One of the most frightening decorations in the Victorian home was sure to have been the beautiful wallpaper. While vibrancy in the colours was now sought after, this came as an unknown hazard. The very chemical which provided these bright and long-lasting colours was, in fact, arsenic. Not only had there been cases of small children nibbling on a stray piece of peeling wallpaper, but if the walls were damp - which Victorian homes often were - the poison would spread through the air by the help of fungi. The first well-known case of arsenic poisoning by wallpaper was that of the death of four children. Suffering from respiratory troubles, the doctor initially named diphtheria as the culprit. However, he was left unconvinced as no other children in the area seemed to be suffering from the illness, nor was there much other evidence to support it. After a public health officer found lethal amounts of arsenic in the green wallpaper of the recently decorated childrens’ room, the truth had finally been realised.
Wallpaper was becoming increasingly more and more popular in homes regardless of the growing realisation, and of course many wallpaper companies became wealthier and wealthier. One of the few you’d least expect to have profited from this poison was artist and social activist, William Morris (1834-1896). Morris was a shareholder in his father’s mining company, which produced the majority of England’s arsenic. The workers of this company that did not die of lung disease were riddled with ailments caused by the arsenic. Evidence continued to rise as doctors reported greater number of poisonings and deaths until they called for a ban on the use of arsenic in furnishings of the home. Now that the news was coming out, did William Morris own his failings and correct the issue? Unfortunately not. Morris was not at all ignorant of the situation of arsenic in his wallpaper. He opposed such an idea that his wallpaper was detrimental to his customers’ health. He was instead quoted as saying “as to the arsenic scare a greater folly is hardly possible to imagine: the doctors were bitten as people bitten by witch fever.” Manufacturers offered to even eat their wallpaper to “prove” the doctors’ claims false.
Morris did eventually switch to arsenic-free wallpapers, perhaps a little later than his competitors. Many wonder why a man who condemned industrial workplaces of his time would condone such villainous wallpaper. Perhaps he really did believe it was not his wallpaper causing those deaths? It seems the words of these powerful men had quite the control on legislation, as no laws preventing the use of arsenic in home goods ever passed. Instead, the use of the chemical just faded out as consumers became a little more wiser.
Above: Wallpaper design ‘Leicester’ by John Henry Dearle, in 1912. The design was inspired by another artist, William Morris. Green wallpapers in the Victorian era were very common due to the vivid colours. However, they contained large amount of arsenic.