Charles Joseph Faulkner (1833–1892) was a British

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change. History On ...

and fellow of

University College, Oxford University College (in full The College of the Great Hall of the University of Oxford, colloquially referred to as "Univ") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It has a claim to being the oldest college of the unive ...

and a founding partner of Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and Co. where he worked with his sisters

Kate Faulkner Kate Faulkner (1841–1898), was an Arts and Crafts artist and designer. Kate Faulkner was an artist and designer from a family of artists and designers. She was a sibling of Charles and Lucy Faulkner Orrinsmith and one of the founder members of ...

and

Lucy Faulkner Orrinsmith Lucy Jane Faulkner Orrinsmith (1839-1910) was a tile painter, engraver, and embroiderer during the Arts and Crafts movement, Arts and Crafts Movement in England. She is best known for her hand-painted tiles of Fairy tale, fairytales, especially o ...

Artistic career

Faulkner was part of a group of

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

men at

Pembroke College, Oxford Pembroke College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford, is located at Pembroke Square, Oxford. The college was founded in 1624 by King James I of England, using in part the endowment of merchant Thomas Tesdale, and was named aft ...

known among themselves as the "Brotherhood" and to historians as the

Birmingham Set The Birmingham Set, sometimes called the Birmingham Colony, the Pembroke Set or later The Brotherhood, was a group of students at the University of Oxford in England in the 1850s, most of whom were from Birmingham or had studied at King Edward's ...

, along with Richard Watson Dixon and William Fulford. Through them he met

William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He w ...

and

Edward Burne-Jones Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet, (; 28 August, 183317 June, 1898) was a British painter and designer associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood which included Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Millais, Ford Madox Brown and Holman ...

, with whom he worked on a number of projects, including the

Oxford Union murals The Oxford Union murals (1857–1859) are a series of mural decorations in the Oxford Union library building. The series was executed by a team of Pre-Raphaelite artists including Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones. T ...

and the decoration of Red House. He left Oxford to train as a

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...

in London in 1860, and in 1861 become a founder-shareholder and shortly thereafter financial manager of the decorative arts firm Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co., along with the

Pre-Raphaelite The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (later known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group of English painters, poets, and art critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, Jam ...

artists Morris, Burne-Jones,

Ford Madox Brown Ford Madox Brown (16 April 1821 – 6 October 1893) was a British painter of moral and historical subjects, notable for his distinctively graphic and often Hogarthian version of the Pre-Raphaelite style. Arguably, his most notable painti ...

, and

Dante Gabriel Rossetti Gabriel Charles Dante Rossetti (12 May 1828 – 9 April 1882), generally known as Dante Gabriel Rossetti (), was an English poet, illustrator, painter, translator and member of the Rossetti family. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhoo ...

, as well as engineer P. P. Marshall, and architect

Philip Webb Philip Speakman Webb (12 January 1831 – 17 April 1915) was a British architect and designer sometimes called the Father of Arts and Crafts Architecture. His use of vernacular architecture demonstrated his commitment to "the art of commo ...

. Faulkner participated in the firm's early design commissions including painting the chancel roof of

St Michael's Church, Brighton St. Michael's Church (in full, St. Michael and All Angels Church) is an Anglican church in Brighton, England, dating from the mid-Victorian era. Located on Victoria Road in the Montpelier area, to the east of Montpelier Road, it is one of the ...

. Faulkner's sisters

and

were also associated with the firm as artists and designers. Two of Charles Faulkner's

cartoon A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of imag ...

s or design drawings for

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

, part of a series depicting the story of

Dives and Lazarus The rich man and Lazarus (also called the parable of Dives and Lazarus or Lazarus and Dives) is a parable of Jesus from the 16th chapter of the Gospel of Luke. Speaking to his disciples and some Pharisees, Jesus tells of an unnamed rich man a ...

, are in the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

Oxford career

Doubting the firm would ever achieve a sound financial footing, Faulkner resigned as financial manager in 1864 and returned to his fellowship at Oxford, although he maintained his ties to his erstwhile partners, accompanying Morris and

Eiríkr Magnússon The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, or Eirik is derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' in Old East Norse due to monophthongization). The first element, ''ei-'' may be derived from the older Proto-Norse ''* ain ...

on their 1871 trip to Iceland and remaining a shareholder of the firm until it was reorganized as Morris & Co. in 1875. Morris and Faulkner were also allied in embracing

Socialism Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes th ...

. Faulkner joined the Eastern Question Association in 1876, and invited Morris to the 1883 meeting in University College hall where Morris announced his conversion to socialism. Both joined the Socialist League in 1885. Faulkner was active in the movement, and persuaded the Radical Association to rename itself the Oxford Socialist League. At Oxford, Faulkner served as

bursar A bursar (derived from "bursa", Latin for '' purse'') is a professional administrator in a school or university often with a predominantly financial role. In the United States, bursars usually hold office only at the level of higher education ...

(1864–1882), dean of degrees (1875–1889), registrar (1866–1882) and librarian (1884–1889). He resigned his Oxford fellowship after suffering a stroke in 1888 and died in 1892.

Notes

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Faulkner, Charles Joseph 1833 births 1892 deaths 19th-century English mathematicians Alumni of Pembroke College, Oxford Fellows of University College, Oxford Morris & Co.