William Frend De Morgan

William Frend De Morgan 1839-1917, English artist and novelist; son of Augustus De Morgan. A famous potter, he designed glass and tiles and rediscovered an old process of making colored lusterware. When he was 66 he retired from business and turned to writing novels, which were quite popular and brought him a large income. They include Joseph Vance (1906) and When Ghost Meets Ghost (1914).

de Morgan, William (Frend) (1839–1917), at first devoted his attention to art and in particular to the production of stained glass and glazed pottery, working for a time in association with his friend W. Morris. He embarked on the writing of fiction at the age of 67; his first and best novel, Joseph Vance (1906), is the rambling but entertaining tale of a drunken builder's son befriended by a middle-class family, who graduates from Oxford and becomes an engineer and inventor. This was followed by several others; the last two, The Old Madhouse (1919) and The Old Man's Youth (1921), left unfinished on his death, were skilfully completed by his widow, the artist Evelyn de Morgan.