Editing Eric Gill (section)

=== London 1900–1907 ===
Frustrated with his architectural training, Gill took evening classes in [[stonemasonry]] at the [[Westminster Technical Institute]] and, from 1901, in [[calligraphy]] at the [[Central School of Art and Design|Central School of Arts and Crafts]] while continuing to work at Caröe's.<ref name="Ruth&JoeC">{{Cite book |author=Ruth Cribb & Joe Cribb |title=Eric Gill: Lust for Letter & Line |year=2011 |publisher=The British Museum Press |isbn=978-0-7141-1819-2}}</ref> The calligraphy course was run by [[Edward Johnston]], creator of the [[Johnston (typeface)|London Underground typeface]], who became a strong and lasting influence on Gill.<ref name="FMacCarthy" />{{rp|42}} For a year, until 1903, Gill and Johnston shared lodgings at [[Lincoln's Inn]] in central London.<ref name="FMacCarthy" />{{rp|49}} 
[[File:Gill bronze.jpg|thumb|upright|Rubbing of a memorial bronze created by Eric and Max Gill in 1905]]
During 1903, Gill gave up training in architecture to become a calligrapher, letter-cutter and monumental mason.<ref name="WatSCA">{{Cite web |title=Eric Gill archival and book collection |url=https://uwaterloo.ca/library/special-collections-archives/collections/gill-eric |access-date=18 May 2016 |website=University of Waterloo Library|date=14 July 2014 }}</ref> After making a copy of a small stone tablet from Westminster Abbey, Gill's first public inscription was for a stone memorial tablet, to a Percy Joseph Hiscock, in Chichester Cathedral.<ref name="FMacCarthy" />{{rp|45}} Through a contact at the Central School, Gill was employed to cut the inscription for a tombstone at [[Brookwood Cemetery]] in Surrey.<ref name="FMacCarthy" />{{rp|45}} Other work quickly followed, including an inscription for [[Holy Trinity, Sloane Street]], plus commissions from architects and private individuals, including [[Harry Graf Kessler|Count Kessler]].<ref name="FMacCarthy" />{{rp|93}} Kessler, on Johnston's recommendation, employed Gill to design chapter headings and title pages for the [[Insel Verlag]] publishing house.<ref name="Ruth&JoeC"/> [[WHSmith|W.H. Smith & Son]] employed Gill to paint the lettering on the fascias of several of their bookshops including, in 1903, their Paris store.<ref name="FMacCarthy" />{{rp|55}} For a time, Gill combined this work with his job at Caröe's but eventually the scale and frequency of these commissions required him to leave the company.<ref name="FMacCarthy" />{{rp|88}} After Gill died, his brother, Evan, compiled an inventory of 762 inscriptions known to have been carved by him.<ref name="FMacCarthy" />{{rp|45}}

In 1904 Gill married Ethel Hester Moore (1878–1961), a former art student, later known as Mary, the daughter of a businessman who was also the head verger at Chichester Cathedral.<ref name="FMacCarthy" />{{rp|31}} Gill and Moore would eventually have three daughters and foster a son.<ref name="ODNB" /> After a short period in [[Battersea]] the couple moved into 20 [[Black Lion Lane]], [[Hammersmith]], in west London, near the, recently married, Johnstons' home on Hammersmith Terrace.<ref name="HFHBG 2015">{{cite journal |title=Eric Gill in Hammersmith |url=http://www.hfhbg.org.uk/newsletters/Newsletter-33-Win-15.pdf |journal=Hammersmith and Fulham Historic Buildings Group Newsletter |issue=33 (Winter 2015) |access-date=13 August 2021 |page=6 |date=2015}}</ref> Artists associated with the [[Arts and Crafts movement]], including [[Emery Walker]], [[T. J. Cobden-Sanderson]] and [[May Morris]], were already based in the area, as were several printers, including the [[Doves Press]].<ref name="FMacCarthy" />{{rp|64}} Gill formed a business partnership with Lawrence Christie and recruited staff, including the 14-year-old [[Joseph Cribb]], to work in his studio.<ref name="FMacCarthy" />{{rp|66}} Gill began giving lectures at the Central School and taught courses in monumental masonry and lettering for stonemasons at the [[City of Westminster College|Paddington Institute]].<ref name="FMacCarthy" />{{rp|102}} In 1905 he was elected to the [[Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society]] and joined the [[Fabian Society]] the following year.<ref name="FMacCarthy" />{{rp|101}} After a period of intense involvement with the Fabians Gill became disillusioned with both them and the Arts and Craft movement. By 1907 he was writing and making speeches about the failures, both theoretical and practical, of the craft movement to resist the advance of mass production.<ref name="FMacCarthy" />{{rp|93}}

In his diaries Gill records two affairs while living at Hammersmith. He had a brief affair with the family's maid while his wife was pregnant, and then a relationship with Lillian Meacham, who he had met through the Fabian Society.<ref name="FMacCarthy" />{{rp|95}} Gill and Meacham visited the Paris Opera and [[Chartres Cathedral]] together and when their affair ended she became an apprentice in Gill's workshop and remained a family friend throughout his life.<ref name="FMacCarthy" />{{rp|95}}