Apparently brought from Africa by one of William Morris’s brothers and given by the Morris children to their playmate, Thomas Samuel Watson c. 1850. Watson was born in Clay Street (now Forest Road), Walthamstow and went as a boy to work for the Morris family at Water House where he workid in the gardens. He became a friend of the Morris children with whom he spent many evenings; he afterwards went to work in Epping Forest. According to Thomas Samuel Watson’s daughter, the donor, the Morris children ..”when they secured a piece of game or a bird they would cook it themselves in the nursery and then leave him to eat the food while they put in an appearance at dinner downstairs..” “Watson ‘never left off learning till he died’ – the Morris influence led to intense interest in poetry, pictures, studies in general…” …”Wilson in later life.. went to work where he beautified the forest which William Morris had loved so much.” Source: curator’s? written file note (quoting Ms Watson) dated Oct. 25th., 1950.
