A blue plaque in honour of car manufacturer and philanthropist William Morris has been unveiled at the Oxford home where his work began.

Mr Morris, later Lord Nuffield, was founder of Morris Motors, once one of the UK's leading car manufacturers.

He became equally well-known for donating more than £30m -- equivalent to £700m today -- to charitable causes, hospitals, Oxford University's Nuffield College, and setting up Britain's largest charitable trust, The Nuffield Foundation.

Oxfordshire Blue Plaques Board unveiled a cast iron plaque outside 16 James Street, East Oxford, where Mr Morris lived with his parents from the age of three.

His great-great nephew Kevin Minns, a property developer from Oxford, was among a small crowd who watched the ceremony.

He said: "The thing about William Morris is that there are two very important parts to his life, the car-making and this extraordinary generosity to medical and educational establishments and charities.

"They are both so completely different, yet he thrived in both. He was a remarkable man and I'm very proud to be able to say I'm related to him."

William Morris left Church School in Cowley, Oxford, in 1892 aged 15 and a year later began making and repairing cycles in a brick shed to the rear of his parents' home.

His innovative business grew and he opened a cycle shop at 48 High Street, Oxford.

In 1901, he branched out into motorcycle manufacture and repair, creating the Morris Motor Cycle, a motorised pedal cycle. He designed his first car in 1912 at his garage in Longwall Street, and mass production followed shortly.

Morris Motors thrived and by the mid-1940s, he was the richest self-made man in Britain. In 1946, he was made Baron Nuffield to mark his services to British industry.