Few women can have risen so spectacularly from rags to riches as Jane Burden, a latter-day Cinderella, whose stunning, ethereal looks embodied the Pre-Raphaelite ideals of womanly beauty and became her passport to a life of glamour and renown.

Her Prince Charming was design pioneer William Morris, whose adoration of her was so great that he turned a blind eye to her infidelities - the most famous of which following her mother into domestic service, and catapulted her instead into the upper echelons of society.

In an echo of George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion, Morris taught her to speak and act with the refinement of a lady, and she became accomplished in music, languages and needlework. Many years later, Shaw modelled one of his Pygmalion characters on her - not the guttersnipe-turned-lady Eliza Doolittle, as might be expected, but the highly-born Mrs Higgins.

The Morrises' first marital home was Red House at Bexleyheath in Kent, an innovative house designed for them by William's architect friend, Philip Webb. Morris insisted that the garden should "clothe" the house, and complement the surrounding countryside. The emphasis was on using natural materials to create a sense of space and light, with the interior and exterior designs inspired by medieval styles.

The house became the cradle of the Arts and Crafts movement, and it was here, in 1861, that Morris created Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co, known simply as "The Firm", its objectives being to design and produce decorative furniture, carving, murals and textiles. The garden at Red House inspired many of Morris's early wallpaper and fabric designs.

William and Janey's two daughters were born at Red House - Jane Alice (known as Jenny) in January 1861, and Mary May, in March 1862. Tragically, a boating accident in 1876 left Jenny with epilepsy, but May became a gifted designer and writer, and later edited some of her father's works.

The peaceful idyll at Red House was shattered in 1865 when William contracted rheumatic fever, and suffered a loss of income as the value of his copper shares plummeted.

To make up the shortfall, he worked hard to expand The Firm', which necessitated spending longer periods at his London headquarters. In addition, he was painfully aware of his wife's increasing attachment to Rossetti, who virtually lived at Red House after the death of his own wife, Elizabeth Siddall, in 1862.

After a short spell of living in London, the Morrises bought Kelmscott, another idyllic rustic retreat, this time on the Oxfordshire/Wiltshire border near the source of the Thames.

William fell instantly in love with the place, and called it "a heaven on Earth". There he, Jane and Rossetti existed in a rather strained ménage a trois, which lasted until at least 1874.

Janey's other major affair was with the poet and political activist Wilfred Scawen Blunt, whom she met at a party in 1884. The attraction was instant and mutual, and their romance lasted for the next decade.

In 1891, the Morrises' eldest daughter, Jenny, was struck down with meningitis, and remained seriously ill for some time. It was a particularly cruel blow, coming just as William had successfully launched the famous Kelmscott Press in London.

Soon Janey was writing to a friend: "My husband has been very ill, the shock of Jenny's illness was too much for him and he broke down entirely a few days afterwards.

I fear it will be a long time before he is anything like his real self."

Morris never really recovered from this shock, and he died on October 3, 1896, at Kelmscott House, Hammersmith, after years of ill-health. Janey survived her husband by 17 years; she died on January 26, 1914, while staying with a friend in Bath. Both were buried at St George's Chapel, Kelmscott.

Did Janey ever really love her husband, or did she marry him just to escape a life of poverty and drudgery? We will probably never know. It does seem that her husband bored her, and she found it hard to return the passion he clearly felt for her, but it is likely that she was at least fond of him, and the pair did enjoy interludes of domestic bliss. Both were good parents, devoted to their two daughters, and Janey appears to have been a dutiful wife.

The blue plaque commemorating her life will be placed on the corner of the Hertford College building about halfway down St Helen's Passage, Oxford, and will be unveiled on October 19, 2007, Janey's birthday, at 3.30pm.

Acknowledgements: Eda Forbes of the Oxfordshire Blue Plaques Board, for clarifying details about Jane Burden's birthplace.involved one of his closest friends, fellow Pre-Raphaelite Dante Gabriel Rossetti - and sought refuge in his work.

Jane Burden - Janey to her friends and family - was born in Oxford on October 19, 1839. Her father, Robert, was a stableman, while her mother, Ann Maizey, is believed to have been a domestic servant.

The family home was a cramped and unsanitary cottage in St Helen's Passage, at the back of Bath Place, one of nine such dwellings long since demolished to make way for the new Hertford College building.

Janey's sister, Elizabeth - known as Bessie - was reportedly the prettier of the two girls, but it was Janey's dark, aloof beauty that gave her a greater magnetism.

While attending a performance by the Drury Lane Theatre Company in Oxford in October 1857, she was spotted by Rossetti and Edward Burne-Jones, who, at the time, were working on a mural for the Oxford Union, based on tales from the Arthurian legend. Soon she was sitting for Rossetti, providing the model for his painting of Queen Guinevere.

By the end of the year, Janey had met and modelled for William Morris, who quickly became captivated by her. Within months, they were engaged.

His one surviving painting, La Belle Iseult, was inspired by Janey. After completing the painting in 1858, he realised his talents lay in other directions, as the inscription on the back indicates - "I love you, but I cannot paint you".

Janey and William were married at St Michael's Church, Oxford, on April 26, 1859. The marriage saved Janey from