jane Burden's childhood, but it was certainly poor. In October 1857, Burden and her sister
Elizabeth, known as Bessie, attended a performance of the
Drury Lane Theatre Company in Oxford. Jane Burden was noticed by
Dante Gabriel Rossetti and
Edward Burne-Jones who were members of a group of artists painting the
Oxford Union murals, based on
Arthurian tales. Struck by her beauty, they asked her to
model for them. Burden sat mostly for Rossetti as a model for Queen
Guinevere and afterwards for
William Morris, who was working on an easel painting,
La Belle Iseult, now in the
Tate Gallery. During this period, Morris fell in love with Burden and they became engaged, though by her own admission she was not in love with Morris. While living there, they had two daughters,
Jane Alice "Jenny," born 17 January 1861, and
Mary "May" born 25 March 1862, who later edited her father's works. In 1883, Jane Morris met the poet and political activist
Wilfrid Scawen Blunt at a house party given by her close friend,
Rosalind Howard (later Countess of Carlisle). Their sexual relationship continued until 1894 and they remained close friends until her death. A few months before her death, she bought Kelmscott Manor to secure it for her daughters' future. However, she did not return to the house after having purchased it. Jane Morris died on 26 January 1914, while staying at 5 Brock Street in
Bath. She is buried in the churchyard of St. George's Church in
Kelmscott. ==Gallery==