AT THE CLOSE OF THE MEETING of cabdrivers in Trafalgar Square, on Sunday, John Burns said "I cannot let this meeting of London workers separate without referring to the loss we have sustained in the death of one of the greatest Englishmen the century has produced—William Morris, artist, poet, and Socialist. He met his death sooner than he should have done, because in the early days of the Socialist and Labour movement he exerted himself and worked harder than he should have done. As a friend of Morris's, and knowing how much he has done to teach the workers a love of the beautiful and noble in this world, I ask you to pass a sincere vote of condolence with his relatives and an expression of the loss we have all sustained, in order that they may know how the heart of London Labour has been touched by the death of one of its truest friends."
The resolution was carried amid impressive silence.
Labour Leader, 17 October 1896
Graham Seaman, September 2020.