path: root/73875-0.txt

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 73875 ***


  [Illustration: _Llewellyn Jewitt_ (signature)]

  _From a bust by W. H. Goss._]

                                  THE

                              CERAMIC ART

                                  OF

                             GREAT BRITAIN

            FROM PRE-HISTORIC TIMES DOWN TO THE PRESENT DAY

               BEING A HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT AND MODERN

                      POTTERY AND PORCELAIN WORKS

                            OF THE KINGDOM

                AND OF THEIR PRODUCTIONS OF EVERY CLASS

                                  BY

                       LLEWELLYNN JEWITT, F.S.A.

       LOCAL SECRETARY OF THE SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF LONDON;
     HON. AND ACTUAL MEMBER OF THE RUSSIAN IMPERIAL ARCHÆOLOGICAL
                              COMMISSION,
                   AND STATISTICAL COMMITTEE, PSKOV;
   MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ARCHÆOLOGICAL INSTITUTE OF GREAT BRITAIN AND
                               IRELAND;
          ASSOCIATE OF THE BRITISH ARCHÆOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION;
    HON. MEMBER OF THE ESSEX ARCHÆOLOGICAL SOCIETY AND OF THE MANX
                            SOCIETY, ETC.;
             COR. MEMBER OF THE ROYAL HISTORICAL SOCIETY,
                            ETC. ETC. ETC.


           _ILLUSTRATED WITH NEARLY TWO THOUSAND ENGRAVINGS_


                          IN TWO VOLUMES.--I.


                                LONDON
                 VIRTUE AND CO., LIMITED, 26, IVY LANE
                            PATERNOSTER ROW

                                 1878

                       [_All rights reserved._]




                                LONDON:
                  PRINTED BY VIRTUE AND CO., LIMITED,
                              CITY ROAD.




                                  TO

                      COLIN MINTON CAMPBELL, ESQ.
                     M.P. FOR NORTH STAFFORDSHIRE,
                              ETC. ETC.,

                              THIS WORK,

      WHICH TREATS OF AN ART FOR WHOSE DEVELOPMENT AND EXTENSION

                       HE AND THE FIRM OF MINTON

           (OF WHICH HE IS NOW THE HEAD) HAVE DONE SO MUCH,

                 IS APPROPRIATELY AND WITH PERMISSION

                              Dedicated,

               AS A MARK OF HIGH PERSONAL ESTEEM, AND AS

        A SLIGHT TOKEN OF APPRECIATION OF THE EMINENT SERVICES

                       HE HAS UNIFORMLY RENDERED

              TO THAT IMPORTANT BRANCH OF ART-MANUFACTURE

                 WITH WHICH HIS NAME IS SO INTIMATELY

                      AND SO WORTHILY ASSOCIATED.

                                              LLEWELLYNN JEWITT.

    WINSTER HALL, DERBYSHIRE,
    _November, 1877_.




                             INTRODUCTION.


In issuing my present work I have two distinct personal duties to
perform, and I hasten, in these few brief lines of introduction, to
discharge them. First, I earnestly desire to ask indulgence from my
readers for any shortcomings which may be apparent in its contents;
and next, I desire emphatically to express my thanks to all who have
in any way, or even to the smallest extent, assisted me in my labours.
The preparation of the work has extended over a considerable period
of time, and I have had many difficulties to contend with that are,
and must necessarily be, wholly unknown to any but myself--hard
literary digging to get at facts and to verify dates, that is not
understood, and would scarce be believed in, by the reader who turns
to my pages--and hence errors of omission and of commission may have,
nay, doubtless have crept in, and may in some places, to a greater or
less extent, have marred the accuracy of the page whereon they have
occurred. I can honestly say I have left nothing undone, no source
untried, and no trouble untaken to secure perfect accuracy in all I
have written, and yet I am painfully aware that shortcomings may, and
doubtless will, be laid to my charge; for these, wherever they occur,
I ask, and indeed claim, indulgence. I believe in _work_, in hard
unceasing labour, in patient and painstaking research, in untiring
searchings, and in diligent collection and arrangement of facts--to
make time and labour and money subservient to the end in view, rather
than that the end in view, and the time and labour and money expended,
should bend and bow and ultimately break before _time_. Thus it is
that my “Ceramic Art” has been so long in progress, and thus it is that
many changes have occurred during the time it has been passing through
the press which it has been manifestly impossible to chronicle.

I have the proud satisfaction, however, of knowing that my work is the
only one of its kind yet attempted, and I feel a confident hope that it
will fill a gap that has long wanted filling, and will be found alike
useful to the manufacturer, the china collector, and the general reader.

When, some twenty years ago, at the instance of my dear friend Mr. S.
C. Hall, I began my series of papers in the _Art Journal_ upon
the various famous earthenware and porcelain works of the kingdom,
but little had been done in that direction, and the information I
got together from time to time had to be procured from original
sources, by prolonged visits to the places themselves and by
numberless applications to all sorts of people from whom even scraps
of reliable matter could be obtained. Books on the subject were not
many, and the information they contained on English Ceramics was
meagre in the extreme. Since then numerous workers have sprung up, and
their published volumes--many of them sumptuous and truly valuable
works--attest strongly to the interest and pains they have taken in
the subject. To all these, whoever they may be, the world owes a debt
of gratitude for devoting their time and their talents to so important
a branch of study. To each of them I tender my own thanks for having
devoted themselves to the elucidation of one of my favourite pursuits,
and for having given to the world the result of their labours. No work
has, however, until now been entirely devoted to the one subject of
British Ceramics, and I feel therefore that in presenting my present
volumes to the public I am only carrying out the plan I at first laid
down, and am not even in the slightest degree encroaching on the
province of any other writer.

I think I may safely say there is scarcely a manufacturer--even if
there be one at all--in the length and breadth of the kingdom with
whom I have not frequently communicated in the progress of this work.
Except in some few solitary instances I have received the information I
have sought, and my inquiries have met with the most cordial and ready
response.

To all those who have thus assisted me with information or otherwise,
and especially to my friend Mr. Goss, who has greatly assisted me
over the onerous task of some of the Staffordshire potteries, I offer
my warmest thanks; and to those few others, who from inattention,
shortsightedness, or other cause, have not responded to my inquiries, I
would express my sorrow if, through that inattention on their part, I
have been unable to give as full particulars regarding their potteries
as I could have wished. To thank by name those who have assisted
me with information would require a long list indeed; I therefore
tender my acknowledgments to all in the one emphatic good old English
expression--“_Thank you!_”

                                                     LLEWELLYNN JEWITT.

    WINSTER HALL, DERBYSHIRE.
    _November, 1877._




                          CONTENTS OF VOL. I.


                              CHAPTER I.
                                                                   PAGE

    Practice of the Art in England--The Celtic Period--Classes
    of Vessels--Cinerary Urns--Food Vessels--Drinking Cups,
    &c.--Modes of Ornamentation--Food Vessels--Immolation Urns
    or Incense Cups--Handled Cups                                     1


                              CHAPTER II.

    Romano-British Pottery--Upchurch Ware--Durobrivian
    Ware--Roman Potters’ Kilns--Pottery in London--Salopian
    Ware--New Forest Ware--Yorkshire, Oxfordshire,
    Lincolnshire, and other Wares--Varieties of Vessels:
    Amphoræ, Mortaria, &c.--Sepulchral Vessels--Tiles--Tile
    Tombs--Clay Coffins--Lamps--Penates--Coin Moulds, &c.            24


                             CHAPTER III.

    Anglo-Saxon Pottery--Forms of Vessels, from Illustrated
    MSS.--Culinary Vessels--Pitchers and other domestic
    Vessels--Cinerary Urns--Cemeteries at Kingston, King’s
    Newton, Bedford, &c.--Modes of Ornamenting                       64


                              CHAPTER IV.

    Pottery of the Norman and Mediæval Periods--Examples
    from Illuminated MSS.--Norman Potworks at Burley
    Hill--The Ferrars Family--Mediæval Pottery--Grotesque
    Vessels--Costrils--Mammiform Vessels--The Cruiskeen or
    Cruiska--Godets, &c.--Simpson’s Petition--Rous and Cullyn’s
    Patent--Bellarmines--Ale-pots--Salt-glazing--Butter-pots--Dr.
    Plott--State of Staffordshire Potteries--Combed
    Ware--Ariens Van Hamme--John Dwight--The
    Brothers Elers--The Tofts--William
    Sans--Tygs--Candlesticks--Cradles, &c.                           76


                              CHAPTER V.

    Pottery in England in the Eighteenth Century--Delft
    Ware--Posset Pots--Billin’s Patent--Redrich and Jones’s
    Patent--Benson’s Patents--Ralph Shawe’s Patents--Trial
    of Right--The Bow Works--Heylyn and Frye’s Patents--The
    Fulham Works--White’s Patent--The Count de Lauraguais’
    Patent--Staffordshire Wares--The Plymouth Works--William
    Cookworthy’s Patent--Josiah Wedgwood--Crease’s and other
    Patents--Ralph Wedgwood’s Patents--Progress of the Art
    during the Century                                              107


                              CHAPTER VI.

    The Fulham Works--Dwight’s Inventions and Patents--First
    China made in England--Dwight’s Books of Recipes,
    &c.--Present Productions--Lambeth--Exchequer
    Trial--High Street--Coade’s Works--London
    Pottery--Lambeth Pottery--Fore Street--Waters’
    Patent--Imperial Pottery--Crispe’s
    China--Blackfriars Road--Bas-reliefs for Wedgwood
    Institute--Vauxhall--Aldgate--Millwall--Mortlake--Southwark;
    Gravel Lane--Isleworth--Stepney--Greenwich--Deptford--Merton--
    Hounslow--Wandsworth--Ewell--Cheam--Chiselhurst                 118


                             CHAPTER VII.

    Chelsea--M. Spremont--Sale of the Works to
    Duesbury--Removal to Derby--Wages Bills--Simpson’s
    Works--Wedgwood’s Works--Ruhl’s Works--Bow--Heylin and
    Frye--Weatherby and Crowther--Craft--Sale of Works to
    Duesbury--Kentish Town--Giles and Duesbury--Euston
    Road--Mortlocks and others--Hoxton--Hammersmith                 168


                             CHAPTER VIII.

    Worcester--Royal Porcelain Works--Dr. Wall--Warmstry
    House and its Owners--The Porcelain Company--Early
    Marks--Transfer Printing--King of Prussia Mug--Josiah
    Holdship--Poem--Robert Hancock--Richard Holdship--Derby
    China Works--Caughley--Flight and Barr--Chamberlain--Kerr
    and Binns--R. W. Binns--Productions of the Works--Royal
    Services--Tokens--Royal China Works--Granger and
    Lee--Productions--St. John’s Encaustic Tiles--Rainbow
    Hill Tileries--St. George’s Pottery Works--Rustic
    Terra-Cotta--Stourbridge--The Lye Works--Stourbridge Clay       221


                              CHAPTER IX.

    Salopian Wares--Uriconium--Caughley Works--Thomas
    Turner--Introduction of “Willow Pattern”--Worcester
    Works--Close of Caughley Works--Marks--Transfer
    Printing--Hancock and Holdship--Coalport
    Works--Jackfield--John Rose--Swansea and
    Nantgarw--Productions of the Coalport
    Works--Marks--“Willow Pattern” and “Broseley Blue
    Dragon,” &c.--Broseley Pipes--Coalbrookdale Iron
    Works--Terra Cotta--Madeley--Martin Randall’s
    China--Jackfield Pottery--Maurice Thursfield--“Black
    Decanters”--China--Craven Dunnill & Co.’s Tile
    Works--Broseley--Benthall--Maw’s Tile Works--Broseley
    Tileries--Benthall Potteries--Coalmoor                          263


                              CHAPTER X.

    Plymouth--William Cookworthy--The Divining
    Rod--Discovery of Petuntse and Kaolin--Productions of
    the Plymouth Works--Patent--Specification--Marks--Sale
    to Champion--Transference to Bristol--Death
    of Cookworthy--Plymouth Earthenware
    Works--Watcombe--Terra-Cotta Works--Honiton--Exeter--Bovey
    Tracey Pottery--Indiho Pottery--Bovey Pottery--Folley
    Pottery--Bideford Pottery--Framington Pottery--Aller
    Pottery                                                         318


                              CHAPTER XI.

    Bristol--Delft Ware--Redcliffe Backs--Richard
    Frank--Ring--Flower--Bristol China--William
    Cookworthy--Richard Champion--Transference of
    Plymouth Works--Extension of Patent--Wedgwood’s
    Opposition--“Case” of the Manufacturers--Champion’s
    Specification--Champion’s Productions--Edmund
    Burke--Bristol Vases--Figures--Marks--Bristol
    Earthenware--Temple Backs--Potters’ Songs--Temple and St.
    Thomas’s Street Works--Temple Gate--Wilder Street--Bristol
    Glass--William Edkins--Salt Glaze--Brislington--Crews
    Hole--Westbury--Easton--Weston-super-Mare--Matthews’s Royal
    Pottery--Poole--Architectural Pottery Company--Bourne
    Valley--Branksea--Kinson                                        350


                             CHAPTER XII.

    Nottingham Ware--List of Potters--Nottingham Mugs--Bears--
    Lowesby--Coalville--Ibstock--Tamworth--Wilnecote--Coventry--
    Nuneaton--Broxburne--Stamford--Roman Kiln--Blasfield’s
    Terra-Cotta--Bolingbroke--Wisbech--Lowestoft and Gunton--
    Delft Ware--Lowestoft China--Stowmarket--Ipswich--Ebbisham--
    Wrotham--Yarmouth--Cossey--Cadborough--Rye--Gestingthorpe--
    Holkham--Nuneham Courtney--Marsh Balden--Horspath--Shotover     415


                             CHAPTER XIII.

    York--Place’s Ware--Hirstwood’s China--Layerthorpe--
    Osmotherley--Hull--Belle Vue Pottery--Stepney Lane
    Pottery--Leeds--Hartley, Greens, & Co.--Britton and Sons--
    Leathley Lane Pottery--Castleford Pottery--Eagle
    Pottery--Pontefract--Ferrybridge--Knottingley--Ralph
    Wedgwood--Swinton Pottery--Rockingham Ware--Cadogan
    Pots--Rockingham China--Brameld & Co.--Dale’s
    Patent--Baguley’s Productions--Mexborough--Rock
    Pottery--Mexborough Pottery--Mexborough Old Pottery--
    Rawmarsh--Rotherham--North Field Pottery--Holmes’s
    Pottery--Don Pottery--Denaby--Kilnhurst--Wath-upon-Dearne--
    Newhill Pottery--Wakefield--Potovens--Yearsley--Wortley--
    Healey--Colsterdale                                             460




                     CERAMIC ART IN GREAT BRITAIN.




                              CHAPTER I.

  Practice of the Art in England--The Celtic Period--Classes of
  Vessels--Cinerary Urns--Food Vessels, Drinking Cups, &c.--Modes
  of Ornamentation--Food Vessels--Immolation Urns or Incense
  Cups--Handled Cups.


The history of the ceramic art in our own country is one of intense
interest and of paramount importance. I open my present work, which I
intend to devote to its consideration, with this assertion, and before
it is done I hope I shall have proved its truth.

It is a subject which may be treated in more ways than one. It may
be considered technically, _i.e._ with regard to manipulation,
to the mixing of bodies and glazes, and the practical parts of the
potter’s art; or historically, so as to treat of the introduction
and progress of the art in this country, its gradual extension and
improvement, the chief seats of its operations, and the characteristics
of the productions of each age and place. To neither of these do I
purpose confining myself; but to the latter I shall, here and there,
mix up just sufficient of the former to render it more intelligible
and useful. The main ingredients of the “body”--to use a potter’s
term--of my work will be history, description, and biography, with just
sufficient technicology to temper it and give it its proper tenacity
and consistency. For the facts relating to the earliest examples of
that art, from which I shall deduce my narrative, I rely upon actual
researches into grave-mounds and otherwise, undertaken by myself or
by others; and for the rest--those relating to the art in mediæval
and later times--upon constant inquirings and searchings and readings
carried on, with this special end in view, during the course of many
years.

It is impossible to show when the potter’s art was first invented or
when it was first brought into use in this island; but that it was
practised here in the very earliest days of its being inhabited by
its savage population can be abundantly proved. To this pre-historic
period, then, I shall first direct attention; and then endeavour to
trace the history of the art down from the Celtic to the Romano-British
period; from the time of the Romans to the Anglo-Saxons and Normans;
and so gradually come downwards through mediæval to modern times,
giving, under each separate seat of the more modern manufacture,
historical notices of the works and their founders, and descriptive
particulars of the more characteristic of their productions.

  [Illustration: Fig. 1.--Celtic Pottery in the Norwich Museum.]

The practice of the fictile art in England dates back, as I have
already said, to a very remote period--that of its Celtic or ancient
British population, by whom there is abundant evidence it was much
esteemed. It is pleasant to know, and to be able indisputably to
prove, that from those early days down to the present time the art
has, through a long succession of ages, continued with more or less
skill, to be observed among us, and that thus in pottery, as in nothing
else, an unbroken chain, connecting us in our present high state of
civilisation with our remote barbarian forefathers of the stone age,
exists. The weapons and other implements of imperishable stone and
flint have, long ages ago, died out, and any possible connection
between them and the weapons or tools of our own day has died with
them; but the vessels of simple clay have an abiding-place with us
which has lasted without a break until now, and will yet last for ever.
Hitherto the course of the potter’s art has been one of constant and
gradual improvement; but its capabilities for further development are
almost unbounded, and another generation will witness advances of which
we can now but dimly dream.

Among the ancient Britons, vessels of clay were formed for sepulchral
and other uses, and it is entirely to their grave-mounds that we are
indebted for the examples which have survived to our time. It is in
the course of examination of these mounds that these fictile remains
have been brought to light; and it is by a careful examination of these
alone, and by constant comparison of the “finds” of one locality with
the discoveries of another, that a proper estimate of their character
has been, or can be, drawn.

  [Illustration: Fig. 2.--Monsal Dale.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 3.--Cleatham.]

The pottery of this period may be safely arranged in four classes[1],
viz.--1. _Sepulchral_ or _Cinerary Urns_, which have been
made for and have contained, or been inverted over, calcined human
bones; 2. _Drinking Cups_, which, in a similar manner, are
supposed to have contained some liquid to be placed with the dead
body; 3. _Food Vessels_ (so called), which are supposed to have
contained an offering of food, and which are more usually found
with unburnt bodies than along with interments by cremation; 4.
_Immolation Urns_, (erroneously called _Incense Cups_ by Sir
R. Colt Hoare for want of more knowledge of their use), which are very
small vessels, found only with burnt bones (and usually also containing
them), placed in the mouths of, or close by, the larger cinerary urns.
These latter I believe to have been simply small urns intended to
receive the ashes of the infant, perhaps sacrificed at the death of its
mother, so as to admit of being placed within the larger urn containing
the ashes of the parent: I venture, therefore, to name them “Immolation
Urns.”

No notice of the pottery of this period is to be found in ancient
writers, if we except the allusion of Strabo,[2] who says that one of
the commodities with which the Phœnicians traded to the Cassiterides
was earthenware. But in connection with this it is necessary to state
that no example of pottery which can possibly be traced to Phœnician
origin has as yet been found in any of the hundreds of barrows which
have been opened.

  [Illustration: Fig. 4.--Ballidon Moor.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 5.--Tresvenneck.]

The pottery exhibits considerable difference, both in clay, in size,
and in ornamentation. Those presumed to be the oldest are of coarse
clay mixed with small pebbles and sand; the later ones of a somewhat
less clumsy form, and perhaps a finer mixture of clays. They are
entirely wrought by hand without the assistance of the wheel, and are
mostly very thick and clumsy. They are very imperfectly fired, having
probably been baked on the funeral pyre.

In the examination of barrows of this period it not unfrequently
happens that the spot where the funeral pyre has been lit can very
clearly be perceived. In these instances the ground beneath is
generally found to be burned to some considerable depth; sometimes,
indeed, it is burned to a fine red colour, and approaches in texture
somewhat to that of brick. Where it was intended that the remains
should be placed in an urn for interment, it appears, from careful
examinations which have been made, that the urn being formed of
clay--most probably, judging from the delicacy of touch, and from the
impress of fingers which occasionally remains, by the females of the
tribe--and ornamented according to the taste of the manipulator, was
placed in the funeral fire and there baked, while the body of the
deceased was being consumed. The remains of the calcined bones, the
flints, &c., were then gathered up together, and placed in the urn;
over which the mound was next raised.

  [Illustration: Fig. 6.--Trentham.]

From their imperfect firing, the vessels of this period are usually
called “sun-baked” or “sun-dried;” but this is a grave error, as any
one conversant with examples cannot fail, on careful examination,
to see. If the vessels were “sun-baked” only, their burial in the
earth--in the tumuli wherein, some two thousand years ago, they were
deposited, and where they have all that time remained--would soon
soften them, and they would, ages ago, have returned to their old
clayey consistency. As it is, the urns have remained of their original
form, and although, from imperfect baking, they are sometimes found
partially softened, they still retain their form, and soon regain their
original hardness. They bear abundant evidence of the action of fire,
and are, indeed, sometimes sufficiently burned for the clay to have
attained a red colour--a result which no “sunbaking” could produce.
They are mostly of an earthy brown colour outside, and almost black in
fracture, and many of the cinerary urns bear internal and unmistakable
evidence of having been filled with the burnt bones and ashes of the
deceased, while those ashes were of a glowing and intense heat. They
were, most probably, fashioned by the females of the tribe, on the
death of their relative, from the clay to be found nearest to the spot,
and baked on or by the funeral pyre. The glowing ashes and bones were
then, as I have already stated, collected together, and placed in the
urn, and the flint implements, and occasionally other relics belonging
to the deceased, deposited along with them. In some instances, however,
it is probable that even the cinerary urns were burned in a separate
fire, as were the “drinking cups,” which are usually fired to a much
harder degree than they are. No kiln, or anything approaching to one,
however, could of course have been used.

  [Illustration: Fig. 7.--Darley Dale.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 8.--Darley Dale.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 9.--Darley Dale.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 10.--Darley Dale.]

The _Cinerary_ or _Sepulchral Urns_ vary very considerably
in size, in form, in ornamentation, and in material--the latter,
naturally, depending on the locality where the urns were made; and, as
a general rule, they differ also in the different tribes. Those which
are supposed to be the most ancient, from the fact of their frequently
containing flint instruments along with the calcined bones, are of
large size, ranging from nine or ten, to sixteen or eighteen inches
in height. Those which are considered to belong to a somewhat later
period, when cremation had again become general, are of a smaller size,
and of a somewhat finer texture. With them objects of flint are rarely
found, but articles of bronze are occasionally discovered. Sometimes
they are wide at the mouth, without any overlapping rim; at others they
are characterised by a deeply overlapping lip or rim; others are more
of “flower-pot” form, with encircling raised bands, while others again
are contracted inwardly at the mouth by curved rims. Some also have
loops at the sides. The ornamentation is produced chiefly by incised
lines, or punctures, or by lines, &c., produced by indenting into the
soft clay a twisted thong (Fig. 37). Encircling and zig-zag lines of
various forms, reticulated and lozenge-formed patterns, and rows of
indentations, are the usual decorations; but occasionally, as at West
Kennet and Launceston Heath, clearly defined patterns are produced by
the finger or thumb nail.

  [Illustration: Fig. 11.--Launceston Heath.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 12.--Cleatham.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 13.--Launceston Heath.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 14.--Stone.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 15.--Cleatham.]

The more usual of the forms will be best understood by the engraved
examples, selected from the proceeds of many barrow openings in
different parts of the kingdom.

  [Illustration: Fig. 16.--Broad Down.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 17.--Tredenny.]

The four urns (Fig. 2, 3, 4, and 6) are characteristic examples of the
variety with the broad or deep overlapping border or rim. The first of
these has the pattern incised in the soft clay, that on the rim being
in diagonal lines, and the central portion reticulated. The second has
the herring-bone or chevron ornament around its rim, and the third
example is ornamented with horizontal and vertical lines alternately on
its rim, and zig-zagged, filled in with horizontal and crossed, lines
on the central part. The lines in this are all produced by indenting
a twisted thong into the clay while in a soft state. Fig. 16 has its
ornamentation indented with twisted thongs in “herring-bone” pattern
both on the outside and inside the rim and around the central part.
Fig. 8 has a central band as well as overhanging lip. Figs. 11 and 13,
from Dorsetshire barrows,[3] are of different form, the ornamentation
consisting of incised lines and impressed thumbmarks, &c. The remaining
engravings also give excellent examples of other forms and varieties of
these sepulchral vessels. Figs. 9 and 10 have the upper part curved,
and almost approaching to cup shape, and Fig. 7 has raised bands; in
Fig. 14 the upper parts are hollowed out; and in Fig. 15 the upper part
is marked with lozenges. Figs. 19 and 23 are ornamented with indented
dots produced by pressing the end of a stick or other substance into
the soft clay. Fig. 23 has these dots in zig-zag lines.

  [Illustration:

    Fig. 18.      Fig. 19.      Fig. 20.      Fig. 21.

  Cinerary and Immolation Urns from Darwen.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 22.--Darley Dale.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 23.--Calais Wold.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 24.--Glen-Dorgal.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 25.--Clahar Garden, Mullion.]

  [Illustration: Figs. 26, 27, 28.--Clahar Garden, Mullion.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 29.--Denzell.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 30.--Gerrans.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 31.--Place, near Fowey.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 32.--Lanlawren.]

  [Illustration: Figs. 33 and 34.--Bosporthennis.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 35.--Trevello.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 36.--Boscawen-Un.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 37.--Darwen.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 38.--Morvah Hill.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 39.--Fimber.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 40.--Roundway Hill.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 41.--Monsal Dale.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 42.--Green Low.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 43.--Broad Down.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 44.--Gospel Hillock.]

Fig. 21 has the reticulated lines produced by indentations from twisted
thongs. Fig. 22 is a remarkably fine example. Around its upper portion
are encircling lines, between which is the usual zig-zag ornament.
Around the central band, too, are encircling lines, between which are
a series of vertical zig-zag lines. The whole of the ornamentation has
been produced by twisted thongs; some, however, being of tighter twist
than others. Inside, the rim is ornamented by encircling and diagonal
lines. It has on its central band four projecting handles or loops,
which are pierced. Nine other looped examples, from Cornwall, are shown
on Figs. 5, 17, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, 30, and 35;[4] along with other
examples from the same county. Figs. 18 and 20 are two “Immolation
Urns,” found along with, or in, Figs. 19 and 21. Fig. 38 shows a kind
of ear or handle on the side of another vessel.

  [Illustration: Fig. 45.--Monsal Dale.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 46.--Grindlow.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 47.--Elk Low.]

The _Drinking Cups_ are usually of tall form, globular in the
lower half, contracted in the middle, and expanding at the mouth.
In ornamentation they are more elaborate than the cinerary urns,
many of them, in fact, being covered over their entire surface with
impressed or incised patterns, frequently of considerable delicacy in
manipulation, and always of a finer and higher quality than those of
the other descriptions of pottery. Figs. 39 to 48 will show some of the
varieties both of form and style of decoration. Instances have been
known in which a kind of incrustation has been very perceptible on
the inner surface, thus showing that their use as vessels for holding
liquor is certain; the incrustation being produced by the gradual
drying up of the liquid with which they had been filled when placed
with the dead body.

  [Illustration: Fig. 48.--Elk Low.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 49.--Hitter Hill.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 50.--Hitter Hill.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 51.--Trentham.]

Fig. 47, which, however, may perhaps be a food vessel, has the unusual
feature of being ornamented on the bottom quite as elaborately as
around its sides. The bottom is shown on Fig. 48. The whole of the
ornamentation has been produced by the indentation of twisted thongs
into the pliant clay.

Fig. 39, from Fimber, is richly and elaborately ornamented over its
entire surface with the most delicate indentations, and is (with Fig.
42) one of the best and most perfect of known examples. When found
it stood close to the shoulders of the skeleton of a strong-boned,
middle-aged, man, which lay on the right side. Fig. 42 is equally as
elaborate in ornamentation, and as good in form. Like the former, it
is ornamented by thong indentations. Fig. 41 is of the same general
shape, but not so elaborate in design; the greater portion of the
ornamentation consisting of reticulated and lozenge patterns. Fig.
45 is also a remarkably good example, and is about equal in point of
ornament with Fig. 46. Fig. 40 is of very different form, as are also
Figs. 43 and 44. The ornamentation on the first of these is produced in
the usual way, and on the second, by simple indentations. Other forms
of drinking cups are met with, but these are the most usual.

  [Illustration: Fig. 52.--Penquite.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 53.--Fimber.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 54.--Hay Top, Monsal Dale.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 55.--Fimber.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 56.--Trentham.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 57.--Monsal Dale.]

The _Food Vessels_--small urns, so called because they were
probably intended to contain an offering of food--are of various forms
and sizes, and are, in point of decoration, more or less elaborate.
They are usually small at the bottom, and gradually swell out until
they become, frequently, wider at the mouth than they are in height.
They are formed of clay of much the same kind as the other vessels,
and are fired to about the same degree of hardness. Figs. 49 to 57
will show their general form and style of decoration. Figs. 49 and 50
were found in the same barrow, and yet, as will be seen, exhibit very
different styles of ornamentation. The first of these is four and three
quarter inches in height, and five and a half inches in diameter at the
top. It is richly ornamented with the usual diagonal and herring-bone
lines, formed by twisted thongs impressed into the soft clay, in its
upper part. Around the body of the urn itself, however, is a pattern
of lozenge form, very unusual on vessels of this period. The second is
five and a quarter inches in height, and six and a quarter inches in
diameter at the top. It is very richly ornamented.

  [Illustration: Fig. 58.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 59.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 60.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 61.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 62.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 63.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 64.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 65.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 66.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 67.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 68.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 69.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 70.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 71.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 72.--Broad Down.]

Fig. 53 has the pattern rudely indented over its whole surface. Fig.
51 is coarse and rude, and the pattern very simple. Figs. 54, 55, and
57 are of different character, and have a kind of handle or projecting
stud on four sides. They are among the most elaborate, in point of
ornamentation, of any of these interesting vessels, of which other
forms besides those engraved have occasionally been found. On Wykeham
Moor, in Yorkshire the Rev. Canon Greenwell has brought to light some
urns of a different character, and of greater width at the mouth.

  [Illustration: Fig. 73.--Broad Down.]

The diminutive vessels, usually called (though, as I have said,
erroneously) “Incense Cups,” but which I propose to call “_Immolation
Urns_,” are ornamented in the same manner as the other pottery.
The form, as will be seen from Figs. 58 to 75, varies much, from a
plain salt-cellar like cup to the more elaborately rimmed vase. Three
examples (Figs. 68, 70, and 75) have the very unusual appendage of
a handle at one side; others have holes in their sides, as if for
suspension, and I suspect this has been the case in the urn containing
the ashes of the mother. Fig. 67 has four handles.

Holes for, as supposed, suspension, are shown in Figs. 58, 72, and 74;
these have each two of these small perforations in the side. Others, as
in Figs. 64 and 67, have perforated loops at their sides. Fig. 65 is
of unusual form, having a broad rim round its mouth; it is elaborately
ornamented. Figs. 5, 18 and 20 are shown with the urns with which they
were found.

  [Illustration: Fig. 74.--Broad Down.]

Other forms of these interesting little vessels, which generally range
from an inch and a half to three inches in height, occur. They will
be best understood from the engravings. One of these (Fig. 72), for
the purpose of showing its pattern more carefully, is engraved of its
FULL SIZE. It is a remarkable example, and has its bottom
ornamented as well as its sides and rim, which are shown on Figs. 73
and 74. When found it was filled with burnt bones, probably of an
infant. On one side were two perforations.

  [Illustration: Fig. 75.--Denzell.]

Among the unusual forms of Celtic pottery may be named the curious
examples (Figs. 76 and 77) one of which is a kind of drinking mug with
a handle, and the other is supported on feet. Fig. 76, and another
of somewhat similar kind in the Ely Museum, are the only two known
examples of this form of vessel, and they will be seen to be very
richly ornamented. Fig. 76 is in the Bateman collection, as is also
Fig. 77. It is one of the class of vessels hitherto called incense
cups, and is, I believe, unique--no other example on feet having come
under my notice.

  [Illustration: Fig. 76.--Pickering.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 77.--Pickering.]




                              CHAPTER II.

  Romano-British Pottery--Upchurch Ware--Durobrivian Ware--Roman
  Potters’ Kilns--Pottery in London--Salopian Ware--New Forest
  Ware--Yorkshire, Oxfordshire, Lincolnshire, and other
  Wares--Varieties of Vessels: Amphoræ--Mortaria, &c.--Sepulchral
  Vessels--Tiles--Tile Tombs--Clay Coffins--Lamps--Penates--Coin
  Moulds, &c.


During the Romano-British period the fictile art was much practised in
England, and not only was a large variety of wares produced, but an
almost endless number of vessels were made. Potworks were established
in many parts of the kingdom, some of which grew to very large
dimensions, while others of a less important character and size still
made wares of extremely good quality. The three principal potteries--at
least so far as present researches have enabled us to judge--in England
at this period were those on the Medway, in the Upchurch marshes,
extending towards Sheerness, in Kent; the Durobrivian potteries on
the river Nen, in Northamptonshire; and the Salopian potteries on the
Severn, in Shropshire. Smaller pot works, however, being scattered over
various parts of the kingdom.

With the well-known “Samian Ware,” the finest and most beautiful of
the pottery of the Romans which is found in this country, I have,
of course, nothing to do in my present work; for, although found so
frequently and so abundantly in England, it was not manufactured here,
and therefore does not come within its scope. I proceed, therefore, to
speak of the various English seats of the manufacture.

_Upchurch Ware._--The district wherein this pottery was made and
is found so abundantly, is of five or six miles in length, and from
one to two in breadth; and over the whole of this tract of country,
at a distance of some few feet below the surface, a regular layer of
remains of Roman fictile art occurs. To Mr. C. Roach Smith is due the
greatest credit of bringing these under notice:--“There can be no
doubt,” says Mr. Wright, “not only from the extent of ground covered by
the potteries, but from the frequent occurrence of the sort of pottery
made here, among Roman remains in Britain belonging to different
periods, that these potteries were in full activity during the whole
extent of the Roman period. The site of the kilns was moved as the clay
was used up, and at the same time the refuse pottery was thrown on the
ground behind them, so that, when at last abandoned, this extensive
site presented a surface of ground covered almost entirely by a bed of
refuse pottery.” Here, then, the Roman _figuli_ exercised, more
extensively than anywhere else in England their art, and continued its
practice for a long series of years. In those days the ground would of
course be firm and dry. Since then, as is usually the case in so long
a number of years, the soil has accumulated to the thickness of about
three feet--the inroads which the Medway is constantly making upon it
forming the creeks, and continually disclosing the remains left by the
potters.

  [Illustration: Fig. 78.--Group of Upchurch Ware.]

The ware made at Upchurch must have been in considerable repute, for
it is found in Roman localities in most parts of the kingdom. On
Roman sites in France and Germany and in Flanders, &c., wares of a
precisely similar kind are found, and show that it is probable they
were simultaneously made at different places. The prevailing colour
of the ware is a bluish or greyish black, with a smooth and rather
shining surface. A good deal, however, is of a dark drab colour. The
black colour has been produced by the process of “firing” in “smother
kilns”--a process well known to potters. The forms of the vessels,
as well as the sizes, vary to a surprising extent, but they are all
remarkable for the gracefulness and elegance of their outline, and,
in many instances, for the simplicity and effective character of the
patterns with which they are decorated. The decorations consist chiefly
of circles or semi-circles; lines, vertical or otherwise; bands, and
numbers of raised dots arranged in a variety of ways. The clay used is
fine, and the vessels are light and thin, and remarkably well “potted.”

  [Illustration: Figs. 79 to 83.--Upchurch Ware.]

  [Illustration: Figs. 84 to 88.--Upchurch Ware.]

  [Illustration: Figs. 89 to 93.--Upchurch Ware.]

The instruments used in the ornamentation of this pottery appear to
have been of a very rude description, and were, as it seems, chiefly
mere sticks, some sharpened to a point, and others with a transverse
section cut into notches. The former were used in tracing the lines
already described; the latter had the section formed into a square or
rhomboid, the surface of which was cut into parallel lines crossing
each other so as to form a dotted figure, and this was stamped on
the surface of the pottery in various combinations and arrangements.
Sometimes these dots are arranged so as to form bands;[5] and in
others simply “patch” ornaments. Other vessels were covered with
reticulation, the lines being simply scratched into the surface of the
clay; and others have bands of serrated lines.

The forms of some of the vessels from the Upchurch works will be seen
on Fig. 78, and a series of other characteristic examples are given on
Figs. 79 to 95.

  [Illustration: Fig. 94.--Upchurch Ware.]

One example (Fig. 80) is ornamented with half-circles traced on the
clay as with compasses, from which run downwards rows of incised lines.
On Fig. 78 is an example of much the same character of ornamentation
although different in form.

Figs. 81, 85, 86, 87, and 88 are of different form, and are ornamented
with raised dots in bands and patches; while 83 and 84 are “engine
turned.” They are of remarkably elegant form.

  [Illustration: Fig. 95.--Upchurch Ware.]

Figs. 91, 92, 93, and 95 are more bottle shaped--in fact, approaching
somewhat to the form of the mediæval bellarmine. Many varieties of this
general form have been found in the marshes and elsewhere. Fig. 89 is
particularly simple and elegant in shape, as are also several shown in
the groups on this and the preceding pages. Among these is an example
of another variety of ornamentation common to the Upchurch ware. It is
formed by diagonal intersecting lines, and in form is much the same as
the ordinary kind of Roman cinerary urns. In the group, Fig. 94, are
some examples of Upchurch and other wares.

No kilns have as yet been discovered in the Upchurch marshes, but
doubtless further researches will yet bring them to light. Mr. Roach
Smith, to whose incessant labours we owe the principal notices of these
potteries, has discovered the remains of the extensive village of the
potters, with traces of their habitations and of their graves, in the
higher ground bordering on the marshes.

_Castor Ware_, or _Durobrivian Ware_, as it is variously
called, is the production of the extensive Romano-British potteries on
the river Nen, in Northamptonshire and Huntingdonshire; near Castor and
Chesterton, in those counties respectively. In this locality, as the
names of Chesterton and Castor undeniably prove to have been the case,
an important settlement of the Romans was made, and excavations have
brought to light the remains of a considerable town, and in connection
with it, of a settlement of potters with the remains of their works
extending over a district many miles in extent.

The great interest attaching to this locality is in the fact that this
was not the first, but the first well ascertained discovery of a Roman
pot-manufactory in this kingdom, and that at this spot the first kilns
of that period have been uncovered, and the processes adopted by the
Roman _figuli_ brought to light.

  [Illustration: Fig. 96.--Castor Ware.]

The situation of the potteries was well chosen for carrying on an
extensive trade with distant parts of the kingdom, and from researches
searches which were made, the late Mr. Artis, to whom the discovery is
due, computed that probably two thousand people had been employed in
the fabrication of fictile vessels. It is on the line of one of the
most important of the Roman roads--the Ermyn street--and close to the
navigable river Nen; and that the products of the manufactory were
supplied to places throughout the kingdom is abundantly testified by
the remains which are almost invariably found in course of excavations
wherever Roman occupation is known. Mr. Artis unfortunately, although
he published a fine folio volume of plates[6] of the more remarkable
of the objects he discovered, never issued the descriptive and
historical text which was intended to accompany it. The great bulk
of the information he had gleaned he never committed to paper, and
consequently it died with him. Mr. Artis, however, communicated some
valuable particulars to Mr. C. Roach Smith, and these have been
made public by him in the “Journal of the British Archæological
Association”[7] and in the “Collectanea Antiqua.”[8] Mr. Artis in one
of these says that during an examination of the pigments used by the
Roman potters of Castor and its neighbourhood, he was “led to the
conclusion that the blue and slate-coloured vessels met with here in
such abundance were coloured by suffocating the fire of the kiln at
the time when its contents had acquired a degree of heat sufficient to
insure uniformity of colour. I had so firmly made up my mind on the
process of manufacturing and firing this peculiar kind of earthenware,
that I had denominated the kilns in which it had been fired “smother
kilns.” The mode of manufacturing the bricks of which these kilns are
made is worthy of notice. The clay was previously mixed with about
one-third of rye in the chaff, which being consumed by the fire, left
cavities in the room of the grains. This might have been intended to
modify expansion and contraction, as well as to assist in the gradual
distribution of the colouring vapour. The mouth of the furnace and
the top of the kiln were no doubt stopped: thus we find every part of
the kiln, from the inside wall to the mouth on the outside, and every
part of the clay wrappers of the domes penetrated with the colouring
exhalation.”

  [Illustration: Figs. 97, 98, 99.--Castor Ware.]

The researches further proved that the colour could not be attributed
to any metallic oxide (although it must be confessed that in many
instances the surface has a strongly developed metallic appearance)
either in the clay itself or applied externally, and this conclusion
is confirmed by the appearance of the clay wrappers of the dome of
the kilns; and it may be added, the colour is so fugitive that it is
expelled entirely, by submitting the pottery to an open fire. During
the examination of the Upchurch pottery, Mr. Artis remarked that he
thought a coarse kind of sedge had been used in the manufactory. His
practical eye alone guided him to this conclusion, for he had never
visited the site, and was quite unaware that below the strata of broken
vessels, a layer of sedge peat is in several places visible. The same
kind of arrangement probably obtained pretty generally with the Roman
potters.

  [Illustration: Fig. 100.--Potter’s Kiln, Normangate Field,
  Castor.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 101.--Potter’s Kiln, Normangate Field,
  Castor.]

The kilns for firing the Castor ware, discovered by Mr. Artis, are
among the most interesting of all the remains of Roman arts which have
been brought to light. The kilns which were removed in the course
of the investigations were “all constituted on the same principle:
a circular hole was dug from three to four feet deep, and four in
diameter, and walled round to the height of two feet. A furnace,
one-third of the kiln in length, communicated with the side. In the
centre of the circle so formed was an oval pedestal, the height of the
sides, with the end pointing to the mouth of the furnace. Upon this
pedestal and side walls the floor of the kiln rests. It was formed
of perforated angular bricks, meeting at one point in the centre; the
furnace was arched with bricks, moulded for the purpose; the side of
the kiln was constructed with curved bricks set edgeways (see Fig. 100)
in a thick slip (the same material made into a thin mortar) to the
height of two feet. The process of packing the vessels and securing
uniform heat in firing the ware was the same in the two different
kinds of kilns--namely, that before described, called ‘smother
kiln,’ and that for various other kinds of pottery. They were first
carefully loose-packed with the articles to be fired, up to the height
of the side walls. The circumference of the bulk was then gradually
diminished, and finished in the shape of a dome. As this arrangement
progressed, an attendant seems to have followed the packer, and thinly
covered a layer of pots with coarse hay or grass. He then took some
thin clay, the size of his hand, and laid it flat over the grass upon
the vessels: he then placed more grass on the edge of the clay just
laid on--then more clay--and so on until he had completed the circle.
By this time the packer would have raised another tier of pots, the
plasterer following as before, hanging the grass over the top edge of
the last layer of plasters, until he had reached the top, in which a
small aperture was left, and the clay nipped round the edge; another
coating would then be laid on as before described. Directly after,
gravel or loam was thrown up against the side wall where the clay
wrappers were commenced--probably to secure the bricks and the clay
coating. The kiln was then fired with wood.[9] In consequence of the
care taken to place grass between the edges of the wrappers, they could
be unpacked in the same size pieces as when laid on in a plastic state;
and thus the danger in breaking the coat to obtain the contents of the
kiln could be obviated. In the course of my excavations I discovered a
curiously constructed furnace, of which I have never before or since
met an example. Over it had been placed two circular vessels; the next
above the furnace was a third less than the other, which would hold
about eight gallons; the fire passed partly under both of them, the
smoke escaping by a smoothly-plastered flue, from seven to eight inches
wide. The vessels were suspended by the rims fitting into a circular
groove or rabbet, formed for the purpose. They contained pottery, both
perfect and fragmentary. It is probable they had covers, and I am
inclined to think were used for glazing peculiar kinds of the immense
quantities of ornamented ware made in this district. Its contiguity
to one of the workshops in which the glaze (oxide of iron) and other
pigments were found confirms this opinion.”

  [Illustration: Fig. 102.--Potter’s Kiln, Castor.]

Fig. 102 is a kiln of a different construction. “In it, instead of
modelling or moulding bricks for the kiln, the potters, after forming
a tolerably round shaft, commenced plastering it three inches thick
with clay, prepared for that purpose, leaving a flange twenty inches
above the furnace floor to receive the floor of the kiln; a mode of
construction unnoticed by me before in these kilns. In the centre
was placed an oval pedestal, for the double purpose of dividing the
fire and of giving support to the centre of the floor. To attach the
pedestal to the back of the kiln, and to shut out the cold air which
would lodge in the angle formed by the pedestal being so placed, the
angle was filled with coarse materials, which were stopped up with
clay, so as to draw the flame more towards the centre, and induce a
union with the flame and heat entering the front part of the kiln.”
The more usual plan with the potters of this district in packing their
kilns was, when the contents had reached the surface of the earth, to
form a dome by covering the urns and vases lightly with dry grass,
sedge, or the like, and plastering it over with patches of prepared
clay, divided by strewing a small quantity of hay between each portion
to facilitate removal. In place of this usual process, in this kiln
bricks were used of an oblong shape, four inches by two and a half
inches, wedge-shaped at one end, with a sufficient curve to traverse
the circumference when set edgeways, with the wedge ends lapped over
each other. The sides would be thus raised for three or four courses
or more, as circumstances might require, and probably be afterwards
backed up with loose earth. These bricks were modelled and kneaded with
chaff and grain.”[10] The numbers indicate as follows:--1, front of
the pedestal supporting the floor of the kiln; 2 2, slopes, probably
intended to produce a more uniform heat; 3 3, part of the kiln floor;
4, bricks, before used; 5, area of the furnace; 6, mouth of furnace; 7,
wall of kiln; 8, top of the pedestal. The mouth of the furnace, No. 6,
was arched over.

The ware of the Durobrivian potteries was superior both in style of
art and in form and material to that of Upchurch, and has an especial
interest over it in the fact that it bears figures and various
ornaments in relief, in the same manner as on the Samian ware. The
ornament, especially the scrolls, &c., were laid on “in slip.” The
vessel, after having been thrown on the wheel, would be allowed to
become somewhat firm, but only sufficiently so for the purpose of the
lathe. In the indented ware, the indenting would have to be performed
with the vessel in as pliable a state as it could be taken from the
lathe. A thick slip of the same body would then be procured, and the
ornamentation would proceed.

  [Illustration: Fig. 103.

  Fig. 104.

  Fig. 105.

  Figs. 106 and 107.

  Fig. 108.

  Fig. 109.

  Fig. 110.

  Representations of Field Sports on Castor Ware.]

“The vessels--on which are displayed a variety of hunting subjects,
representations of fishes, scrolls, and human figures--were all glazed
after the figures were laid on; where, however, the decorations are
white, the vessels were glazed before the ornaments were added.
Ornamenting with figures of animals was effected by means of sharp and
blunt skewer instruments and a slip of suitable consistency. These
instruments seem to have been of two kinds--one thick enough to carry
sufficient slip for the nose, neck, body, and front thigh; the other
of a more delicate kind, for a thinner slip, for the tongue, lower
jaws, eye, fore and hind legs, and tail. There seems to have been no
retouching, after the slip trailed from the instrument. Field sports
seem to have been favourite subjects with our Romano-British artists.
The representations of deer and hare hunts are good and spirited;
the courage and energy of the hounds, and the distress of the hunted
animals are given with great skill and fidelity, especially when the
simple and off-handed process by which they must have been executed is
taken into consideration.”[11]

  [Illustration: Fig. 111.--The Colchester Vase.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 112.--Castor Ware.]

  [Illustration: Figs. 113 to 115.--Castor Ware.]

  [Illustration: Figs. 116 and 117.

  Fig. 118.

  Fig. 119.

  Fig. 120.

  Figs. 121 and 122.

  Fig. 123.

  Fig. 124.

  Foliated patterns on Castor Ware.]

Two vessels with these hunting subjects are given in Figs. 108 and
110; and other designs of this character, exhibiting stag and hare
hunts, are shown on Figs. 103 to 109.

Gladiatorial combats are also frequent subjects for representation on
the Castor vases. One of these is given on Fig. 111, which represents
one side of the celebrated “Colchester vase;” Fig. 103 being the
design of another of its sides. The next engraving (Fig. 112) shows
the chariot race in the Roman racecourse or stadium--the quadriga
being well, although rudely, fashioned, and the position both of the
horses and charioteer boldly conceived. Mythological subjects were also
common. One of these, of the indented form, restored from fragments, is
given in the accompanying engraving (Fig. 113).

  [Illustration: Fig. 125.

  Fig. 126.

  Fig. 127.

  Castor Ware.]

Another and equally pleasing variety of ornamentation, and one
peculiar, it may be said, to the Durobrivian potteries, is that whereon
the pattern consists of scrolls and flowers in white slip on the dark
bluish black ground. The effect of these simple patterns, which are
generally graceful and always elegantly formed, is remarkably pleasing.
Examples of these are given on Figs. 114 to 124, which will serve to
show the general style of this kind of decoration. Figs. 125 to 128 are
admirable examples of the indented form of vessel. Many other shapes
and varieties of Castor ware might be adduced, but the illustrations
I have given will be sufficient to give a clear insight into their
general characteristics.

  [Illustration: Fig. 128.--Engine-turned Ware.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 129.--Leicester Museum.

  Fig. 130.

  Fig. 131.

  Fig. 132.

  Fig. 133.

  Fig. 134.

  Fig. 135.

  Fig. 136.

  Fig. 137.

  Roman Pottery.]

One of the most curious and interesting urns of this ware (Fig. 129)
was dug up in Leicester in 1869, and is preserved in the museum of that
town. It is of a fine rich deep colour, with the pattern in white slip,
and has borne an inscription, also in slip, the only letters of which
now remaining are M E I I VI. In the same museum, among other
varieties of Romano-British ware, are the beautiful vessels shown on
Figs. 132, 133, 134. There are also fragments of ware which seem to
point at pottery which I believe, at one period of Roman occupation,
existed in the neighbourhood of Leicester.

  [Illustration: Fig. 138.--Potter’s Kiln, St. Paul’s Churchyard.]

Potters’ kilns of the Romano-British period have been found in other
places, but those at Castor are the most perfect, and in every way the
best. Indeed, the others may be said, more appropriately perhaps, to
be indications of kilns rather than the kilns themselves. A curious
record of the discovery of a kiln in London, at the north-west of St.
Paul’s Cathedral, in 1677, by John Conyers, a collector of antiquities,
is preserved in the British Museum,[12] and has been published by Mr.
Roach Smith,[13] the eminent archæologist, to whom the antiquarian
world is indebted for so much valuable information concerning Roman
antiquities. This very curious and valuable record is as follows, in
the handwriting of Conyers, and the accompanying engraving is carefully
reduced (see Fig. 138) from Conyers’ own drawing:--

“This kill was full of the coarser[14] sorts of potts or cullings,[15]
so that few were saved whole, viz., lamps, bottles, urnes, dishes.

“The forme of a kill in which the olde Romans’ lamps, urnes, and other
earthen pottes and vessels was burnt, and some left in the kill; and
that within a unstired, loamy ground about 26 foot deep near about the
place where the Market House stood in Oliver’s tyme, the discovery
made anno 1677 at the digging the foundacion of the north east part
of St. Paull’s, London, among gravel pitts and loam pitts, where the
ground had been at tymes raised over it 3 or 4 tymes, and so many 8
foote storyes or depths of coffins lay over the loamy kill, the lowest
coffins made of chalk; and this supposed to be before or about Domitian
the emperor’s tyme.

“Of these (kilns) 4 severall had been made in the sandy loam on the
ground in the fashion of a cross foundacion and only this height
standing, viz. 5 foot from topp to bottom and better; and as many feet
in breadth; and had no other matter for its form and building but the
outward loame as it naturally lays, crusted hardish by the heat burning
the loame redd like brick. The floor in the middle supported by and cut
out of loame, and helped with old-fashioned Roman tyles shards, but
very few, and such as I have seen used for repositorys for urns in the
fashion of like ovens, and they plastered within with a reddish mortar
or tarris; but here was no mortar, but only the sandy loam for cement:

                   “observed and thus described
                         “by JO^N CONYERS, Apothecary.”

In accordance with the above description, the sketch by Conyers shows
also the four kilns placed crosswise, leaving ample space in the centre
for the workmen. The vessels found in the kiln are thus described by
Conyers, who also made sketches of them, which are preserved along with
his MS., and have been engraved in the “Collectanea Antiqua:”--

“1. 1 quart earthen dish.--2. 2 gallons, whitish.--3. 4 quart
bason, whitish.--4. 8 ounce censer or lamp, whitish earth.--5. 2
quart colinder, whitish.--6. 2 pint lipp waterpott.--7. Lamp, or
censer, reddish.--8. 3 pint urne.--9. 3 quarts urne, whitish.--10. 2
ounce lamp, gilded with electrum.--11. 2 quart, white.--12. 1 pint
bottle.--13. 2 pint black urne.--14. 1 pint urne, black.--15. 6 ounce
urne.--16. 3 quart urne, blewish.--17. Half pint urne, electrum
Britan.--18. 1 pint dish, blewish.--19. 1 ounce urne, whitish.--20. 3
ounce urne, cinamon collour.--All these a sort of earth almost like
crucibles, except the black, will endure the fire like brass, as in
this day in use about Poland.”

From the drawings which accompany these descriptions, the
Romano-British origin of the examples found actually in the kiln
is placed beyond doubt. Most of them are precisely the same types
as hundreds of fragments which have been found all over London, and
are the common table and culinary ware of the period. Some bear a
very striking resemblance to the vessels from the Upchurch pottery.
Amongst them is a mortarium. Most of the vessels are plain, but some
are ornamented with rows of dots, &c., and others with a reticulated
pattern. The forms are elegant and simple.

In another part of his MS. Conyers describes other kinds of pottery
found during the excavations. “Now these pottsherds,” he writes, “are
some glass and some potts like broken urns, which were curiously
laid on the outside with like thorne pricks of rose trees and in the
manner of raised work: this upon potts of murry collour, and here and
there grey houndes and stags and hares all in raised work: other of
these cinamon collour urne fashion and were as gilded with gold but
vaded: some of strange fashioned juggs the sides bent in so as to be
six squares, and these raised work upon them and curiously pinched as
curious raisers of paist may imitate: some like black earth for pudding
panns; one the outside indented and crossed quincunx fashion. Now many
of these potts of the finer kind are lite and thinn and these workes
raised or indented were instead of collours; yet I find they had some
odd collours, not blew, in those tymes, and a way of glazing different
to what now; and here takes notice that the redd earth before mencioned
bore away the belle.”

The manuscript contains also the following note:--

“The labourers toulde me of some remains of other such kinds of small
kills that was found up and down nere the place of the other pott
kills, and these had a funnel to convey smoke which might serve for
glass furnaces, for though not anny potts with glass in it whole in the
furnaces was there found, yet broken crucibles or tests for melting of
glass, together with boltered glass such as is to be seen remaining
at glass houses amongst the broken glass, which was glass spoyled in
the making, was there found; but not plenty, and especially coloured
and prepared for jewel-like ornament, but mostly such as for cruetts
or glasses with a lipp to drop withall, and that a greenish light blew
collour; and of any sort of glass there was but little.”

Remains of potteries of this period have also been discovered in
Norfolk (between Brixton and Brampton); at Botham in Lincolnshire; in
Somersetshire; at Worcester; at Marlborough; at Sibson; at various
places in Yorkshire; in Shropshire; in Oxfordshire; in the New Forest,
Hampshire; at Colchester, in Essex; at Wilderspool, near Warrington;
and in many other parts of the kingdom. Of some of these I shall now
proceed briefly to speak.

  [Illustration: Fig. 139.--Salopian Ware.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 140.--Pottery from Uriconium.]

  [Illustration: Figs. 141 to 151.--Pottery of the New Forest.]

  [Illustration: Figs. 152 to 157.--Pottery of the New Forest.]

To the Shropshire potteries--those of the clays of the Severn Valley,
probably at Brosely,--a vast number of varieties of vessels are to be
traced; and it is, as I shall show in a later chapter, interesting
to know that the same bed of clay which at the present day produces
articles of daily use, produced fifteen hundred years ago the vessels
for the table, &c., of the inhabitants of the then great neighbouring
city of Uriconium. In the excavations which have been undertaken on the
site of this ruined city immense quantities of fragments of pottery
have been found, and, with the exception of the Samian ware and the
Durobrivian ware, it is not too much, perhaps, to say that the whole,
or nearly so, has been made in the Severn Valley. Of these wares, two
sorts especially are found in considerable abundance; the one white,
the other of a rather light red colour. The white, which is made of
what is commonly called Brosely clay, and is rather coarse in texture,
consists chiefly of rather handsomely shaped jugs or bellarmine-shaped
vessels, of different sizes, the general shape of which somewhat
resembles Fig. 96; of Mortaria; and of bowls of different shapes and
sizes, which are often _painted_ with stripes of red and yellow.
The other variety, the red Romano-Salopian ware, is also made from
one of the clays of the Severn Valley, but is of finer texture, and
consists principally of jugs not dissimilar to those in the white
ware, except in a very different form of mouth; and of bowl-shaped
colanders.[16]

Two examples of Romano-Salopian ware--the first of the white, and the
second of the red variety--are given on Fig. 139, and on Fig. 140 is
represented a group of vessels of this make, from the cemetery at
Uriconium.

  [Illustration: Fig. 158.--Derby Museum.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 159.--Jermyn Street Museum.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 160.--York Museum.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 161.

  Fig. 162.

  Fig. 163.

  Fig. 164.

  Fig. 165.

  Sepulchral Deposits, Colchester.]

The potteries of the New Forest in Hampshire, for a lucid account
of which we are indebted to Mr. Wise,[17] were of great extent,
and, as is proved by the researches which have been made on their
sites, of considerable importance. The potteries were noticed in
1853 by the Rev. J. P. Bartlett,[18] who prepared an account of his
researches for the Society of Antiquaries, and since that period
both that gentleman and Mr. Wise have with great success continued
their explorations. The names of the localities where these ancient
potteries exist--_Crockle_ (crock kiln or crock hill) and
_Panshard_--are highly suggestive. During the excavations kilns
were found in a perfect state. The kiln at Crockle was circular, and
measured six yards in circumference, its shape being well defined by
small hand-formed masses of red brick-earth. The floor, about two
feet below the natural surface of the ground, was paved with a layer
of sand-stones, some of them cut into a circular shape so as to fit
the kiln, the upper surfaces being tooled, whilst the under remained
in their original state. At the potteries at Audenwood no kilns were
discovered; but at Sloden, where the works cover several acres, “two
large mounds marking the sites of kilns” are remaining, along with
the sites of potters’ huts, &c. At Island Thorn more kilns and
innumerable fragments of vessels of various kinds were discovered. In
_Pitts Enclosure_, besides mounds opened by Mr. Bartlett, Mr.
Wise discovered in one mound five kilns, ranged in a semicircle, and
paved with irregular masses of sand-stone. They were close together,
separated only by mounds of the natural soil. Besides fragments of
various vessels, “two distinct heaps of white and fawn-coloured clay
and red earth, placed ready for mixing, and a third of the two worked
together, fit for the immediate use of the potter,” were found with
these kilns.

Some of the more usual and more striking forms of the vessels from New
Forest potteries are grouped together on Figs. 141 to 151. A selection
of patterns from the wares are grouped on Figs. 152 to 157, some of
which will be seen to bear a close resemblance to those of the Castor
ware.

  [Illustration: Figs. 166 and 167.--Potter’s Mould, Headington.]

Of the potters’ kiln, &c., found near Colchester, where probably some
ware in imitation of the fine red Samian was produced, a notice will
be found in “Collectanea Antiqua.”[19] In the Yorkshire potteries--for
there can be little doubt that at Potters Newton, at York, and at other
places pot-works existed in these early times--the curious vessels
ornamented with what are usually called “frill patterns” were made, as
also other slip and scaled patterns, as on Figs. 158, 159, and 160.

  [Illustration: Figs. 168 to 170.--Mortaria, from Headington.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 171.--From Headington.]

  [Illustration: Figs. 172 to 175.--From Headington.]

At Headington, Oxfordshire, I had the good fortune myself to discover
in 1849, along with the remains of a villa and other buildings,
traces of a kiln and of many other interesting features, of which I
published an account in the _Journal of the British Archæological
Association_.[20] The fragments of pottery found on this site were
extremely varied, and attended with some very unusual facts. One of
the most curious and interesting matters was the discovery of a clay
mould bearing a beautifully formed female head (a bacchante), with a
wreath of vine leaves encircling her brow, for the forming of heads on
Romano-British pottery. Fig. 166 shows this mould, and Fig. 167 gives
the impression taken from it.[21] The face has a remarkably pleasing
expression, and is beautifully formed. The mould is a rough lump of red
clay, and has been broken on its sides.

  [Illustration: Fig. 176.

  Fig. 177.

  Fig. 178.

  Fig. 179.

  Fig. 180.

  Fig. 181.

  Fig. 182.

  Fig. 183.

  Roman Pottery, Headington, Oxfordshire.]

The pottery, with but one or two exceptions, was in fragments; from
these the engravings here given have been carefully restored. One very
remarkable feature was the immense assemblage--a cartload at least--of
fragments of mortaria. In form and material they differed considerably
from those found in other localities. Some were of a fine buff-coloured
clay, others of a lead colour, as produced by the smother kiln, and
all well studded with broken quartz. In size they varied from seven
and a half inches to nearly two feet in diameter. The larger one on
Fig. 168 was one foot nine inches in diameter, while the smaller one
is only seven and a half inches. The sections of the rims of the
Headington mortaria are dissimilar to others, as I have carefully
pointed out in the communication referred to. Fig. 171 exhibits a
vessel of fine red ware, the rim of which is painted black, on which
the white scroll-pattern is laid. The sections of rims which accompany
it for comparison sake are, besides its own rim,--1, red with white
pattern; 2, a fine red ware; 3, a fine ware, with a metallic surface;
and 4 and 5, imported Samian. Fig. 175 is of chocolate colour, and is
ornamented with an indented pattern of lines of squares, alternating
with flat circles. Fig. 172 is of blue-gray colour, of fine and close
and very hard texture; the sides are indented. Fig. 173 is of light
buff colour. The curious assemblage of vessels grouped on Fig. 176
are formed of a fine black clay mixed with sand. They are beautifully
formed, and many of them are ornamented with surface lines traced on
the clay without incision or indentation. The two examples (Figs. 181
and 182) are of tolerably fine red ware; the taller one (which has had
a handle) has been surface-coated with a red pigment. Fig. 178 is of
coarse red ware, and, as will be seen, is much the same in form as our
modern soup-plates. Fragments of vessels of the form of Fig. 180 were
very numerous. They were of coarse buff-coloured ware. Other examples
found during the excavations which I carried on are shown grouped on
Fig. 183. Fig. 179, like the rest, restored from fragments, is a small
and delicately formed cup, three and a quarter inches in diameter, of
rough-cast ware[22]; of these, examples were found, some of red, and
others of a chocolate colour.

Some good fragments of Castor ware were discovered, from which the
group (Figs. 97 to 99) has been restored. Fig. 174 is a small cup of
buff-coloured ware. Some small fragments of a green glazed ware were
also found.

  [Illustration: Figs. 184 and 185.--From Wilderspool.]

Among the most curious of the discoveries were fragments of vessels of
fine clay, of a buff colour, with the patterns _painted_ in red on
their surface. One of these bears the rude representation of a cock;
others have waved and scrolled patterns; and others again, lines, dots,
circles, &c. Many other varieties of wares were also found, as were
some few fragments of Samian.

An interesting discovery of the remains of what appears to have been a
potter’s workshop was made in Dorsetshire, in 1841, by Mr. Warne, of
which he gives some very interesting particulars.[23] The foundations
were rectangular and clearly defined--in length forty-four feet, in
breadth twenty-five feet--constructed of flints, which are plentiful in
the neighbourhood. “In clearing out there was found a great quantity
of fragments of the ordinary smooth black and firm-grained ware: the
bottoms of some vessels were perforated like colanders. In the course
of the excavations, remains of instruments used by the potter were also
found; the most interesting being a considerable portion of a wheel,
formed of that peculiar bituminous shale well known as ‘Kimmeridge
coal.’ It is part of a circle, originally a wheel or plate, fifteen
inches in diameter and one inch and a quarter thick. It has undergone
the process of a careful and well-finished turning in the lathe. It may
at once be seen that it formed part of a potter’s wheel, the rotatory
table on which the workmen moulded, or rather when brought to the
desired form, the ductile clay received the finishing touches. There
are to be seen two or three counter-sinkings, in which were fixed the
arms of the metal axis on which it revolved. Portions of other wheels
in limestone were found, and one of great thickness, in conglomerate,
the use of which would seem to have been for pulverising the crude
material. Numerous pieces were scattered about of small and very thin
stone, of a rude but markedly angular form, similar to such as are
still, or lately were, used in the manufacture of coarse earthenware.
Amidst the _débris_ was a knife fixed in a rude bone haft; with
the remains were a large brass coin of Marcus Aurelius, and three
denarii of Severus Alexander, Gordianus III., and Philippus.”

  [Illustration: Fig. 186.--Mask, Wilderspool.]

At Wilderspool, the presumed site of _Condate_, an outskirt of
Warrington, evidence exists which warrants the supposition that pottery
of various kinds was there made by the Romans. A large quantity of
fragments, including many interesting examples, have been collected
by Dr. Kendrick and placed in the museum at Warrington; these include
many well-known varieties of Roman wares, and some which are peculiar
to the place; among these are excellent examples of “engine-turned”
bowls, in which the engine-turning is surmounted by scoriated ornament;
these are in red clay. Of Durobrivian ware were found portions of a
bowl with overhanging rim, ornamented with the ivy-leaf pattern in
slip; on one portion is a potter’s mark, PAT, which has been
impressed on the side. Of imitation, or English, Samian, are several
fragments, with relief ornaments, some of which are pretty close
copies of the true Samian, while others are rather clumsy adaptations
of the Samian borders, &c. Examples of Upchurch ware were also found.
The wares which seem to be peculiar to Wilderspool, and which were,
there is every reason to believe, made there, are the two varieties
engraved on Figs. 184 and 185, and the “rough-cast” ware, of which a
small vessel found by myself at Headington, and engraved on Fig. 179,
will serve as an example. Fig. 184 is of a light red clay, which has
been surface-coloured. It is ornamented with a mammal ornament--a
series of raised circles, about three-quarters of an inch in diameter,
dying off in their lower half, and having a knob or nipple in the
centre. This has evidently been the ornament of the upper part of a
vessel, the lower being engine-turned in diagonal lines. Fig. 185
is of a dark-coloured clay, with a similar kind of ornament, but of
much smaller size, the discs being only rather more than a quarter
of an inch in diameter. The “rough-cast” ware, as this variety (Fig.
179) has been appropriately named by Dr. Kendrick, is a fine kind of
red-ware, the vessels in which, after having been “thrown,” have, while
in their soft, moist state, been powdered all over with small bits of
dry clay, and then dipped in thin slip before firing--the roughness
having previously been carefully removed from the rims and other parts
which were intended to be left plain. Dr. Kendrick claims this to be
hitherto “unnoticed, and therefore undescribed;” but here he is in
error, for in 1850[24] I described a similar ware--the only fragment
then known--which I discovered at Headington (Fig. 179), that example
being, perhaps, a little finer and of better quality than the present
Wilderspool specimens.

  [Illustration: Figs. 187 and 188.--Tetinæ, Wilderspool.]

Another variety of ornament, supposed by Dr. Kendrick to be unique, is
on a hard bluish-grey ware; it is a series of patches of fine lines
scratched into the surface, as though done by a fine comb or a hard
brush.

  [Illustration: Fig. 189.--Wilderspool.]

Among the most special objects found at Wilderspool are two tetinæ, a
tragic mask, and a triplet vase. Of the mask, engraved on Fig. 186, Dr.
Kendrick says:--“Although it is sadly mutilated, an earthenware mask
or visor for the human face is certainly the most rare and curious of
the Roman antiquities discovered at Wilderspool. As such it has been
described and figured in the seventeenth volume of the _Journal of
the Archæological Association_. In the British Museum is a single
specimen of the comic mask, such as we often see represented on Greek
and Roman sculptures or intaglio seals; there is also another mask,
with the mouth closed, for the silent actor. The Wilderspool mask
appears to be an equally solitary example of the tragic mask, although
Pollux, an ancient writer, enumerates twenty-five typical or standing
masks of tragedy--six for old men, seven for young men, nine for
females, and three for slaves.”

The tetinæ, or feeding-bottles, are engraved on Figs. 187 and 188;
they have tubular spouts at the side, and, when used, they were no
doubt furnished with soft nipples or teats for the tender mouth of
the infant. When found the mouth of each was covered by a fragment of
pottery, and, from their upright position and contents, there can be no
doubt that they contained the ashes of one or more children. It is also
curious to remark that one handle was suited for the right hand of the
nurse, and the other for the left, as if to compel a change of posture
for the infant.

The triple, or triune vase, restored on Fig. 189, is an excellent
specimen, the connecting bands being hollow tubes, so that when the
liquor was placed in one, it rose to the same height in each. Many
other objects of great interest were found at Wilderspool, and have
been carefully described by Dr. Kendrick and illustrated by his
daughter.

At Ashdon, in Essex, a potter’s kiln was discovered by the Hon. R.
C. Neville in 1852. It was of square form, being, as nearly as could
be measured, eighteen feet square, inclusive of the outer walls. The
furnace appeared to have been at the south-west end, immediately
communicating with the central and largest flue; in it was a
considerable quantity of charcoal and black ashes. This flue was two
feet six inches across at the entrance and two feet in width along the
entire length, which divided the structure into two equal portions.
From it eight lateral flues (each seven inches wide) diverged opposite
each other on either side. It was closed by the north-eastern wall,
which was carefully constructed of Roman tiles, which, as well as the
flanged tiles in other parts, had evidently been used in some former
building. Many fragments of tiles and pottery were strewed about, but
no perfect vessel was found.

  [Illustration: Fig. 190.

  Fig. 191.

  Fig. 192.

  Fig. 193.

  Fig. 194.

  Fig. 195.

  Fig. 196.

  Fig. 197.

  Amphoræ, &c.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 198.--Chesterfield.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 199.--Chesterfield.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 200.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 201.--Colchester.]

A kiln was discovered in 1868 at Winterton, near Brigg, on a site about
half a mile from the Roman road, and not far from where a tesselated
pavement had been previously discovered. By the falling of a portion of
the side of a pit where sand was being dug, there was exposed a rudely
constructed kiln or oven, made by sinking a circular cavity about
six feet deep and six feet in diameter at the top, becoming narrower
towards the bottom, so as to be in fact an inverted cone. The lower
half of it is in the sand, and the upper half in the surface soil, and
in a thin bed of clay between this and the sand. A little more than a
foot in depth of the bottom of the pit had been filled with soil from
the surface, quite compact, as if it had been mixed with water and
well rammed down. On the top of this rested the oven itself, formed
by lining the pit with a mixture of coarse mud or clay with small
stones and pebbles, to a thickness of about four inches at the bottom,
increasing upward to ten inches at the brim, which is about one foot
and a half below the present surface of the field. From the centre of
the floor thus made rises a pillar of one foot nine inches in height,
and widening from one foot diameter at the bottom to one foot ten
inches at the top, which pillar widens suddenly so as to form a sort
of mushroom head, continuous in structure with the clay or mud floor
and walls just described. Two shallow grooves run all round the inside
of the oven, a little above the top of the pillar, and broken pieces
of blue Roman pottery are laid across from the pillar to the side of
the basin so as to cover in a sort of circular flue. Over these has
been spread a thin coat of clay similar to the rest of the lining, so
that the upper storey, so to speak, is a shallow pit, about three and
a half feet diameter and one foot and a half deep. A large quantity of
black ashes, and of fragments of Roman pottery, was found in and around
the kiln. An account of this discovery, with an engraving of the kiln
appeared in vol. ix. of “The Reliquary.” Another, in the same county,
was discovered near Ancaster; and in Somersetshire a kiln has been
uncovered.

  [Illustration: Fig. 202.--Little Chester.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 203.--Cirencester.]

Many potteries besides those whose productions have been here spoken
of might be described; but as their productions were the usual classes
of domestic or sepulchral vessels, or flue and other tiles, it is not
perhaps necessary to enumerate them. I will therefore proceed to speak
of some of the vessels not already particularised in this chapter.

  [Illustration: Fig. 204.--Cirencester.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 205.--Cirencester.]

Amphoræ were undoubtedly made in the Roman pot-works of Britain;
evidences of their manufacture having been observed in various
localities. The most extensive of these indications was at Colchester,
from which place the example (Fig. 194) is taken. These vessels are
of large dimensions, strongly formed, and usually of a buff, or
reddish-yellow colour. The forms of these vessels are of two distinct
kinds--the one being tall and slender, as in Fig. 194, and the other
more globular, as in Figs. 196 and 197. They were mostly pointed at the
bottom, for the purpose of fixing them, it is believed, in the earth,
or in stands made for their reception.

  [Illustration: Fig. 206.--The Jewry Wall, Leicester.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 207.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 208.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 209.]

Mortaria, of which three examples have been given (Figs. 168 to 170),
formed another extensive class of domestic vessels. Their use appears
to have been the pounding and beating up, for culinary purposes, of
vegetables and other articles. Some of the examples which have been
found bear unmistakable signs of long and hard use. Their inner surface
was studded, while the clay was soft, either with small fragments of
quartz or with scoriæ of iron, so as to promote trituration. The
example (Fig. 198) is of somewhat different character, having more
upright, and somewhat higher, sides than usual. It has been much used.

Another of the more usual of the domestic vessels, of Romano-British
manufacture, is the very convenient kind of basin (Fig. 199), which
will be seen to be of the same general shape as Fig. 171. The form of
this basin is infinitely better, more elegant, and more convenient than
those in use among us at the present day. The central flanged rim is a
very secure and handy arrangement for holding. This example, and the
mortarium (Fig. 198) were found together--in fact, inverted one into
the other--in the churchyard at Chesterfield, in Derbyshire. Many other
varieties of domestic vessels were also extensively made, but to these
it is not necessary farther to refer.

  [Illustration: Fig. 210.--Walesby.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 211.--Walesby.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 212.--Headington.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 213.--London.]

  [Illustration: Figs. 214 and 215.--Headington.]

The sepulchral urns of Romano-British manufacture are of extremely
varied form and ornamentation. Figs. 78, 135, 137, 140, 161 to 165, and
183, will serve as examples of some of the varieties. The most usual
forms, however, are perhaps Figs. 200 to 205. They are of various kinds
of clays, and were generally plain, or but slightly ornamented.

Other good examples of sepulchral urns of various kinds, and of
different shapes, will be seen on the three groups of pottery, &c.,
found at Cirencester, shown on Figs. 203, 204, and 205.[25] On the same
engravings will be seen many other characteristic examples of Roman
Ceramic Art, as well as some metallic remains.

  [Illustration: Fig. 216.--Tile Cist, Colchester.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 217.]

Building-tiles, flue-tiles, roof-tiles, and drain-tiles were a branch
of manufacture which was carried on to a considerable extent in various
parts of the country, and, no doubt, generally in the immediate
neighbourhood of the buildings where they were used. The building-tiles
which are to be seen in the remains of the period, as in the Jewry
Wall at Leicester, engraved on Fig. 206, where occasionally they form
“herring-bone” masonry, are usually from about seven to ten inches
square, and about an inch and a half in thickness. They are frequently
marked with letters, and with feet of animals which have passed over
them (Figs. 207 and 209). The flue-tiles are of various dimensions.
They are usually of an oblong square form, hollow throughout, with a
lateral opening in one side for the heated air to pass through (see
Fig. 214). Others have two channels through their entire length, and
are without side openings. They are much ornamented with incised
patterns, and occasionally are stamped with letters. Some, too, have
figures of dogs, stags, &c. They were used for various purposes.
Another example is shown lying down in the centre of the group of tiles
on Fig. 210. In this group, the tall example, represented standing
upright, will be sufficient to show the form and excellence of
construction of the drain-tiles--the small end of each being made to
fit with an elbow joint into the thick end of the next. In the same
group are some open-flanged drain-tiles. An inscribed flange-tile is
shown on Fig. 217.

The roofing-tiles were much more calculated to resist the wind and
rain than those of later invention. They had flanged sides, which
fitted close to each other and were covered at the joint by a small
semicircular tile, like a draining or ridge-tile, imbedded in mortar
and resting on the two roofing-tiles, as a draining-tile rests on its
sole. This arrangement is shown on Fig. 211, which represents some
roofing-tiles found at Walesby. Of the ridge-tiles, of semicircular
form, to cover the joints, two good examples (Figs. 212 and 215), from
Headington, are here given.

  [Illustration: Fig. 218.--Tile Tomb, York.]

It may be added that, on tiles of one kind or other, the name of the
legions and cohorts quartered in particular localities where they were
made, are frequently found impressed. The soldiers were brick-makers
and masons, and made the tiles and built the houses, &c., at the places
where they were stationed. Tile-stamps thus become important aids to
history.

It is curious to add that some of the tiles which have been found
tell a silent tale, which they were never intended to carry, of the
dress or hand or foot of the maker, which have become accidentally
impressed upon their surface while in a soft state, and are afterwards
rendered imperishable by firing in the kiln. One example of this kind
of accidental ornamentation (Fig. 207), which exhibits the impress of
a man’s feet, or, rather, shoes thickly studded with nails,--like the
“hob-nailed” boots of our own day,--will suffice as an illustration.

  [Illustration: Fig. 219.--Clay Coffin, Aldborough.]

One extraordinary and highly interesting use of tiles among the Roman
inhabitants of Britain was that of forming them into tombs.[26] A
large tile was laid flat on the ground; two others of the same length
were placed upright, one at each side, to form the sides; two shorter
ones were placed upright as ends; and another tile formed the cover
(Fig. 216). Thus a fictile cist, or chest, was formed, and in this was
deposited the sepulchral urn containing the ashes of the departed,
with its accompanying group of smaller vessels. Cists of this kind are
found frequently in the Roman cemeteries at Colchester. “The practice
of enclosing or covering the sepulchral deposits with tiles appears to
have been so general, that the word _tegula_, a tile, was often
used to signify a tomb. The reader will at once call to mind the lines
of Ovid:--

    “Est honor et tumulis; animas placate paternas,
      Parvaque in extinctas munera ferte pyras.
    Parva petunt manes; pietas pro divite grata est
      Munere; non avidos Styx habet ima deos.
    _Tegula_ projectis satis est velata coronis,
      Et sparsæ fruges, parcaque mica salis.”

It appears from these lines that it was the custom for the relatives
to place garlands, fruit, and salt on the tile which covered the
sepulchral deposit.[27]

At York, graves, or rather tombs, formed of a number of roof-tiles,
have been found. Fig. 218 represents one of these curious tombs. It was
formed of ten roof-tiles, four of which were placed on either side, and
one at each end, and four ridge tiles arranged along the top. Each tile
bore the impressed stamp of the VI. Legion (Leg. VI., _Legio sexta
victrix_--the sixth legion victorious). In these tile-tombs urns had
in one instance been placed; in another (the one engraved) were the
remains of the funeral fire, with the ashes of the dead. Clay coffins
have also occasionally been found. One of these, from Aldborough, is
shown on Fig. 219.

Lamps were undoubtedly made in various parts of this kingdom, and were
more or less ornamented; some bear excellently executed figures and
other devices. Many appear to have been made at Colchester, and are
spoken of by Mr. Roach Smith in his “Collectanea Antiqua.” The pot
works at this place appear to have been on the Lexden Road, where a
kiln and many other remains have been brought to light.

Penates and other figures, or statuettes, were also made in this
country; and these, again, it is pretty certain, were made in
considerable numbers at Colchester, as were also lachrymatories,
unguentaria, &c.

  [Illustration: Fig. 220.--Colchester.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 221.--Coin Mould.]

Coin moulds, for the manufacture of spurious Roman coins, were also
made of clay, and the arrangement was very simple, but effective.
The clay being properly tempered and prepared, was formed into small
round tablets of uniform size and thickness. A coin was then pressed
between two tablets while the clay was soft, so as to leave a perfect
impression, and these impressions, which had thus become obverse and
reverse moulds, were arranged together in little piles; the upper and
lower being impressed on one side only. Down the sides of each of these
little piles or heaps a nick or notch was then cut, so as to admit
the molten metal. Two or three of these heaps were then, as shown in
the engraving (Fig. 221), placed side by side with the notches joined
together, and these were then surrounded by a clay cone with a hole
at the top, into which the metal was poured, and ran down through the
notches, and so into the moulds. Impressions were thus taken the exact
counterpart of the original coin from which the moulds had been taken.




                             CHAPTER III.

  Anglo-Saxon Pottery--Forms of Vessels, from Illustrated
  MSS.--Culinary Vessels--Pitchers and other domestic
  Vessels--Cinerary Urns--Cemeteries at Kingston, King’s Newton,
  Bedford, &c.--Modes of ornamenting.


For examples of the ceramic art of the Anglo-Saxon period we are mainly
indebted to the cemeteries and burial mounds of that people. The art
during this period, so far as this country is concerned, was but little
practised, except, as in the Celtic period, for the manufacture of
sepulchral urns of one kind or other. Still, it is pretty certain that
many of the vessels found in the barrows were made for the purposes
of life, and used for those of death when urns were wanted. In the
preceding era the population of this country--the Romano-Britons--were
essentially a pot-producing people, and they established, as will have
been seen, extensive manufactories in various parts of the kingdom,
and made and supplied vessels for every conceivable use and purpose.
When the Saxons took possession of the country, and gradually extended
themselves over its length and breadth, they found the Roman towns,
as well as the stations and detached dwellings--nay, they found every
part of the island--well and, indeed, profusely stocked with crockery
of every kind, from the finest Samian cup and bowl down to the coarsest
mortarium and amphora, in such profusion, and in such variety, as
well as of such elegance, use, and beauty, as they had not previously
known. Fighting their way here, and settling there, they utilised the
crockery which so abundantly lay ready to their hands, and, as there
can be no doubt the Roman potters continued their works long after the
advent of the Saxons, they used these Roman vessels for all purposes,
and thus did not, except in the case of their burial urns and ordinary
domestic vessels, resembling in a somewhat striking manner some modern
utensils, leave the impress of what little taste or skill they had upon
the productions of the fictile art. The cinerary urns are, therefore,
almost, the only productions of the Saxon potter which are known.
These, like those of the Celtic period, were, there can be no doubt,
usually made in pretty close proximity to their place of burial, and,
consequently, were formed of the clays of the district. They assumed a
peculiar character, and are entirely dissimilar to those of either of
the preceding periods.

Of the forms of other vessels of the Anglo-Saxons--for there is no
doubt that coarse domestic utensils were to some extent made--a
tolerable idea may be gained from the illuminated MSS. of the time.
Some few, but very few, examples have also been brought to light, which
may with tolerable certainty be assigned to this period.

  [Illustration: Fig. 222.

  Fig. 223.

  Fig. 224.

  Fig. 225.

  Fig. 226.

  Fig. 227.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 228.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 229.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 230.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 231.]

The engravings (Figs. 222 to 227) showing a few of the forms taken from
the illuminated MSS. of this and the succeeding period, are interesting
examples. Some of these will be seen to owe their origin--as, for
instance, Fig. 226--to Roman design, while others are equally as
clearly Franco-Gaulish in character. The Anglo-Saxons were not, like
their Roman forerunners, an artistic race. They could not draw the form
of the human figure correctly, nor, indeed, that of animals; but their
delineations of jugs and pitchers are proved by existing examples to be
pretty accurate. Their mind, as a rule, was coarse and unpoetic as
their own beer, while that of the Roman was bright and sparkling as his
own champagne.

  [Illustration: Fig. 232.--From Kingston, in the Derby Museum.

  Fig. 233.--In the Norwich Museum.

  Fig. 234.--Ashmolean Museum.]

The scene depicted on Fig. 224 exhibits some well-formed vessels in the
foreground, while the dinner scene on Fig. 222 shows other varieties.

For culinary purposes the Anglo-Saxons appear to have had a kind of
aversion to clay, hence their bowls were principally of metal or
wood--generally of ash, and their drinking-vessels were of horn or
glass.[28] One form of vessel, made of coarse buff-coloured clay, is
here shown (Fig. 229); and another of simple form is shown on Fig. 230.

The pottery of the Anglo-Saxon grave-mounds and cemeteries consists,
unlike that of the preceding periods, almost exclusively of cinerary
urns, and these have, as has been already stated on a previous page,
been made near the place of sepulture; and, as a natural consequence,
of the clays found in the neighbourhood. This is proved, incontestably,
in the case of the urns found at King’s Newton, where the bed of clay
still exists, and has very recently been used for common pottery
purposes.[29]

  [Illustration: Figs. 235 and 236.--King’s Newton.]

  [Illustration: Figs. 237 to 244.--Anglo-Saxon Cinerary Urns,
  King’s Newton.]

The shape of the cinerary urns is somewhat peculiar, and partakes of
the Frankish form, which may be called degraded Roman. Instead of
being wide at the mouth, like the Celtic urns, they are more or less
contracted, and have a kind of neck instead of the overhanging lip
or rim which is so eminently characteristic of the pottery of that
period. Some, however, are tolerably wide at the mouth; but these are
usually low and shallow. The cinerary urns were formed by hand, not on
the wheel, although on some other vessels evidence of wheel-turning
is apparent. This is another proof that these sepulchral urns were
made on the spot where wanted. They are as a rule, perhaps, more
firmly fired than those of the Celtic period. They are usually of a
dark-coloured clay, sometimes nearly black, at other times of a dark
brown, and occasionally of a slate, or greenish tint, produced by
surface-colouring.

  [Illustration: Figs. 245 to 247.--Mayer Museum.]

Their general form will be best understood by reference to the
engravings, Figs. 232 to 244. One of these will be seen to have
projecting knobs or bosses, which have been formed by simply pressing
out the pliant clay from the inside with the hand. In other examples
these raised bosses take the form of ribs gradually swelling out
from the bottom, till, at the top, they expand into semi-eggshaped
protuberances. The ornamentation on the urns from these cemeteries
usually consists of encircling incised lines in bands or otherwise,
and vertical or zig-zag lines arranged in a variety of ways, and, not
unfrequently, the knobs or protuberances of which I have just spoken.
Sometimes, also they present evident attempts at imitation of the Roman
egg-and-tongue ornament. The marked features of the pottery of this
period is the frequency of small punctured or impressed ornaments,
which are introduced along with the lines or bands with very good
effect. These ornaments were evidently produced by the end of a stick
cut and notched across in different directions, so as to produce
crosses and other patterns. In some districts, especially in the East
Angles, these vessels are ornamented with simple patterns painted upon
their surface in white; but, so far as my knowledge goes, no example of
this kind of decoration has been found in the Mercian cemeteries.

  [Illustration: Figs. 248 to 252.]

Of the East-Anglian urns, Mr. Wright--to whom and to Mr. Roach Smith
is mainly due the credit of having correctly appropriated them to the
Anglo-Saxon period--thus speaks:--

  “The pottery is usually made of a rather dark clay, coloured
  outside brown or dark slate-colour, which has sometimes a tint
  of green, and is sometimes black. These urns appear often to
  have been made with the hand, without the employment of the
  lathe; the texture of the clay is rather coarse, and they
  are rarely well baked. The favourite ornaments are bands of
  parallel lines encircling the vessel, or vertical and zigzags,
  sometimes arranged in small bands, and sometimes on a larger
  scale, covering half the elevation of the urn; and in this
  latter case the spaces are filled up with small circles and
  crosses, and other marks, stamped or painted in white. Other
  ornaments are met with, some of which are evidently unskilful
  attempts at imitating the well-known egg-and-tongue and other
  ornaments of the Roman Samian ware, which, from the specimens,
  and even fragments, found in their graves, appear to have been
  much admired and valued by the Anglo-Saxons. But a still more
  characteristic peculiarity of the pottery of the Anglo-Saxon
  burial urns consists in raised knobs or bosses, arranged
  symmetrically round them, and sometimes forming a sort of ribs,
  while in the ruder examples they become mere round lumps, or
  even present only a slight swelling of the surface of the
  vessel. That these vessels belong to the early Anglo-Saxon
  period is proved beyond any doubt by the various objects, such
  as arms, personal ornaments, &c., which are found with them,
  and they present evident imitations both of Roman forms and
  of Roman ornamentation. But one of these urns has been found
  accompanied with remarkable circumstances, which not only show
  its relative date, but illustrate a fact in the ethnological
  history of this early period. Among the Faussett collection
  of Anglo-Saxon antiquities is an urn which Bryan Faussett
  appears to have obtained from North Elmham, in Norfolk, and
  which contained the bones of a child. It is represented in the
  accompanying engraving (Fig. 245), and will be seen at once
  to be perfectly identical in character with the East-Anglian
  sepulchral urns. But Mr. Roach Smith, in examining the various
  objects in the Faussett collection, preparatory to his edition
  of Bryan Faussett’s “Inventorum Sepulchrale,” discovered on
  one side of this urn a Roman sepulchral inscription, which is
  easily read as follows:--

    D. M.         To the gods of the shades.
    LAELIAE       To Lælia
    RVFINAE       Rufina.
    VIXIT·A·XIII  She lived thirteen years,
    M·III·D·VI.   three months, and six days.

  To this Roman girl, with a purely Roman name, belonged, no
  doubt, the few bones which were found in the Anglo-Saxon burial
  urn when Bryan Faussett received it; and this circumstance
  illustrates several important as well as interesting questions
  relating to our early history. It proves, in the first place,
  what no judicious historian now doubts, that the Roman
  population remained in the island after the withdrawal of the
  Roman power, and mixed with the Anglo-Saxon conquerors; that
  they continued to retain, for some time at least, their old
  manners and language, and even their Paganism and their burial
  ceremonies; for this is the purely Roman form of sepulchral
  inscriptions; and that, with their own ceremonies, they buried
  in the common cemetery of the new Anglo-Saxon possessors of the
  land, for this urn was found in an Anglo-Saxon burial-ground.
  This last circumstance had already been suspected by
  antiquaries, for traces of Roman interment in the well-known
  Roman leaden coffins had been found in the Anglo-Saxon
  cemetery at Ozingell, in the Isle of Thanet; and other similar
  discoveries have, I believe, been made elsewhere. The fact of
  this Roman inscription on an Anglo-Saxon burial urn, found
  immediately in the district of the Anglo-Saxon cemeteries,
  which have produced so many of these East Anglian urns,
  proves further that these urns belong to a period following
  immediately upon the close of what we call the Roman period.”

The sepulchral vases found in the district of the Middle Angles vary
but slightly in form from the East-Anglian burial urns. An example
is given in Fig. 246, from Chestersovers, in Warwickshire, where it
was found with an iron sword, a spear-head, and other articles of
Anglo-Saxon character.

  “If we had not abundant proofs of the Anglo-Saxon character of
  this pottery at home,” continues Mr. Wright, “we should find
  sufficient evidences of it among the remains of the kindred
  tribes on the Continent, the old Germans, or Alemanni, and
  the Franks. Some years ago, an early cemetery, belonging to
  the Germans, or Alemanni, who then occupied the banks of the
  Upper Rhine, was discovered near a hamlet called Selzen, on the
  northern bank of that river, not far above Mayence, and the
  rather numerous objects found in it are, I believe, preserved
  in the Mayence Museum. They were communicated to the public
  by the brothers Lindenschmit, in a well-illustrated volume
  published in 1848, under the title ‘Das Germanische Todtenlager
  bei Selzen in der Provinz Reinhessen.’ When this book appeared
  in England, our antiquaries were astonished to find in the
  objects discovered in the Alemannic cemeteries of the country
  bordering on the Rhine a character entirely identical with
  that of their own Anglo-Saxon antiquities, by which the close
  affinity of the two races was strikingly illustrated. More
  recently, the subject has been further illustrated in the
  description by Ludwig Lindenschmit of the collection of the
  national antiquities in the Ducal Museum of Hohenzollern, and
  in other publications. About the same time with the first
  labours of the Lindenschmits, a French antiquary, Dr. Rigollot,
  was calling attention in France to similar discoveries in the
  cemeteries which the Teutonic invaders of Picardy had left
  behind them, and in which he recognised the same character as
  that displayed by the similar remains of the Anglo-Saxons in
  our island. Similar discoveries have been made in Burgundy
  and in Switzerland, the ancient country of the Helvetii;
  and it is hardly necessary here to do more than mention the
  great and valuable researches carried on by the Abbé Cochet
  among the Frankish graves in Normandy. It has thus become an
  established fact that the varied remains of the tribes, all
  of Teutonic descent, who settled on the borders of the Roman
  empire along the whole extent of the country from Great Britain
  to Switzerland, present the same character and bear a close
  resemblance.”

  [Illustration: Figs. 253 to 256.]

A few figures here given will illustrate this resemblance. Figs.
248 and 251 are two Allemannic urns from the cemetery of Selzen. It
will be seen that they resemble in form the East Anglian urns, and
the same ornamentation is also found among our general Anglo-Saxon
pottery. These urns are described as being usually made of the clay
of the neighbourhood, in most cases turned on a lathe, but many of
them imperfectly baked. They are found in graves where the body had
not undergone cremation, and were used for containing articles of a
miscellaneous description. Fig. 252 is a slate-coloured urn, procured
at Cologne, and is ornamented with circular stamps. Figs. 249 and
251 are Frankish urns, obtained by the Abbé Cochet from Londinières
in Normandy, and show at a glance the identity of the Frankish
pottery with the Germanic as well as with the Anglo-Saxon. The second
of these is surrounded with a row of the well-known bosses, which
are equally characteristic of the three divisions of this Teutonic
pottery--Anglo-Saxon, Frankish, and Allemannic. Above these bosses
is an ornament identical with that of the East Anglian urn with the
sepulchral inscription. Figs. 253 to 256 are urns from the Swiss
Lacustrine habitations, for comparison of form.

  [Illustration: Fig. 257.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 258.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 259.]

The series of engravings (Figs. 232 to 244) will show the general and
more characteristic forms of purely Anglo-Saxon cinerary urns. Figs.
232 and 235 are of the low or flat variety, which is of not unfrequent
occurrence. Figs. 234 and 236 are also of a not uncommon form, while
240 is more uncommon. Fig. 241 is of excellent form, and is very
simple in ornamentation, having only encircling and diagonal lines, to
decorate its surface. Figs. 243, 244, and 239 are of different shape,
and so again are Figs. 237 and 240, which are almost unique in form and
in ornamentation.

  [Illustration: Fig. 260.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 261.]

Most of these examples are from one locality, King’s Newton, in
Derbyshire, within a few miles of the capital of the kingdom of Mercia.
The others (Fig. 232) are from Kingston, in the same neighbourhood.
Other characteristic examples of form and decoration are given on
Figs. 233 and 234. These are from the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, and
from the Norwich Museum, and exhibit excellent specimens of forms and
decoration from those districts.

The ornamentation on Anglo-Saxon cinerary urns consists usually of
encircling lines in bands, or otherwise; in vertical or zig-zag lines,
arranged in a variety of ways; of impressed or punctured ornaments; and
of knobs or protuberances. Sometimes also, as in a Bedfordshire urn,
they present evident attempts at imitation of the Roman egg-and-tongue
ornament. In some districts small ornaments are painted on the surface
with a white pigment. The marked feature of the pottery of this period
is the frequency of the small punctured or impressed ornaments to which
I have alluded, which are introduced along with the lines or bands,
with very good effect. These ornaments were evidently usually produced
by the end of a stick, cut and notched across in different directions,
so as to produce crosses and other patterns. In other instances these
impressed ornaments have been produced by twisted slips of metal, &c.

In the woodcut (Figs. 260 and 261) I have endeavoured to show two of
the notched-stick “punches,” such as I have reason to believe were
used for pressing into the soft clay, and also the impressed patterns
produced by them.

The quatrefoils (or as they may almost be called, crosses patée) on
some of the urns I have engraved, particularly on Figs. 237, 238, and
239, are very unusual, as are also those in the lower bands of Figs.
237 and 240, and in the upper band of the latter example.

Other modes of ornamenting are shown on Fig. 234.




                              CHAPTER IV.

  Pottery of the Norman and Mediæval Periods--Examples
  from illuminated MSS.--Norman Potworks at Burley
  Hill--The Ferrars Family--Mediæval Pottery---Grotesque
  Vessels--Costrils--Mammiform Vessels--The Cruiskeen or
  Cruiska--Godets, &c.--Simpson’s Petition--Rous and Cullyn’s
  Patent--Bellarmines--Ale-pots--Salt glazing--Butter-pots--Dr.
  Plot--State of Staffordshire Potteries--Combed Ware--Ariens
  Van Hamme--John Dwight--The brothers Elers--The Tofts--William
  Sans--Tygs--Candlesticks--Cradles, &c.


Of the pottery of the Norman period but little has been said by any
writers, and that simply because but little was known. I had the good
fortune, however, a few years’ back, to discover the remains of a
kiln[30] of that period, in and around the remains of which were many
vessels--“wasters” as they would be technically called--of various
kinds. This discovery was all the more interesting and valuable,
as being the only instance of the finding of a kiln either of the
Anglo-Saxon or Norman periods, and it has enabled me to identify and
appropriate to this age vessels from other localities. To these I shall
presently refer.

  [Illustration: Fig. 262.]

  [Illustration: Pitcher, temp. Henry III.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 263.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 264.]

The pottery of this period consisted chiefly of pitchers, dishes,
bowls, or basins, and what we should now term porringers or pipkins;
the bowls or basins and dishes being used for drinking purposes
as well as for placing cooked meats in; the pitchers for holding
and carrying ale, mead, water, and other liquors to the table, and
the porringers both for eating and for cooking with. The uses of
these vessels, as well as their general forms, are gathered from the
illuminated MSS. of the time which have come down to us. The annexed
engraving (Fig. 264) from a twelfth-century MS., shows the pitchers,
the water or wine vessels--both in their locker and being carried
up to the feast by attendants, one of whom is drawing water from a
draw-well in the yard. Fig. 263 shows, on a table set out for dinner,
the bowls or basins for the food and for drinking from, one of which
holds a fish. The plate-like articles, it should be mentioned, are
bread which was made in cakes, and variously ornamented with the knife.
The other engravings (Figs. 262 and 266) are excellent representations
of pitchers and wine vessels, drinking-cups and bowls, and other
characteristic vessels. The next Fig. (265) gives the form of the
drinking-cups excellently well, and enables one to determine that the
small vessel engraved (Fig. 246) was one used for that purpose. It
should be stated, however, that, as in the former case, the objects
between the drinking-cups on the table are not plates, but cakes of
bread.

  [Illustration: Fig. 265.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 266.]

  [Illustration: Figs. 267 to 270.--From Burley Hill.]

The clay of which Norman pottery is formed is usually of a coarse kind,
and the vessels bear evidence in many instances of the wheel having
been used. In colour they are sometimes of a reddish brown, at others
of a tolerably good red, while at others again they are nearly black;
and many of the pitchers, &c., are either wholly or partially covered
with a green or other glaze. Many are quite devoid of ornament, but
others have the ends of the handles formed into foliage, &c., by the
pressure of the finger. Some, however, are rather highly decorated.
Figs. 267 to 270 show four small-sized jugs, ranging from four and a
half to seven inches in height, two of which are devoid of ornament,
and the other two have their handles foliated. Figs. 273 and 275 show
pitchers of a larger growth, of the same clumsy coarse kind of clay,
and ornamented in the same primitive manner. They are about nine inches
in height, and are green glazed.

  [Illustration: Figs. 271 and 272.--From Burley Hill.]

  [Illustration: Figs. 273 to 275.--From Burley Hill.]

Figs. 271 and 272 represent the two sides of a remarkably fine pitcher,
which (as well as those engraved on Figs. 267 to 279) was discovered
by myself in a kiln to which reference has been made. It is sixteen
inches in height, and is, perhaps, the finest and most interesting
fictile remain of the Norman period in existence. It bears, as will be
seen, five horseshoes, and two buckles, all of which were badges of the
Ferrars family (Norman Earls of Derby), who were lords of the soil
where, and at the time when, these vessels were made. The decorations
are all laid on in “slip” of a finer kind of clay than that of which
the body is composed, and the pitcher is glazed. Herring-bone pattern
is incised in the body of the pitcher itself.

While speaking of this pitcher it may not be out of place to allude to
a ludicrous mistake made in Miss Meteyard’s “Life of Wedgwood.” On page
38, vol. i. of that work, Miss Meteyard has copied my own woodcut which
appeared some little time before, both in the “Reliquary” and in my
own “Life of Wedgwood;” but her artist having made his tracing from my
woodcut has _reversed_ it in his copy, and thus made it worse than
useless.

  [Illustration: Fig. 276.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 277.]

Fig. 274 represents a “porringer” or pipkin from the same place. It is
of red clay; but others were found of a dark clay, and partly glazed. A
kind of clumsy dish and a bottle-shaped vessel with a side handle are
shown on the next engravings (Figs. 276 and 277).

  [Illustration: Figs. 278 and 279.--From Burley Hill.]

Fragments of a number of large pitchers, highly decorated with flowers,
bosses, &c., in slip, and incised patterns, were also found. Among
the more interesting of these were some bearing round the neck rude
attempts at faces and arms. Two of these are shown on Figs. 278 and
279.

  [Illustration: Fig. 280.

  Fig. 281.

  Fig. 282.

  Fig. 283.]

The domestic vessels of a somewhat later date appear, in many
instances, to retain the same general form, but in others present new
shapes. Fortunately, we can again fall back upon the illuminated MSS.
for forms of these vessels, and can compare them with actual examples.

  [Illustration: Fig. 284.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 285.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 286.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 287.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 288.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 289.]

Thus on Fig. 284 we have a dish of the fourteenth, and in Fig. 283
those of the fifteenth century; while in the others we have drinking
cups, bowls, three-legged vessels with spouts, &c. Fig. 282 gives us a
wash-hand basin and jug--an attendant holding the basin in one hand and
jug in the other while the guest washes his hands, a female standing
by with the towel. In Fig. 281 we have a remarkably fine assemblage
of pitchers of the fourteenth century, some of which appear to be
ornamented with cross bands; while in Fig. 280 (the dancing of Herodias
before Herod) we have dishes, jugs, and bowls. Some of the vessels in
these illuminations, it must be borne in mind, may be of metal, but
the form is still of the same value and importance. Some excellent
figures of mediæval jugs are also given in the next engravings, one of
which (Fig. 287) likewise shows a drinking-mug.

  [Illustration: Fig. 290.--London.]

  [Illustration: Figs. 291 to 294.--Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 295.--London.]

One of the earliest written notices of crockery we have is the
oft-quoted entry in the account of payments by the executors of Queen
Eleanor, wife of Edward I. “Item Juliana la potere pro ccc picheriis
die anniversarii Reginæ viij_s_. vj_d_.”--these three hundred pitchers
being probably earthenware vessels “provided for the feast given to the
poor on the anniversary of the queen’s death.”[31] Another item in the
same accounts is also curious: “Item, Johanni le squeler pro M^{le} et
D discis, tot platelles, tot salseriis, et cccc chiphis, xlij_s_.”--the
“squeler,” or “sargeant-squylloure,” being “pourveyour of the
squylery,” or scullery, who had charge of the pots, and kept them clean
and in order. In the household books of Edward IV. and Sir John Howard,
in the fifteenth century, and the Earl of Northumberland, shortly
afterwards, mention is made of “earth and asshen cuppes” and “erthyn
potts”--the latter directing that leather pots be bought in place of
earthen ones, of course in consequence of the loss by breakage. The
entry in the expenses of Sir John Howard, in 1466, referred to, shows
somewhat curiously the cost of “potes” in those days:--“Watekin bocher
of Stoke delyvered of my mony to on of the poteres of Horkesley iv^{s.}
vi^{d.} to pay hemselfe and his felawes for xi dosen potes,” which
would be about 4¾_d._ per dozen for them.

  [Illustration: Fig. 296.]

The vessels made in England in mediæval times principally consisted
of pitchers and jugs, cups or bowls, bottles, and dishes; the term
“pottes” being applied to the drinking cups then in general use. From
them and their successors the “ale pots,” of which I shall yet speak,
the still common term of a _pot_ of ale has gradually come down
to us. One shape of these drinking vessels is shown in the two smaller
vessels, Figs. 293 and 294, the larger ones being excellent examples of
the jugs in use along with them. These were dug up in Oxford, in 1838,
and are preserved in the Ashmolean Museum. Other good examples of jugs,
in the Jermyn Street Museum, are shown on Figs. 290 and 295. These are
all plain, but are glazed.

The larger jugs, or pitchers, are frequently ornamented with heads,
foliage, or other devices, in somewhat high relief. Many of these are
very curious. They were made in different parts of the country, of the
common clays of the locality, and decorated according to the taste and
skill of the maker.

  [Illustration: Fig. 297.--Lewes.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 298.--Salisbury Museum.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 299.--Scarborough Museum.]

Jugs, or vessels for liquor, were occasionally, from a very early
period, made in form of mounted knights. Indeed, from the occurrence
of grotesque heads and portions of figures on the Norman vessels
which I had the good fortune to exhume a few years back,[32] it is
probable these grotesque vessels may, in some instances, trace from
that date. A very interesting example (Fig. 297) was found at Lewes in
1846. It is in the form of a mounted knight. The workmanship is very
rude, but there are certain details, such as the long pointed toes
and pryck spurs, from which its probable date is assigned to the time
of Henry II. Its length is ten and half inches, and its full height,
when perfect, would be thirteen or fourteen inches. The material is
coarse clay, the upper parts green glazed. There can be no doubt it
was intended to contain liquor, and the handle, which passes from the
back of the knight to the tail of the horse, was evidently intended for
pouring out the contents; whilst a circular aperture at the lower end
of the handle afforded the means of filling the vessel.[33] There is no
evidence to show where this was made.

Another curious example (Fig. 298) preserved in the Salisbury Museum,
was found at Mere, in Wiltshire, and is believed to belong to the
latter half of the twelfth century. The costume and accoutrements of
this figure (which is a knight on horseback, armed with shield, &c.)
correspond almost precisely to that of the effigy of King Richard I.
on his great seal.[34] The impressed circles are probably intended to
represent chain mail.

  [Illustration: Fig. 300.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 301.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 302.]

Another vessel, of analogous character, preserved in the Scarborough
Museum, is engraved on Fig. 299. It is in the form of an animal with
a twisted horn, but its handle and other parts are imperfect. It is
covered with a green glaze, and was, there cannot be the shadow of a
doubt, made at Scarborough, where, as I shall show, the remains of a
potter’s kiln was found in 1854, but has not, as yet, been named in any
work on pottery.

A jug, which would almost appear to have been the origin of the
bellarmine, to be hereafter described, was communicated by Mr. Kirwan
to the _Journal of the British Archæological Association_,[35]
where it is engraved. It is covered with green glaze, and bears a
well and powerfully moulded head, with the flowing hair and beard so
characteristic of the time of Edward I., II., and III. To this period
some clay moulds for the forming of faces upon mediæval pottery, found
at Lincoln by Mr. Arthur Trollope, may be assigned; they are engraved
by Marryatt,[36] and will be referred to later on in this volume. It
will be seen, too, on comparison of this jug with the fragments of
Norman pottery on another page, that it is the same kind of general
idea, somewhat amplified, but carried out in the taste of the day.

  [Illustration: Fig. 303.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 304.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 305.]

The costrils, or pilgrims’ bottles as they are commonly called,
_i.e._, bottles for liquor to be carried and hung on the person,
were much made in the Middle Ages, and although usually plain, were,
nevertheless, sometimes rather highly decorated. Fig. 300 is the
shape mostly known as a pilgrim’s bottle, and will be seen to vary
but little from the flattened globular amphora of Roman times (Fig.
303). Sometimes they had four loops instead of handles, so that the
strap could pass through the four loops and make the carrying safer.
To this class a remarkably fine example in the Roach Smith collection
in the British Museum belongs. On one side are the royal arms of
Henry VIII. within a rose and garter, and with supporters and crown,
with the legend DNE SALVVM FAC REGEM REGINAM ET REGNVM (God
keep safe the King, Queen, and kingdom): on the other side are four
medallions: one contains the sacred monogram, I.H.S.; two others have
radiating patterns, and the fourth a heart, with loveknot of flowers
and the word LEAL. Fig. 303 shows another example, somewhat
of the form of Figs. 300 and 302; but in this case it is globular,
or gourd-shaped, and not flattened on the sides, and the handles for
the loops are simply flat pieces of clay pierced for suspension. This
interesting example, which is of Tickenhall make, belongs to Sir J.
H. Crewe, Bart., and is mottled with green all over its surface.
Another excellent form of mediæval “pilgrim’s bottle” was found at
Collingbourne Ducis by the Rev. W. C. Lukis, F.S.A. It is of barrel
shape, and has handles and mouth at the top, and, at the bottom, a
stand. In front is a face surrounded by oak-leaves, within a circle of
foliage, all in relief, and above this is an aperture. Other vessels
partaking of the barrel-shape and mammiform character are also met
with: some of their forms will be seen on Figs. 304 to 307. When
carried, they would be slung by the handles in the same manner as
others; but when not in use, instead of having a base, as in Fig. 303,
one end is seen to be flattened for it to stand upon; the other end is
in form of a woman’s breast--this, of course, in allusion to the use
of the vessel, from the mouth of which the person who used it would
drink or “suck” the liquor it contained. A much more perfectly formed
mammiform bottle I give, from a beautiful drawing furnished me, with
others, by my friend the late Mr. F. C. Lukis, F.S.A., on Figs. 304 and
305. It is gourd-shaped, with one side flattened to prevent its rolling
when set down, and the other side is a beautifully formed female
breast. It is four and a half inches in height, and holds about half a
pint.

  [Illustration: Fig. 306.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 307.]

The cruskin, or cruse, or cruske, was much in use, and made of somewhat
varied form. It was the precursor of the tyg, and was nothing more than
a drinking-cup. References are frequently found to this vessel, as a
“crusekyn de terre,” and as having, in some instances, been mounted
with silver. Usually, however, they were plain cups of earthenware
or of wood, generally ash, the latter partaking somewhat of the form
of our present basin. I am inclined to think, too, that the pipkin,
or porringer, was also called a cruske or cruskin. The term is still
in use in Ireland, where a “cruisken of whiskey” is a common form of
expression. Some of the forms of the “cruisken” as at present in use in
Ireland--made of wood--are shown on Figs. 308 to 311.

  [Illustration: Fig. 308.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 309.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 310.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 311.]

The godet, or goddard, was another drinking-cup much in vogue, and
was, evidently, a kind of large cup or bowl, in which spiced liquor
was mixed and drunk by “gossips” and friends. Some of these bowls
will be spoken of later on. Besides these, various other names for
drinking-vessels were more or less in use.

In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the potter’s art
was principally confined to the manufacture of common domestic
vessels--large coarse dishes, cruiskens, tygs, pitchers, bowls, cups,
candlesticks, pans, butter-pots, and other articles being among the
number. Many articles, not made in England, were imported from Holland
and other countries, and came into general use. They were, however,
soon copied by our own workmen and made to a large extent. Among the
principal of the imported vessels were bellarmines, or grey beards; and
ale-pots. In the reign of Queen Elizabeth, one William Simpson proposed
to manufacture, “in some decayed town within this realm,” these
ale-pots, which had till that time been solely imported from Cologne by
Garnet Tynes, by which he promised that “manie a hundred poore men may
be sett at worke.” As a preliminary to this, he petitioned the queen to
grant him sole licence to bring them into the realm. The following is
his petition:--[37]

  “The sewte of William Simpson, merchaunte--Whereas one Garnet
  Tynes, a straunger livinge in Acon, in the parte beyond the
  seas, being none of her ma^{ties} subjecte, doth buy uppe
  alle the pottes made at Culloin, called _Drinking stone
  pottes_, and he onelie transporteth them into this realm
  of England, and selleth them: It may please your ma^{tie} to
  graunt unto the said Simpson full power and onelie license
  to provyde transport and bring into this realm the same or
  such like drinking pottes; and the said Simpson will putt
  in good suretie that it shall not be prejudiciall to anie
  of your ma^{ties} subjects, but that he will serve them as
  plentifullie, and sell them at as reasonable price as the other
  hath sold them from tyme to tyme.

  “Item. He will be bound to double her ma^{ties} custome by the
  year, whenever it hath been at the most.

  “Item. He will as in him lieth draur the making of such like
  pottes into some decayed town within this realm, wherebie manie
  a hundred poore men may be sett a work.

  “Note. That no Englishman doth transport any potte into this
  realm but onlie the said Garnet Tynes, who also serveth all the
  Low Countries and other places with pottes.”

Whether the petition was granted or not does not appear.

In 1570, according to Stow, Jasper Andries and Jacob Janson, potters,
who had settled in Norwich in 1567 (which see), “removed to London.
They set forth in a petition to Queen Elizabeth that they were the
first that brought in and exercised the said science in this realm, and
were at great charges before they could find materials in this realm.
They besseeched her, in recompense of their great cost and charges,
that she would grant them house room in or without the liberties of
London, by the water side.” In 1626 a patent was granted to Thomas
Rous, _alias_ Rius, and Abraham Cullen, for the manufacture of
“Stone Potts, Stone Juggs, and Stone Bottells.” This patent I here give
entire:--

  “Whereas we are given to vnderstand by our loving subiecte,
  THOMAS ROUS als RIUS and ABRAHAM
  CULLYN, of London, Marchante, that heretofore and at this
  present, this our Kingdome of Englande and other our Dominions
  are and have beene served with stone potte, stone jugge, and
  stone bottles out of forreigne parte from beyond the seas,
  and they have likewise shewed vnto vs that by their industry
  and charge not onely the materialle, but also the arte and
  manufacture may be found out and pformed, never formerly vsed
  within this our Kingdome of England, by any which proffitable
  intencon they have already attempted and in some good measure
  have proceeded in, and hope to pfecte, whereby many poore and
  vnproffitable people may be sett on worke and put to labour
  and good ymployment for their maintenance, and reliefe, of
  which they will make further tryall at their owne charge for
  the good of our realmes, and in consideracon thereof they have
  humbly desired that we would be graciously pleased to grant
  vnto them our royall priviledge for ‘THE SOLE MAKING OF THE
  STONE POTTE, STONE JUGGE, and STONE BOTTELLE,’
  within our Dominions for the tearme of fowerteene yeares, for
  a reward for their Invencon, and they have also voluntarily
  offered vnto vs for the same a yearely rente of five pounde
  towarde the increase of our revenue, soe long as they have
  benefitte by this our grant, neyther doe they desier by vertue
  of such priviledge to prohibite or hinder the importacon of
  these comodities by others from forreigne parte, but that they
  may still bring in the same from beyond the seas as they have
  formerly done.

  “Knowe ye, that we graciously tendring and effecting the
  general good and benifitt of our kingdomes and our subiecte of
  the same, and to the end that as well the said Thomas Rous als
  Rius and Abraham Cullin may receave some convenient recompence
  and proffitte out of their owne labours and endeavours as
  reason requireth, as also that other our loving subiecte
  may be thereby encouraged, in the like laudable service and
  endeavours for the comon good of their country, and for other
  good consideracons vs herevnto moving of our especiall grace,
  certeyne knowledge, and meare mocon we have given and granted,
  and by these Presente for vs, our heires and successors, doe
  give and grant full and free lycence, priviledge, power, and
  authority, vnto the said Thomas Rous als Rius and Abraham
  Cullin, and eyther of them, their and eyther of their executors
  and administrators, and their and every or any of their
  deputies or assignes, having authority from them, or any of
  them in that behalfe, that they and every or any of them, and
  none others, shall and may from tyme to tyme, and at all tymes
  for and during the tearme of fowerteene yeares nexte ensueing
  the date hereof, within these our Realmes of England and
  Ireland, and the Dominions thereof, at their or any of their
  liberty and pleasuer, vse, exercise, practise, and put in vse
  the arte and feate of frameing, workeing, and makeing of all
  and all manner of potte, jugge, and bottelle, commonly called
  or knowne by the name or names of stone potte, stone jugge, and
  stone bottelle whatsoever, whereof the like hath not heretofore
  beene vsually made or wrought, within our said realmes and
  dominions, and also to make, erecte, and sett vpp in any
  ground, place, or places whatsoever within our said realmes and
  dominions, with the consent, agreement, and good likeing of the
  persons to whome the same shall belong, any fornace or fornaces
  whatsoever concerning the said feate or arte of frameing,
  workeing, and making of stone potte, stone jugge, and stone
  bottelle, and the same soe made to vtter and sell in grose, or
  by retayle, or otherwise to doe away or dispose of the same at
  their or any of their will and pleasuer, and to their or any of
  their beste comodity and proffitt, during the said tearme of
  fowerteene yeares; and therefore our will and pleasuer is, and
  we doe, by these Presente, for vs, our heires, and successors,
  straightly charge, prohibite, and forbidd all and every person
  and persons, as well our naturall borne subiecte as aliens,
  denizens, and strangers whatsoever (other then the said Thomous
  Rous als Rius and Abraham Cullin, and eyther of them, their and
  eyther of their executors, administrators, and assignes, and
  such as shall by them or any of them be sett on worke, licensed
  or authorised, that they or any of them doe not, during the
  tearme aforesaid, presume, attempte, or take in hande to make,
  frame, practise, vse, or exercise, within our said Realmes of
  England or Ireland, or the Dominions of the same, the said
  arte, feate, or way of makeing, frameing, or workeing of any
  manner of the said potte, jugge, or bottelle, comonly called
  or knowne by the name or names of stone potte, stone jugge,
  and stone bottelle whatsoever, not heretofore vsually made or
  wrought within our said realmes or dominions, and to be put in
  vse and practise by the said Thomas Rous als Rius and Abraham
  Cullin, or eyther of them, their or eyther of their executors,
  administrators, or assignes, or to counterfett the said arte or
  feate by them or any of them soe to be put in vse, & practise,
  nor to presume, attempt, or take in hand, to make, erecte,
  frame, or sett vpp any furnace or furnaces to that purpose,
  vpon payne of forfeyture of all and every such potte, jugge,
  and bottelle soe to be made, wrought or counterfetted, contrary
  to the true intente and meaneing of these psente, and also vpon
  payne of breakeing and defaceing of all and every the said
  furnace or furnaces to be made or erected contrary to the tenor
  hereof, and further vpon payne of our highe indignacon and
  displeasure, and such further penalties and imprisonmente as by
  any the statute or lawes of the said realmes or dominions, or
  any of them, can or may be inflicted vpon them, or any of them,
  for their contempt and disobedience in breakeing and contemning
  our comandement and prerogative royall.”

In 1635 a patent was granted to “David Ramsey, Esquier, one of the
groomes of our pryvie chamber, Michael Arnold, and John Ayliffe,
of the citty of Westminster, Brewers,” for a new method of heating
boilers by means of sea coal, for brewers, soap-boilers, and others;
which “invencion is alsoe very usefull for the Dryeinge of Bricke,
all manner of Tyles, and all such sortes of Tyles as cannot be made
in this kingdome but in the Heat of Sumer; and alsoe that they have
found out the Arte and Skill of Makeinge and Dyeinge of all sortes of
Panne Tyles, Stone Juggs, Bottles of all sizes, Earthen Wicker Bottles;
Meltinge Pottes for Gouldsmythes, and other Earthen Comodityes within
this our Realme, which nowe are made by Straungers in Forraigne Partes;
and that in the makinge of the same Earthen Comodityes as aforesaid,
the saide David Ramsey, Michaell Arnold, and John Ayliffe shall have
employment for many of our poore Subjects, whoe thereby shalbee sett on
worke, and bee competently mainteyned, and will alsoe sell them cheaper
than they are now sould.” This patent was for fourteen years, the
parties being bound to pay one-fourth part of their profit yearly into
the exchequer.

The stoneware was usually called “Cologne ware,” from Cologne, from
whence it was first imported; and by this name that made in our own
country continued to be in great measure known. It will be well here,
therefore, to speak of the ale-pots and bellarmines of that kind of
ware.

  [Illustration: Figs. 312 and 313.--Bellarmines.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 314.--Bellarmine.]

The _Bellarmine_, or _Grey Beard_, or _Long Beard_, as it was commonly
called, was a stoneware pot of bottle form, mostly with a handle at the
back and ornament on the front. The neck is narrow, and the lower part,
or “belly,” as it is technically called, very wide and protuberant.
They were in very general use at the “ale-houses” to serve ale in to
customers, and were of different sizes--the _gallonier_ containing
a gallon; the _pottle pot_, two quarts; the _pot_, a quart; and the
_little pot_, a pint. These jugs were derisively named after Cardinal
Bellarmine, who died in 1621. The cardinal having, by his determined
and bigoted opposition to the reformed religion, made himself obnoxious
in the Low Countries, became naturally an object of derision and
contempt with the Protestants, who, among other modes of showing their
detestation of the man, seized on the potter’s art to exhibit his
short stature, his hard features, and his rotund figure, to become the
jest of the ale-house and the byword of the people. Allusions to the
bellarmines are very common in the productions of the English writers
of the period.

Ben Jonson, in his _Gipsies Metamorphosed_, gives the following amusing
version of the origin of these vessels:--

  “Gaze upon this brave spark struck out of Flintshire upon
  Justice Jug’s daughter, then sheriff of the county, who,
  running away with a kinsman of our captain’s, and her father
  pursuing her to the Marches, he great with justice, she great
  with jugling, they were both for the time turned into stone
  upon sight of each other here in Chester; till at last (see the
  wonder!) a jug of the town ale reconciling them, the memorial
  of both their gravities--his in beard, and hers in belly--hath
  remained ever since preserved in picture upon the most stone
  jugs of the kingdom.”

In another place he says:--

    “Whose, at the best, some round grown thing, a _jug
    Faced with a beard_, that fills out to the guests.”

In another play, the _Ordinary_, is the following:--

                            “Thou thing,
    Thy belly looks like to some strutting hill,
    O’ershadowed by thy rough beard like a wood;
    Or like a larger jug that some men call
    A _Bellarmine_, but we a _Conscience_;
    Whereon the lewder hand of pagan workman
    Over the proud ambitious head hath carved
    An idol large, with beard episcopal,
    Making the vessel look like tyrant Eglon.”

In the curious play of _Epsom Wells_, one of the characters, while
busy with ale, says, “Uds bud, my head begins to turn round; but let’s
into the house. ’Tis dark. We’ll have one _Bellarmine_ there, and then
_Bonus nocius_.”

These are but a few of the allusions that might be brought forward
from the old writers, but they are sufficient to show its common
use. The ale pots thus being formed with the corpulent proportions
and the “hard-mouthed visage” of the cardinal, became a popular and
biting burlesque upon him. From them, too, from the face upon the ale
_mug_ or ale pot, the vulgar name of “mug” for the human face
is probably derived. The engravings, Figs. 312 to 314, show three
bellarmines; the first two are “foreign” make, but the latter is
English; and a strong general resemblance will be seen to the pitchers
before engraved. Another English bellarmine is engraved under the head
of “Fulham.”

The ordinary “ale-pots,” or “little pots,”--the pint jugs,--were,
like the bellarmines, at first imported into this country, but they
were afterwards made to a considerable extent in various parts of the
kingdom. They were made of a light-coloured clay, and took the name of
“stoneware,” from their hardness and colour. They were turned on the
wheel, the necks being usually covered, with deeply encircling lines;
and the ornaments consisted of lines scratched, or incised, into the
soft clay with a sharp point, in form of foliage, flowers, scrolls,
circles, &c., and then washed in with blue colour. In some instances a
pattern--usually a flower or initials--was impressed, from a mould, on
the front, as in the manner of the bellarmines. They are generally very
thick, and must have been extremely durable. One example is engraved
(Fig. 315).

  [Illustration: Fig. 315.--Ale Pot.]

Salt-glazing appears to have been introduced about 1680, and it
gradually superseded the lead-glazing which till that time was in
regular use. The account given of this discovery is, that “at Mr.
Joseph Yates’, Stanley, near Bagnall, five miles east of Burslem, in
Staffordshire, the servant was preparing, in an earthen vessel, a
salt-ley for curing pork, and during her temporary absence the liquid
boiled over, and the sides of the pot were quickly red hot from intense
heat; yet, when cold, were covered with an excellent glaze. The fact
was detailed to Mr. Palmer, potter, of Bagnall, who availed himself
of the occurrence, and told other potters. At the small manufactories
in Holden Lane (Adams’s), Green Head, and Brownhills (Wedgwood’s),
salt-glazed ware was soon afterwards made.” “The ovens employed for the
purpose being used only once weekly, and the ware being cheap, were
large in diameter, and very high, to contain a sufficient quantity
to be baked each time, to cover all contingent expenses. They were
constructed with a scaffold round them, on which the firemen could
stand, while casting in the salt through holes made in the upper part
of the cylinder, above the bags or inner vertical flues; and the
saggers were made of completely refractory materials, with holes in
their sides, for the vapourised salt to circulate freely among all the
vessels in the oven to affect their surfaces.” The ware thus glazed,
and made from the common clay, with a mixture of fine sand from Mole
Cop, was called “Crouch ware,” and in this all the ordinary articles
of domestic use, including jugs, cups, dishes, &c., were made. At this
time, it is stated, there were only twenty-two ovens in Burslem and
its neighbourhood. “The employment of salt in glazing Crouch ware was
a long time practised before the introduction of white clay and flint.
The vast volumes of smoke and vapours from the ovens entering the
atmosphere, produced that dense white cloud which, from about eight
o’clock till twelve on the Saturday morning (the time of ‘firing up,’
as it is called), so completely enveloped the whole interior of the
town, as to cause persons often to run against each other, travellers
to mistake the road; and strangers have mentioned it as extremely
disagreeable, and not unlike the smoke of Etna or Vesuvius.”

In 1685 a white stoneware was made at Shelton by Thomas Miles, and at
the same time and place a brown stoneware was also made. These would be
the same as the ale-pots and bellarmines were made of.

In 1686, Dr. Plot published his “Staffordshire,” and thus spoke of the
butter trade, and butter-pots then made:--[38]

  “From which Limestone Hills, and rich pastures and meddows,
  the great Dairys are maintained in this part of Staffordshire,
  that supply Uttoxeter Mercat with such vast quantites of good
  butter and cheese, that the Cheesemongers of London have
  thought it worth their while to set up a Factorage here for
  these commodities, which are brought in from this, and the
  neighbouring county of Derby, in so great plenty, that the
  Factors many Mercat days (in the season) lay out no less than
  five hundred pounds a day in these two commodities only. The
  Butter they buy by the _Pot_ of a long cylendrical form,
  made at _Burslem_, in this county, of a certain size, so
  as not to weigh above six pounds at most, and yet to contain at
  least 14 pounds of Butter, according to an Act of Parliament
  made about 14 or 16 years agoe, for regulateing the abuses
  of this trade in the make of Pots, and false packing of the
  Butter; which before was sometimes layed good for a little
  depth at the _top_, and bad at the _bottom_; and
  sometimes set in _rolls_ only touching at the _top_,
  and standing hollow _below_ at a great distance from the
  sides of the pot. To prevent these little Moorlandish cheats
  (than whom no people whatever are esteemed most subtile) the
  Factors keep a _Surveyor_ all the Summer here, who if
  he have ground to suspect any of the _Pots_, tryes them
  with an instrument of Iron, made like a _Cheese-Taster_,
  only much larger and longer, called an _Auger_ or
  _Butter-boare_, with which he makes proof (thrusting it
  in _obliquely_) to the bottom of the Pot: so that they
  _weigh_ none (which would be an endless business) or
  very seldom; nor do they _bore_ it neither, where they
  know their customer to be a constant fair dealer. But their
  _Cheese_ which comes but little, if anything short of that
  of Cheshire, they sell by weight as at other places.”

In reference to this, the Historian of Uttoxeter says:--

  “Butter-pots are mentioned in the parochial records of the town
  forty years before Dr. Plot wrote; for five pots of butter were
  sent from Uttoxeter to the garrison of Tutbury Castle, and had
  been bought at the sum of 12_s._ As this was seventeen
  years before the Act of Parliament for the regulation of the
  sale of butter in pots, it is difficult from this to judge of
  the exact price of butter per pound at Uttoxeter at that remote
  period. And yet it may be reasonably inferred that the pots of
  1644 were of the size of those manufactured after 1661; for
  it appears the Act was passed more for the prevention of any
  irregularity in the size of the pots, and the mode of packing
  butter in them, than for any actual alteration of the size the
  pots were understood to be. If so, butter then at Uttoxeter
  was worth but about twopence a pound, supposing the five pots
  of butter sent to Tutbury, costing 12_s._, contained
  fourteen pounds of butter each. About fifty years before butter
  was retailed throughout the kingdom at sevenpence per pound;
  but this was regarded as an enormous price, which, Stowe
  says, ‘was a judgment for their sins.’ It is highly probable,
  therefore, that the pots contained fourteen pounds of butter,
  which consequently was twopence per pound at Uttoxeter when the
  five pots were bought, especially as it corresponds with the
  price of cheese at that time in the town, as to which the old
  parochial accounts have preserved very distinct information,
  the sum of £7 15_s._ 10_d._ having been paid for 8
  cwt. 2 qrs. 7 lbs., which was also for the besieged at Tutbury.”

The following extracts from the churchwardens’ accounts of Uttoxeter
illustrate this subject:--

                                                               £ _s.__d._

  1644. May 7.   For 8 cwt. 2 qrs. 7 lb. of cheese to Tutbury  7 15  10
                 For 5 _potts of butter_ to ditto              0 12   0

  1645. June 25. Bread, beer, cheese, _a pott of butter_, and
                   a flitch of bacon, for Lieut.-Col. Watson’s
                   men quartered at Blunts Hall                2  5   6


The butter pots were tall cylindrical vessels, of coarse clay, and very
imperfectly baked. They are now of great rarity, but specimens may be
seen in the Hanley Museum and in the Museum of Practical Geology. Their
form will be seen in Fig. 316. It is worthy of remark that even yet,
as it was in Shaw’s days, Irish or Dutch butter, which is generally
imported in casks, and is in most places known as “tub butter,” is, in
the potteries, usually called “pot butter.”

  [Illustration: Fig. 316.--Butter Pots.]

Of the state of the Staffordshire potteries at this period, the latter
half of the seventeenth century, Dr. Plot gives a most interesting and
valuable account, in which he shows not only what clays were then used,
but also speaks of the glazes, and describes the modes of manufacture
of some of the vessels. The clays, it appears, were mostly procured
from the coal measures, and fine sand to temper and mix with them was
procured from Baddeley Edge, Mole Cop, and other places. The following
is Dr. Plot’s account:--

   “25. Other potter’s clays for the more common wares there
   are at many other places, particularly at Horsley Heath, in
   the parish of Tipton; in Monway field above mentioned, where
   there are two sorts gotten, one of a yellowish colour, mixt
   with white, the other blewish; the former stiff and heavy,
   the other more friable and light, which, mixt together, work
   better than apart. Of these they make divers sorts of vessels
   at Wednesbury, which they paint with slip, made of a reddish
   sort of earth gotten at Tipton. But the greatest pottery
   they have in this county is carried on at Burslem, near
   Newcastle-under-Lyme, where for making their different sorts of
   pots they have as many different sorts of clay, which they dig
   round about the towne, all within half a mile’s distance, the
   best being found nearest the coale, and are distinguish’t by
   their colours and uses as followeth:--

    “1. _Bottle clay_, of a bright whitish streaked
    yellow colour.

    “2. _Hard fire-clay_, of a duller whitish colour,
    and fully intersperst with a dark yellow, which they
    use for their _black wares_, being mixt with the

    “3. _Red blending clay_, which is of a dirty red
    colour.

    “4. _White clay_, so called it seems, though of
    a blewish colour, and used for making yellow-colour’d
    ware, because yellow is the lightest colour they make
    any ware of.

    All which they call _throwing_ clays, because they
    are of a closer texture, and will work on the wheel.

   “26. Which none of the three other clays they call _Slips_ will
   any of them doe, being of looser and more friable natures;
   these, mixt with water, they make into a consistence thinner
   than a Syrup, so that being put into a bucket it will run out
   through a Quill. This they call _Slip_, and is the substance
   wherewith they _paint_ their wares, whereof the

    “1. Sort is called the _Orange Slip_, which, before it
    is work’t, is of a greyish colour, mixt with orange
    balls, and gives the ware (when annealed) an orange
    colour.

    “2. The _White Slip_: this, before it is work’t, is
    of a dark blewish colour, yet makes the ware yellow,
    which, being the _lightest_ colour they make any of,
    they call it, as they did the clay above, the _white
    slip_.

    “3. The _Red Slip_, made of a dirty reddish clay, which
    gives ware a black colour.

   Neither of which clays or slips must have any sand or gravel
   in them. Upon this account, before it be brought to the wheel,
   they prepare the clay by steeping it in water in a square pit
   till it be of a due consistence; then they bring it to their
   beating board, where, with a long _Spatula_, they beat it till
   it be well mixt; then, being first made into great _squarish_
   rolls, it is brought to the _wageing board_, where it is slit
   into thin flat pieces with a _wire_, and the least stones or
   gravel pick’t out of it. This being done, they _wage_ it, _i.e._
   knead or mould it like _bread_, and make it into round _balls_
   proportionable to their work; and then ’tis brought to the
   wheel, and formed as the workman sees good.

   “27. When the potter has wrought the clay either into hollow or
   flat ware, they set it abroad to dry in faire weather, but by
   the fire in foule; turning them as they see occasion, which they
   call _whaving_. When they are dry they _stouk_ them, _i.e._ put
   ears and handles to such vessels as require them. These also
   being dry, they _slip_ or _paint_ them, with their severall
   sorts of slip, according as they designe their work; when the
   first slip is dry, laying on the others at their leisure, the
   _orange slip_ makeing the ground, and the _white_ and _red_
   the paint; which two colours they break with a _wire brush_,
   much after the manner they doe when they _marble_ paper, and
   then _cloud_ them with a _pencil_ when they are pretty dry.
   After the vessels are painted they _lead_ them with that sort
   of _Lead Ore_ they call _Smithum_, which is the smallest _ore_
   of all, beaten into dust, finely sifted, and strewed upon them;
   which gives them the _gloss_, but not the colour; all the
   colours being chiefly given by the variety of slips, except the
   _motley colour_, which is procured by blending the _Lead_ with
   _Manganese_, by the workmen call’d _Magnus_. But when they have
   a mind to shew the utmost of their skill in giving their wares
   a fairer gloss than ordinary, they lead them then with lead
   calcined into powder, which they also sift fine and strew upon
   them as before, which not only gives them a higher gloss, but
   goes much further too in their work than the lead ore would have
   done.

   “28. After this is done they are carried to the oven, which
   is ordinarily above 8 foot high, and about 6 foot wide, of a
   round copped forme, where they are placed one upon another
   from the bottom to the top; if they be ordinary wares, such as
   _cylindricall butter-pots_, &c., that are not leaded, they are
   exposed to the _naked_ fire, and so is all their _flat ware_,
   though it be leaded, having only _parting shards_, _i.e._ thin
   bits of old pots, put between them to keep them from sticking
   together; but if they be _leaded hollow wares_, they doe not
   expose them to the _naked_ fire, but put them in _shragers_,
   that is, in coarse metall’d pots made of _marle_ (not _clay_)
   of divers formes, according as their wares require, in which
   they put commonly three pieces of clay, called _Bobbs_, for the
   ware to stand on, to keep it from sticking to the _shragers_;
   as they put them in the _shragers_, to keep them from sticking
   to one another (which they would certainly otherwise doe by
   reason of the leading), and to preserve them from the vehemence
   of the fire, which else would melt them downe, or at least warp
   them. In twenty-four hours an oven of pots will be burnt; then
   they let the fire goe out by degrees, which in ten hours more
   will be perfectly done, and then they draw them for sale, which
   is chiefly to the poor _Crate-men_, who carry them at their
   backs all over the countrey, to whome they reckon them by the
   piece, _i.e._ _Quart_, in _hollow ware_, so that six pottle, or
   three gallon _bottles_, make a _dozen_, and so more or less to
   a _dozen_ as they are of greater or lesser content. The _flat
   wares_ are also reckoned by pieces and dozens, but not (as the
   _hollow_) according to their _content_, but their different
   _bredths_.”

A round dish of the “combed ware,” or marbled or mottled ware,
described by Plot, is shown on Fig. 317. Some of the examples I have
seen are exceedingly delicate and minute in their patterns; others, as
the engraving, have been “combed” with a coarse comb or wire brush. The
lead for glazing, named by Plot, was procured from the Derbyshire lead
mines--the ore being powdered, or “punned,” and dusted on to the soft
clay vessel before firing.

  [Illustration: Fig. 317.]

Previous to this, in 1671, John Dwight took out a patent in the
petition for which he stated that “he had discovered the Mistery of
Transparent Earthen Ware, comonly knowne by the Names of Porcelaine
or China and Persian Ware, as alsoe the Misterie of the Stone Ware
vulgarly called Cologne Ware; and that he designed to introduce a
Manufacture of the said Wares into our Kingdome of Englande, where they
have not hitherto been wrought or made.” This was the origin of the
famous Fulham works, a full account of which will be given in another
part of this volume.

In 1676 John Ariens Van Hamme, “in pursuance of the incouragement he
hath received from our Ambassadour at the Hague, is come over to settle
in this our kingdome with his family, to exercise his ‘Art of makeing
Tiles and Porcelaine and other Earthen Wares, after the way practised
in Holland,’ which hath not beene practised in this our kingdome,” took
out a patent for fourteen years for the sole practice of his art. The
“tiles” named in his patent would, of course, be the “Dutch Tiles”
as they were always called, and which were used for the lining of
rooms, the decoration of fire-places, and for various other purposes.
They were about four inches square, made of a common kind of clay,
and faced, as all delf ware was, with a fine white slip. On this was
painted a pattern--a group of figures, the illustration of some sacred
or profane story, foliage, birds, or other devices, in blue colour,
and then glazed and fired. On one of these tiles is represented a lady
letting her lover down from her chamber into the street below, by a
rope which she holds in her hand, and others have various devices.
The manufacture of these tiles was carried on largely in England, and
further notices will be given under the head of Liverpool, &c.

In 1684 John Dwight, having represented “that by his owne industry
and at his owne proper costes and charges hee hath invented and sett
vp at Fulham, in our County of Middlx, “Severall New Manufactures of
Earthenwares, called by the names of White Gorges, Marbled Porcellane
Vessels, Statues, and Figures, and Fine Stone Gorges and Vessells
never before made in England or elsewhere; and alsoe discovered the
Mistery of Transparent Porcellane, and Opacous, Redd, and Dark coloured
Porcellane or China and Persian Wares, and the Mistery of the Cologne
or Stone Wares, and is endeavouring to settle manufactures of all the
said wares within this our kingdome of England,” had another patent
for fourteen years granted to him. To Dwight, therefore, it will be
seen by these patents, the credit of being the first inventor and maker
of porcelain in England belongs. His name is thus one entitled to
lasting honour as the pioneer of one of the best, most beautiful, most
successful, and most flourishing arts ever practised in our kingdom.

  [Illustration: Figs. 318 and 319.--Elers Ware.]

In 1688 the brothers Eler or Elers, traditionally believed to have been
potters from Holland, are said to have come over with William, Prince
of Orange (William III.), to England at the time of the “Glorious
Revolution,” and, two years later, to have settled at Bradwell and
Dimsdale, not far from Burslem, in Staffordshire, where they erected
kilns and commenced the making of a fine red ware (probably the kind
spoken of by Dwight), in imitation of foreign red porcelain, from a
vein of clay which, by some means, they had discovered existed at
this spot. Here they produced remarkably fine and good red ware, of
compact and hard texture, good colour, and of very characteristic and
excellent designs. They were men of much skill and taste, and their
productions so closely resemble those of Japan as to be occasionally
mistaken for them. An example, from the Museum of Practical Geology,
is here shown. The Elers, besides the red ware, also produced an
exceedingly good Egyptian black, by a mixture of manganese with the
clay; and this was the precursor and origin of the fine black bodies
of Josiah Wedgwood and others. “Their extreme precaution,” says Shaw,
“to keep secret their processes, and jealousy lest they might be
accidentally witnessed by any purchaser of their wares--making them
at Bradwell, and conveying them over the fields to Dimsdale, there
to be sold, being only two fields distant from the turnpike road,
and having some means of communication (believed to be earthenware
pipes, like those for water) laid in the ground between the two
contiguous farmhouses, to intimate the approach of persons supposed
to be intruders--caused them to experience considerable and constant
annoyance. In vain did they adopt measures for self-protection in
regard to their manipulations, by employing an idiot to turn the
thrower’s wheel, and the most ignorant and stupid workmen to perform
the laborious operations, and by locking up these persons while at
work, and strictly examining each prior to quitting the manufactory
at night--all their most important processes were however developed,
and publicly stated for general benefit. Mortified at the failure of
all their precaution, disgusted at the prying inquisitiveness of their
Burslem neighbours, and fully aware that they were too far distant
from the principal market for their productions--even had not other
kinds of porcelain been announced, which probably would diminish their
sales--about 1710 they discontinued their Staffordshire manufactory,
and removed to Lambeth or Chelsea (where is at this day a branch of
the family), and connected the interests of their new manufactory with
those of a glass manufacture, established in 1676 by Venetians, under
the auspices of the Duke of Buckingham. Others, however, have stated
that their removal was consequent on misunderstanding and persecution
because their oven cast forth such tremendous volumes of smoke and
flame, during the time of glazing, as were terrific to the inhabitants
of Burslem, and caused all its (astonishing number of _eight_)
master potters to hurry in dismay to Bradwell.”

The two potters who had wormed out the secret of the Elers were named
Astbury and Twyford, and they are said each to have commenced business
on his own account at Shelton, and to have made “RED,” “CROUCH,” and
“WHITE STONE” wares from native clays, using salt glaze for some of
the vessels, and lead ore for others. It is interesting to add that
the oven erected and used by the Elers was in existence as late as
the beginning of the present century, and that the place, in an old
account-book in my possession, is called “the Eller field.”

  [Illustration: Fig. 320.]

About the period when Dwight was taking out his patent, Thomas Toft
and Ralph Toft were making, in Staffordshire, some large domestic
dishes, which, from some of them bearing their names, put on in large
letters, are universally known to collectors as “Toft Dishes.” Under
this name, however, it is well to state many dishes and other vessels
pass which never were, or could have been, made by them, and I warn
collectors against too easily pinning their faith to a belief that
their examples are genuine “Tofts” unless they bear the name. The
style was common to all makers of that date. Besides dishes, tygs of
various forms, with one, two, three, or four handles; pitchers of
various sizes, candlesticks, posset-pots, gossips’ bowls, pans or
pancheons, utensils for the chamber, and many other articles, were made
of precisely the same coarse materials, and of exactly the same kind of
decoration as the dishes.

  [Illustration: Fig. 321.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 322.]

The material of these pots is a coarse reddish or buff-coloured clay,
and the ornaments are laid on in different coloured clays, and the
whole is then glazed thickly over. One of these large dishes, now in
the Museum of Practical Geology, is shown on Fig. 321. The body is
of buff-coloured clay, with the ornaments laid on in relief in light
and dark brown. The border is trellised, and in the centre is a lion
rampant, crowned. On the rim beneath the lion is the name of the maker,
THOMAS TOFT. In the same museum is a fragment of another similar dish,
with a lion and unicorn. A very fine dish of a similar kind, and by
the same maker, in the Bateman Museum is engraved on Fig. 320. It
is twenty-two inches in diameter, and bears a half-length crowned
portrait of King Charles, with sceptre in each hand, and the initials
C.R. Below the figure, on the rim, which, as usual, is trellised in
red and black, is the name THOMAS TOFT. In the same museum is another
remarkably fine dish, bearing two full-length figures in the costume
of the Stuarts, the gentleman holding in his hand his hat and feather,
and having “petticoat breeches,” tied stockings, and high-heeled boots
with ties, and the lady holding a bunch of flowers. Between the figures
are the initials W. T., and on the rim at the bottom, in precisely the
same manner as the Toft dishes, is the name WILLIAM: TALOR. Another
Toft dish (Fig. 322) now in the possession of Mr. Bagshawe, is nineteen
inches in diameter, and bears a female figure, and two heads in ovals,
with foliage, &c., and the name RALPHOFT, or Ralph Toft, the H and
T being apparently conjoined. The ground is buff, and the ornaments
are laid on in dark and light brown clay. Another with the name RALPH
TOFT, 1677, was in the Reynolds’ collection. Another maker of this
period, whose name occurs in the same manner as those just described,
was WILLIAM SANS. Of the makers of these dishes, it is interesting to
observe that Toft is an old name connected with the pottery district,
and that members of the family are still potters in the neighbourhood.
It is also an old Derbyshire name, being connected with Youlgreave and
other places in that neighbouring county.

  [Illustration: Fig. 323.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 324.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 325.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 326.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 327.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 328.]

The “Tygs” appear to have been made in considerable numbers, and,
indeed, to have constituted one of the staple manufactures of the
potters of that day. They were the ordinary drinking-cups of the
period, and were made with one, two, three, four, or more handles.
The two-handled ones are said to have been “parting cups,” and those
with three or four handles “loving cups,” being so arranged that
three or four persons drinking out of one, and each using a different
handle, brought their lips to different parts of the rim. Examples of
some of the forms of these tygs are shown on Figs. 323 to 328. Two of
these, with three handles each (Figs. 326 and 328), were found in a
long-disused lead mine at Great Hucklow; another (Fig. 327) has three
handles and a spout, and is ornamented with bosses of a lighter colour,
bearing a swan, a flower, and a spread eagle. The fourth (Figs. 323
and 324) are two-handled cups, of the same general form as those with
one handle. These two latter specimens are in the Museum of Practical
Geology. Other examples of various forms are shown on the remaining
engravings.

  [Illustration: Fig. 329.--Candlestick, Jermyn Street.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 330.--Candlestick.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 331.--Mug.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 332.--Earthenware Cradle.]

A curious candlestick, shown on Fig. 329, in the Museum of Practical
Geology, is of much the same kind of ware as the tygs, and has its
ornaments in white clay slip; it bears the date 1649, and the initials
E. M. Another, in my own collection (Fig. 330), is made of precisely
the same coarse kind of ware as the tygs; dark reddish brown, with
ornaments in white slip--the slip at the base having been laid on in a
broad band, and then scratched through to the dark clay. The mug, Fig.
331, is exactly the same kind of ware.

Another curious article of this same kind of ware, in the Bateman
collection, is engraved on Fig. 332. It is a small earthenware cradle
of excellent form, and elaborately ornamented; the ground is a rich
reddish brown, the ornaments of buff and black. It bears the date
on its top of 1693, and is 7¾ inches long, and 4¾ inches in height.
To this period belongs the interesting puzzle-jug in the Museum of
Practical Geology, shown on Fig. 333. It is of brown ware, and bears
the name, incised in writing letters, of “John Wedgwood, 1691,” and is
the first and earliest example of the name of Wedgwood occurring on
pottery. It will again be referred to later on.

  [Illustration: Fig. 333.--Puzzle Jug.]

It is very clear that brown ware of the same general character as the
tygs and the Toft dishes, was made in very many parts of the country
besides Staffordshire, and that much now by collectors appropriated to
that county has no connection with it.

  [Illustration: Figs. 334 and 335.--Hand Grenades.]

A peculiar use for ceramics should here be noticed; it has not before
been spoken of in any work upon pottery. I allude to hand-grenades, two
of which, preserved in the Leicester Museum, are here engraved (Figs.
334 and 335). These were found in the Old Magazine, or Newarke, Gateway
at Leicester. They are formed of red clay, and fired in the kiln in the
usual manner, and they have fuse-plugs of wood fitted into the opening
at the top.




                              CHAPTER V.

   Pottery in England in the eighteenth century--Delft ware--Posset
   pots--Billin’s patent--Redrich and Jones’s patent--Benson’s
   patents--Ralph Shawe’s patents--Trial of right--The Bow
   works--Heylyn and Frye’s patents--The Fulham works--White’s
   patent--The Count de Lauraguais’ patent--Staffordshire
   wares--The Plymouth works--William Cookworthy’s patent--Josiah
   Wedgwood--Crease’s, and other patents--Ralph Wedgwood’s
   patents--Progress of the art during the century.


  [Illustration: Fig. 336.--Posset Pot.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 337.]

At the commencement of the eighteenth century, the ceramic art in
this country was beginning to expand in a remarkable degree, and many
important strides for its improvement were taken. The brown-ware
dishes, tygs, and other vessels for domestic use, were still made as
before, and stoneware bottles, ale pots, and other articles continued
to be produced; but, beyond these, some much finer kinds of earthenware
were introduced, which gradually took their place. Among these were
Delft ware and Crouch ware, to which I have referred, and the white
ware, which has frequently, but erroneously, been called “Elizabethan
ware,” which was probably introduced about this time. A good specimen
of the brown ware of this period, which will be seen to be identical in
character with the dishes and tygs and cradle before spoken of, is the
posset pot shown on Fig. 336. It bears the loyal motto, “GOD : SAVE:
THE : QVEEN : 1711,” and is ornamented in the usual way with slip. It is
of much the same character as a wassail or gossips’ bowl, bearing the
name “RICHARD MEIR,” in the Liverpool Museum. It is shown on Fig. 337.
The form of Fig. 336 is somewhat different from the usual later shape
of posset pots, as will be shown on engravings which will follow. As
posset and posset pots are local matters, a few words concerning them
will here be interesting. Posset pots have been made and regularly used
in Derbyshire and the neighbouring counties from an early period until
the present time. “Posset” is an excellent mixture of hot ale, milk,
sugar, spices, and sippets, or, perhaps, more correctly speaking, dice,
of bread or oat-cake. In these counties this beverage was formerly
almost, if not quite, universal for supper on Christmas-eve; and
the “posset pot” was thus used but once a year, and often became an
heirloom in the family. A small silver coin and the wedding-ring of the
mistress of the family were generally dropped into the posset when the
guests were assembled, and those who partook of it took each a spoonful
in turn as the “pot” was handed round. Whichever of the party fished
up the coin was considered certain of good luck in the coming year,
while an early and happy marriage was believed to be the enviable fate
of the lucky individual who fished up the ring. Other posset pots will
be found engraved in other parts of this volume, under the heads of
Nottingham and Brampton.

It is clear that about this time the art of pot-making began to make
rapid strides; for in the space of twenty-seven years--from 1722
to 1749--no less than nine separate patents were taken out, and
were followed in rapid succession by others. In 1722, Richard Holt
and Samuel London, gentlemen, took out a patent for “a certain new
composicon or mixture (without any sort of clay) for making of white
ware, which is formed and moulded in a method hitherto not known or
practised, and far surpasses the finest of delf ware, or any other sort
made in any part of Europe, and also by their new method of impression
make the fabrick of earthenware of a more exquisite shape than the
present method of turning could ever perform or arrive to, by which
meanes our subjects will be able to excell all Europe, and not only
employ a great many of our own poor, to the great benefit of trade
and the manufactures of our kingdom, but also prevent the clandestine
running of delf ware, &c., from foreign parts into Great Brittain;”
granted “for the term of fourteen years.” It does not say of what
materials the composition is made, except that it is without any sort
of clay, nor does it describe any method of impression.

In the same year, Thomas Billin, having “by many long, laborious, and
chargeable experiments found out and invented a method for making the
most refined earthenware, with help of clay and other materials found
within this kingdom, which ever yet appeared in this part of Europe, of
a nature and composicon, not only transparent, but so perfect in its
kind, and of principles so firmly vnited, as (contrary to the nature of
all other earthenwares) to resist almost any degree of heat, by which
qualities it is more valuable, and of greater vse and ornament than all
other kinds ever yet invented or practised in this kingdom, and capable
of being wrought into vessels and ornaments for any vse; and for the
working of the same invention he hath invented particular and proper
engines and tools.” No description is given of the mode of manufacture,
or of the engines or tools mentioned in the title of the invention.

In 1724 Robert Redrich and Thomas Jones had a patent granted them
for “a new art or method, as well for staining, veining, spotting,
clouding, damasking, or otherwise imitating the various kinds of
marble, porphyry, and other rich stones, and tortoiseshell, on wood,
stone, and earthenware, and all and every such goods, wares, utensils,
and things as are made, cut, or fashioned thereout, as for the making,
marbling, veining, spotting, staining, clouding, and damasking any
linen, silks, canvas, paper, and leather.”

In 1726, and again in 1732, patents were taken out for methods of
grinding flints, &c., which were of much importance. The first of
these, by Thomas Benson, is described as “an engine or new method for
the more expeditious working the said flint stone, whereby all the
said hazards and inconveniences attending the same will effectually
be prevented.” It is stated that in the making of “white pots,”
flint stone is “the chief ingredient,” and that the method hitherto
used in preparing it “has been by pounding or breaking it dry, and
afterwards sifting it through fine lawns, which has proved very
destructive to mankind;” and this invention is to obviate it, and is as
follows:--The flint stones are first wetted, then crushed as fine as
sand by two large wheels, of the bigness and shape of mill-stones, of
iron, and made to turn upon the edges by the power of a water-wheel.
This material is afterwards conveyed into large circular iron pans,
“in which there are large iron balls, which, by the power of the
water-wheel above named, are swiftly driven round: in a short time
the operation is concluded, and by turning a tap the material empties
itself into casks.”

The next one, by the same Thomas Benson, taken out in 1732, was
described as--

   “A new engine, or method for grinding of flint stones, being the
   chief ingredient used in making of white wares, such as pots
   and other vessels, a manufacture carried on in our county of
   Stafford, and in some other parts of this our kingdom; that the
   common method hitherto used in preparing the same hath been by
   breaking and pounding the stones dry, and afterwards sifting the
   powder through fine lawns, which hath proved very destructive to
   mankind, occasioned by the dust suckled into the body, which,
   being of a ponderous nature, fixes so closely upon the lungs
   that nothing can remove it, insomuch that it is very difficult
   to find persons to engage in the said manufacture, to the
   great detriment and decay of that branch of trade, which would
   otherwise, from the usefulness thereof, be of great benefit and
   advantage to our kingdom; that by the petitioner’s invention
   the flint stones are sprinkled with water, so that no dust can
   arise, then ground as fine as sand, with two large stones made
   to turn upon the edges by the power of a wheel, worked either by
   wind, water, or horses, which is afterwards conveyed into large
   stone pans, made circular, wherein are placed large stone balls,
   which, by the power of such wheels are driven round with great
   velocity; that, in a short time, the flint stones so broken
   are reduced to an oily substance, which, by turning on a cock,
   empties itself into casks provided for that purpose; that by
   this invention all hazards and inconveniences in making the said
   manufacture in the common way will be effectually prevented,
   and in every particular tend to the manifest improvement and
   advantage thereof, and preserving the lives of our subjects
   imployed therein.”

In 1729 Samuel Bell took out a patent for fourteen years “for a new
method not hitherto practiced within Great Brittain for making of a red
marble stone ware with minerall earth, found within this kingdom, which
being firmly vnited by fire will make it capable of receiving a gloss
so beautiful as to imitate, if not to compare with rubie; that the
stone ware may be formed into vessells for any necessary vse, or into
ornaments for houses or gardens, such as jarrs, flower potts, &c., it
being the most perfect of its kind, both in colour, nature, and form,
that hath ever appeared in this part of Europe;” but no specification,
to show what the mineral earth was, is given.

In 1733 (April 24th) Ralph Shawe, potter, of Burslem, who, like many
other potters of the district, had long adopted the improvements of Mr.
Astbury and others, took out a patent for employing “various sorts of
mineral, earth, clay, and other earthy substances, which, being mixt
and incorporated together, make up a fine body, of which a curious ware
may be made, whose outside will be of a true chocolate colour, striped
with white, and the inside white, much resembling the brown China ware,
and glazed with salt.” The _secret_ was merely _washing_ the
inside, and forming broad lines on the outside of the articles with
a very thick slip of flint and pipeclay. “To keep his process more
secluded and secret, he was accustomed to evaporate his mixed clays on
a long trough, in a place locked up under cover, beneath which were
flues, for the heat from fire applied on the outside. This also kept
the clay free from any kind of dirt; and the idea is supposed to have
been gained from the tile-makers’ method of drying their tiles in
stoves. A pair of flower-pots, excellent specimens of this person’s
manufacture, which had been received as a present from the maker by
his wife’s grandfather, were in the author’s possession till very
recently. Mr. Shawe became so litigious and overbearing, that many of
the manufacturers were extremely uncomfortable, and prevented improving
their productions. Not content with the success he experienced, and
the prospect of speedily acquiring affluence, his excessive vanity
and insatiable avarice incited to proceedings that terminated in his
ruin. Unwilling to admit the customary practices of the business, and
to brook any appearance of competition, he was constantly objecting
to every trifling improvement as an infringement of his patent,
and threatening his neighbours with suits in equity to protect his
_sole_ rights; till at length self-defence urged them to bear the
expenses of a suit he had commenced against J. Mitchell, to try the
validity of the patent, at Stafford, in 1736; and very aged persons,
whose parents were present, give the general facts of the trial:--All
the manufacturers being interested in the decision, those most
respectable were in the court. Witnesses proved Astbury’s invention and
prior usage of the practice, and a special jury of great intelligence
and wealth gave a verdict against Mr. Shawe. The learned judge, after
nullifying the patent, thus addressed the audience--“Go home, potters,
and make whatever kinds of pots you please.” The hall re-echoed with
acclamations, and the strongest ebullitions of satisfaction from the
potters, to the indescribable mortification of Mr. Shawe and his
family, who afterwards went to France, where he carried forward his
manufactory, whence some of his family returned to Burslem about 1750.”
This event is thus characteristically spoken of in native tongue, in
the “Burslem Dialogue,” by Mr. Ward:--

   “_Terrick._ Dust moind, Rafe, owt o’ th’ treyal at Staffurt o’
   Johnny Mutchil for makkin Rafy Shay’s patten ware?

   “_Leigh._ Oi just remember, bu oi wur ony a big lad at th’
   teyme. It had bin mitch tawkt abaht, and when, it wur oer,
   they aw toud’n wat th’ judge sed to th’ mesters--‘Gooa whomm,
   potters, an mak wot soourts o’ pots yoa loiken.’ An when they
   coomn to Boslem, aw th’ bells i’ Hoositon, an Stooke, an th’
   tahn, wurn ringin loike hey-go-mad, aw th’ dey.”

The kind of ware just described was sometimes known as “bitstone
ware,” from “bits” of stone being used to separate the pieces in the
oven. This was, of course, prior to the use of “stilts,” “triangles,”
or “cockspurs.”

In 1744, Edward Heylyn, in the parish of Bow, in the county of
Middlesex, merchant, and Thomas Frye, of the parish of West Ham, in
the county of Essex, painter, took out a patent, and early in the
following year enrolled their specification, for the making of china
and porcelain ware. This specification, which is deeply interesting, is
as follows:--

   “Whereas His most Excellent Majesty King George the Second, by
   His Royal Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of Great Britain,
   bearing date at Westminster, the Sixth day of December, in
   the eighteenth year of His reign, reciting that whereas we,
   the said Edward Heylyn and Thomas Frye, had, by our Petition,
   humbly represented unto His said Majesty that we had, at a
   considerable expence of time and money in trying experiments,
   applyed ourselves to find out a method for the improvement of
   the English earthenware, and had at last invented and brought to
   perfection “A NEW METHOD OF MANUFACTURING A CERTAIN MATERIAL,
   WHEREBY A WARE MIGHT BE MADE OF THE SAME NATURE OR KIND, AND
   EQUAL TO, IF NOT EXCEEDING IN GOODNESS AND BEAUTY, CHINA OR
   PORCELAIN WARE IMPORTED FROM ABROAD;” which Invention we, the
   Petitioners, apprehended would be of vast advantage to the
   kingdom, as it would not only save large sums of money that
   were yearly paid to the Chinese and Saxons, but also imploy
   large numbers of men, women, and children; and that as many
   and as great benefits would arise therefrom to this nation, as
   from the woolen or iron manufactories, in proportion to the
   numbers of people that would be employed therein, His Majesty
   did therefore, of His especial grace, certain knowledge, and
   meer motion, give and grant unto us, the said Edward Heylyn
   and Thomas Frye, our extors, admors, & assigns, His especial
   licence, full power, sole priviledge & authority, to make,
   use, exercise, and vend our said Invention in that part of
   Great Britain called England, Dominion of Wales, and Town of
   Berwick-upon-Tweed, to hold to us, the said Edward Heylyn and
   Thomas Frye, our extors, admors, and assigns, for the term of
   fourteen years from the date of the said recited Letters Patent.
   In which said Letters Patent there is contained a provisoe,
   that if we, the said Edward Heylyn and Thomas Frye, should not
   particularly describe and ascertain the nature of our said
   Invention, and in what manner and of what materials the same was
   to be performed, by an instrument in writing, under our hands
   and seals, or the hand and seal of one of us, and cause the same
   to be inrolled in His Majesty’s High Court of Chancery, within
   four calendar months after the date of the said recited Letters
   Patent; that then the said Letters Patent, and the libertys and
   advantages thereby granted, should cease and be void, as in and
   by the same Letters Patent (relation being thereunto had) may
   more at large appear.

   “NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Edward Heylyn and Thomas Frye,
   in pursuance of the said provisoe, contained in the said recited
   Letters Patent, do hereby describe and ascertain the nature of
   our said Invention, and the manner and of what material the same
   is to be performed, as hereinafter is mentioned (that is to
   say):--

   “The material is an earth, the produce of the Chirokee nation in
   America, called by the natives unaker, the propertys of which
   are as follows, videlicet, to be very fixed, strongly resisting
   fire and menstrua, is extreamly white, tenacious, and glittering
   with mica. The manner of manufacturing the said material is as
   follows:--Take unaker, and by washing seperate the sand and mica
   from it, which is of no use; take pott ash, fern ash, pearl
   ash, kelp, or any other vegetable lixiviall salt, one part of
   sands, flints, pebbles, or any other stones of the vitryfying
   kind; one other part of these two principles form a glass in
   the usual manner of making glass, which when formed reduce to
   an impalpable powder. Then mix to one part of this powder two
   parts of the washed unaker, let them be well worked together
   until intimately mixed for one sort of ware; but you may vary
   the proportions of the unaker and the glass; videlicet, for some
   parts of porcelain you may use one half unaker and the other
   half glass, and so in different proportions, till you come to
   four unaker and one glass; after which knead it well together,
   and throw it on the wheel, cast it into moulds, or imprint it
   into utensils, ornaments, &c.; those vessells, ornaments, &c.,
   that are thrown, should be afterwards turned on a lathe and
   burnished, it will then be in a situation to be put into the
   kiln and burned with wood, care being taken not to discolour
   the ware, otherwise the process will be much hurt. This first
   burning is called biscuiting, which, if it comes out very white,
   is ready to be painted blue, with lapis lazuli, lapis armenis,
   or zapher, which must be highly calcined and ground very fine.
   It is then to be dipt into the following glaze:--Take unaker
   forty pounds, of the above glass ten pounds, mix and calcine
   them in a reverberatory; then reduce, and to each pound when
   reduced add two pounds of the above glass, which must be ground
   fine in water, and left of a proper thickness for the ware to
   take up a sufficient quantity. When the vessells, ornaments,
   &c., are dry, put them into the kiln in cases, burn them with a
   clean wood fire, and when the glaze runs true lett out the fire,
   and it is done, but must not be taken out of the kiln till it is

  thorough cold.”

In 1748 Thomas Frye took out another patent, the specification for
which, enrolled March 17, 1749, is as follows:--

   “WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Second,
   by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain,
   bearing date the Seventeenth day of November, in the
   twenty-third year of His reign, did give and grant unto me, the
   said Thomas Frye, His especial licence that I, the said Thomas
   Frye, during the term of years therein expressed, should and
   lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend my “NEW METHOD
   OF MAKING A CERTAIN WARE, WHICH IS NOT INFERIOR IN BEAUTY
   AND FINENESS, AND IS RATHER SUPERIOR IN STRENGTH, THAN THE
   EARTHENWARE THAT IS BROUGHT FROM THE EAST INDIES, AND IS COMONLY
   KNOWN BY THE NAME OF CHINA, JAPAN, OR PORCELAIN WARE;” in which
   said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging me,
   the said Thomas Frye, by a writing under my hand and seal,
   to cause a particular description of the nature of the said
   Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to
   be inrolled in His Majesty’s High Court of Chancery within four
   kalendar months after the date of the said recited Letters
   Patent, as in and by the same (relation being thereunto had) may
   more at large appear.

   “NOW KNOW YE, that in complyance with the said provisoe, I, the
   said Thomas Frye, do hereby declare that the said Invention is
   to be performed in the manner following (that is to say):--

   “As there is nothing in nature but by calcination, grinding, and
   washing will produce a fixed indissoluble matter, distinguished
   by the name of virgin earth, the properties of which is strictly
   the same whether produced from animals, vegetables, or fossills,
   no other difference arising from the process but that some bodys
   produce it in greater quantities than others, as all animal
   substances, all fossils of the calcarious kind, such as chalk,
   limestone, &c.; take therefore any of these classes, calcine
   it till it smokes no more, which is an indication that all the
   volatile sulpherous parts are dissipated, and that the saline
   are sett loose; then grind and wash in many waters to discharge
   the salts and filth, reiterate the process twice more, when the
   ashes or virgin earth will be fit for use; then take of these
   ashes two parts, one part of flint, or white peble, or clear
   sand, either producing the same effect, which mix together with
   water and make into balls or bricks, and burn them in a feirce
   fire, then grind it fine, and it is ready to be mixed with
   one third part of its weight of pipeclay, and temper it well,
   when it is fit to be thrown on the wheel, which, when finished
   and dry, is to be burned as all other pottery ware till it
   is transparent and of a fine colour, then to be painted with
   smalt or zaffer, as it is required to be deeper or paler, and
   it is ready to be glazed with the following preparation:--Take
   saltpetre one part, red lead two parts, sand, flint, or other
   white stones, three parts. To make a glass, melt it well and
   grind it, to every twenty pounds of which add six pounds of
   white lead, adding a small portion of smalt to clean the colour;
   mix it well and glaze the ware, which is done by dipping in the
   vessell and setting it on to dry, when it must be put in cases
   and burned as above with wood, till the surface of the ware is
   clear and shining, and it is finished.”

In these specifications we have important materials touching the Bow
china works, under which head they will again be referred to. About
this time, the Chelsea, Worcester, and Derby, and, a little later, the
Plymouth, porcelain works were established. The year in which this
specification was enrolled, 1749, is memorable as the year when Josiah
Wedgwood completed his term of apprenticeship, and when, consequently,
he entered upon that course of work and life which have ever since had
so brilliant and so marked an effect upon the potter’s art in this
country. At this time, too, there were in Staffordshire a number of
very skilful potters, who were, even before Wedgwood’s time, making
rapid strides in the art. To some of these I shall refer later on in
this work.

The next patent taken out was in 1762, by “William White, of Fulham,
in the county of Middlesex, potter,” for making white crucibles or
melting-pots of Stourbridge clay and Dorsetshire clay, calcined, mixed
with Woolwich sand, and water, and trodden together, and burned.
Two years later, James Williamson and Joseph Spackman patented “a
new method of turning ovals in pewter, English china, and all other
earthenwares,” on a lathe with movable chucks and sliding ring, of
their inventing. In 1766, “the Count de Lauraguais, of London,” having,
“by his petition, humbly represented unto us, that by labour, study,
travelling, and expence in trying experiments, he hath found out and
invented ‘a new method of making porcelain ware in all its different
branches, viz.--to make the coarser species of china, the more
beautiful of the Indies, and the finest of Japan, in a manner different
from any that is made in our dominions, and he, having the materials
tryed in Great Britain, has brought the same to so great perfection
that the porcelain made therewith after his new method far excells
any that has hitherto been made in Great Britain, the same not being
fusible by fire, as all other china made there is,’” took out a patent
for fourteen years, but no specification seems to have been enrolled.

During all this time the pottery district of Staffordshire was rapidly
increasing, and important strides were being made by its manufacturers
in the improvement of their art. In various parts of the country, too,
old pot works continued their business in an improved state, and new
ones sprang up in every direction. The history of the art, therefore,
becomes that of the various works which I shall have to pass under
review. The patents taken out from this period to the close of the
century are some guide to this state of progress, but not much; for it
is an undoubted fact, that many of the most important improvements and
most reliable inventions were never patented at all, while others,
which were the gradual result of daily practice, were not sufficiently
“inventions” to entitle them to patent right.

In 1768 William Cookworthy, of Plymouth, took out a patent for his
newly invented porcelain, which was renewed in 1775 to Richard
Champion; to these reference will be made under the heads of “Plymouth”
and “Bristol.”

In 1769 Josiah Wedgwood took out his only patent; it was for
decorative, not manufacturing, processes, and will be spoken of more
fully in the notice of Etruria.

In 1782 James Crease patented some inventions in the making of sanitary
vessels; and in the two following years “Joseph Cartledge, of Blackley,
in the county of York, Doctor of Physic,” enrolled his specification
for “a method of glazing earthenware.” This interesting document is as
follows:--

   “Whereas His present most Excellent Majesty King George the
   Third, by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great
   Britain, bearing date at Westminster, the Fifth day of February,
   in the twenty-fourth year of His reign, reciting that I, the
   said Joseph Cartledge, had, by my Petition, humbly represented
   unto His said Majesty, that I had, by great study, invented “A
   NEW METHOD OF GLAZING EARTHENWARE,” which would be of public
   utility and advantage, and praying His said Majesty to grant
   unto me, my e[~x]ors, adm̃ors], and assigns, His said Majesty’s
   Letters Patent for the sole exercise of my said Invention,
   within England and Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
   for the term of fourteen years from the date of the said Letters
   Patent, was graciously pleased to condescend to my request; in
   which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that if I,
   the said Joseph Cartledge, should not particularly describe
   and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what
   manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing
   under my hand and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in
   his said Majesty’s High Court of Chancery within four calendar
   months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
   Patent, that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties and
   advantages whatsoever thereby granted, should utterly cease,
   determine, and become void, as in and by the said Letters
   Patent, relation being thereunto had, may and will more fully
   appear.

   “NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Cartledge, in compliance
   with the said proviso, do hereby describe and ascertain the
   nature of my said Invention and in what manner the same is to be
   performed, as follows, viz.:--

   “First, as to the nature of the Invention, it is well known to
   the manufacturers of earthenware, that all the sorts of common
   ware now in use are now, and have been heretofore at all times,
   both in this and all other countries I know, glazed either by
   sea salt, or by lead ore, or by some preparation of lead, or
   of lead and tin united to ground flints or clay, or both. Now
   the nature of the discovery which I have made consists in this,
   that instead of the use of sea salt, or metallic substances, the
   earthenware is glazed with various kinds of earths and stones,
   by which there will be a great saving of expence in the glazing
   of the said ware, and the glaze itself, it is apprehended, will
   be more perfect than that which is made with salt, and more
   wholesome than that into which either lead, or lead and tin,
   enter as constituent parts.

   “Secondly, with respect to the manner of applying the earth and
   stones:--They are to be ground into powder, and laid on the ware
   as potters use their own composition. With respect to the sorts
   of earths and stones which are adapted to the purposes they are
   various. The toad-stone of Derbyshire, and other places, the
   Scotch and Guernsey pebbles, the basaltes, and other productions
   generally esteemed volcanic, rag stone, slate, shale, granite,
   gypsum, fluor spar, mare stone, and many other kinds of earths
   and stones which I know not how to denominate, will all,
   either severally or when mixed in different proportions with
   each other, or with siliceous or argillaceous, micaceous, or
   calcareous earths or stones, or with all of them, answer the
   purpose. I would have it also understood, that portions of
   the metallic substances now used for the purpose of glazing
   earthenware or saline bodies (tho’ not necessary for producing
   the effect) may be used in conjunction with the earths and
   stones here mentioned. I would further remark, that the slags
   of furnaces, the slags of pit-coal, and the crust which forms
   on the bottom slip-kilns, by themselves, or in conjunction with
   the substances before mentioned, will glaze earthenware. But
   as the same effect may be produced by a great many different
   sorts of earths and stones, when used either separately or when
   combined in very different proportions, all of which it is
   impossible to enumerate or ascertain, I think it fit to mention
   the three following, which have succeeded well with me. Take
   of Derbyshire toad-stone five parts by weight, fluor spar one
   part, take thirty-three parts of clay, nineteen parts of flint,
   thirty-eight parts of striated gypsum, take fluor spar one, two,
   three or four parts, porcelain clay two parts, siliceous earth
   one fourth of a part, of calcareous earth one sixth of a part.”

The next patent, in 1785, was by Thomas De-la-Mayne, for “making
buttons of burnt earth or porcelain;” and the next, in 1786, by John
Skidmore, for ornamenting various articles and “all sorts of china and
earthenware with foil stones, Bristol stones, paste, and all sorts
of pinched glass, lapped glass, and every other stone, glass, and
composition used in or applicable to the jewellery trade,” in ways
therein described. In 1789 an improvement in the form and construction
of “soup ladles, tureens, gravy spoons, ladles, and skimmers,” was
patented by John Baynes; and in 1790, Johanna Hempel patented newly
invented filters. In 1796, James Keeling patented improvements in
decorative and glazing processes; and in the same year, in conjunction
with Valentine Close, an improved mode of constructing “ovens, kilns,
and firing-places, so as to make and cause a very great saving of coals
and fuel in and about the firing, hardening, and baking all manner of
porcelain, china ware, and all manner of earthenwares, in every state
wherein firing is needful and necessary.”

In the same year, 1796, Ralph Wedgwood took out three separate patents.
The first of these was for a “new discovered and invented method of
making earthenware, whereby the article of earthenware may be made at
a less cost than hitherto, to the great advantage of the manufacturers
thereof, and of the public.” This consists “in casing over inferior
compositions with compositions commonly used for making cream-coloured
ware, white ware, or china.” “Thick bats or laminæ” of the inferior
are covered on each side with thin bats of the superior clay, and if
the edges of the ware are required to be cased, they are surrounded
“with a square piece commonly called a wad.” Afterwards the “bats”
are beat, pressed, or rolled out to the required dimensions, “as are
proper for the wares to be made from the same.” For moulding the wares
single moulds may be used, but double are preferred, of wood, or “wood
cased with plaster, of metal,” or any material capable of standing
much pressure. The press is such as is used for stamping buttons. The
glazing is applied dry to the bats; if the edges of the ware, after
moulding, are not properly covered with dry glaze, supply these parts
“with wet glaze, by means of a pencil;” afterwards stove and burn the
ware. The others were respectively for a new method of making glass
from old earthenware, china, &c.; and for “a new-invented stove,”
“calculated principally for the use of manufacturers of earthenware and
china.” On the same day on which this patent was dated, one was also
granted to John Pepper, for a new construction of kilns or ovens for
the same purpose. In 1799 Messrs. William and John Turner patented “a
new method or methods of manufacturing porcelain or earthenware, by the
introduction of a material not heretofore used in the manufacturing of
those articles;” the material being “Tabberner’s Mine rock,” “Little
Mine rock,” and “New rock,” mixed with the growan, or Cornish stone,
and flint.

This is the last patent connected with ceramics before the year 1800,
and therefore brings us down to the commencement of the present
century. From 1800 to 1861 no less than three hundred and twenty-two
patents were taken out for improvements in the potter’s art or in
matters connected with that art. These will be briefly enumerated at
the close of this work, and of many of them notices will be found
incorporated in its body.

In the early part of this century, with the exception of the
productions of a few houses, the state of the art was still at a low
ebb; and, although improvements were constantly being made, when the
great world-struggle took place in 1851, we, as a nation, were found
to be lamentably behind some other countries, not only in the beauty
of form and decoration of our ceramic productions, but even in quality
of body and glaze. Between the Exhibitions of 1851 and 1862 a marked
improvement was effected, and this has gone on steadily extending
itself, until now Great Britain, without exception, stands foremost of
all the nations of earth in this art.

I now proceed, in succeeding chapters, to speak of the various
earthenware and porcelain works and seats of pottery manufacture, of
the kingdom.




                              CHAPTER VI.

  The Fulham Works--Dwight’s Inventions and Patents--First
  China made in England--Dwight’s Books of Recipes,
  &c.--Present Productions--Lambeth--Exchequer Trial--High
  Street--Coade’s Works--London Pottery--Lambeth
  Pottery--Fore Street--Waters’ Patent--Imperial
  Pottery--Crispe’s China--Blackfriars Road--Bas-reliefs
  for Wedgwood Institute--Vauxhall--Aldgate--Mill
  Wall--Mortlake--Southwark; Gravel
  Lane--Isleworth--Stepney--Greenwich--Deptford--Merton--
  Hounslow--Wandsworth--Ewell--Cheam--Chiselhurst.


                                FULHAM.

In 1671, as I have already shown,[39] John Dwight took out a patent
for “the mistery of transparent earthenware, comonly knowne by the
names of Porcelaine or China, and Persian Ware,” &c. The patent runs as
follows:--

   “CHARLES THE SECOND, &c., to all to whome theise presents shall
   come, greeting.

   “WHEREAS wee have bene informed by the humble peticon of
   JOHN DWIGHT, Gentl, that he had discovered “THE MISTERY OF
   TRANSPARENT EARTHENWARE, COMONLY KNOWNE BY THE NAMES OF
   PORCELAINE OR CHINA, AND PERSIAN WARE, AS ALSOE THE MISTERIE
   OF THE STONE WARE VULGARLY CALLED COLOGNE WARE; AND THAT HE
   DESIGNED TO INTRODUCE A MANUFACTURE OF THE SAID WARES INTO OUR
   KINGDOME OF ENGLAND, WHERE THEY HAVE NOT HITHERTO BENE WROUGHT
   OR MADE.” And thereupon the said John Dwight hath humbly
   besought vs to grant him the sole benefitt of the manufacture of
   the said wares for fourteene yeares, according to the statute in
   that behalfe made and provided.

   “KNOW YEE, that wee, being willing to cherish and encourage all
   laudable endeavours and designes of such our subiects as shall
   find out vsefull and profitable arts, misteries, and invencons,
   by granting and appropriating vnto them for some terme of yeares
   the fruite and benefitt of their industry, whereby their labours
   and expences in the attainm^t thereof may be recompensed and
   rewarded vnto them, of our especiall grace, certaine knowledge,
   and meere mocon, have given and granted, and by theise presents,
   for vs, our heires and successors, doe give and grant vnto the
   said John Dwight, his executors, administrators, and assignes,
   speciall lycense and full and free libertie, priviledge, power,
   and authoritie, that he, the said John Dwight, his executors,
   administrators, and assignes, by him and themselves, or by his
   or their deputies, servants, workemen, or assignes, and none
   other, shall and may, from time to time, and att all and everie
   time and times hereafter, dureing the tearme of fourteene yeares
   next ensueing the date of these presents, att his and their owne
   proper costs and charges, vse, exercise, practise, and enioy the
   said misterie and Invencon of makeing transparent earthen ware,
   comonly knowne by the names of porcelaine or China, and Persian
   ware; and also the mistery and Invencon or makeing the stone
   ware vulgarly called Collogne ware, within any convenient place
   or places within our Realme of England, Dominion of Wales, or
   Towne of Berwick-vpon-Tweed, in such manner as to him or them
   in their discrecons shall seeme meete; and shall and may have
   and enioy the sole benefitt and advantage from, by, or vnder the
   said misteries and invencons or manufactures of the said wares,
   or either of them by him the said John Dwight found out and
   discovered, as aforesaid, ariseing or groweing from time to time
   dureing the terme hereby granted, to have, hold, and enioy the
   said lycenses, priviledges, powers, and authorities, benefitt,
   advantages, & other the premisses in and by these presents
   granted or menconed to be granted, and everie of them, vnto the
   said John Dwight, his executors, administrators, and assignes,
   from and dureing the tearme of fourteene yeares from henceforth
   next ensueing, and fully to be compleate and ended, yeilding and
   paying therefore yearely and every yeare dureing the said tearme
   into the receipt of our Exchequer att Westminster, to the vse
   of vs, our heires and successors, the yearely rent or sume of
   twentie shillings of lawfull money of England, att the two most
   vsuall feasts or tearmes in the yeare, (that is to say) att the
   Feast of Saint Michaell the Archangell, and the Annunciation
   of the Blessed Virgin Mary, by even and equall porcons. And to
   the end the said John Dwight, his executors, administrators,
   and assignes, and everie of them, may the better enioy the
   full and whole benefitt and sole vse and exercise of the said
   misteries, invencons, and manufacture of the said wares, as well
   within liberties as without, wee doe by theise presents, for vs,
   our heires and successors, require and streightly charge and
   comand all and everie person & persons, bodies pollitique and
   corporate, of whatsoever qualitie, degree, name, or condicon
   they be, that neither they nor any of them, dureing the tearme
   hereby granted, either directly or indirectly, doe or shall
   vse or putt in practise the said misteries and invencons or
   manufacture of the said wares, or either of them, soe by the
   said John Dwight found out or discovered as aforesaid; nor doe
   or shall counterfeit, imitate, or resemble the same; nor doe
   or shall make any addicon therevnto, or substraccon from the
   same, whereby to pretend themselves the inventors or devisors
   thereof, without the lycense, consent, and agreement of the
   said John Dwight, his executors, administrators, or assignes,
   in writeing under his or their hands and seals first had and
   obteyned in that behalfe, vpon such paines and penalties as can
   or may be inflicted on such offendors for the contempt of this
   our comand in that behalfe, and further to be answearable to the
   said John Dwight, his executors, administrators, and assignes,
   according to law and justice, for his and their damages thereby
   susteined. And further, we doe by theise presents, for vs,
   our heires and successors, give and grant vnto the said John
   Dwight, his executors, administrators, and assignes, full
   power and authoritie that he, they, and everie of them, his,
   theire, & everie of theire deputies, servants, and agents, or
   any of them, haveing first obteyned a warrant in this behalfe
   from the Lord Chiefe Justice of the Court of King’s Bench for
   the time being, may, with the assistance of a constable or any
   other lawfull officer, as well within liberties as without,
   vpon request, att convenient times in the day, dureing the time
   aforesaid, and in lawfull manner, to enter and make search in
   any houses or other places where there shall be iust causes of
   suspition, for discovering and finding out of all such persons
   as shall within the tearme of fourteene yeares aforesaid
   imitate or cause to bee imitated or vse or putt in practise
   the said misteries and invencons, or manufacture of the said
   wares, or either of them, soe by the said John Dwight found out
   and discovered as aforesaid, that soe such offendors may be
   proceeded against and punished according to their demeritts.
   And further, wee doe by theise presents, for vs, our heires
   and successors, will, authorise, and require all and singuler
   justices of the peace, mayors, sheriffes, bayliffes, constables,
   head-boroughs, and all other officers and ministers whatsoever,
   of vs, our heires and successors, for the time being, that they
   and every of them respectively be from time to time dureing
   the said tearme hereby granted in their respective places,
   favouring, ayding, helping, and assisting vnto the said John
   Dwight, his executors, adminr^s, and assignes, and to be his
   and their deputie and deputies, servants, and agents, in and
   by all things in and aboute the accomplishment of our will and
   pleasure herein declared, and in the exercise and execucon of
   the powers and priviledges herein and hereby granted or menconed
   to be granted as aforesaid; and, moreover, wee will and comand
   by theise presents, for us, our heires and successors, that
   our said officers, or any of them, doe not molest, trouble, or
   interrupt the said John Dwight, his executors, administrators,
   or assignes, or his or their deputie or deputies, servants, or
   workemen, or any of them, in or about the vse or exercise of
   the said misteries and invencons or manufacture of the said
   wares, or either of them, or any matter or thing concerning the
   same, or either of them: Provided alwaies, that if att any time
   dureing the said tearme of fourteene yeares it shall be made
   appeare vnto vs, our heires or successors, or any six or more
   of our or their Privy Councell, that this our grant is contrary
   to law or preiudiciall or inconvenient or not of public vse
   or benefitt, then, vpon significacon & declaracon to be made
   by vs, our heires or successors, vnder our or their signett
   or privie seale, or by the Lords and others of our Privy
   Councell, or any six of them for the time being, in writeing
   vnder their hands, of such preiudice or inconvenience, these
   our Letters Patents, and all things therein conteyned, shall
   forthwith cease, determine, and be vtterly void to all intents
   and purposes, anything hereinbefore conteyned to the contrary
   notwithstanding. And our will and pleasure is, that the said
   John Dwight, his executors, administrators, or assignes, shall
   enroll these presents, or cause the same to be enrolled, before
   the Clerke of the Pipe within six moneths next after the date
   hereof. And lastly, wee doe by theise presents, for vs, our
   heires and successors, grant vnto the said John Dwight, his
   executors, administrators, and assignes, that these our Letters
   Patents, and the inrollment thereof, shall bee in and by all
   things good, valid, sufficient, and effectuall in the law,
   according to the true intent and meaning of theise presents,
   and shall be taken, adiudged, and construed most favourably and
   beneficially for the best benefitt and advantage of the said
   John Dwight, his executors, administrators, and assignes, as
   well in all our Courts of Record as elsewhere, notwithstanding
   the not specifying the various sorts of the said Collogne wares,
   and the not full and certaine describing the manner and qualitie
   of the said misteries and invencons, or any of them, or of the
   materialls, way and manner of workeing the same, or of the true
   and certaine vse and benefitt thereof, and notwithstanding
   any other defects, incertainties, or imperfeccons in theise
   presents conteyned, or any act, statute, ordinance, provision,
   proclamacon, or restraint to the contrary thereof in anywise
   notwithstanding.

    “In witnes, &c. Witnes our selfe att Westminster, the Three and
    twentieth day of Aprill P bre de privatoe sigillo.”

This was the commencement of the Fulham Pottery, whose history I am
about to attempt to trace, and which has continued uninterruptedly in
work for more than two centuries.

Dwight appears to have been a man of considerable learning and ability.
He graduated as M.A. at Christ Church, Oxford, and successively held
the appointments of secretary to more than one Bishop of Chester. He
seems to have long experimented upon clays and mineral products in
the search after the body of which the oriental china was made, and
at length to have brought those researches to a successful issue. Six
years after the date of the first of his patents, Dr. Plot, the eminent
antiquary and keeper of the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, thus wrote of
his discoveries in his “History of Oxfordshire”:--

   Ҥ 84. Amongst arts that concern _formation of earths_, I shall
   not mention the making of pots at Marsh Balden and Nuneham
   Courtney, nor of tobacco-pipes of the white earth of Shotover,
   since those places are now deserted. Nor indeed was there,
   as I ever heard of, anything extraordinary performed during
   the working these _earths_, nor is there now of a very good
   tobacco-pipe clay found in the parish of Horspath, since the
   first printing of the third chapter of this history.... Let
   it suffice for things of this nature, that the ingenious John
   Dwight, formerly M.A. of Christ Church College, Oxon, hath
   discovered the _mystery of the stone or Cologne wares_ (such as
   d’Alva bottles, jugs, noggins), heretofore made only in Germany,
   and by the Dutch brought over into England in great quantities;
   and hath set up a manufacture of the same, which (by methods and
   contrivances of his own, altogether unlike those used by the
   Germans), in three or four years’ time, he hath brought it to
   greater perfection than it has attained where it hath been used
   for many ages, insomuch that the Company of Glass-sellers of
   London, who are the dealers for that commodity, have contracted
   with the inventor to buy only of his English manufacture, and
   refuse the foreign.

   Ҥ 85. He hath discovered also the _mystery of the Hessian
   wares_, and vessels for reteining the penetrating salts and
   spirits of the chymists, more serviceable than were ever made in
   England, or imported from Germany itself.

   Ҥ 86. And hath found ways to make an earth _white and
   transparent as porcellane_, and not distinguishable frome it by
   the eye, or by experiments that have been purposely made to try
   wherein they disagree. To this earth he hath added the colours
   that are usual in the coloured china ware, and divers others
   not seen before. The skill that hath been wanting to set up a
   manufacture of this _transparent earthenware_ in England, like
   that of China, is the glazing of the white earth, which hath
   much puzzled the projector, but now that difficulty also is in
   great measure overcome.

   Ҥ 87. He hath also caused to be modelled _statues or figures
   of the said transparent earth_ (a thing not done elsewhere,
   for China affords us only imperfect mouldings), which he hath
   diversified with great variety of colours, making them of the
   colour of iron, copper, brass, and party-colour’d as some
   Achat-stones. The considerations that induced him to this
   attempt were the duration of this hard-burnt earth, much above
   brass or marble, against all air and weather, and the softness
   of the matter to be modelled, which makes it capable of more
   curious work than stones that are wrought with chisels, or
   metals that are cast. In short, he has so advanced the _Art
   Plastic_ that ’tis dubious whether any man since Prometheus have
   excelled him, not excepting the famous Damophilus and Gorgasus
   of Pliny (Nat. Hist., lib. xxxv. c. 12).

   Ҥ 88. And these arts he employs about meterials of English
   growth, and not much applyed to other uses; for instance,
   he makes the stone bottles of a clay in appearance like to
   tobacco-pipe clay, which will not make tobacco-pipes, although
   the tobacco-pipe clay will make bottles; so that that which hath
   lain buried and useless to the owners may become beneficial to
   them by reason of this manufacture, and many working hands get
   good livelihoods, not to speak of the very considerable sums of
   English coyn annually kept at home by it.”

Dwight having patented his discovery of “the mistery of transparent
earthenware, commonly known by the names of Porcelaine or China, or
Persia ware,” in April, 1671, it is perfectly clear that the discovery
must have been made before that time, and that it must have been the
result of a long series of patient trials and experiments. Thus, I
think, we may safely say that the actual discovery was made some time
prior to 1671. In 1684 the patent expired, and a new one granted, in
June, for another term of fourteen years--this time the wares and
articles being more specifically named. It is as follows:--

   “CHARLES THE SECOND, by the grace of God, &c., to all to whom
   these presents shall come, greeting.

   “WHEREAS JOHN DWIGHT, Gentl, hath represented vnto vs that by
   his owne industry and at his owne proper costs and charges, hee
   hath invented and sett vp at Fulham, in our County of Middx,
   ‘SEVERALL NEW MANUFACTURES OF EARTHENWARES, CALLED BY THE NAMES
   OF WHITE GORGES, MARBLED PORCELLANE VESSELLS, STATUES, AND
   FIGURES, AND FINE STONE GORGES AND VESSELLS, NEVER BEFORE MADE
   IN ENGLAND OR ELSEWHERE; AND ALSOE DISCOVERED THE MISTERY OF
   TRANSPARENT PORCELLANE, AND OPACOUS, REDD, AND DARKE-COLOURED
   PORCELLANE OR CHINA AND PERSIAN WARES, AND THE MISTERY OF
   THE COLOGNE OR STONE WARES,’ and is endeavouring to settle
   manufactures of all the said wares within this our kingdome of
   England; and hee having humbly besought vs, to grant vnto him
   our Letters Patents for the sole vse and exercise of the same
   for the terme of fowrteene years, according to the Statute in
   that case provided, wee are gratiously pleased to condescend to
   that his request.

   “KNOW YEE THEREFORE, that wee being willing that the said John
   Dwight may reap some reasonable recompence and compensacon for
   his great charge and paines in and about the premisses, and to
   incourage the inventers of such arts as may be of publick vse
   and benefitt, of our especiall grace, certeine knowledge, and
   meere mocon, have given and granted, and by these presents,
   for vs, our heires and successors, doe give and grant, vnto the
   said John Dwight, his executors, administrators, and assignes,
   speciall licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
   that hee, the said John Dwight, his executors, administrators,
   and assignes, and every of them, by themselves, or their deputy
   or deputys, servants or agents, or such others as the said
   John Dwight, his executors, administrators, or assignes, shall
   at any time agree with, and noe others, from time to time and
   at all times dureing the terme of yeares hereafter in these
   presents expressed, shall and lawfully may vse, exercise, and
   enioy the said Invencons of new manufactures within any part
   or parts, place or places whatsoever, of, in, or belonging to
   our kingdome of England, dominion of Wales, and all and every
   or any of our kingdomes and dominions whatsoever, in such
   manner, and according to such reasonable and lawfull rates and
   limitacons, as to him, the said John Dwight, his executors,
   administrators, and assignes, or any of them, shall in their
   discrecons seeme meet, and that hee, the said John Dwight, his
   executors, administrators, and assignes, shall and may have
   and enioy the sole benefitt, profitt, comodity, and advantage
   from time to time coming, growing, and arising by reason of the
   said Invencons of new manufactures, for and dureing the full
   terme of yeares hereafter menconed; to have, hold, exercise,
   and enioy the said licence, powers, privileges, and advantages
   hereinbefore granted or menconed to be granted vnto the said
   John Dwight, his executors, administrators, and assignes, for
   and dureing and vnto the full end and terme of fourteene yeares
   from the day of the date of these presents next and imediately
   ensueing and fully to be compleate and ended according to
   the Statute in this case made and provided; and to the end
   that the said John Dwight, his executors, administrators,
   and assignes, and every of them, may enioy the full benefitt
   and the sole vse and exercise of the said Invencons of new
   manufactures according to our gratious intencons hereinbefore
   declared, wee doe by these presents, for vs, our heires and
   successors, require and strictly comand all and every person
   and persons, bodys politique and corporate, and all other our
   subiects whatsoever, of what estate, quality, or degree, name,
   or condicon soever they be, within all and every our kingdomes
   & dominions, that neither they nor any of them, at any time
   dureinge the continuance of the said terme of fowrteene yeares
   hereby granted, either directly or indirectly doe, vse, or put
   in practise the said Invencons of new manufactures, or any of
   them, or any part of the same soe atteined vnto by the said
   John Dwight as aforesaid, nor shall in anywise counterfeite
   or resemble the said Invencons of manufacture, or any of
   them, nor shall make or cause to be made any addicon thereto
   or substraccon from the same, whereby to pretend themselves
   the inventers or devisers thereof, without the licence,
   consent, or agreement of the said John Dwight, his executors,
   administrators, or assignes, in writing vnder his, their, or
   some of their hands and seales, first had and obteyned in that
   behalfe, vpon such paines and penaltys as can or may be iustly
   inflicted on such offenders for their contempt of this our
   Royall comand; and further to be answerable to the said John
   Dwight, his executors, administrators, and assignes, according
   to law for his and their damages thereby to be susteined. And
   wee doe, of our further especiall grace, certeine knowledge, and
   meere mocon, for vs, our heires and successors, grant vnto the
   said John Dwight, his executors, administrators, and assignes,
   by these presents, that hee, they, and every of them, and his,
   their, and every of their deputys, agents, and servants, haveing
   first obteined a lawfull warrant from the Lord Chiefe Justice of
   our Court of King’s Bench at Westm for the time being, and with
   the assistance of a constable or any other lawful officer, at
   convenient times in the day dureing the terme hereby granted,
   and in lawfull manner, may enter into and make search in any
   place or places whatsoever within any of our kingdomes and
   dominions where there shall be iust cause of suspicon for the
   discovery and finding out of all and every person and persons
   as shall imitate or cause to be imitated, or shall vse or put
   in practise the said Invencons of new manufactures, or any
   of them, or shall make or counterfeite any instruments or
   materialls to the same belonging, that soe such offender or
   offenders may be proceeded against and punished according to
   law. And further, wee doe by these presents, for vs, our heires
   and successors, will, authorise, and comand all and singular
   justices of the peace, mayors, sheriffs, bayliffes, constables,
   head-boroughs, and all other officers and ministers whatsoever
   of vs, our heires and successors, for the time being, as well
   within our kingdome of England and dominion of Wales, as within
   all and every other our kingdomes and dominions, that they and
   every of them respectively be from time to time dureing the
   terme hereby granted, in their respective offices, favouring,
   aiding, helping, and assisting vnto the said John Dwight, his
   executors, administrators, and assignes, and to his and theire
   deputy and deputys, servants and agents, in and by all things in
   and about the accomplishment of our Royall will and pleasure
   hereinbefore declared, and in the exercise and execucon of the
   powers and privileges hereby granted as aforesaid. And moreover
   wee doe by these presents, for vs, our heires and successors,
   will and comand that our said respective officers and ministers
   before menconed, or any of them, doe not, nor shall att any time
   hereafter dureing the said terme hereby granted, in anywise,
   molest, trouble, or hinder the said John Dwight, his executors,
   administrators, or assignes, or any his or their deputys,
   servants, or agents, in or about the due and lawfull vse or
   exercise of the aforesaid Invencons, or any of them, or anything
   relateing therevnto: Provided always, and these our Letters
   Patents are and shalbe vpon this condicon, that if at any tyme
   dureing the said terme hereby granted it shalbe made appeare
   to vs, our heires or successors, or any six or more of our or
   their Privy Councell, that this our present grant is contrary
   to law or preiudiciall or inconvenient to our subiects in
   generall, or that the said Invencons and every of them are not
   new invencons as to the publick vse and exercise thereof within
   this our kingdome, and not invented and found out by the said
   John Dwight as aforesaid, then vpon significacon and declaracon
   thereof to be made by us, our heires or successors, vnder our
   or their signett or privy seale, or by the lords and others of
   our or their Privy Councell, or any six or more of them vnder
   their hands, these our Letters Patents shall forthwith cease,
   determine, and be vtterly void to all intents and purposes,
   any thing before herein conteined to the contrary in anywise
   notwithstanding: Provided alsoe, that these our Letters Patents
   or any thing therein conteined shall not extend or be construed
   to extend to give privilege vnto the said John Dwight, his
   executors, administrators, or assignes, or any of them, to vse
   or imitate any invencon or worke whatsoever which hath been
   heretofore found out or invented by any other of our subiects
   whatsoever, and publicly vsed or exercised within our said
   realme and dominions, or any of them, vnto whom we have already
   granted our like Letters Patents of Privilege for the sole vse,
   exercise, and benefitt thereof, it being our will and pleasure
   that the said John Dwight, his executors, administrators, and
   assignes, and all and singular other person and persons to whom
   we have already granted our like Letters Patents or privileges,
   as aforesaid, shall distinctly vse and practise their severall
   invencons by them invented and found out according to the true
   intent and meaning of the said Letters Patents and of these
   presents. And lastly wee doe by these presents, for vs, our
   heires and successors, grant vnto the said John Dwight, his
   executors, administrators, and assignes, that these our Letters
   Patents or the inrollment thereof shalbe in and by all things
   firme, valid, sufficient, and effectuall in the law according
   to the true intent and meaneing thereof, and shalbe taken,
   construed, and adiudged in the most favourable and beneficiall
   sense for the best advantage of the said John Dwight, his
   executors, administrators, and assignes, aswell in all Courts of
   Record as elsewhere, and by all and singular the officers and
   ministers whatsoever of vs, our heires and successors in all
   and singular our realmes and dominions whatsoever, and amongst
   all and every the subiects of us, our heires and successors,
   whatsoever and wheresoever, notwithstanding the not full and
   certaine describing the nature or quality of the said Invencons,
   or any of them, or of the materialls thereto conduceing or
   belonging, or any other defects or incertaintys in these
   presents contained, or any act, statute, ordinance, provision,
   proclamacon, or restriccon, or other matter, cause, or thing
   whatsoever to the contrary in any wise notwithstanding.

       In witnesse, &c. Witnesse Ourselfe at Westm, the Twelfth
         day of June.
                 By Writt of Privy Seale.

In 1694[40] Houghton thus, in his “Letters on Husbandry and Trade,”
wrote[41] while speaking of the tobacco-pipe clays, “gotten at or nigh
Pool, a post-town in Dorsetshire, and there dug in square pieces, of
the bigness of about half a hundredweight each; from thence ’tis
brought to London, and sold in peaceable times at about eighteen
shillings a ton, but now in this time of war is worth about three and
twenty shillings,” And again he says: “This sort of clay, as I hinted
formerly, is used to clay sugar; and the best sort of mugs are made
with it, and the ingenious Mr. _Daught_ of _Fulham_ tells me that ’tis
the same earth _China-ware_ is made of, and ’tis made, not by lying
long in the earth, but in the fire; and if it were worth while, we
may make as good _China_ here as any is in the world. And so for this
time, farewel Clay.” Again, on “March 13, 1695,” he thus writes: “Of
_China-ware_ I see but little imported in the year 1694, I presume by
reason of the war and our bad luck at sea. There came only from Spain
certain, and from India certain twice. ’Tis a curious manufacture, and
deserves to be encourag’d here, which without doubt money would do;
and Mr. _Dowoit_ at _Fulham_ has done it, and can again in any thing
that is flat: but the difficulty is that if a hollow dish be made, it
must be burnt so much that the heat of the fire will make the sides
fall. He tells me that our clay will very well do it; the main skill
is in managing the fire. By my consent, the man that would bring it to
perfection should have for his encouragement one thousand pound from
the publick, though I help’d to pay a tax towards it.”

Although no specifications are preserved with Dwight’s patents,[42] I
am enabled, through the extreme kindness and courtesy of the present
owner of the works, C. I. C. Bailey, Esq., to give recipes for the
manufacture of porcelain, &c., in Dwight’s own words, and copied from
his own private pocket-books. These two extremely curious books were
recently discovered among some old account books and their discovery
throws considerable light on the history of the plastic art at this
period. One of these books, which is bound in vellum, contains on its
outside front cover the words:--

    “All that is in this
    book was enterd since
    9 ber 15 1695;”

but the other contains many earlier entries, from 1691. Both the books
are in Dwight’s own handwriting. Among the number of curious recipes
are the following, which possess more than ordinary interest.

   “_To make transparent Porcelane or China Cley._--Take fine white
   thirty pounds. Best cley sifted twenty pounds. Mingle & tread.
   This works strong and may be wrought thin vpon ye wheel.

   “_To make another transparent porcelane or China Cley._--Take
   fine white thirty pounds. Best Cley fifteen pounds. Mingle and
   tread. This works weaker and thicker but burns very clear with
   low fire.

   “_To make red porcelane Cley._--Take Cley sifted twenty pounds.
   Ffine dark Earth fifteen pounds. White ꝑ. Cyprus five pounds.
   Mingle & tread.

   “_To make a bright red Cley w^{th} Staffordshire red
   Cley._--Take sifted Staffordshire Cley thirty pounds. ffine dark
   twenty pounds. Mingle & tread.

   “_The fine Stone Cley._--Take sifted cley sixty pounds ffine
   white fourteen pounds. ffine white sand sifted ten pounds.
   Mingle and tread. The best way of weighing and mingling this
   Cley is, 1, To weigh thirty pounds of Cley & put that into ye
   mingling box, 2, To weigh thirty pounds of Cley and put that
   also into ye mingling box. Spreading all the Cley till it lye
   Leuell. 3, Then weigh fourteen pounds of fine white, & ten
   pounds of fine white sand, and pour y^m together upon the Cley,
   and spread them to lye leuell, y^n mingle all y^e grate Shouell.

   “_The fine white Cley for Gorges & Cans._--Take Cley sifted
   three and thirty pound, ffine white thirty pounds. Mingle &
   tread. The readiest way of weighing and mingling this Cley is
   1^{st}, Weigh three and thirty pounds of Cley and put it into ye
   mingling box, spreading it abroad till it lye leuell, 2, Weigh
   thirty pounds of fine white, put it into the mingling box vpon
   the Cley, spreading it to the leuell, then mingle them with y^e
   grate Shouell.

   “_The like fine white Cley in smaller quantity if occasion
   require._--Take Cley sifted two & twenty pounds, ffine white
   twenty pounds. Weigh the white first, and lay the Cley a top,
   mingling y^m in the scale.

   “_The fine white Cley for dishes or Teapots to endure boiling
   water._--Take Cley sifted two & twenty pounds ffine white twenty
   pounds. White ꝑ. Cyprus six pounds. Weigh these one vpon another
   and mingle them in y^e Scale.

   “‘_9ber_[43] _1695._ _An Essay towards a China Glasse._--Take
   calcin’d sand six ounces, ffine white sand two ounces. Mingle
   and melt them vnder the ffurnace into a white hard glasse. Take
   of the set white hard glasse beated & sifted half a pound. White
   Lead two ounces. Mingle & melt them into a glasse to be ground
   for a china glasse.’ ‘Not (note) yt in burning China you must
   set pots near the wideness of ye Arches and set them 6 inches
   distant from one another and from the wall. The little furnace
   where the last Red Teapots were burnt I take to be a convenient
   one for this vse.’

   “_1691 March 14._ _To make a gray Porcellane by Salt._--Take
   eighteen pound of fine white Earth, two pound of fine pale
   Earth, twenty pound of Cley, six pound of vnground White Earth
   sifted through Cyprus sieve; mingle & tread. This is a strong
   hardy Cley, fit for Garden pots, teapots, dishes &c.

   “_1691 March 15._ _To make a blew porcellane Cley to be
   turn’d into vessells or to spot and inlay pots of any other
   Porcellane._--Take fiue pounds of Cley, fiue pound of ye fine
   White Earth, one pound of zaffer fine ground-dryd and done
   through a midling hair Sieve, mingle & tread. If it be wetted
   with the white water ’twill be the brighter.

   “_To make another blew porc: Cley more bright._--Take six pound
   of fine White Earth, four pound of Cley, one pound of zaffer
   ground fine dry’d & sifted through ye midling hair sieve,
   mingle, and tread them w^{th} the white water.

   “_1692 July 12._ _To make a blew porcell: Cley of inlaying or to
   turn into vessells._--Take fine white two ounces. White ꝑ. Cyp’s
   sieve one ounce. Best Smalt one ounce. Cley three ounces.

   “_1693 9ber 14._ _To make transparent porcellane or China
   Cley._--Take fine white Earth thirty pounds. Cley sifted twenty
   pounds. Mingle & tread.

   “_To make another transparent porcellane or China Cley._--Take
   fine white Earth thirty pounds, Cley sifted fifteen pounds.
   Mingle and tread.”

Other recipes are:

   “Light grey Cley to endure boiling water;” “ffiner light grey
   Cley for ye like vses;” “Mouse coloured cley to endure boiling
   water;” “ffiner mouse coloured Cley for ye same vse;” “1698
   Apr: 6. To make Number Sixteen;” “The best White Cley to make
   Gor: Cans, or dishes to endure boiling water;” “To make ye
   White Earth;” “To make the White Earth in larger quantity at
   one time;” “To make the Dark Earth;” “To make fine White;” “To
   make fine Dark;” “To make calcin’d Sand;” “To make white ꝑ.
   Cyprus;” “To make ye Black Earth;” “A fine brown colour w^{th}
   out Grinding;” “To make a fine bright and strong brown;” “To
   make ye brightest brown colour;” “Cley to burn brown;” “for
   marbling stone-pots;” “White to marble ston pots;” “Another
   grey for marbl: stone pots;” “To make a fine white porcellane
   Cley to be burnt w^{th} Salt fitt only for things of ornament;”
   “Grey Cley for ye like vse;” “A darker Cley for ye same vse;” “A
   Mouse colour’d Porcellane w^{th} white specks;” “A bright Mouse
   colourd Cley to endure boiling water;” “A fine porcellane Cley
   fit for deep dishes w^{th} out handles to be burnt w^{th} out
   glasse in the strongest fire that may serve to perfect ye China
   ware. ℞ Cley twenty pounds. ffine White twenty pounds. fine
   Black Earth two pounds. White ꝑ Cyprus sieve six pounds. Mingle
   & tread;” “The best Dark Earth;” “The fine grinding of the Dark
   Earth;” “The best browne glasse for white browne pots;” “To
   make the Dark Earth;” “A dark colour’d Cley for marbled dishes
   and teapots to endure boiling water;” “The Mouse colour’d Cley
   to endure boiling water;” “Another lesse red Cley;” “To make a
   grey porcellane Clay hardy & fit for Garden Potts, Teapots &c.;”
   “Another lighter Grey Cley;” “To make a deep red Cley of the
   Staffordshire red Cley;” “Another good red of ye same Cley;”
   “Another Red Cley;” “To make a Cley to burn brown strong & hardy
   fit for teapots to be sprig’d white;” “To make ye best fine ston
   Clay;” “Wh: br: & wh: gor: to be excisd[44] Cley sixty pounds,
   White sand 12 pounds, ffine White 24 pounds.”

These extracts will be amply sufficient to show the interest and
importance of these curious old books which have so kindly been placed
at my disposal for this work by their owner, Mr. Bailey, but I cannot
refrain from giving some extracts of a totally different character.
These relate to the way Mr. Dwight had of being his own banker by
hiding his money in all sorts of out-of-the-way corners of his
pot-works until wanted. Probably there may still be some of _this_
“treasure-trove,” as well as his moulds and models, &c., to be turned
on by some fortunate possessor of the place.

   “_1693 9ber._[45]--In ye garret in a hole vnder ye fire-place
   240 G.[46] in a wooden box.[47]

   “In ye old Labouratory at the old house, in two holes vnder the
   fire-place on both sides ye ffurnace in 2 half pint Gor: Couered
   460.

   “Behind the door of the Old Labouratory, & within ye end of ye
   bench, in a pot couered 200.

   “In ye second presse in ye said Laboura: vnder some papers at ye
   bottome in a bag some mill’d money.[47]

   “Behind ye doore of the little parlor old house in a corner some
   mill’d money.[47]

   “In ye same little parlour behind some boxes just going into ye
   kitchen some mill’d money.[47]

   “In ye second side hole at the bottome of ye first ffurnace
   in ye kitchen on ye right hand going to ye chimney, pott of
   Gui:[46][47]

   “between a little ffurnace & great one that joynes to ye oven
   behind Shouels & forks some Gui:[47] “Close by those Shouells
   w^{th} in a hole into ye vent of ye same large furnace, Gui:[47]

   “In two holes of that great furnace running in almost to the
   Ouen, 2 boxes full of mill’d money. May be drawn out w^{th} a
   long crooked Iron standing behind ye kitchen door.[47]

   “1698 Vnder ye lower shelfe in ye kitchen near y^e Oven, 2 cans
   couer’d.

   “In severall holes of ye ffurnace in ye middle of the kitchin
   opening at ye top where the sands lyes is a purse of 100 gui: &
   seuerall Cans couer’d.

   “At ye further End of the bottome hole of my furnace in the
   little parlour a box of 200_l._”

There are also many other matters of interest in these books; among
them the names of

          a
    “Lydia : ... Dwight
      her Book  8
               12
                4
    Ly
      Fulham”

evidently in her own handwriting, and which I take to mean “Lydia
Dwight, her book, Fulham, 15”--the 15 being her age, which is arrived
at by adding the figures together as they occur in form of a cross, 1,
2, 8, and 4.

“Ly D. Lewin,” “Lydia Dwigh,” “Mrs. Deb Nel,” “Mrs. Deb N,” “Mary,”
“Deb Nel,” “Miss Betty Osgood,” “Miss Lucy,” “Miss Betty Osgood,” and
“Miss Molly Osgood,” are also scribbled in different parts of the book.

Dwight is stated to have buried, in like manner as he did his money,
all his models, tools, moulds, &c., in some still-unknown secret
hiding-place of his manufactory that his descendants might not continue
that branch of the trade which he had been the first to invent; and
very securely he has, evidently, done this; for, whatever may be found
in future alterations and excavations, it is certain that these have
never yet been brought to light. A few years ago, however, after taking
down some of the old buildings, which had become much dilapidated,
the workmen, while digging foundations for the new workshops, &c.,
discovered a vaulted chamber or cellar which had been firmly walled
up, and which, on being broken into, was found to contain a number of
stoneware grey-beards or bellarmines and ale-pots, &c., undoubtedly
of Dwight’s manufacture. These were of the same form, precisely, as
the old Cologne ones which they were intended to, and did, supersede
in this country--and were those “fine stone gorges never before made
in England”--and for which his patent was granted. One of these,
presented to me by the present proprietor of the works, Mr. Bailey, I
here engrave (Fig. 338).

  [Illustration: Fig. 338.]

Nothing, at present, is known as to when the death of John Dwight took
place, or who succeeded him. A Dr. Dwight died at Fulham in 1737,
who, according to the _Gentleman’s Magazine_ of that year, was
“author of several curious treatises on physic. He was the first that
found out the secret to colour earthenware like china;” but this was
not John Dwight, as supposed by some writers, but Samuel Dwight, who,
in 1722, published “De Vomitione, et Purgatione, eorumque excessu
curando, necnon de emiticis Medicamentis, de Catharticis, et Variolis,
et Morbillis;” in 1725, “De Hydropibus;” and in 1731, “De Febribus,
Symptomaticis.” As the death of this Samuel Dwight took place in
1737, or sixty-six years after the date of John Dwight’s patent, the
probability is that he was the son of John Dwight, and that his finding
out the secret of colouring earthenware like china took place while
engaged in his father’s business. About this time it would appear
(probably after the death of Samuel Dwight) the business was carried
on by a Margaret Dwight, in partnership with Thomas Warland, and these
two--Margaret Dwight and Thomas Warland of Fulham, potters--became
bankrupt in 1746. This lady is said afterwards to have married a Mr.
White, or Wight, who continued the works. In 1762 “William White, of
Fulham, in the county of Middlesex, potter,” took out a patent for
the manufacture of “white crucibles or melting potts made of British
materials, and never before made in England or elsewhere, and which
I have lately sett up at Fulham aforesaid,” and which were composed
of “Stourbridge clay and Dorsetshire clay, calcined; mix them with
Woolwich sand and water, to be trodden with the feet, and then
burned.” For these he had, in the previous year, obtained a premium
from the Society of Arts. In 1795 the works were, according to Lysons,
“carried on by Mr. White, a descendant in the female line of the first
proprietor,” and they were so continued until 1862, when, on the death
of the then Mr. White, they passed into the hands of Messrs. Makintosh
and Clements. Two years later, however, on the death of Mr. Makintosh,
the works were sold to the present proprietor, Mr. C. I. C. Bailey,
who shortly afterwards considerably enlarged and improved them; he
having built a new factory and introduced the newest and most improved
machinery.

The articles and the wares made by the Dwights will have been pretty
well understood from the foregoing notice; but, in addition, it is
essential to speak of some few well-authenticated examples which still
exist. About the time of the sale in 1862, Mr. Baylis, of Priors
Bank, obtained from the Fulham works a number--about twenty-five--of
extremely curious and historically valuable specimens of the ware
produced there by the Dwights, and kept in the family. Of these he sent
a brief account to the _Art-Journal_,[48] a part of which I here
transcribe:--

   “The first is a dish, said, and with more than mere probability,
   to be one of a dinner set manufactured for the especial service
   of Charles II. It is of a round form and large size, being
   64½ inches in circumference. The groundwork is a rich blue,
   approaching to the ultramarine; it is surrounded by a broad rim
   nearly four inches wide, formed by a graceful border of foliage
   and birds in white, and shaded with pale blue. The whole of
   the centre is occupied by the royal arms, surmounted by its
   kingly helmet, crown and lion crest. The arms themselves are
   encircled with the garter, on which is inscribed the well-known
   motto, ‘_Honi soit qui mal y pense_.’ The arms and supporters
   rest upon a groundwork of foliage, in the middle of which is
   the motto, ‘_Dieu et mon Droit_.’ The workmanship of this piece
   of crockery is of very superior character, and a dinner set
   of similar ware would make many a modern one look poor. The
   solitary specimen left of this once-magnificent royal dinner
   service _is believed to be by far the finest extant of this
   early English manufacture_, and includes five classical figures
   of brown ware, of admirable execution, testifying to the skill
   and taste of the Italian workmen: they consist of Saturn--at
   least we presume it is meant for him, as he is represented
   with a child in his arms, which he seems to be on the point of
   devouring, according to his agreement with his brother Titan.
   He has already got the child’s hand in his mouth, and the bite
   of his teeth is by no means agreeable to his offspring, as is
   evident by the expression of pain on his countenance. The next
   figure is Jupiter, the third is Neptune, the fourth Mars, and
   the fifth either Adonis or Meleager, the emblem of the boar’s
   head applying to either--the former being killed by a boar; the
   latter having killed the boar; and as the head is cut off, and
   lying at his feet, it is most probably Meleager, as he cut off
   the head of the beast and presented it to Atalanta. The grey
   ware consists of a bust of Charles II.; a bust of his queen,
   Catherine of Braganza; another of James II., and a companion one
   of his queen, Mary d’Este--all four of meritorious execution and
   excellent likenesses; a statuette of Flora; a likeness of one
   of the Dwight family, thirteen inches high; another of Adonis,
   same height; and a likeness of a lady; a portrait of one of the
   Dwights; a smaller pair of statuettes of a gentleman and lady
   of the court of Charles II., probably intended as likenesses;
   a curious figure, or rather bust, of one sleeping, or rather
   lying on a pillow, for it was a death likeness, and is inscribed
   ‘Lydia Dwight, dyd March the 3rd, 1762;’ a drinking cup, called
   Hogarth’s cup--it is lettered ‘Midnight Conversation,’ and
   and has on it a representation of Hogarth’s picture in raised
   figures, and also four arms of the City companies. There are
   also four brown liqueur bottles, with white figures in relief,
   _temp._ Charles II., with his initial letter; and one or two
   specimens, such as a butter-boat and a couple of pickle saucers
   of fine grey ware; but these appear of a somewhat different kind
   of manufacture, and may have been brought from Delft.”[49]

Other productions were flip-cans, gorges, grey beards, ale pots,
bottles, mugs, single figures and groups, busts, statuettes, flasks,
leaf-dishes, &c. In the Jermyn Street Museum are some examples of this
ware, and others may be found in various private collections. Among the
latter may be named an historically interesting flip-can, belonging to
“Robinson Crusoe,” and carefully preserved by his family. It bears the
incised inscription--

    “Alexander Selkirke. This is my one
          When you take me on bord of ship
          Pray fill me full with punch or flipp
                      Fulham,”

and is said to have been made for him in or about 1703.

The goods now made at these works, by Mr. Bailey, are glazed and
unglazed stoneware, porous ware, terra-cotta, and china. In stoneware,
or “Bristol ware,” all the usual domestic vessels--in bottles,
pitchers, jars, pans, drinking-mugs, tobacco-pots, feet, carriage, and
chest warmers, funnels, bird fountains, barrels, filters, &c.--are made
very extensively, as also are drain and sanitary pipes, traps, &c., of
every description. The stoneware is of the hardest, finest, and most
durable character, and the glaze is remarkably good. To this excellent
quality is to be attributed the success of these works, Mr. Bailey
supplying, I believe, the large house of Crosse & Blackwell, as well
as many distillers, chemists, and shippers, with their stoneware, both
for home and export trade, and constantly increasing his business and
premises. Works of art of a high order, in his stoneware, terra cotta,
china, and other productions, are now executed. For the stoneware
department, M. Cazin, late Director of the School of Art at Tours, in
France, has been engaged chiefly to design figured and other fancy
jugs, mugs, cannettes, &c. Some of these, with armorial bearings and
other decorations in incised lines, or impressed, are remarkably good
adaptations of the antique. A cannette, in my own possession, bearing
the artist’s name, “CAZIN, 1872, STUDY,” is remarkably good,
and gives evidence of great things to follow. Another example, also
in my own possession, and made expressly for me, is of excellent form
and remarkably pure and simple design. It bears an admirably modelled
armorial medallion, with arms, crests, helmet, mantling, &c., and is
likewise decorated with incised and relief ornaments. On the bottom is
the date, incised, “1873,” and on the handle the artist’s name, C.
CAZIN, also incised. In 1872 Mr. Bailey received a medal at the
Dublin Exhibition for his stoneware and terra cotta.

Mr. Bailey has introduced a marked improvement in the construction of
filters--the water passing downwards at the back, and then rising in
zig-zag direction by its own force to the tap at the top in front--thus
the water has to travel a much further distance through the filtering
matter (as shown by the arrows in the section) than the old method, and
having to be taken a far more circuitous course, it is brought more
thoroughly in contact with the purifying medium. The usual method is
for the water to pass perpendicularly down or up, but in these filters
the water is kept a considerable time in contact with the charcoal and
other ingredients, and any sediment is left at the bottom, instead of
forming a compact mass of filth for the water to pass through each time
it is filled.

  [Illustration: Fig. 339.]

Terra-cotta stoves, of simple and effective construction, are also
extensively made at these works. In “Sunderland Ware”--_i.e._
brown ware, white inside--cream pots, starch pans, milk bowls, dishes,
trays, and basins are largely manufactured.

Chemical apparatus--receivers, retorts, evaporating dishes, condensing
worms, filtering and other funnels, still heads, &c.,--are a speciality
in these works, and are of high repute.

These various goods were thus spoken of in the Official Report of the
International Exhibition, 1871:--

   “Mr. Bailey exhibits some samples of well-made chemical ware of
   a highly vitreous and durable body, consisting of acid tanks,
   retorts, receivers, condensing worms, and other vessels. He
   sends one or two specimens of sewer pipes, well burnt, and of
   dense body. His contribution of Bristol ware, for excellence
   of make, glaze, and colour, is equal to any exhibited, and
   comprises, among many other things, an ingenious ascension
   filter, in which, by a certain arrangement of stoneware discs
   in the interior, the water is more exposed to the filtering
   material than in ordinary filters. A churn, entirely constructed
   of stoneware, by this exhibitor, is also well worth notice; it
   is stated to be exceedingly rapid in its action.”

In terra-cotta, the Fulham Works now produce vases, statues,
architectural enrichments, chimney shafts, stoves, &c., of very good
quality and of admirable design; Mr. R. W. Martin, sculptor, student of
the Royal Academy and Government Schools of Art, having been engaged
as modeller and designer. The productions in this department are of a
very high order of merit, and will take rank with those of any other
manufactory. The brackets and jardinières are of great beauty, and are
characterised by a pure artistic feeling and a touch such as is seldom
attained; the pieces bear evidence of being not only modelled by a
clever artist, but of receiving finishing-touches by the master-hand
itself. In colour the Fulham terra cotta is a light pink and a rich
red, and, when these are combined, a peculiar delicacy and finished
effect is produced. The mark R. W. MARTIN _fecit_ occurs
on the productions of this artist.

The manufacture of china ware was, during the year 1873, very wisely
and successfully added to this establishment, and, with the aid of the
good workmen and artists who have been engaged, has already done much
to establish a fresh fame for Fulham. The art direction of this branch
was placed by Mr. Bailey in the hands of Mr. E. Bennet, a well-known
sculptor, while the china body flowers, &c., were undertaken by Mr.
Hopkinson. I am the more particular in stating these arrangements as,
being the beginning of a new manufacture, I am desirous of putting on
record the circumstances of its commencement. The “body,” it may be
well to note, is made from Dwight’s original recipe--the very body of
which the first china ware made in England was produced--and therefore
the “Fulham china” of to-day has an historical interest attached to it
which is possessed by no other. It was a wise thought that induced Mr.
Bailey to restore to Fulham the special manufacture which has rendered
its name famous in the ceramic annals of this country; and it is to
be hoped that the spirit he has shown will be amply compensated by a
liberal patronage of his productions.

The marks used by Mr. Bailey are:--

  [Illustration:

    I. H. C. BAILEY
    FULHAM

    BAILEY
    FULHAM

    C. I. C. BAILEY
    FULHAM POTTERY
    LONDON.]

At the 1871 Exhibition (at which no medals were given) Mr. Bailey’s
productions were highly spoken of in the Official Report; and at the
Dublin Exhibition of 1872 he was awarded a medal for his terra cotta
and stoneware.


                               LAMBETH.

Lambeth has been a seat of pottery manufacture from an early period. In
mediæval times the characteristic brown-ware pitchers, pans, tygs, &c.,
were made; and, later on, at this place was quite a colony of makers
of Delft ware, who in turn gave place to stoneware manufacturers.
China, too, appears to have been made at Lambeth from perhaps 1760,
or thereabouts. It is recorded that in the middle of the seventeenth
century the Delft ware manufacture commenced; but it is not unlikely
that Rous and Cullyn, some years earlier, here established themselves
in the making of “stone potts, stone jugs, and stone bottels,” for
which they received a patent in 1626.[50] It is conjectured, and with
some probability, that one of the Delft ware makers at this place was
John Ariens Van Hamme, a Dutchman, who had come over from the Hague
under the encouragement of our ambassador, who, as has already been
shown,[51] took out a patent in 1676 for the “art of makeinge tiles and
porcelane and other earthen wares, after the way practiced in Holland,”
and who, with his staff of workmen, probably formed the nucleus of what
was afterwards a nest of potters, comprising, according to the “History
of Lambeth,” no less than twenty manufactories. In 1693 a trial took
place in the Court of Exchequer concerning some parcels of potter’s
clay which had been seized by the Custom House officers, under pretence
that it was fuller’s earth. In this trial five London potters, William
Knight, Thomas Harper, Henry De Wilde, John Robins, and Moses Johnson,
gave evidence in favour of the clay being potter’s clay. There is
nothing in the record of this trial to identify any of the five potters
therein named with Lambeth; but the probability is that some of them
belonged to that place. One of them, William Knight, was undoubtedly
the “William Knight of the parish of St. Buttolph Without, Aldgate,
London, Pottmaker,” concerning whom I give, from the original deed in
my possession, some particulars under the head of “Aldgate;” some of
the others were, I believe, of Lambeth. The account of the trial has
been printed by my friend, Mr. Reeks, in the “Catalogue of the Museum
of Practical Geology,” and is so interesting that I here reproduce it
entire.

   _A Brief Account of the Evidence given on behalf of_ Edmund
   Warner, _at a_ Tryal _had at the Bar the 24th of_ November,
   1693, _before the Four Barons of the_ Exchequer, _relating to a
   Parcel of_ Potters Clay, _seized by the_ Custom-House _Officers,
   under the pretence of it’s being_ Fullers Earth.

   _William Riddal_ swore that he was Steward and Tenant to the
   said _Warner_ for above 20 Years, in all which time the said
   _Warner_ constantly sold to the Potters in _London_ considerable
   quantities of the same sort of clay now in dispute, for the
   making of White and Painted Earthen-Ware: That he never
   knew or heard that the least Parcel of it was ever sold as
   Fullers-Earth, or put to any other Use than making Earthen-Ware,
   excepting some small quantities yearly in the Neighbourhood for
   daubing of Houses, which may be alledged as a good Argument
   that the said Clay is not of the nature of Fullers-Earth; for,
   whereas this makes the best Clay Wall in _England_, if it were
   of the nature of Fullers-Earth, upon the first wet Weather it
   would all fall to the Ground: He likewise further deposed,
   That the first time the said _Warner_ shipt the said Clay for
   _Holland_, it was seized by the _Custom-house_ Officers as
   Fullers-Earth; but upon Tryal of it, they were convinced of
   their Error, and cleared the same.

   _William Knight_, _Thomas Harper_, _Henry de Wilde_, _John
   Robins_, _Moses Johnson_ are all Potters in _London_, and
   swore that they had all seen the said _Warner’s_ Clay, which
   was seized, that it was really Potter’s Clay, and of the same
   sort which they had constantly bought of him, some for above
   25 Years, others ever since they were Traders, that it is of
   a quite different nature from Fullers Earth; for the said
   _Warner’s_ Clay tho’ never so often dissolved in Water, may be
   brought into a Body again, and will work, like Wax, into any
   shape, whereas Fullers Earth being once dissolved is never to be
   got into any Body, but when it is dry crumbles like Sand, and
   all the art of Man can never make a Pot of it.

   _Hen. de Wilde_, one of the said Potters, farther deposed, That
   about five Years since he shipt some of the said _Warner’s_
   Clay for _Pensilvania_, where his Son had set up a Pot-House,
   that the Custom-House Officers did then likewise seize it as
   Fullers-Earth, but upon Trial of it found they were mistaken,
   and cleared the same.

   _Benjamin Furly_, Merchant in _Rotterdam_, to whom the said
   _Warner_ consigned his Clay, _John Sonman_, Servant to the said
   _Furly_, were, by virtue of a Commission from the Court of
   _Exchequer_, examined upon Oath (by Commissioners appointed for
   that purpose), to several Interrogatories, and their Depositions
   being read in Court, did plainly prove that all the said
   _Warner’s_ Clay which was sent for _Holland_ was really sold to
   Potters for making of Earthen-Ware; That they never heard, nor
   do believe that any part of it was ever used for the Fulling
   Trade, or is any way proper for it; that they sold the said
   _Warner’s_ Clay from 25 to 30 Guilders a Last, when they could
   buy Fullers-Earth at 7 Guilders a Last.

   _Adrian Van Arde_, sworn Measurer of all the Earth and Clay
   imported to _Rotterdam_, was examined by vertue of the said
   Commission, and Deposed, That for many Years which he had
   been in that Office, he never knew or heard of any _English_
   Fullers-Earth imported into _Holland_, that they were so
   plentifully supplied with that sort of Earth from _Flanders_;
   that it is commonly bought and sold at Seven Guilders a Last,
   and had an Hundred Last by him to sell at the same Rate.

   Ten or Twelve Potters in _Holland_ were likewise examined by
   virtue of the said Commission, and deposed severally, That
   they had bought considerable quantities of the said _Warner’s_
   clay of Mr. _Benj. Furly_, and paid for the same from 25 to 30
   Guilders a Last; that they used the same in making Earthen-Ware,
   but do not believe it any way useful for the Fulling Trade, nor
   never heard that any of it was ever sold for that use.

   Colonel _Holt_, a Member of Parliament, swore, That he (being
   very lately in _Holland_) made the strictest inquiries into
   the Truth of this Business, that he could, First amongst the
   Potters, who all declared to the same Effect, as in their
   Depositions before mentioned, that he likewise took some of
   the said _Warner’s_ Clay, and got a Fuller to try it, whether
   it were any way useful for their Trade, who answered it was
   not? nor could he use it if he might have it for Nothing; after
   which the Colonel ask’d him, From whence they were supplied
   with Fullers-Earth, and at what Rates? The Fullers answered,
   generally from _Flanders_ at 6½, and 7 Guilders _per_ Last; and
   sometimes from _Rosendale_, in the _States_ Dominions, at 10
   Guilders _per_ Last; that being much dryer, and wasted less by
   lying; all which the Colonel (being unwilling to believe upon
   the Fuller’s bare word) caused to be drawn up in the Form of
   an Affidavit, and the Fuller before a Magistrate, swore to the
   Truth of it, which Affidavit the Colonel hath to produce.

   Mr. _Edward Paget_, a Divine, swore, That he being in _Holland_
   at the same time, made the like Enquiry amongst the Fullers at
   _Layden_, the chief cloathing Town in _Holland_, who all gave
   him the same Information, that the Fuller at Rotterdam had done
   the Colonel above; and for his better satisfaction, Three of
   the Chiefest went with him before a Magistrate, and swore to
   the Truth of what they Affirmed; after which he went to _Delft_
   amongst the Potters, who all affirmed the same thing, that the
   Ten or Twelve had sworn in their aforementioned Depositions, the
   Truth of which they attested by a Certificate, under the Hands
   of above Twenty, which Affidavits, and Certificate, the said
   _Paget_ hath to produce.

   _Rich. Cutler_, _Matthew Hanson_, Ship-brokers, swore, They
   had hired many Ships for the said _Warner_, to load Clay for
   _Rotterdam_; and the general Price of the Fraight, and Primage
   paid for the same, was 15 Guilders, 8 Stivers _per_ Last; and
   sometimes 17 Guilders, 12 Stivers _per_ Last.

   _Will. Read_, _Tho. Wood_, _John Saliby_, Mariners, swore, They
   had the same Prices above mentioned, for several Fraights which
   they carried, and saw delivered to the Potters in _Holland_.

   _Hump. Bellomy_, _Richard Hopkins_, _Timothy Fowler_,
   _---- Shepherd_, Worcester, are all Buyers, and Sellers of
   Fullers-Earth, and swore they could well judge of the same,
   having dealt therein from Ten to above Twenty-five Years, that
   they all took Samples of the said _Warner’s_ Clay, out of the
   King’s Celler, and tryed all the Experiments to judge of it,
   that they were capable of; and possitively affirmed that it was
   no Fullers-Earth; neither could they find anything of the Nature
   of Fullers-Earth in it, that for their Use they would not give a
   Shilling for 100 Last, for they should never be able to sell it.

   Alderman _Bearcraft_, _Tho. Cooksey_, _John Wynn_, _Rowl.
   Hancock_, _Gloucestershire_; _Rich. Osborne_, _Tho. Woorrel_,
   _John Chilton_, _Sam. Beadle_, _Essex_; _Simon Meazy_, _John
   Lawson_, _John Backer_, _John Peartree_, _Suffolk_; _John
   Clarke_, Senior, _John Clarke_, Junior, _Will. Baines_, _Tho.
   Baines_, _Dan. Baines_, _John Smith_, _John Carter_, _Dan.
   Wenden_, _Sam. Wrinch_, _London_; _Dan. Barrs_, _John St.
   Berry_, are all Clothiers, Fullers, and Cloth-Workers; being
   the most eminent in their several Places; as well for Honesty,
   as great Traders, and good Estates; they all swore they had
   made the most impartial Experiments they could of the said
   _Warner’s_ Clay, now in dispute, being the same taken out of
   the King’s Celler, that they tried it upon several sorts of
   Goods, as several sorts of _Cloth_, _Bays_, _Cloth-Serges_, and
   _Perpetuanæs_, and every one possitively affirmed that it was
   no Fuller’s-Earth, but on the contrary was an absolute Enemy to
   the Woollen Manufacture; for instead of scouring, it fix’d the
   Grease in the Grownd of all the Goods, that were done with it,
   and instead of makeing them White, it absolutely stained them
   Yellow, all which was apparent to the most common Eye, in all
   the above-said several sorts of Goods, produced in Court: They
   likewise declared upon Oath, that they were all Strangers to the
   said _Warner_; and that it was as prejudicial to their interest,
   to have Fullers-Earth Transported, as any men’s, and therefore
   could have no Inducement to favour the said _Warner_, beyond the
   Merits of his cause, to the Violation of their Consciences.

   _This is so just a Recital of the Evidence given on behalf
   of the said Warner, that he challenges the greatest of his
   Enemies to detect him of the least Falsehood therein; and if his
   Adversaries had been as fair in representing theirs, there would
   have been no need of this; for whereas in their printed Papers
   they make their Witnesses to affirm the said_ Warner’s _clay was
   tried in all Experiments, without any mixture, there was not
   above One or Two, but upon cross-Examination at the Tryal, owned
   they used either Segg and Hogs dung, or Soap and Gauls with it,
   which would have scowered any Cloath better without the said
   Clay than with it._

   _It may not be amiss likewise to observe that for a whole Year
   in which the_ Custom-House _Officers have been so very diligent
   in spreading the Fame of the said_ Warner’s _Clay to be the
   best_ Fullers-Earth _in_ England, _he hath not been able to
   sell the least quantity of it as such, tho’ he has proffered
   it to all Men for a very little more than one-Third of what
   Fullers-Earth is generally sold for._

The Delft ware here made was of the ordinary kind, same as imported
from Holland, and as that made in various English localities, and,
being without mark, is not to be distinguished from others. Besides
tiles, plates, jugs, mugs, dishes, &c., sack and other wine bottles,
apothecaries’ pill-slabs, wine-bin labels, &c., were made. Some of
these pill-slabs are preserved in the Jermyn Street Museum, as are also
some of the “sack-pots,” both of which may most probably, as well as
the apothecaries’ jars, be ascribed to Lambeth. They are all of Delft
ware, painted with blue, in the same manner as the tiles and other
articles of this ware.

In 1820 there “were six or seven potters in Lambeth,” says Mr. Goddard,
“working some sixteen small kilns, of seven or eight feet in diameter,
the produce of each kiln being under £20 worth of ware, the principal
articles made being blacking bottles, ginger-beer bottles (very
extensively made still), porter and cider bottles (not so largely made
now), spruce-beer bottles (gone, with the beer, quite out of fashion),
ink bottles (more used now than ever), oil bottles, pickle jars,
hunting jugs, &c. A few chemical vessels were also turned out well from
one kiln belonging to an eccentric individual, whose chief boast was to
drink a gallon of beer a day, and do without rest on Sundays.” In 1860:
“In place of some sixteen kilns, turning out each under £20 per kiln,
we have now about seventy, turning out each, perhaps, on an average
£50. They consume upwards of 20,000 tons of coal, paying a corporation
tax of say £2,100 per annum. The law requires this quantity to be burnt
without smoke, and, after immense cost and labour, this difficulty may
be called surmounted. Twenty-three thousand tons of clay are annually
changed into useful articles, giving employment to more than eight
hundred persons. The returns of the Lambeth potters cannot be estimated
at less than £140,000.”

_High Street._--From about 1750 to 1770 the Delft ware works were
carried on by a Mr. Griffiths, who had, for those days, a large
establishment. A curious reference to this manufactory occurs in the
following extract from the _Monthly Magazine_ for 1797. A man, at that
time unknown, but who turned out to be James Doe, a potter, committed
suicide by drowning, on the 14th of September in that year, at Sea Mill
Docks, two and a half miles from Bristol, having remained “fasting and
praying,” without food or bedding in the ruined building there from the
11th, waiting opportunity and determination to commit the rash act; and
having, during the whole of that time, written a kind of diary of his
feelings and intentions, his hopes and fears, on the walls of the old
room he remained in. Mr. Joseph James interested himself much in the
matter, and wrote an account for the _Monthly Magazine_; and this, and
the inquest, and other means he took, resulted in the discovery of
the name and some particulars of the life of the suicide. Two of the
letters forwarded in October, 1797, are highly interesting as showing
at what works he had been employed. The first letter is from London,
from “a respectable proprietor of a pottery there,” and thus runs:--


               “_To the Editor of the_ MONTHLY MAGAZINE.

    “SIR,

   “The extraordinary and affecting manuscript writing of the
   unfortunate stranger found drowned in Sea-Mill Dock, which I
   transmitted to you last month, having very probably excited
   the attention and sympathy of many of your numerous readers, I
   feel it a duty incumbent upon me to lay before them (through
   the channel of your useful publication) some information which
   I have since been enabled to procure of this unhappy and
   extraordinary person.

   “A few days previous to the publication of your magazine,
   I caused a paragraph to be again inserted in the Bristol
   newspapers, requesting the attention of the readers to the
   personal description of the stranger found drowned at Sea-Mill
   Dock, and inviting the two women who had made inquiries after a
   stranger that was missing, and answering the same description,
   to come forward with their information, as the only probable
   means left of tracing out the name and connections of this
   unfortunate stranger. I was soon after waited on by two
   gentlemen of Bristol of the name of Ring, the proprietors of a
   large pottery, whose information and description of a person
   lately come to Bristol, and who worked in their manufactory,
   in the art of painting china, so exactly corresponded with the
   clothing and person of the man found drowned at Sea-Mills, that
   there remained not a doubt of his being the person, the subject
   of their inquiry. Through their polite assistance I obtained
   the name of the deceased, which is James Doe, and I also got an
   interview with the K--f--m acquaintance, who, having visited the
   tenement, and viewed the manuscript writing there upon the wall,
   recognised the handwriting of his friend; he gave me likewise
   a description of his person and dress, which corresponded with
   that already published. For particulars of the deceased’s family
   and friends, I was referred to several persons in London, one of
   whom, a respectable proprietor of a pottery there, writes thus:--

   “‘SIR,--I received yours, and was much affected at its contents.
   I should have written sooner, but I wished first to see his
   uncle, who has informed me of the following particulars:--

   “‘James Doe was born at Lambeth, in Surrey, of very respectable
   parents, and was educated in the same place. He served an
   apprenticeship at Lambeth to a painter in the china and
   earthenware line, and he painted in the biscuit before it was
   glazed. In this line he was esteemed a good workman; and,
   to my own knowledge, he worked some years at Mr. Wedgwood’s
   manufactory in Staffordshire. He was there very much respected
   by his employer, his fellow-workmen, and by all who knew him.
   He was fond of company, but I do not remember him to neglect
   business when urgent. Having a tolerably good education, he
   was fond of reading. He was particularly generous, and always
   first to relieve any of the trade out of employ or in sickness.
   He worked at Mr. Baddely’s, in Staffordshire, for six or seven
   years, and was, at that place, very much respected. In fact, I
   believe him to be generally beloved and respected wheresoever
   he worked. About three years ago he came to London, and finding
   little or no employment in the line in which he was brought
   up, he was obliged to leave town, and, being assisted by
   his friends, he embarked on board a ship for Newcastle, and
   from thence went on to Glasgow in Scotland, where he was a
   fellow-workman with one of my present journeymen, and supported
   an excellent character there. From this time, I believe, he met
   with many disappointments. He then went to Ireland, and, after
   stopping there a short time, he embarked on board a vessel bound
   for Swansea, in South Wales, where he worked some time, and then
   went on to the Worcestershire China Manufactory, which was, I
   believe, the last place he worked at.’”

The following is an extract from the letter alluded to:--

    “‘LONDON, _Nov. 20, 1797_.

   “‘SIR,--

   “‘You seem to be very anxious concerning the life of the
   unfortunate stranger found drowned in Sea-Mill Dock. You have
   a right to know it, for the kindness you have shown to his
   unfortunate remains. James Doe was born at Lambeth, about two
   miles from London, of honest parents, who brought him up in
   as creditable a manner as their circumstances would admit. At
   the age of fourteen years, or thereabouts, he was put as an
   apprentice to Mr. Griffiths, at the delft pottery, High Street,
   Lambeth. When he was out of his time, he continued working
   at his business until he became slack; and the queen’s ware
   meeting with great encouragement, he went into Staffordshire
   for employment, where he remained upwards of twenty years,
   working for different masters, and then came up to London, in
   want of employ, and got work at China-gilding for a few months.
   He was then invited into Staffordshire again, where he remained
   but a short time: and from that time he has been considered
   the wanderer of the trade. He was the most charitable man I
   ever knew; and he was often known to neglect himself when
   misfortunes came on his friends and acquaintances, to whose
   relief he contributed both time and money, as much as lay in
   his power. Believe me, Sir, you have bestowed your trouble
   on the remains of a very good-hearted man. The acquaintance
   he alluded to in his diary, and another person, were going
   to France, about thirteen years ago, with a view of carrying
   over and establishing there the queen’s-ware manufactory; some
   of the master potters heard of it, and had them confined in
   prison. As soon as James Doe heard of it, he went through the
   trade to gather money to support his friend, and to preserve
   him from want; and he, poor soul, contributed all he had, for
   that purpose. To be denied assistance by that man whom he had
   relieved in distress, was too great for his tender heart to
   bear. Sir, I do not pretend to hold my friend up to perfection,
   the last action of his life is against him; but, I believe, the
   denial of relief by that man whom he had served and relieved in
   distress was the sole cause of his committing the rash act of
   suicide. The language of the manuscript writing is nearly the
   same as his last conversation with me, as far as this friend is
   mentioned. I perfectly agree with you, that he was in his senses
   as much as he ever was in his life, when he committed the act of
   suicide. He was acquainted with a Mr. Greenwood in Staffordshire
   for some years, a man remarkable for fine knowledge; to that
   man the unfortunate Doe owed a great deal of his knowledge; and
   although Mr. Greenwood was a very sensible man, yet he held it
   just for a man to destroy himself, and, like my friend, in his
   perfect senses, actually made away with himself the day before
   he was to have been married to a person of credit and property.
   They are two of the strangest suicides I ever heard; and had
   James Doe written to his friends in London, he would have had
   money sent him; for his friends in London would have thought
   it a happiness to relieve him. He was a very useful man in the
   Staffordshire ware manufactory, as he had studied the chemical
   secrets of that business. He was fond of reading. I shall be
   happy to communicate any further particulars you may require;
   and am, Sir,

                                           “‘Yours,’ &c. &c.”

In the possession of Mr. R. C. Ring is a mug painted by Doe--said
to be his last work. It is signed “J. Doe, Sept., 1797;” and as he
committed suicide on the 14th of that month, it would certainly be one
of his last productions. Mr. Owen’s assertion that he committed suicide
through a fear that that painting would injure the enameller’s trade
is, from the above letters, &c., amply shown to be without foundation.

_Coades._--Coade’s Artificial Stone Works, at Pedlar’s Acre,
King’s Arms Stairs, Narrow Wall, Lambeth, opposite Whitehall Stairs or
Ferry, were established about 1760 by Mrs. or the Misses Coade, under
the name of “Coade’s Lithodipyra, Terra Cotta, or Artificial Stone
Manufactory.” This material was intended to take the place of carved
stone for vases, statues, and architectural enrichments. In 1769 the
two Misses Coade took into partnership their cousin, a Mr. Sealy (the
nephew of Mr. Coade), and by these the works were carried on. In 1811
the firm was still “Coades & Sealy.” At the death of Mr. Sealy, who
survived the Misses Coade, a Mr. Croggan, who had for a long time been
a clerk or manager attached to the business, became the proprietor
of the works, which he continued for many years. He then disposed
of the business to Messrs. Routledge, Greenwood, & Keene, who were
succeeded by Messrs. Routledge & Lucas. These gentlemen, about 1840,
dissolved partnership and sold off all their moulds, models, plant,
&c., by auction, by Messrs. Rushworth & Jarvis, of Saville Row. Many
of these moulds and models were bought by Mr. Blashfield[52] and by
other manufacturers, among whom was Mr. H. M. Blanchard of Blackfriars
Road[53] (which see), and who, being an apprentice with the Coades, and
possessing many of their models, &c., claims to be their successor.

The Coades are said to have come from Lyme Regis, in Dorsetshire, and
probably it was for the purpose of turning their native clay to good
account in London that induced them to establish this manufactory.
Bacon, Flaxman, Banks, Rossi, and Panzetta, the sculptors, were
employed to model for these works, and many of the old mansions
and public buildings in London and in the country, as well as
abroad--including the bas-relief in the pediment over the western
portico of Greenwich Hospital, representing the death of Nelson,
designed by Benjamin West, and modelled by Bacon and Panzetta; and the
rood-screen of St. George’s Chapel, Windsor; the statue of Britannia
on the Nelson monument at Yarmouth, &c.--were executed at these works.
The works principally produced at Coades were capitals of columns,
statues, vases, bassi-relievi, monuments, coats of arms, keystones,
angle rusticated blocks, balustrades, &c. They were of durable quality
and excellent manufacture.

Another person employed at Coades was William John Coffee, who
afterwards attained some celebrity as a modeller at the Derby China
Works, and as a terra cotta maker, for a short time, at Derby. I
believe he was employed as a fire-man at Coades, and here, no doubt,
being a clever fellow, picked up his knowledge of modelling and of
mixing bodies. The following curious letter and “information,” from
the originals in my own possession, give some highly interesting
particulars regarding Coades’ and Sealy’s manufactory in 1790:--

   “_The information got from the fire-man that worked at the
   Artificial Stone Manufactory, Lambeth_:--There is three kilns,
   the largest is 9 feet diameter and about 10 feet high, the other
   two are sizes under; they have only three fire-holes to each,
   and they are about 14 inches in the clear. They make use of
   no saggers, but their kilns are all muffled about two inches
   thick, which was always done by this fire-man. They always was
   four days and four nights of fireing a kilns, and the moment
   the goods are fire’d up he always took and stop’d the kilns
   intirely close from any air whatever without lowering the fires
   at all. He has been use to fire intirely with coal (which are
   call’d Hartley coals--they are not much unlike yours at Derby).
   He never made use of any thermometer, but depended intirely on
   his own knowledge. The composition shrinks about half an inch
   in a foot in the drying, and about the same in the firing. A
   great deal of the ornaments are 4 inches thick when fired, and
   he has fired figures 9 feet high. This man has had the intire
   management of building the kilns, setting and firing them for
   many years; his wages was one guinea per week, and for every
   night when he fired he had 2_s._ 6_d._ for the small kiln, 3_s._
   for the next size, and 3_s._ 6_d._ for the largest.

   “SIR,--Quite unexpected, the fire-man from Lambeth that I have
   been after so long, call’d on me on Monday, to say that he was
   out of imploy; therefore I engaged him to meet me at Field’s in
   the evening, which he did; and inclosed is all the information I
   cou’d get from him. I informed him that when I wrote to him in
   the country I was imploy’d to look out for a person in his way,
   but did not know wether there was now the same person wanted or
   not, but wou’d write. At the same time I ask’d him if he shou’d
   like to go down into the country to make a trial for a short
   time, and see how he was likely to succeed; but this he seem’d
   to decline for some time, unless he went upon a certainty for
   constant imployment. After drinking a bowl of punch, he said
   he wou’d go down to make trial, in case his expences was all
   paid up and down, and paid for the time he was away. He seems
   to think, before he cou’d attempt doing any thing, there must
   be some alteration made to the kiln; but of this you will be
   the best judge, if you agree to have him down. He seems pretty
   confident they will be glad to have him back to Lambeth again
   very soon: in short, he thinks they cannot do without him. He
   says they had better a made him a present of £500 than a parted
   with him. I have been inform’d thro’ another hand that had use
   to work at the manufactory they have had very great losses in
   the kilns since he left, and that they have lost everything in
   the large kiln. He seems very confident in succeeding in firing
   China figures to any size; but of this he cannot be a judge
   till a trial is made. After I first see this man, I went and
   inform’d Mr. Vulliamy of it, and his advise is to for you to
   have him down, tho’ he says he is a drunken bad chap, but clever
   in his business. If you shou’d so determine to have him down,
   I think sooner the better, as he expects soon to be call’d to
   Gen. Conway’s[54] again, and likewise to fire some figures, &c.,
   for a Mrs. Dimer,[54] in town. He has promis’d to call again in
   a few days, therefore you will please to give your answer. Mr.
   Vulliamy very much wants two boys of the last mould sent: begs
   you will forward them immediately. Mr. V. inform’d me a few days
   since that he would write to you the first opportunity, and am,

                            “Sir, your very obedient servant,
                                                         “J. LYGO.”
    “March 23rd, ’90.”

In 1792 the following letter, also in my own possession, was
addressed to Coffee by Miss E. Coade, and shows what a clear-headed,
right-minded, and well-disposed employer she was:--

                                              “Lyme, 25 July, 1792.

   “MR. COFFEE.--I received your third letter, but have had so many
   engagements that I cou’d not answer it sooner; besides that
   at this distance I can’t speak upon it as if I were present.
   I supposed, as you now say, that Mr. Pritchard’s information
   against you was in consequence of some quarrell you had had
   with him; but I do not justify his manner of taking revenge,
   and you are now returning it upon him by acquainting me of his
   making tools in my time and selling them, which, as you say, is
   a _greater_ crime than what he has charged you with, and if Mr.
   Sealy knew it, I can’t suppose he wou’d keep such a man. But it
   is always a rule with me to let every man speak for himself if
   he can; and, therefore, as I am at such a distance I must put it
   by for ye present, or else refer it to Mr. Sealy, who is ye only
   judge whether ye hurry of business will allow of parting with a
   man or not. _You shou’d put yourself in ye place of a master,
   and then consider how many things they have to try them_, and
   how impossible to attend to ye private quarrells of ye workmen:
   however, I know Mr. Sealy is disposed to do justice. You say he
   behaved very well to you in ye beginning of this affair, and
   _if he changed his conduct, it must be in consequence of your
   improper behaviour to him_. But as it is too late to recall what
   is past, my advice to you is to do as you say--return to your
   work; and if you are conscious that in your passion you have
   _behaved disrespectfully to Mr. Sealy, make such acknowledgments
   to him as will show your good sense, as well as a sense of
   duty_. I have no doubt but he would have lent you money if you
   had asked it in a becoming spirit. I hope your hand is better
   and that you are at work. And _wishing you may improve this
   accident to your own good_, I remain

                                 “Your sincere friend,
                                                    “E. COADE.

   “My best wishes to Patty. I did not know but I shou’d have been
   up by this time, but I hope it will not be long.”

_The London Pottery_ is in High Street, Lambeth. It was established
on a small scale in 1751, on a portion of old “Hereford House,” the
palace of one of the former bishops of Hereford, and has been carried
on without intermission, from that time to the present. In 1840 the
manufactory came into the hands of Mr. James Stiff, the head of the
present firm of “Messrs. James Stiff & Sons.” At that time the works
consisted only of two kilns (the larger one being only about ten feet
in diameter), and covered an area of probably less than a quarter of
an acre of ground. Since 1840 it has been gradually developed, until
at the present time it comprises fourteen kilns (some of them more
than twenty feet in diameter) and covers an area of about two acres
of ground. It has a very extensive frontage on the Albert Embankment,
overlooking the river Thames, and by means of a private dock, with
entrance under the Embankment, is enabled directly to carry on a very
extensive export trade, and also to import most economically the coals,
clay, and other raw material used in the production of brown and white
stoneware, terra-cotta, &c. Until 1860, when fresh buildings were
erected, a Delft-ware sign-board existed in the front of this pottery.

The _four_ principal kinds of pottery manufactured by Messrs.
Stiff and Sons are: 1. Brown salt-glazed stoneware, in which the
tubular socket drain-pipes so extensively made here are produced;
water-filters, jugs, bottles, jars, and all kinds of chemical
apparatus are also made in this class of ware. 2. White stoneware or
“double-glazed” ware, or “Bristol ware,” in which salt is not used, but
the glazing is obtained by the application of a liquid glaze to the
interior and exterior of each article before it is placed in the kiln.
This ware, which is generally made with a rich yellow ochre on the
upper parts of goods, while the lower part is of a creamy-white colour,
has only been introduced into Lambeth about twenty years. It has,
however, to a considerable extent superseded the old brown stoneware,
on account of its superior appearance and cleanliness. 3. Buff
terra-cotta, in which is made garden vases, pedestals, chimney-tops,
window arches, string-courses, &c. This terra-cotta, being thoroughly
vitrified, is valuable for the manufacture of keystones, springers,
string-courses, &c., for buildings where durability is of the very
highest importance; one great advantage (for architectural purposes)
lying in the fact that, in it, the choicest and most elaborate
patterns, either raised or countersunk, can be obtained at little more
than the cost of perfectly plain stone. 4. Porous ware, in which round
and square porous cells, plates, &c., are extensively made, and have
been used by some of the first telegraphic engineers, philosophical
instrument makers, &c., of the day, and have given much satisfaction,
securing, as they do, the greatest amount of porosity, together
with a degree of hardness and fineness of texture which render them
insusceptible of disintegration.

The quality of the stoneware or “Bristol ware” produced at the “London
Pottery” is remarkably good, being extremely hard, and covered with an
excellent, clear, and firm glaze, not surpassed by any other house.
The same remark will apply to the porous ware, which is fine in
composition, and possesses to an eminent degree the porous quality so
essential in vessels of this description. The terra-cotta goods are of
very fine, hard, and durable quality, and of a peculiarly pleasing tone
of colour. Their artistic execution is of a high order, and some of the
designs--as notably the draped bowl and flower-pots which are engraved
on Figs. 340 to 342, and 345, 346.

  [Illustration: Fig. 340.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 341.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 342.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 343.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 344.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 345.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 346.]

Messrs. Stiff & Sons produce a large number of filters of excellent
construction and of artistic design. Some of these have Gothic arches,
with figures or armorial decorations, and others are decorated with
elegant foliage; two of these effective designs are shown on Figs. 343
and 344. These filters have been more than thirty years before the
public. The filtering medium consists of alternate layers of charcoal,
silica, and another purifying substance, all carefully cleansed, and so
arranged as to retain full efficiency for eight or ten years without
further cost or trouble. The “Popular” filter--intended for common use
among all classes--purifies eight gallons of water per day, and is sold
complete and fitted for a mere trifle.

The potteries of Messrs. Stiff & Son are among the largest in London.
They employ about two hundred hands, and their annual import of raw
material, clay, coals, &c., is about 15,000 tons. They have business
relations in almost all parts of the world, and their manufactures
have been admitted to the principal International Exhibitions; their
terra-cotta vases combine excellence of finish with correctness of
design, and are sold at very moderate prices. Their stoneware chemical
apparatus has a very wide reputation, and their drain-pipes and other
sanitary appliances, comprising nearly two-thirds of their business,
have an immense sale.

It is well to add that at this pottery antique jugs and water-jugs,
of excellent design and clever manipulation, are made. The forms are
chaste and good, and they have, partly owing to the care in making,
and partly to the fineness of the glaze, a pleasanter feel to the hand
than others. The carriage and foot warmers, &c., made here are also
extremely good in quality and design.

_The Lambeth Pottery._--In 1818 Mr. John Doulton established
stoneware works at Vauxhall, and soon afterwards was joined in
partnership by Mr. John Watts, the business being carried on under the
style of Doulton & Watts. Some years after, the works were removed to
High Street, Lambeth, to premises near those which had formerly been
occupied by Mr. Griffiths, already spoken of. In 1858 Mr. Watts died,
and from that time to the present the manufactory has been carried on
by Mr. John Doulton in co-partnership with his sons, under the style
of Doulton & Watts, and Henry Doulton & Co. In 1854 Mr. Henry Doulton
took out a patent for “improvements in kilns used in the manufacture of
stoneware, earthenware, and china.” In 1859 he took out another patent
for “improvements in earthenware jars and bottles,” and in 1861 the
same gentleman also patented his “improvements in the construction of
vats and similar vessels for containing liquids.” At the Exhibitions of
1851 and 1862, medals were awarded to this firm, as they were also at
the Exhibitions at Paris, Hamburg, Oporto, New Zealand, Auxerre, Caen,
and Amsterdam. At the International Exhibitions of 1871 and 1872 they
also received the highest commendation.

The goods manufactured by Messrs. Doulton & Co. include chemical
vessels of large size (up to 500 gallons) and all kinds of stoneware
suitable for the laboratory and works of the manufacturing
chemist--jars, bottles, jugs, water-filters, and other articles of
domestic use; terra-cotta for architectural and gardening purposes;
drainage pipes, irrigation conduits, sinks, and all kinds of sanitary
ware; plumbago and other crucibles, muffles, furnaces, &c.: and,
in addition to their manufactory at Lambeth, they have works for
the manufacture of sewer pipes, fire goods, blue bricks, &c., at
Rowley-Regis, Staffordshire; Smethwick, Staffordshire; and St. Helen’s,
Lancashire. The various kinds of stoneware and terra-cotta produced by
Messrs. Doulton at their Lambeth works give employment to about six
hundred men; and their consumption of coals at Lambeth alone (exclusive
of the quantity used in their Staffordshire and Lancashire factories)
is over 10,000 tons per annum.

  [Illustration: Fig. 347.--Doulton Ware.]

  [Illustration: Figs. 348 to 353.--Doulton’s Vases, Filters, &c.]

  [Illustration: Figs. 354 to 357.--Doulton’s Terra Cotta.]

In stoneware--which, like every other branch of the ceramic art,
has made great progress during the last twenty or thirty years, and
has been made applicable to scores of purposes never dreamed of by
the potters of old--Messrs. Doulton produce, to a very large extent,
bottles, jars, pitchers, and jugs; troughs and pans; feet, carriage,
bed, and other warmers; barrels and taps; filters, filter-stands, and
drip-pans, and every possible variety of household vessels. Besides
these, force-pumps, retorts, receivers, condensing-worms, still-heads,
evaporating dishes and pans, filtering-funnels, percolators, and
every other conceivable kind of chemical and manufacturing vessels
and apparatus, as well as drain-pipes, gullies, sinks, and sanitary
goods, are largely made.

Many of the productions in this stoneware are of extremely artistic
character, and evince a purity of taste which is highly meritorious.
Some of the jugs and tankards, from antique examples, and which are
produced both in brown, blue, claret, and fine white stoneware, are
remarkably chaste and elegant, and remind one of the best periods of
German and Flemish art. The forms are admirable, and the decorations,
whether foliage or animal, incised or in relief, are always thoroughly
well considered, and especially adapted to the material, the mode
of production, and the use of the object. “There are no affected
imitations of antique types. The spirit of true design is caught with
admirable perception and insight, and when colour is introduced, it is
done sparingly, and with a view to enhance the form of the object and
the natural beauty of the material, rather than to conceal either the
one or the other.”

  [Illustration: Fig. 358.--Group of Doulton Ware.]

In terra-cotta, Messrs. Doulton’s works rank high, both for the
beauty of their productions, the variety of designs they have
introduced, and the durability and excellence of their material. In
vases for gardens, &c.--the finest of which is their Amazon vase
(Fig. 354) sent to the Exhibition of 1871--Messrs. Doulton produce
a large number of exquisite patterns, as they do also of pedestals,
fountains, garden-seats, flower-boxes, and vases, fern-cases,
flower-pendants, mignionette-boxes, brackets, terminals, &c., which
are all characterized by extreme excellence of design and workmanship.
In statuary and architectural decorations the productions consist
of figures, busts, and medallions; keystones, arches, trusses, and
string-courses; capitals, bases, and finials; window and door heads and
jambs; rain-water heads, of marvellously bold and effective design;
parapets and balustrades; panels of coloured stoneware and terra-cotta,
modelled in very high relief, and mostly of scriptural subjects,
for out-door decoration; tiles and bosses of endless design--some
ornamented in the sgraffito style, and others richly coloured; and
everything requisite for the architect or the builder. Of terra-cotta
flower-pots and fern-cases a large variety are made, all elegant in
shape--some ornamented with masks and medallions, and others with
vegetable composition; and of brackets and pendants the specimens are
very graceful. Painting on pottery has also of late been introduced
into this manufactory with very good results.

One class of objects to which attention should be called, presents,
in ordinary clays, adaptations in which is conspicuous all the play
of the chastest Greek contours, with all the forms dear to successive
generations of housewives before the revival set in. Prominent are
claret cups, loving cups, hot and cold water jugs, flower vases,
candlesticks, hunting jugs, pitchers, and inkstands, with a great
variety of other vessels. “What particularly arrests the eye in this
branch of the manufacture is, that each object has a style which now
takes us back to the flowery periods of Doric and Etruscan forms, now
to the days of mediæval hospitalities, or to modern instances, by
vessels of form and capacity which would delight even the hearts of
the notoriously beer-loving _Burschenschaft_ of Jena. And it is
necessary to explain that, as these works are not the results of the
common course of earthenware production, it has cost much thought and
the exercise of much knowledge and ingenuity to appoint a confederacy
of labour so particularly qualified as shall work successfully to this
special end.” The ornament is principally the _sgraffimento_, or
incised outline, which is effected sometimes as soon as the vessel
leaves the wheel, or more generally after it has been allowed partially
to dry to a consistency which will allow of its being handled, though
yet sufficiently soft to admit of being easily worked upon. To the
designs thus engraved in outline, especially to the leafage, colour is
applied with an ordinary water-colour brush, and burnt in. This ware
is called “Doulton ware,” or “Sgraffito ware,” and no two pieces are
formed alike. With regard to the body it will be sufficient to say that
the great strength of stoneware in comparison with that of earthenware,
and also its perfect cleanliness, have secured its adoption, whether
produced by this or any of the other eminent firms who manufacture it,
in all kinds of appliances in connection with drainage and sanitary
engineering; and the perfect resistance it offers to the strongest
acids, proves the material to be admirably fitted for the manufacture
of every kind of vessel and apparatus employed in trades depending in
any degree on chemical operations.


_Fore Street._--A manufactory of various kinds of pottery existed
here in the beginning of the present century, and was carried on by
Mr. Richard Waters, who in June, 1811, took out a patent for “a new
method of manufacturing pottery ware.” First, “in the fabrication of
various articles of considerable magnitude,” “instead of throwing or
moulding them on a revolving table, the clay is made into sheets and
then applied upon moulds and finished, by beating or pressure, or by
turning while in a revolving state;” second, forming “delf-ware pots
and other articles by compression of the clay between suitable moulds;”
third, “making or clouding the ‘Welsh ware,’ by using a number of pipes
instead of one in distributing the colour;” fourth, “making earthenware
jambs, tiles for facing houses, and for paving hearths, balustrades,
balconies, and bricks vein-coloured, variegated either by the last
process or by putting together masses differing from each other,” and
in the admixture of stony or metallic or other mineral substances, so
as to differ in their colours and appearance when baked; fifth, by this
process making “figures, statues, ornaments, armorial bearings, and
the like;” sixth, by this process making “stone mortars and pestles,
cisterns, coffins, worms for distillers’ use, tiles, with a hook on the
back instead of a knob, also with a higher edge and deeper return than
usual.”


_Imperial Pottery._--Another pottery at Lambeth was that of
Messrs. Green & Co., which in 1858 passed, by purchase, into the hands
of Mr. John Cliff, by whom it was considerably enlarged. Mr. Cliff here
brought into use his own “patent kiln for what is known as double glaze
or Bristol glaze kiln, and a circular bag for the salt glaze and pipe
kiln, since adopted generally.” Here also Carr’s “Disintegrant” was
first proved and got to work; and here, under his own eye, Siemens’s
gas furnace was tried on pottery. Here also Mr. Cliff brought out,
and into work, his patent wheel and patent lathe--two most important
improvements in the potter’s art, and said to be the most perfect and
convenient machines extant. The works were closed in 1869, through
the site being required by the Metropolitan Board of Works for
improvements, and Mr. Cliff removed to Runcorn, in Cheshire, where
he still continues his manufactory.[55] The works were originally
established for the manufacture of common red ware; but after a time
Mr. Green added a little salt-glazed ware; and then, as the double
glazed gained favour, added it, and made it his principal business,
giving up the red ware entirely. Later still, he manufactured drain
pipes and a good deal of chemical stoneware; and, besides all the usual
articles, filters were here extensively made for the celebrated George
Robins, the auctioneer. The old works were many times much injured by
fire--being nearly destroyed just before passing into Mr. Cliff’s hands
in 1858.

  [Illustration: Figs. 359 to 363.--Blanchard’s Terra Cotta, &c.]

_Crispe’s China._--Crispe of Bow Churchyard is said to have had a
manufactory of china ware at Lambeth in the middle of last century; and
to him John Bacon, the sculptor, is stated to have been apprenticed
in 1755. But little is known of this manufactory of Crispe’s, but
reference to him and to his connection with the china trade will be
made in another part of this book.

Several other potteries--one carried on by Mr. Northen, who was an
apprentice to Mr. White of Fulham--existed at Lambeth, but have been
removed, like the “Imperial,” by the improvements on the banks of the
Thames.


                           BLACKFRIARS ROAD.

The terra-cotta works of Messrs. M. H. Blanchard, Son, & Co., were
established in 1839 by Mr. Blanchard, who served his apprenticeship
with Messrs. Coade & Sealey at Lambeth, and they are still carried on
by him and his sons and other partners under the above style.

The terra-cotta goods manufactured by this firm are of remarkably
fine and good quality, and consist of vases, tazzas, statues, busts,
groups of figures, brackets, pedestals, terminals, crosses, fountains,
balustrades, trusses, and every species of architectural enrichment.
In 1851, and again in 1862, as well as at the Paris Exhibition, Mr.
Blanchard was awarded medals for his terra-cotta goods, and they are
considered to be among the best produced, either in this country or on
the Continent. Among the more successful of the works executed by them
may be named the terra-cotta for the Brighton Aquarium; the permanent
buildings, South Kensington Museum; the columns, &c., of the arcades in
the Royal Horticultural Gardens; the Charing Cross and Cannon Street
hotels and termini; the Grosvenor mansions; the Grand Hotel, Cairo;
and the chastely beautiful and effective enrichments of the Wedgwood
Institute, Burslem. Of this last, as one of the greatest achievements
of ceramic art, as applied to external decoration of buildings, I give
a series of engravings. The principal features of these designs are a
series of twelve nearly square panels, in alto-relievo, representing
the months of the year--each month being represented by a seated,
recumbent, or stooping life-size figure, with the attribute of the
season; and a series of oblong panels or plaques, representing, in
similar relief, all the more striking details of the work of the
potter, thus, very appropriately, illustrating the staple trade of the
district in which the Wedgwood Institute is situated. Of the months,
the four illustrations here given (Figs. 364 to 367) will convey a
correct idea.

  [Illustration: Fig. 364.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 365.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 366.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 367.]

Of the general high character for design and workmanship of the
productions of Mr. Blanchard--who ranks among the best in the
kingdom--the objects here engraved will give abundant testimony; and it
only remains to add that the quality of the material and its durability
are fully equalled by the excellence of design of the various articles
produced by this firm.


                               VAUXHALL.

Thomas Houghton, to whom I have in other parts of this work referred,
in his “Husbandry and Trade Improved,” writing on March 13, 1695–6,
says, speaking of the imports during the year 1694, “of teapots there
came but ten, and those from Holland. To our credit be it spoken, we
have about Faux-Hall (as I have been informed) made a great many,
and I cannot gainsay but they are as good as any come from abroad.”
In 1714 Thoresby writes that he “went by water to Fox-Hall and the
Spring-gardens. After dinner we viewed the pottery and various
apartments there. Was most pleased with that where they were painting
divers colours, which yet appear more beautiful and of divers colours
when baked.” The Vauxhall Pottery is said to have been situated close
by Vauxhall Bridge, in High Street. The Delft-ware Pottery in Princess
Street, Lambeth, is said to have belonged to the same works. The
Vauxhall Pottery, which was for the production of stoneware similar to
that at Lambeth, was carried on towards the close of last century by
a Mr. Wagstaffe; and on his death, in or about 1803, it passed into
the hands of his nephew, Mr. John Wisker, who carried it on until
his decease in 1838, he having, in 1833, taken out a patent “for
certain improvements in machinery or apparatus for grinding covers or
stoppers for jars, bottles, and other vessels made of china, stone,
or other earthenware,” such as are described in the patent of Robert
Burton Cooper taken out in 1831. On the death of Mr. Wisker, the works
were purchased of his executors by Mr. Alfred Singer, but have been
discontinued and pulled down; and the site built over, for some years.
At these works Mr. Singer, in conjunction with Mr. Henry Pether,
manufactured small tiles, or tesseræ, for tesselated pavements. In 1839
they took out a patent “for certain improvements in the preparation
and combination of earthenware or porcelain, for the purpose of
mosaic or tesselated work” “by cutting clay or other plastic material
into rectilinear figures, by means of intersecting wires stretched
in a frame,” and “the forming of ornamental slabs of mosaic work by
cementing together small pieces of porcelain or earthenware, of various
figures and colours, on slabs of slate, stone, or other suitable
material.”

There was another pottery at Vauxhall, where coarse red or brown ware
was made, and where also, later on, a fine stoneware was produced.
There was also a manufactory of white stoneware carried on, in 1811, by
a Mr. Joseph Kishire.


                               ALDGATE.

In 1690 William Knight was a “Pottmaker” in “the parish of St. Buttolph
without Aldgate, London,” and made “white ware.” In that year he
had conveyed to him, by deed, some premises which were situated “by
the river running from Merton Mill to Wandsworth, in the county of
Surrey,” and consisted in part of a mill, “_used for a colour-mill
for grinding colours for the glazeing of white ware_” made by him.
The original deed, which is in my own possession, was first made public
by me in my “Reliquary,” and is altogether one of the most interesting
contributions to the history of the ceramic art in England which has of
late been made. The deed is as follows:--

   THIS INDENTURE, made the Tenth Day of March, ANNO DOM. 1690,
   and in the Third Yeare of the Reigne of our Soveraigns Lord
   and Lady William and Mary King and Queene of England Scotland
   France and Ireland &c BETWEENE Mary Crispe of the parish of
   St. Andrewe Holborne in the County of Middx Widow late wife of
   Ellis Crispe late of Wimbledon in the County of Surry Esquire
   Deceased and Samuel Crispe of the Inner Temple London Gent.
   Son and Heire of the said Ellis Crispe of the One part And
   William Knight of the Parish of St. Buttolph without Aldgate
   London Pottmaker of the Other part WITNESSETH That For and in
   Consideration of the Sume of Seaven Hundred Pounds of lawfull
   mony of England heretofore to the said Ellis Crispe and the said
   Mary Crispe (by the name of Mary his wife) or one of them paid
   by the said William Knight And in Consideration of the Sume of
   Five Shillings to the said Mary Crispe and Samuel Crispe or
   one of them in hand at or before th’ ensealing and delivery of
   these presents by the said William Knight well and truly paid
   The Receipt of which severall Sumes they the said Mary Crispe
   and Samuel Crispe doe hereby respectively Acknowledge Testifie
   and Declare And thereof and of and from every part and parcell
   thereof Doe hereby severally and respectively Release Acquitt
   and Discharge the said William Knight his Heirs Executors and
   Administrators and every of them by these presents And in
   pursuance of a Covenant for further Assurances of the Lands
   Mill and Hereditaments hereinafter mentioned or intended to be
   Released or Conveyed made by and from the said Ellis Crispe for
   himself and for the said Mary Crispe (by the name of Mary his
   wife) and for the Heires and Assigns of the said Ellis Crispe to
   the said William Knight his Heires and Assignes Conteined in an
   Indenture bearing date on or about the Four and Twentieth day
   of July Anno Domini One Thousand Six Hundred Eighty and Three
   and in the Five and Thirtieth Yeare of the Raigne of the late
   King Charles the Second Made or mentoned to be made Between the
   said Ellis Crispe and the said Mary Crispe (by the name of Mary
   his wife) of the One part and the said William Knight of the
   Other part And for diverse other good Causes and Consideratons
   them the said Mary Crispe and Samuel Crispe thereunto moueing
   THEY the said Mary Crispe and Samuel Crispe HAVE Bargained
   Sold Released and Confirmed And by these presents Doe Bargaine
   Sell Release and Confirme unto the said William Knight (in his
   actuall possession now being) and to his Heires and Assignes
   ALL Those Five Closes or Parcells of Meadow Ground Conteineing
   by Estimation Fifteene Acres be the same more or lesse lyeing
   neare and adjoyneing to the River running from Merton Mill to
   Wandsworth in the County of Surry Together with the Mill Erected
   on part of the said Fifteen Acres formerly used for a Fulling
   Mill and Brasill Mill and now and of late used for a Colour
   Mill for Grinding Colours for the Glazeing of White Ware And
   also the Watercourses Ponds Mill Ponds Floodgates Wayes Waters
   Comodityes and Appurtenances to the said Mill and Premises
   or any of them belonging or of right apperteineing All which
   Premises now are and late were in the tenure or occupaton of the
   said William Knight his Tennants or Assignes And are Scituate
   lyeing and being in the said Parish of Wimbledon in the said
   County of Surrey AND also all the Land Mill and Hereditaments
   with the appurtennces which in or by One Indenture bearing date
   the Fourth day of November Anno Domini One Thousand Six Hundred
   Seaventy and Three And in the Five and Twentieth Yeare of the
   Raigne of the late King Charles the Second made Betweene the
   said Ellis Crispe of the One part and John Campion of London
   Pewterer and the said William Knight of the Other part were
   or were mentoned to be demised granted and to Farm letten by
   the said Ellis Crispe unto the said John Campion and William
   Knight All which premises doe abutt on the Southside towards
   the Highway on the Westside towards the Land late of the said
   Ellis Crispe late in the occupaton of Joseph Walton William
   Mason and Edward Hubbart on the Northside towards Biggery Road
   and on the Eastside towards the Old River All which Land Mill
   and Premises are Platted Sett out and drawne and butted and
   bounded in a Plott or scheame to these presents annexed[56]
   (EXCEPT and allwayes reserved out of this Present Release or
   Conveyance unto the said Mary Crispe and Samuel Crispe and the
   Heires of the said Samuel The Royalty of Fishing and free leave
   liberty and lycense to and for the said Mary Crispe and Samuel
   Crispe and the Heires of the said Samuel and her his and their
   Servants to come into and upon the premises hereby Released
   or Conveyed to Fish at all seasonable and convenient times)
   And the Revercon and Revercons Remainder and Remainders Rents
   Issues and Profitts of all and singular the Premises and of
   every part and parcell thereof And all the Estate Right Tythe
   Interest Revercon Inheritance Trust Property Profit Clayme
   and Demand whatsoever of them the said Mary Crispe and Samuel
   Crispe or either of them of into and out of the Premises hereby
   menconed or intended to be Released or Conveyed and every or
   any part or parcell thereof Together with true Coppyes (to be
   made at the costs and charges of the said William Knight his
   Heirs or Assignes) of all such Deeds Evidences and Writeings
   (now in the hands custody or possession of the said Mary Crispe
   and Samuel Crispe or which they or either of them may or can
   come at without Suite in Law) as doe relate to or concerne the
   Premises hereby menconed or intended to be bargained and sold
   joyntly with other the Lands Tenements or Hereditaments of them
   the said Mary Crispe and Samuel Crispe or either of them All
   which Premises hereby menconed or intended to be bargained Sold
   Released and Confirmed were heretofore bargained sold released
   and confirmed or otherwise Conveyed unto the said William Knight
   his Heires and Assignes to his and their own use and behoofe
   for ever by and from the said Ellis Crispe and the said Mary
   his wife by Indentures of Lease and Release bearing date the
   Three and Twentieth and Four and Twentieth dayes of July Anno
   Domini One Thousand Six Hundred Eighty and Three and in the
   said Five and Thirtieth Yeare of the Raigne of the said late
   King Charles the Second made or mencondd to be made Betweene
   the said Ellis Crispe and the said Mary Crispe by the name of
   Mary his wife of the One part and the said William Knight of
   the Other part and by other good and sufficient Conveyances
   or Assurances in the Law And also together with all Messuages
   Tenements Houses Erectons and Buildings Sythence erected and
   built upon the said Fifteen Acres of Land or any part thereof
   with their Appurtenances TO HAVE AND TO HOLD all and singular
   the premises (Except before Excepted) Unto the said William
   Knight his Heires and Assignes To the onely use and behoofe of
   the said William Knight his Heires and Assignes for Ever and to
   and for noe other use or uses intents or purposes whatsoever
   And the said Mary Crispe for herselfe her Heires Executors and
   Admstrators AND THE SAID Samuel Crispe for himselfe his Heires
   Executors and Administrators Doe respectively Covenant and Agree
   to and with the said William Knight his Heires and Assignes
   by these presents That it shall and may be lawfull to and for
   the said William Knight his Heires and Assignes peaceably and
   quitely to Have Hold Occupy Possese and Enjoy the premises
   with the appurtennces hereby bargained and sold or menconed to
   be hereby bargained and sold and to receive have and take the
   Rents Issues and Profitts thereof to his and their owne Use and
   Uses without the lawful Lett Suite Trouble Molestation Eviction
   Disturbance or Interrupton of or by the said Mary Crispe and
   Samuel Crispe or either of them their or either of their Heires
   or Assignes or the Heires and Assignes of the said Ellis Crispe
   or the Heires or Assignes of Rowland Wilson Esquire Dec^d late
   Grandfather of the said Ellis Crispe Or of or by any other
   person or persons claymeing or to clayme by from or under the
   said Mary Crispe and Samuel Crispe or by from or under the said
   Ellis Crispe or Rowland Wilson or any or either of them in any
   manner of wise And that Free and Cleare and freely and clearly
   Acquitted Exonerated and Discharged Or otherwise by the said
   Mary Crispe and Samuel Crispe their Heires and Assignes from
   time to time and at all times hereafter well and sufficiently
   Saved Defended and kept harmelesse and Indempnifyed of and from
   All and all manner of former and other Guifts Grants Bargaines
   Sales or Conveyances (Other than such as are hereinbefore
   menconed) Mortgages Joyntures Dowers Right and Tytle of Dower
   Uses Wills Intayles Recognizances Statutes Merchant and of
   the Staple Judgements Executons Extents Seizures Forfeitures
   Debts to the Crowne and of and from all other Charges Estates
   Tytles Troubles and Incumbrances whatsoever had made comitted
   done or suffered or to be had made committed done or suffered
   by the said Mary Crispe and Samuel Crispe or either of them
   respectively their Heires or Assignes or by the said Ellis
   Crispe and Rowland Wilson or either of them or any clayming by
   from or under them either or any of them in any manner of wise
   AND FARTHER That the said Mary Crispe and Samuel Crispe either
   of them their and either of their Heires and Assignes and all
   and every other person and persons claymeing or to clayme by
   from or under the said Mary Crispe and Samuel Crispe or either
   of them or the said Rowland Wilson or Ellis Crispe shall and
   will from time to time and at all times hereafter within the
   Space of Seaven Yeares at the Request Costs and Charges in the
   Law of the said William Knight his Heires or Assignes make doe
   acknowledge leavy execute and suffer or cause and procure to
   be made done acknowledged leavyed executed and suffered unto
   him and them such further or other lawfull and reasonable Act
   and Acts Deed and Deeds Conveyance and Conveyances Assurance
   and Assurances in the Law whatsoever for the further and better
   Conveying Assureing Surety and Sure makeing of the Premises with
   the appurtennces hereby bargained sold or released and every
   part and parcell thereof unto the said William Knight his Heires
   and Assignes to his and their owne use and uses Bee it by Fine
   or Fines Recovery or Recoveryes with single double or treble
   Voucher or Vouchers over Deed or Deeds Inrolled or not Inrolled
   Release Confirmacon or by all or any of those wayes or meanes or
   by any other wayes or meanes whatsoever As by the said William
   Knight his Heires or Assignes or his or their Councell Learned
   in the Laws shalbee reasonably devised or advised and required
   Soe as such farther Assurance shall conteyne noe further or
   other Warranty or Covenants then only against the partyes
   thereunto and for and concerning their own acts only and soe as
   the Person or Persons making such farther Assurance shall not
   be Compelled or Compellable to Travell farther than the Citys
   of London or Westminster in Case they Inhabit within Seaven
   Miles thereof or else farther than Seaven Miles from the Place
   of his or their abode for the doeing thereof AND IT IS hereby
   Covenanted Declared and fully agreed by and betweene all and
   every the Partyes to these presents for them and their Heires
   That all and every Fine and Fines Conveyance and Conveyances
   Assurance and Assurances in the Law whatsoever already had made
   levyed acknowledged executed or suffered or hereafter to be had
   made levyed acknowledged executed or suffered by or betweene
   the said Partyes to these presents or whereunto they or any
   of them are or shalbee Party or Partyes Of or concerning the
   premises hereby menconed or intended to be Released or Confirmed
   unto the said William Knight his Heires or Assignes intirely
   by themselves or joyntly with any other Lands Tenements or
   Hereditaments whatsoever shalbee and Enure and shall be adjudged
   deemed construed expounded and taken to be and enure and is and
   are hereby declared to be and enure as to the said severall
   Closes Mill and other the premises with the appurtenaces hereby
   menconed or intended to be Released or Conveyed To the use and
   behoofe of the said William Knight his Heires and Assignes and
   to and for noe other use or uses intents or purposes whatsoever
   IN WITNESS whereof The said parties to these present Indentures
   Interchangeably have Sett their Hands and Seales Dated the Day
   and Yeare First above written.

                   MARY CRISPE.                  SAMUEL CRISPE.

The deed, which is sealed with the arms of Crispe, is thus attested on
the back, “Sealed and Delivered in the presence of

    JOHN WALKER,   } Servts. to Saml. Crispe.
    WALTER LOCKIE, }
    BENJ: GLADMAN, Scr: in Lothbury, London.”

The William Knight, “pott maker,” of this deed was the same William
Knight whose name appears three years later on, in 1693, along with
those of Thomas Harper, Henry De Wilde, John Robins, and Moses
Johnson--“all potters in London”--in the curious “Brief Account of the
Evidence given on behalf of Edmund Warner” in a trial in the Court
of Exchequer, concerning a parcel of Potter’s clay which had been
wrongfully seized as Fuller’s-earth, given on page 134.

“Mary Crispe of the parish of St. Andrewe, Holborne, in the county of
Middx., widow, late wife of Ellis Crispe, late of Wimbledon, in the
county of Surry, Esquire, deceased, and Samuel Crispe of the Inner
Temple, London, Gent., Son and Heire of the said Ellis Crispe,” were,
there can be but little doubt, of the same family to which, later on,
Crispe, the china manufacturer, belonged.


                              MILL-WALL.

Mr. Blashfield, now of the Stamford Terra-cotta Works, who had
previously been engaged in the plastic, scagliola, and cement
business, commenced the manufacture of terra-cotta vases, statues,
chimney-shafts, &c., turning to good account the models he had used in
his former business and those he had acquired from Coades. These works
he carried on until 1858, when he removed to Stamford, in Lincolnshire,
and opened his present large manufactory.


                               MORTLAKE.

Delft-ware works appear to have been in existence here in the
seventeenth century. At the close of the eighteenth they were taken by
Mr. Wagstaffe, of the Vauxhall Pottery, and passed with them to his
nephew, Mr. Wisker, about the year 1804, and were by him continued
for the manufacture of Delft and stone-wares until 1820 or 1821, when
he removed the whole concern to Vauxhall. Two examples of Mortlake
Delft-ware--a large punch-bowl, twenty-one inches in diameter, painted
in blue, with birds, flowers, &c.; and a set of twelve tiles, also
painted in blue, with landscape, ruins, figures, &c., are in the South
Kensington Museum. They were removed from the old factory.


                              SOUTHWARK.

_Gravel Lane._--In the beginning of last century a pottery was carried
on by Nathaniel Oade, connected with whom and whose business a shocking
circumstance is detailed in the _Post Boy_ of March 1st, 1718. It
appears that Oade had a family of four sons, who were determined to
have the business and house made over to them, leaving him to exist
on what property he had acquired. This he declined to do; when they
swore they would have it in spite of him, and soon afterwards had him
arrested on judgment in a sham action in the Marshalsea Court for
£500, and thrown into prison. The sons then, with their vile attorney,
conveyed arms and a store of provisions into the house, and at once
turned their mother and servants out and barricaded the place. “In
their rage they shot a woman who was passing by; also their own mother
and a servant who would not give up possession of the books of account.
The constables and the military at length arriving, they capitulated.”
The youngest son and another man were executed for the murder; the
others were found guilty of manslaughter. In 1750 the roof of a pottery
belonging to Mr. Oade was thrown down by an earthquake, and an account
of the circumstance was sent to the Royal Society by William Jackson, a
potter.


                              ISLEWORTH.

The manufacture of porcelain at Isleworth was commenced by Joseph Shore
in 1760, and was continued to be made about forty years. In 1795 Lysons
says: “There is a china manufactory at Isleworth belonging to Messrs.
Shore & Co.” In 1800 it was discontinued, but the stock is said to
have remained on the premises until 1830, when the works, having in
the meantime been used for the manufacture of earthenware--principally
“Welsh” or “streaked” ware,--were closed. A few years afterwards the
manufactory was removed to Hounslow, and the site converted to other
purposes. Joseph Shore is said to have come from the Worcester China
Works, and his partner and principal painter, Richard Goulding, was his
son-in-law, who was, later on, assisted by his son, William Goulding
[Sidenote: WM. GOULDING, June 20th, 1770. ✳] (a dated piece of his
having the name as in the margin). I am inclined, however, to think
that Joseph Shore must have originally belonged to the Derby China
Works, as several of that name were connected with them. After Shore’s
death, the works were continued by the Gouldings. The works were at
Railshead Creek, by the ferry side.


                               STEPNEY.

A manufacture of porcelain was carried on here in the middle of last
century; for Jonas Hanway, writing in 1750–1, says, “It is with great
satisfaction that I observe the manufactories of Bow, Chelsea, and
Stepney have made such a considerable progress.”


                              GREENWICH.

In 1747 it appears there was a small manufactory of china here, but
nothing is known of its history. In the _London Tradesman_ of
that year occurs this note:--“Of late we have made some attempts to
make porcelain or chinaware, after the manner it is done in China
and Dresden. There is a house at Greenwich, and another at Chelsea,
where the undertakers have been for some time trying to imitate that
beautiful manufacture.”

  [Illustration: Fig. 368.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 369.]

       *       *       *       *       *

_Ransome’s Patent Stone Works._--These works, situated at Blackwall
Lane, East Greenwich, were established at Ipswich in 1844, and removed
to this locality in January, 1866. In 1871 the present company was
incorporated in extension of the preceding firm. Mr. Frederick Ransome,
the inventor of the processes, is a member of the well-known Ipswich
family, and was in early life connected with the Orwell Works firm of
Ransomes and Sims. It was while there, and noticing a workman engaged
in dressing a millstone, that he conceived the idea of producing
artificial stone, capable of being moulded to any form, and to be a
perfect imitation, both in appearance and substance, of the blocks
taken from our best quarries. At the commencement Mr. Ransome had, as
I have said, his stoneworks at Ipswich. For ten years the difficulties
he had to encounter were very great, but he persevered, and, though
often discouraged, toiled and experimented on scientific principles
until he succeeded in making not only perfectly equable and homogeneous
grindstones, with keen cutting powers, and that need no dressing, but
also ornamental and decorative stonework of ornate character, which has
been well introduced in the Brighton Aquarium, London Docks, Albert
Bridge, the Indian Court, Whitehall, St. Thomas’s Hospital, &c., the
University of Calcutta and other buildings in India, and for ornamental
buildings in France, Belgium, Holland, Egypt, Turkey, China (where
a splendid fountain of Ransome stone adorns the public gardens at
Hong Kong), and other countries. The demand for this artificial stone
becoming much extended, the inventions were taken up by a company, and
extensive works were erected at East Greenwich, to which the business
was transferred, Mr. Ransome continuing with the company as managing
director.

The works are of great extent, and occupy a space of about four acres,
that was formerly a dreary waste, on the banks of the Thames. They are
connected with the river by a tramway and a jetty, supplied with a
powerful derrick. The works consist of a large covered building, with
a dividing wall across the centre, in which there are two openings for
the tramways that are laid from one end to the other, and on which the
work is conveyed from one point to another as the different processes
require.

The material is, to all intents and purposes, a pure sand-stone, whose
silicious particles are bound together by a cement of silicate of
lime--a mineral substance well known to be of the most indestructible
nature; its composition, mechanically and chemically, is precisely that
of the Craigleith and other best quality building-stones. It can be
moulded to any form while in a plastic state, and can be worked with
the chisel the same as any natural stone. The process of manufacture is
based upon one of the most beautiful of chemical reactions; flints are
dissolved by means of caustic alkali under high pressure, so as to form
silicate of soda, a kind of waterglass. This viscous and tenacious
substance is then rapidly mixed with a proportion of very fine and
sharp silicious sand in a pug mill, so as to form a soft, plastic mass,
which can be moulded into any shape that is desired. The soft stone is
next immersed in a bath of chloride of calcium solution, which is made
to penetrate every pore by means of hydraulic or atmospheric pressure.
Whenever this solution comes into contact with the silicate of soda the
two liquids are mutually and instantaneously decomposed, the silica
taking possession of the calcium and forming the hard, solid silicate
of lime, and the soda uniting with the chlorine to form chloride of
sodium in a small quantity. Instead, then, of the particles of sand
being covered with a thin film of the liquid silicate of soda, they are
covered and united together with a film of solid silicate of lime--one
of the most indestructible substances known. The small quantity of
soluble chloride of sodium, one of the results of decomposition,
is then washed out of the stone by a douche of clean water, or by
hydraulic pressure, its complete removal being ensured by chemical
tests. The stone is then dried and is fit for use.

  [Illustration: Fig. 370.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 371.]

The productions of these works may be said to comprise most of the
useful as well as ornamental purposes to which stone can be applied.
In the ornamental departments, vases of admirable design and of great
variety, fountains, tazzas (in these three departments some two hundred
different designs are produced), terminals, flower-boxes, flower-pots,
tree-pots, garden edgings, &c. Figures and busts are also produced. In
the more useful architectural departments, chimney-pieces, balustrades,
chimney-shafts and tops, window-heads, vases, plinths, capitals, and
many other articles are made, as well as memorial crosses, gravestones,
cemetery numbers and labels, and other mortuary articles, of such
excellent design and finish as to take the place of real stone, at a
great reduction of cost. Another speciality of the productions of
these works is the manufacture of grindstones and scythe-stones. These
are said to preserve their cutting edges better than stones dressed in
the ordinary way. Filters, too, for reservoirs, are made extensively,
and have the reputation of being the most effective of any introduced.
Pavement tiles, both red, white, grey, and other colours, and also
inlaid in different patterns, are made. These, among other places, have
been adopted on the new Albert Bridge, at Chelsea, with good effect,
and are giving entire satisfaction, on account of their great hardness,
strength, and non-liability to become slippery.

  [Illustration: Fig. 372.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 373.]

Another admirable and important element of Mr. Ransome’s inventions
is the applying of the silicate of lime to the preservation of stone.
The sculpture on St. George’s Hall, Liverpool, the Custom House at
Greenock, Trinity College, Dublin, and many other public buildings,
have been successfully treated with this solution, which hardens and
renders the surface indestructible by time or weather.

The trade mark of the company, which is the only mark used in this
manufactory, is a winged genius grinding an arrow, from an antique gem
at Rome. It is shown on Fig. 373. The works are under the personal
superintendence of Mr. A. Pye-Smith, with Mr. Frederick Ransome as
consulting chemist; Mr. Bessemer is the chairman.


                               DEPTFORD.

In the seventeenth century a pottery existed here, where were
manufactured melting-pots, “the best in the world, especially for
founders.” These were in great repute, and gradually superseded those
imported from Holland, Germany, and Denmark.


                        MERTON (see “Aldgate”).


                               HOUNSLOW.

About 1830 the manufacture of earthenware (commenced by Joseph Shore
and carried on after his death by his son and grandson Richard and
William Goulding) at Isleworth was removed to Hounslow, but died out in
the course of a year or two, and has not been renewed.


                      WANDSWORTH (see “Aldgate”).


                                EWELL.

“_Nonsuch Pottery._”--A pottery existed here in the early part of
last century, but about, or soon after, 1790, the bed of clay having
been exhausted, it was discontinued. About 1800 the steward of the
Nonsuch estates, on which the pottery was situated, gave permission
for a new pottery to be established wherever the clay could be
found; and soon afterwards the present “Nonsuch Pottery” was opened
in Nonsuch Park. It was founded by Mr. William Richard Waghorn, who
was joined in partnership by his son. This firm continued the works
until 1851, when they were transferred to Mr. Swallow, who had, until
that time, been their foreman. By him and his partner, Mr. Stone, the
business was continued under the style of “Stone and Swallow,” and by
them a pottery--principally for the manufacture of fire-bricks--was
established at Epsom. Mr. Swallow died in 1866 or 1867, and since then
his partner, Mr. Stone, continued the works alone: they are known as
the “Nonsuch Pottery,” or as “Stone’s Ewell and Epsom Potteries.” The
goods manufactured by Mr. W. Waghorn were “Italian tiling”--used very
extensively in the buildings of the time and remarkable for their
strength and durability; ornamental roof tiles; ridge tiles; “Nonsuch
Fire Bricks;” “Nonsuch Fire Loam;” paving and other tiles; moulded
bricks, &c., for Gothic buildings; ornamented chimney-pots; pipes;
flower-pots and vases, &c.; and on their lists was a view of the old
Nonsuch Palace, with an historical notice of the same. At the present
time the same descriptions of goods are produced--the mark, where used,
being simply the words “Stone & Co.”


                                CHEAM.

A pottery was worked here, about 1840, by Messrs. Waghorn, of the Ewell
Pottery; but on their retiring, in 1851, was transferred to Mr. Baker,
by whom it was worked until 1868, when he was succeeded by Messrs.
Cowley & Aston. It was closed in 1869. In the same year another pottery
was opened by Mr. Henry Clark, by whom it is still carried on, for the
manufacture of ornamental and plain flower-pots, rustic fern-stands,
vases, chimney-pots, drain-tiles, &c. They are of a bright red colour,
and when a mark is used, it is simply “Henry Clark, Cheam Pottery.”


                             CHISELHURST.

_The West Kent Potteries_ were opened in 1820, before which time other
works were in operation and carried on by the steward of Lord Sydney,
the owner of the estate, for the manufacture of wares for the use of
the estate. At Christmas, 1822, the works were taken by Mr. Pascall,
who continued to carry them on until January, 1869, when he died in the
ninety-second year of his age. Since then it has been carried on by his
sons, Messrs. Pascall Brothers, the present owners. The productions
of the works are the ordinary red-ware flower and root pots, sea-kale
pots, and other horticultural ware: building and paving bricks and
tiles; roofing and ridge tiles; drain, socket, and other pipes;
chimney-tops, &c. Messrs. Pascall are patentees of the famous West
Kent flower-pots with loose bottoms, celebrated for their convenience
for changing and examining the roots; and of the patent sea-kale pots
for growing sea-kale in hothouses. The works are extensive, and the
production of horticultural-ware is large.




                             CHAPTER VII.

  Chelsea--M. Spremont--Sale of the Works to Duesbury--Removal
  to Derby--Wages Bills--Simpson’s Works--Wedgwood’s
  Works--Ruhl’s Works--Bow--Heylin and Frye--Weatherby
  and Crowther--Craft--Sale of Works to Duesbury--Kentish
  Town--Giles and Duesbury--Euston Road--Mortlocks and
  others--Hoxton--Hammersmith.


“Chelsea buns,” “Chelsea pensioners,” and “Chelsea china” are surely
three things, each one in itself sufficient to make a place famous, but
when brought together, a three-fold fame must certainly attach to the
locality which has given them a name. With the buns and the pensioners,
however, I disclaim all connection in my present work. The former are
not sufficiently works of Art-manufacture to entitle them to a place in
our columns, and the latter are certainly not articles of _virtù_
which can be collected together and stowed away under glass shades by
the connoisseur. And yet the “Chelsea Bun-house” has its story--full
of interest and of incident--and the “Hospital” has a history and a
host of associations connected with it, which render these two places
memorable, and give them an imperishable interest. It is with the
“China”--the third of the matters I have named, and of whose story
the least is known--that I have now to do. The establishment of the
Bun-house, and its history to the latest time, is easily traced out and
written; the foundation of the Hospital, and the events which have from
time to time filled it with pensioners, are matters of record which
are easily gathered together; but the formation of the china works,
and many of the changes the establishment has undergone, are lost to
us, and will be difficult to recover. It is my object here to attempt
to get back so much as may be of the early history of the works, and
to throw together the scraps I have collected, into the form of a
narrative, which may become the nucleus of a larger and more extended
history, as fresh facts are brought to light in the course of my own
investigations or of those of others interested in the matter.

It is better to state at the outset that the history of the Chelsea
China Works is very obscure. In fact, a London fog, such as is
proverbial in the month in which I write (November), seems to have
closed around, and enveloped the place in such a dense mass as to make
it next to invisible. A little of this cloud of mist I have already
removed, and I trust that in the course of future researches I may
be able to almost entirely dispel it. At all events, every item of
information is valuable, and in the following narrative a vast deal of
new matter will be found, which will materially assist the collector in
understanding the history of these, the most celebrated of any of the
old china manufactories of the United Kingdom.

The south-western district of London, on both sides of the water, has,
as I have already shown, for a long period, been the seat of fictile
manufactories of an extensive and important character. Fulham, Chelsea,
Battersea, Vauxhall, Pedler’s Acre, Lambeth--all had their potteries
at an early date, and all, probably, had their origin from one common
source. What that first source was--_i.e._, where the first pottery
was founded--is, of course difficult to say, but from it others sprung
up, in different directions, until quite a nest of manufactories was
located in the suburban districts. The artisans of the seventeenth
century were chiefly Dutchmen; indeed, the manufacture was of that
kind of ware known as “Delft-ware”--originally made in Holland, and
introduced into England by workmen from thence. The importation of
“Delft-ware” in this (seventeenth) century was considerable, and at
that period the manufacture of a kind of porcelain is said to have been
achieved at Delft.

I have shown on another page that large quantities of ware were
imported into England from Holland in the seventeenth century, and that
Dutch workmen of skill and enterprise were induced, from the prospect
of a good home trade here, to settle in England. These workmen, it is
not too much to believe, were acquainted with the art of manufacturing
porcelain as produced in Delft, as well as the ordinary kind of ware
made in their native country; and thus the knowledge was brought into
our kingdom, and carried on, to some little extent, by those who
settled here. The first maker of china, as I have shown in my account
of the Fulham Works, was Mr. Dwight, and to him I am inclined to award
the honour of being the father of the Chelsea China Works, about whose
origin so little is known. The probability is that after Dwight had
succeeded in making porcelain, and abandoned it, some other potter
started the works at Chelsea, and with good result.

When first commenced they were, of course, of a very small size, and
were, it is said, principally confined to painting and finishing
Oriental china, which was imported for that purpose. There is a
tradition--but only tradition--that the origin of the Chelsea works
took its rise from the fact of clay being brought as ballast in vessels
from Chinese ports, which was found to be the veritable clay used by
the Oriental potters. This clay is said to have been used both at
Chelsea and at Bow, and to have enabled the workmen successfully to
compete with their Eastern rivals. The tradition, however, goes on to
recount that the Chinese, finding that the uses of this clay had been
discovered, and perceiving that they were losing trade in consequence,
wisely “stopped the supplies,” and peremptorily refused to allow
any more to leave their ports. The workmen were then driven to seek
elsewhere for material, and, as a matter of course, soon found enough
to use in our country.

By whom the works were carried on in their early days is not recorded,
but in the year 1745 the art had evidently attained a high continental
as well as home celebrity. In this year the French company, in their
petition for the exclusive privilege of establishing a porcelain
manufactory at Vincennes, urged the benefit which France might be
expected to derive by having a manufactory of porcelain which should
counteract the reputation of English and German make, and stop their
importation into France. There is nothing to show that Chelsea, any
more than Bow, was intended by this; but as ten years later, according
to Rouquet, “that of Chelsea is the most considerable” of the three or
four china manufactories in the neighbourhood of London, it is probable
it was then one of the seats of manufacture of which France was jealous.

George II. gave the Chelsea establishment his countenance and earnest
support, and did much to encourage its works, and to ensure its
success. He procured for it workmen, models, and materials from the
State of Saxony, and thus enabled the factory to produce works of
such high merit as to successfully rival the productions of Sèvres
and Dresden. This royal patronage of course produced its results, in
procuring the patronage of many of the leading men of the day. Thus,
the Duke of Cumberland not only took it under his special care, but
allowed a sum of money annually for its furtherance and support. In
1750 it belonged to M. Nicholas Spremont, or Sprimont, a foreigner
of considerable taste and talent, who did much towards establishing
its already acquired reputation. At this time the productions of the
establishment must have been of a particularly high order. In Watkins’s
“Life of Queen Charlotte,” it is stated that “there are several rooms
in Buckingham Palace full of curiosities and valuable movables, but not
ranged in proper order. Among other things I beheld with admiration a
complete service of Chelsea china, rich and beautiful in fancy beyond
expression. I really never saw any Dresden near so fine. Her Majesty
made a present of this choice collection to the duke, her brother--a
present worthy of so great a prince.” Horace Walpole, too, in 1763,
wrote, “I saw yesterday (March 3, 1763) a magnificent service of
Chelsea china, which the king and queen are sending to the Duke of
Mecklenberg. There are dishes and plates without number, an epergne,
candlestick, salt-cellars, sauce-boats, tea and coffee equipages, &c.
In short it is complete, and cost £1,200.”

In the Lansdowne MSS.[57] in the British Museum is a curious document
relating to the Chelsea works, which, being particularly interesting,
I here give in full. It is entitled “The case of the Undertaker of the
Chelsea manufacture of Porcelain Ware.”

   “Many attempts towards this art have been made in Europe for a
   long course of years past; the success which has been met with
   at Dresden has revived these pursuits in many parts of Europe.

   “The Empress Queen has a manufacture of her own.

   “The French King has one, and has patronised and encouraged
   several; the King of Naples has one; the late Duke of Orleans
   was, at the time of his death, and had been for many years,
   engaged very earnestly in this pursuit, but none have come up to
   the pattern they have been endeavouring to imitate.

   “Several attempts have likewise been made here; few have made
   any progress, and the chief endeavours at Bow have been towards
   making a more ordinary sort of ware for common uses.

   “This undertaker, a silversmith by profession, from a casual
   acquaintance with a chymist who had some knowledge this way, was
   tempted to make a trial, which, upon the progress he made, he
   was encouraged to pursue with great labour and expense; and as
   the town and some of the best judges expressed their approbation
   of the essays he produced of his skill, he found means to engage
   some assistance.

   “The manufacture was then put upon a more extensive footing, and
   he had the encouragement of the public to a very great degree,
   so that the last winter he sold to the value of more than
   £3,500, which is a great deal, considering the thing is new, and
   is of so great extent that it has been beyond the reach of his
   industry to produce such complete assortments as are required in
   a variety of ways. This has been a great spur to his industry,
   so that, notwithstanding some discouragements, the ground-plot
   of his manufacture has gone on still increasing.

   “The discouragements, besides the immense difficulties in
   every step towards the improvement of the art, have been the
   introduction of immense quantities of Dresden porcelain.

   “It was known that, as the laws stand, painted earthenware,
   other than that from India, is not enterable at the Custom
   House, otherwise than for private use, and of course becomes
   forfeit when offered to sale, as well as lace from France, or
   any other unenterable commodity; and though it was publicly sold
   in a great many shops, and that there were even very frequent
   public sales of it, it was hoped that what was exposed to sale
   was chiefly the stock in hand, and when that should be got off,
   this grievance would cease. It has, nevertheless, happened
   quite otherwise, for not only the importations continue, and
   considerable parcels are allowed to pass at the Custom House, as
   for private use, by which means the shops abound with new stock,
   and public sales are advertised at the very beginning of the
   winter, and in large quantities; but there is reason to believe,
   from the diminution in the price of the Dresden china, that this
   is done on purpose to crush the manufactory established here,
   which was a project threatened last year.

   “It is apprehended that if recourse is had to the Custom House
   books, it will be found that considerable quantities have been
   entered there for private use, besides what may have been
   allowed to pass as Furniture to foreign ministers.

   “This earthenware pays eightpence by the pound when entered
   for private use; but a figure of very little weight may be
   worth five pounds, so that the real value of what is sold here
   will be found to be considerable; and, indeed, it must be so,
   as this ware makes an important article in a number of great
   shops, besides the number of public sales during the course of
   a winter, and the other private ways there are of carrying it
   about.

   “It may be a motive to let it be entered at the Custom House,
   that great names are made use of there; but it is to be
   regretted, that either these names are often made use of without
   authority, or that names are often given for very mean purposes;
   and as nobody is named, it may be said that a certain foreign
   minister’s house has been, for a course of years, a warehouse
   for this commerce, and the large parcel, advertised for public
   sale on the seventh of next month, is come, or is to come from
   thence.

   “Even the right of entering this ware at all is a doubtful
   point, and the affirmative is taken upon presumption, because
   the law says it shall not be entered for sale.

   “The manufacture in England has been carried on so far by great
   labour, and at a large expense; it is in many points to the
   full as good as the Dresden, and the late Duke of Orleans told
   Colonel York that the metal or earth had been tried in his
   furnace, and was found to be the best made in Europe. It is now
   daily improving, and already employs at least one hundred hands,
   of which is a nursery of thirty lads, taken from the parishes
   and charity schools, and bred to designing and painting--arts
   very much wanted here, and which are of the greatest use in our
   silk and printed linen manufactures.

   “Besides the advantage great honour accrues to the nation, from
   the progress made in so fine an art, without any of those aids
   by which it has been set on foot and supported abroad; nor has
   there even been any application for new laws or prohibitions
   in its favour, which has been a rule in every country upon the
   establishment of new manufactures.

   “The execution of the laws which have all along been in force,
   and which can give no offence to anybody, it is apprehended will
   answer the purpose; all that is therefore requested is, that the
   Commissioners of the Customs may be cautioned with regard to
   the admission of this ware under the pretence of private use,
   and that the public sale of it may not be permitted any more
   than that of other prohibited goods. A few examples of seizures
   would put a stop to this, and which cannot be difficult, as all
   Dresden china has a sure mark to distinguish it by; but if this
   commerce is permitted to go on, the match between a crowned head
   and private people must be very unequal, and the possessors of
   the foreign manufactures will at any time, by the sacrifice
   of a few thousand pounds, have it in their power to ruin any
   undertaking of this kind here.

   “This must be the case at present with the Chelsea manufacture,
   unless the administration will be pleased to interpose, and
   enjoin, in the proper place, a strict attention to the execution
   of the laws; for if, while the manufacture is filled with ware,
   these public sales of, and the several shops furnished with,
   what is prohibited, are to take off the ready money which should
   enable the manufacturer to go on, it must come to a stop, to the
   public detriment, and the ruin of the undertaker, as well as
   great loss to those who have engaged in his support.”

Who the “undertaker” of the works here referred to was, is not stated
in the document, which, according to Mr. Franks, bears internal
evidence of having been written after 1752 and before 1759. Whether
the Customs acceded to his views or not does not appear; but certain
it is that, despite the abuse of import privilege enjoyed by cabinet
ministers and others, he was, by his own showing, carrying on a very
extensive business, selling £3,500 worth of goods in one winter, and
employing more than a hundred hands, including a nursery of about
thirty lads, who were learning the arts of potting and painting.

In 1754 the following advertisement, which is most important as showing
the class of goods then made at Chelsea, appeared in the _Public
Advertiser_ of December 17th:--

   “To be sold by auction, by Mr. Ford, at his Great Room, in
   St. James’s, Hay-Market, this and four following days. All
   the entire stock of Chelsea porcelain toys, brought from the
   proprietor’s warehouse in Pall Mall; consisting of snuff-boxes,
   smelling-bottles, and trinkets for watches (mounted in gold
   and unmounted) in various beautiful shapes, of an elegant
   design, and curiously painted in enamel, a large parcell of
   knife-hafts, &c. The said stock may be viewed till the time of
   sale, which will begin each day at half an hour after eleven
   o’clock. Note.--Most of the above things are in lots suitable
   for jewellers, goldsmiths, toyshops, china-shops, cutlers, and
   workmen in those branches of business. Catalogues may be had at
   Mr. Ford’s, at sixpence each, which will be allowed to those who
   are purchasers.”

In Mr. Franks’s possession, and in other collections, examples of these
“toys” are preserved. Mr. Franks has a smelling-bottle in form of a
group, being a boy seated and writing a letter, while a girl looks
on: the letter is inscribed, “Fe: 1759, This is.” In that year a Mr.
Hughes, an ironmonger in Pall Mall, in his advertisement of May 2nd--

   “Begs leave to inform the nobility, gentry, and others, that he
   has a greater choice of the Chelsea Porcelain than any dealer
   in London, both useful and ornamental; and as they were bought
   cheap can be sold more reasonable than they can be made at the
   manufactory. He has compleat services of plates and dishes,
   tureens, sauce-boats, &c., which no one else has; several
   elegant epargnes for desarts, and one beautiful one bought at
   the last sale; several figures and greatest choice of branches
   with the best flowers, such as were on the chandelier at the
   last sale; and upwards of three thousand of those flowers to be
   sold by themselves, so that ladies or gentlemen may make use of
   them in grottos, branches, epargnes, flower-pots, &c., agreeable
   to their own taste.”

After much research I find that Mr. Spremont continued the works until
1768 or 1769, when he retired, principally through ill health,[58]
after having amassed a comfortable fortune; his ledgers dating from
1759 to 1768. During the time of his carrying on the establishment the
works were very flourishing--indeed, it was said that “the china was in
such repute as to be sold by auction; and as a set was purchased as
soon as baked, dealers were surrounding the doors for that purpose.”

Mr. Spremont’s managing man was Francis Thomas, of whom I shall
have a few words to say presently. When Spremont retired from the
concern, it was purchased by, or assigned over to, Mr. James Cox,
who engaged Francis Thomas as overseer, at a salary of £100 a year,
and this arrangement continued to the 6th of January, 1770, when Mr.
Thomas died. Shortly afterwards the concern again, and for the last
time, changed hands. Mr. Thomas was a man of good ability and of much
practical skill, and to his energy in directing the works under Mr.
Spremont much of their fame may be traced. He was buried in the south
aisle of the parish church of Chelsea, where an inscription to his
memory now remains.

I have in my possession a bill from Elizabeth, widow of Francis Thomas,
which is somewhat interesting, as refuting the statements which have
been made as to the position held by this gentleman, and which I
therefore give entire:--


               JAMES COX, Esq., _to_ ELIZ. THOMAS, _Dr._

                                                              £ _s._ _d._
  To Keeping a Horse from ye 14 of Decm. 1769, to Friday,
    March ye 2, 1770, which is 11 Weacks, at 10_s._ 6_d._
    pr. Weack    5  15   6
  To 20 Trusses of Hay, at 18_d._ pr. Truss                   1  10   0
  To 11 Trusses of Straw, at 10_d._ pr. do.                   0   9   2
  To 5 Pecks of Corn Remaining                                0   2  10
  To 1 Chaldren & ¾ of Coals                                  2  19   6
  To Shuting the Coals                                        0   1   0
                                                              ----------
    1770.                                                    £10  18   0
  Jany. 27. To paid a weekly Bill                             3   2   6
  Feb.   3. To paid ditto                                     2  14  10
   „    10. To paid ditto                                     3  19   2
                                                              ----------
                                      Carried forward       £20  14   6

                    Brought forward                          20  14   6
  Feb. 17. To paid a Weekly Bill                              4  16   9
  Mr. Thomas’s Sallery for Looking after the Manufactory
  --£100 pr. anam, which he enjoyed from Septm. 1769 to
  Jany. 6, 1770                                              25   4   0
                                                             ----------
                                                            £50  15   3
  Received in part by Mourning Rings                         17   0   0
                                                            -----------
                                                            £33  15   3

The following announcements refer to the sales and proposed sales of
the manufactory, and its models, plant, &c.:--

   1764. “To be sold by auction, by Mr. Burnsall, on the premises,
   some time in March next (1764), at the Chelsea porcelane
   manufactory. Every thing in general belonging to it, and all
   the remaining unfinished peices, glazed and unglazed; some
   imperfect enamelled ditto of the useful and ornamental, all
   the meterials, the valuable and extensive variety of fine
   models in wax, in brass, and in lead; all the plaster molds
   and others, the mills, kilns, and iron presses; together with
   all the fixtures of the different warehouses; likewise all the
   outbuildings, &c., &c. And as Mr. Sprimont, the sole possessor
   of this rare porcelane secret, is advised to go to the German
   spaw, all his genuine household furniture, &c., will be sold at
   the same time.

   “N.B.--Soon after, when every thing is sold belonging to the
   manufactory, &c., and the large warehouse cleared, there will
   be some most beautiful peices of the truly inimitable Marazine
   blus, crimson, and gold, that Mr. Sprimount has thought
   deserving finishing; that will be sold at Chelsea, as the whole
   remaining and the last produce of that once most magnificent
   porcelane manufactory.”

   (April 1769) “To all proprietors of porcelane manufactories
   and others; there is to be sold at the Chelsea manufactory,
   by order of the proprietor (having recently left off making
   the same), every thing in general belonging to it, as all the
   plaster moulds, models in wax, lead and brass; kilns, mills,
   iron presses, and a large quantity of biscuit work, &c., &c.,
   likewise all the buildings and many other articles. For further
   particulars, enquire of Mr. Thomas at the said manufactory.”

In the _Gazetteer, or New Daily Advertiser_, for May, 1769, is the
following advertisement:--

   “To be sold by auction, by Mr. Burnsall, at his auction room
   in Charles Street, Berkeley Square, on Wednesday, the 17th of
   May, and the following days, by order of Mr. Nicholas Sprimont,
   the proprietor of the Chelsea Porcelain Manufactory, he having
   entirely left off making the same, all the curious and truly
   matchless pieces of that valuable manufactory; consisting of
   beautiful vases, antique urns, perfume pots, table and dessart
   services, tea and coffee equipages, compatiers, leaves, &c.,
   beautiful candlesticks of different shapes; variety of figures,
   very large and curious groups, particularly two groups of Roman
   charity, toilet boxes of various forms and sizes, and many other
   articles, most highly finished in the mazarine blue, crimson,
   pea-green, and gold, finely painted in figures, birds, fruit,
   and flowers, enriched with gold and curiously chased. To be
   viewed on Monday the 15th, and till the sale. N.B.--Likewise
   will be sold all the fine models, mills, kilns, presses,
   buildings, and all other articles belonging to this most
   distinguished manufactory. For further particulars apply to the
   said Mr. Burnsall.”

In reference to this last advertisement, Josiah Wedgwood thus wrote to
Thomas Bentley:--“The Chelsea moulds, models, &c., are to be sold, but
I’ll enclose you the advertisement--there’s an immense amount of fine
things;” and about the same date, writing to his clerk, William Cox, he
says:--“Pray enquire of Mr. Thomas whether they are determined to sell
less than the whole of the models, &c., together: if so I do not think
it would suit me to purchase. I should be glad if you could send me any
further particulars of the things at Chelsea.”

About this time Dr. Johnson was busying himself in experimentalising
in compositions for the manufacture of porcelain, and an interesting
account of his progress at Chelsea, as given from the lips of the
foreman of the works, is preserved by Faulkener. He says, in his
“History of Chelsea:”--

   “Mr. H. Stephens was told by the foreman of the Chelsea China
   Manufactory (then in the workhouse of St. Luke’s, Middlesex),
   that Dr. Johnson had conceived a notion that he was capable of
   improving on the manufacture. He even applied to the directors
   of the Chelsea China Works, and was allowed to bake his
   compositions in their ovens in Lawrence Street, Chelsea. He was
   accordingly accustomed to go down with his housekeeper about
   twice a week, and stayed the whole day, she carrying a basket of
   provisions with her. The Doctor, who was not allowed to enter
   the mixing-room, had access to every other part of the house,
   and formed his composition in a particular apartment, without
   being overlooked by anyone. He had also free access to the oven,
   and superintended the whole process, but completely failed, both
   as to composition and baking, for his materials always yielded
   to the intensity of the heat, while those of the Company came
   out of the furnace perfect and complete. The Doctor retired
   in disgust, though not in despair, for he afterwards gave a
   dissertation on this very subject in his works; but the overseer
   (he was still living in the spring of 1814) assured Mr. Stephens
   that he (the overseer) was still ignorant of the nature of the
   operation. He seemed to think that the Doctor imagined one
   single substance was sufficient, while he, on the other hand,
   asserted that he always used sixteen; and he must have had some
   practice, as he had nearly lost his eyesight by firing batches
   of china, both at Chelsea and at Derby, to which the manufacture
   was afterwards carried.”

Dr. Johnson certainly took much interest in the manufacture of
porcelain, and after the discontinuance of the Chelsea works visited
those at Derby. He does not, however, seem to have carried his
researches on to any practical result.

In 1769 Mr. William Duesbury, the proprietor of the famous Derby China
Works, became the purchaser of the Chelsea works, and for many years
carried on the two establishments conjointly. The Derby works had at
that time attained to a high degree of excellence and of celebrity,
and Mr. Duesbury (who became the purchaser, not only of the Chelsea
works, but those of Bow, Giles’s, Pedlar’s Acre, &c.) was doing more
trade than was done at any other establishment in the kingdom. He had
opened an extensive connection with London, and was rapidly increasing
his concern, both in that and other markets, and had become more than a
successful rivaller of the excellence of the Chelsea wares.

The purchase of the Chelsea works was arranged on the 17th of August,
1769, and completed on the 5th of February, 1770, when a payment of
£400, in part of the purchase money, was made. The original document,
now in my possession, is highly interesting, and is as follows:--

   “Recd. London, 5th Feby. 1770, of Mr. Wm. Duesbury, four hundred
   pounds, in part of the purchase of the Chelsea Porcelain
   Manufactory and its apurtenances and lease thereof, which I
   promise to assign over to him on or before the 8th instant.

                                                      “JAMES COX.”

Thus the Chelsea works, which had been taken to by Mr. Duesbury in
August, 1769, and had been, indeed, carried on at his cost from about
that period, finally passed into his hands on the 8th of February,
1770. The purchase included not only the “Porcelain manufactory and
its appurtenances and the lease thereof,” but the stock of finished
and unfinished goods then on the premises; and this gave rise to a
long and tedious lawsuit, of which I shall have to speak hereafter.
Mr. Duesbury also, it would appear, covenanted to pay all liabilities
on the estate, and of course to receive all moneys due to it. At the
foot of the bill from Mrs. Thomas to Mr. Cox, printed above, there is
this very significant foot-note:--“Mr. Cox sold Mr. Deusbury the whole,
who was to pay the above, and every other matter.” Other bills, in my
possession, including one from William Payne, the carpenter, for £19
15_s._ 5_d._, for repairs done at the works for Mr. Cox, are
endorsed as paid by Mr. Duesbury. In this carpenters bill one item
shows that the works were palisadoed:--“Dec. 9, 1769. To repairing the
yard gates and palisades, setting on locks, 9_s._ 6_d._”
The accounts do not appear to have been quite cleared up until the
year 1780, when, upon the winding up of the affairs of Mr. Cox, on his
failure or death, a claim was made on Mr. Duesbury by the solicitor,
Mr. Jasper Jay, for balance of account as then “standing open in the
books of Mr. Cox.” The account is but short; but as all this is useful
material towards the history of the Chelsea works, and is therefore of
importance, I give it entire.

    _Messrs._ WM. DEUSBURY & CO.,
                   _Dr. to the Estate of_ JAMES COX.

  1770.                                                        £ _s._ _d._
  Feby. 6. To cash paid 2 small Bills                          5  17   4
    „   9. To ditto pd. Haskins                               12   8   0
    „  20. To Interest J. Cox note to N. Sprimont, 6 mo. £300  7  10   0
  1774.
  June 15. To 40 Museum Lottery Tickets                       42   0   0
                                                              ----------
  1771.                                                      £67  15   4
  Oct.  8. _Cr._ By net produce goods per Capt. Peirce        52   4   0
                                                              ----------
                                                             £15  11   4

The lawsuit to which I have alluded was commenced the same year that
the works finally passed into the hands of Mr. Duesbury, and was
brought by that gentleman against Burnsall (I presume the auctioneer
named above), to recover a quantity of goods said to have been
unlawfully sold to him by Francis Thomas, and which in reality belonged
to Duesbury, as a part of his purchase. The goods, which appear to
have been made by Spremont, and of his own materials, were alleged by
Thomas to have been sold to him by Spremont; but although the books
of the concern were kept by Thomas himself, no entry of such sale and
purchase was to be found. There were also cross actions. The action was
first heard in Michaelmas Term, 1770, and lasted until Hilary Term,
1772. Evidence was given that the articles demanded of Burnsall were
made of Mr. Spremont’s materials, and at his manufactory; that Mr.
Spremont never sold them to Thomas, and that they were found in rooms
lately belonging to the factory, and were therefore included in Mr.
Duesbury’s purchase by the formal words. Mr. Spremont, whose health had
been gradually failing, died while the action was going on, in June,
1771, and in the end the defendant Burnsall’s counsel, representing
to the court “Mrs. Thomas’s situation in a madhouse, and four small
children, and the attorney swearing that there was nothing else for to
support them, the court would not let us keep the action at law any
longer in court, so we must pay the costs.” The action thus came to an
end, and Burnsall immediately announced a sale of china, “in which are
some capital pieces of Chelsea porcelain”--a part, doubtless, of the
disputed goods.

Under Mr. Duesbury, the manager of the Chelsea works, was Richard
Barton (a modeller and general workman); and the “weekly bills” of
wages and disbursements, now in my possession, as made out by him, are
highly interesting and valuable, as showing the kind of articles then
made at Chelsea, the names of the workmen and painters, and the amounts
earned by each from week to week. These bills commence in March, 1770,
and run over the next three or more years. The final destruction of
the works is carefully described in some excellent letters, also in my
possession, to which I shall refer later on.

From these “weekly bills” I have selected some items which are of more
than passing interest, and which tend, more materially than other
information can, to throw light on the Chelsea works at this particular
period--a period, it must be borne in mind, _later_ than that
at which the works are generally said to have been discontinued. It
must be remembered that, until my account of the “Derby China Works”
appeared in the columns of the _Art-Journal_, in 1862, nothing
had ever been known of the connection of Duesbury with the concern.
The information I there gave of his purchase of the Chelsea factory
was new; and upon what I then wrote every later account of the Chelsea
works has been founded. The works were till then generally believed to
have been discontinued in 1765, but I have been enabled to show that
they were not finally given up until 1784, when the kilns were taken
down.

In June, 1776, her Majesty Queen Charlotte paid a visit to Duesbury’s
London Show Rooms in Bedford Street, Covent Garden, and was shown
through by his agent, Mr. Wood. The following is an account of the
event:--

   “On Friday last _her Majesty_ accompany’d with the Dutchess of
   Ancaster was pleased to honor with her presence Mr. Duesburys
   Ware Rooms in Bedford Street, Covent Garden, condescended to
   express great approbation at those beautiful articles of Derby
   and Chelsea porcelain, and patronize and encourage the same by
   making some purchases.”

The “weekly bills” of the Chelsea China Works, in my own possession,
are very carefully prepared, and give the names and salaries of the
workmen employed, as well as the kinds of goods they were engaged in
making. They are thus particularly interesting and important, and are
calculated to throw no little light on the history of the works. I
quote two weeks in full, May 12th to 19th, 1770; and March 16th to
23rd, 1771, as examples of the style of these “weekly bills;” and I
have added to these some few extracts, to show the kind of ware then
being made, and the prices which the workmen received for painting, &c.


      1770. _A Weekly Bill at Chelsea from May the 12 to the 19._

                                        £ _s._ _d._
    Barton, 6 days at 3_s._ 6_d._       1   1   0
    Boyer, 6 days at 3_s._ 6_d._        1   1   0
    Seals, made overtime, 6 cocks       0   0   7
    3 Dozen Cupid crying by a Urn       0   3   6
    1 Dozen and 6 fine Gentle Man
      with a Muff                       0   1   9
    1 Dozen and 6 Shephard
      Sheering of Sheep                 0   1   9
    6 Arliquens                         0   0   7
    Roberts, 6¾ days at 2_s._ 6_d._     0  16  10½
    Piggot, 7 days at 1_s._ 9_d._       0  12   3
    Ditto, Taking Care of the
      horse on Sunday[59]               0   1   6
    Inglefield, 7 days at 1_s._ 8_d._   0  11   8
    Bleeding of the horse, and a
      Broom and Soap                    0   1   0
                                        -------
      _Exd. and Entd._                 £4  13   5½

    Recd. of Mr. Duesbury in full of all Demands for Self and the a Bove.

                                                       RICHD. BARTON.


   _Work done this Week (May 12 to 19, 1770) at Chelsea, by Barton,
                             Boyer, &cc._

   Reparing 4 figures in Clay to go to Darby.

   Making 1 Ornament Beaker.

   Dry rubbing the 2 Large Jarrs, helping at the Kiln, &cc.

   Making Jarr for Perfume on 4 feet. Mending the 2 Large Quarters
   of the World, and helping at the Kiln, &cc. Roberts at Case
   making, and working in the Kiln, &cc. Piggot working in the Mill
   and helping at the Kiln, &cc.

   Inglefield Cutting Wood, Case making, and helping at the Kiln.

     1771. _A Weekly Bill at Chelsea from March the 16 to the 23._

                                          £ _s._ _d._

    Boarman, 6 days at 5_s._ 3_d._        1  11   6
    Wollams, 6 days at 4_s._ 6_d._        1   7   0
    Snowden, 6 days at 3_s._ 6_d._        1   1   0
    Jinks, 6 days at 3_s._ 6_d._          1   1   0
    Boyer, 6 days at 3_s._ 6_d._          1   1   0
    Barton, 6 days at 3_s._ 6_d._         1   1   0
    Piggot, 6 days at 1_s._ 9_d._         0  10   6
    Ditto Sunday, Teaking care of
    the Horse                             0   1   6

    CHASING AND POLISHING:

    2 Double handle Cups and
    Covers at 1_s._ 4_d._ each            0   2   8
    3 Ditto and Ditto at 1_s._ 2_d._ each 0   3   6
    2 four Scallop’d Jarrs
    at 2_s._ 3_d._ each                   0   4   6
    3 Large Pieces of the Crimson
    Service at 2_s._ 3_d._ each           0   6   9

    POLISHING ONLY:

    4 Row Waggons at 0_s._ 9_d._ each     0   3   0
    2 Small Perfume Potts
    at 1_s._ 6_d._ each                   0   3   0
    3 Ornamental Perfume Potts
    at 1_s._ 0_d._ each                   0   3   0
    2 Jonquill Jarrs at 1_s._ 9_d._ each  0   3   6
    1 Egg shaped Jarr                     0   2   0
    1 Small Jarr                          0   0   4

    _Exd. and Entd._                     £9   6   9

    Recd. of Mr. Duesbury in full of all Demands for Self and the
      a Bove.

                                                   RICHD. BARTON.

From these “weekly bills,” of different dates from 1770 to 1773, I make
the following extracts for the purpose of showing collectors the period
to which they may safely attribute the manufacture of such specimens
as may be in their possession. The extracts are from the “overtime”
made by the hands, and are taken hap-hazard, and without any attempt
whatever at classification.

                                    £ _s._ _d._

    Seals, 2 dozen of Tom-tits      0   2   4
    3 dozen of Ouls Crests          0   3   6
    2 dozen of Indian Boys with
      Handscreen                    0   2   4
    Seals, 3 dozen Bull finches     0   3   6
    2 dozen of Parrotts             0   2   4
    1 dozen fine Gentle Man with
    a Muff                          0   1   2
    2 dozen and 6 Cocks             0   2  11
    2 Vincent Perfume Potts         0   3   0
      Jarr, with Globe Cover        0   1   0
    1 Junquill Beaker, with ornament
      handles                       0   2   6
    3 Hart Shape Perfume Potts,
      with handles                  0   3   9
    2 Perfume Potts, Royhal Pattern
                                    0   1   6
    1 dozen Seals, Cupid as a
      Letter Carrear                0   1   2
    1 dozen and 6 Boys a drumming   0   1   9
    1 dozen and 6 Cupid as Doctor   0   1   9
    3 dozen Perimeds                0   3   6
    1 dozen and 6 Chinease Men
      a smoking                     0   1   9
    1 dozen and 6 Cupids with a
      Nett                          0   1   9
    3 dozen Seals, Chinease Men
      with a Burd                   0   3   6
    3 dozen Cupid as a Backus       0   3   6
    Seals, 5 dozen Swallows         0   5  10
    Seals, 3 dozen Arliquens        0   2   4
    1 dozen and 6 Shepherds
    Shearing of Sheep               0   1   6
    1 dozen and 6 Cupids Booted
      and Spur’d                    0   1   9
    1 dozen and 6 Harts on a
      Cushion                       0   1   9
    1 dozen and 6 Turks a Smoakin   0   1   9
    Seals, 6 dozen Birds            0   7   0
    Jinks overtime for painting 3
      dozen of Tom tits, at 1½_d._
      each                          0   4   6
    5 Sweet Meat Basins, at 1_s._
      each                          0   5   0
    30 Seals painted in Mottowes,
      by Boarman and Wollams        0   3   1½
    34 Figure Seals, painted by
      Jinks, at 2_d._ each          0   5   8
    Paid (carriage) for the plaster
      Mould from Darby              0   0   6
    Painting Smelling bottles,
      overwork, viz:--
    2 boys catching a Squrel, at
      1_s._ 3_d._                   0   2   6
    2 ditto with a Birds nest, at
      1_s._ each                    0   2   0
    1 ditto piping with a Dog, at
      1_s._                         0   1   0
    1 ditto Double Dove             0   1   0
    Modling of a Pedestol           0  14   0
    21 Snuff boxes of Cupid and
      Lamb                          1   4   6
    1 Cupid forgin Harts            0   1   3
    12 Tooth picks, with Head of
      Turk, and companions          0  18   0
    23 Seals painted, overtime, by
      Jinks                         0   2  10½
    10 Plates, at 1_s._ 6_d._ each  0  15   0
    6 Large Pieces, at 2_s._ 3_d._
      each                          0  13   6
    A Junquill Beaker, overtime,
      by Barton                     0   2   0
    Overtime, by Boyer & Barton,
      2 Junquills Beakers           0   4   0
    Pollishing and Cheasing 24
      Pleats and 20 Compots, at
      3_d._ each, Boyer, Jinks, &c. 0  11   0
    To Modling of a Pedestol        0  14   0
    Overwork, by Boyer & Barton,
      8 Sweet Meat Basons           0   5   0
    Mottoing 60 Seals, at 1¼_d._
      each                          0   6   3
    18 figuar Seals, painted by
      Jinks                         0   3   0
    Paid (Carriage) for the Plaister
      Mould from Darby, the 9 of
      August                        0   0   6
    1 Vincent pattern Perfume
      Pot (painting)                0   1   6
    33 Cocks, painted, overtime,
      by Jinks, at 1½_d._ each   0   4   1½
    Wolliams, Painting Mottows
      to 46 Seals                   0   5   0
    18 Doves painted, overtime,
      at 1_s._ and 2_d._ each       1   1   0
    5 Royal Pattern Perfume Pots    0   3   3
    49 Painted Seals, Overtime,
      by Jinks                      0   6   0½
    Cheasing and Pollishing of 20
      Pleats at 1_s._ 6_d._ each    1  10   0
    Polishing 6 Perfume Pots at
      1_s._ 6_d._                   0   9   0
    Mr. Woolams & Boremans
      Expenses on Saturday the 9
      of March, 1771. Taking
      pattrons at Mr. Morgans       0   2   0
    84 Seals, Painted, Overtime,
      by Boyer & Co.                0  14   0
    96 Thimbles, Painted, Overtime,
      by Boarman & Co.              0  12   0
    Over Work by Jinks, Boyer,
      Snowdon & Co., Pollishing
      and Chasing 2 Three turn^d
      Vauses, 1_s._ 4_d._ 6 Crimson
      & Gould Tea Saucers, 4_s._ 0_d._
      5 Cups & Saucers with
      Medalions, 6_s._ 3_d._
    2 Large Jars French Pattern,
      Pollishing & Cheasing         0   9   0
    2 Less ditto                    0   3   6
    2 small Goat head Vauses
      ditto                         0   3   4
    4 Butter Tubs and Stands        0   5   4
    16 Cupid & Lamb Snuff
      Boxes, Painted 1_s._ 2_d._
      each                          1   1   0
    To painting of Mottos to 90
      Seals, by Wollams & Co.       0   9   4½
    Painting 1 Cupid forgin Harts
      at 1_s._ 3_d._                0   1   3
    1 Ditto Booted & Spurd          0   1   0
    2 Bird Catchers at 1_s._ 3_d._
      each                          0   2   6
    12 Tooth Picks, with head of
      turk and Companions with
      Emblamatick ditto             0  18   0
    Plaister                        0   3  11
    Barton, Modling 2 Small Antiquit
      Vauses                        1   1   0
    Seals made, overtime, 6 Cocks   0   0   7
    3 Dozen Cupid Crying by a
      Urn                           0   3   6
    1 Dozen & 6 fine Gentle Man
      with a muff                   0   1   9
    1 Dozen & 6 Shephard Shearing
      of Sheep                      0   1   9
    6 Arliquens                     0   0   7
    4 Liqer Bottles at 1_s._ each   0   4   0
    4 Globe Cover Jarrs att 1_s._
      each                          0   4   0
    31 Seals, Indian, Painted by
      Jinks                         0   5   2
    The Mottoes don to 36 Seals,
      By Boardman & Wolliams        0   3   9
    8 Hart Shape Perfume Pots
      with handles at 1_s._ 3_d._
      each(overwork by Barton &
      Boyer)                        0  10   0
    3 Dozen of Seals of the Lambs,
      made overtime                 0   3   6
    3 Dozen of Lyons, ditto         0   3   6
    24 Double Doves Snuff Boxis,
      Painted overtime, at 1_s._
      and 2_d._ each                1   8   0
    P^d for Siver (silver) paper
      for Chelsea                   0   4   6
    P^d Porterage of Wt Lead        0   2   6
    P^d Coach Hire with the
      Attorney to Mr. Spremont
      and Chelsea                   0   7   6
    Gold Writing Peaper             0   0   8
    Gum for the Gold                0   0   3
    a Almanack                      0   0   6
    Modling Clay                    0   0   6
    Bone Ashes to Derby             4   5   6
    2 Tons of fine Clay Shipping
      to Darby                      2   7   0
    Plaster to Mould the Jarr       0   1   8
    Cord for the Kilns (cord wood)  1  17   4
    3 baggs of Plaister             0   3   0
    100 Loads of Billet at 7_s._
      9_d._ per Load               38  15   0
    (“Billets” _i.e._ Wood, for
      firing the kilns.)
    Painting 96 Thimbles            0  12   0
    2 Three-turn Vauses                --
    2 Row Wagon in figures          1  10   0
    Mr. O’Neil, on account, a
      Painter                       1   1   0

I give entire some few other of the weekly statements of “Work Don
at Chelsea by Barton, Boyer, &c.,” the painters, Boreman, Wollams,
Snowden, and Jinks, not being included.


     1770. _April 7 to 14. Work Don at Chelsea by Barton & Boyer._

   3 hantike Perfume Vauses with handles.

   4 Oval Jarrs and Covers with Ornement^d handles.

   4 hantike Bottles with handles.

   2 Scollopt Bottles with handles.

   2 hantike Perfume Vauses.

   Roberts, making cases.

   Piggot, making Cases and Grinding of the Clay.

   Inglefield making Cases and Cutting of wood.


                        1770. _June 16 to 23._

   Making of Pidgeon house Perfume Pot and Glasing of the Work for
   the Glase killn.

   Roberts, Glasing of the Cases and Reparing of the Glasd work.

   Piggot, making of Tryhangles for the Work to be Plasd on in the
   Glasd kiln and Making of Cases.

   Inglefield, getting of the Work Ready to be Glasd & Cutting of
   Wood.


                            _July 7 to 14._

   Barton, Glasing of the Work, &c.

   Boyer, Reparing of the Glasd Work, &c.

   Roberts, Setting of the Glase kiln and Burning of it.

   Piggot, Working of the Clay ingin and Clearing of the Bisket
   Work and Case Making.

   Inglefield, Cutting Wood and Case Making and Clearing of the
   Ware.


                           _July 21 to 28._

   Barton, Reparing of the Glaze Work.

   Boyer, Laying on of Safer.

   Roberts, Getting of the Glaze Cases ready for the Kiln.

   Piggot, Grinding of Case Clay and Making of Cases.

   Inglefield, ditto, and Glazeinge of Cases.


                          _August 11 to 18._

   Barton, Reparing of the Glasd Work.

   Boyer, Laying on of Sapher (this is zaffer, the blue that was
   used).

   Roberts, setting the Glass kiln (Glaze kiln).

   Piggot, making of Cases and working the Mill (the “Cases” were
   the Saggers).

   Inglefield, ditto.


                      1770. _Augt. 25 to Sep. 1._

   Barton, Dickorating Sum of the Perfume Pots and Making of 1
   Perfume Pot a figuar and Oiling of the Moulds of the Burst
   (bust) for Casting.

   Boyer, 1 Perfume Vause & 2 Large Ornement Beakers, 5 Covers, &c.

   Roberts, at Case Making.

   Piggot, Grinding of Case Clay and Working the Brusers, &c.

   Inglefield, Cutting of Wood.

In the “weekly bill” on the same paper are the following entries
relating to the “bust.” It would be highly interesting to know
_what_ bust is meant.

                                       £ _s._ _d._
    Oil for the Mould of the Burst     0   0   7
    for a Pedistol to ditto            0   1   6
    Plaister to Cast ditto             0   7   6


                            _Sep. 8 to 15._

   Barton, Making of 1 Jarr with a Dog and Rabits, and flowering of
   them. Casting of one Bust in Plaister and Barbing of 2 of ditto.

   Boyer, 4 Ornement Jarr and 6 Plain Jarrs with ornement handles.

   Roberts, a Case Making & Making of Tiles and Bricks.

   Piggot, Cleaning of Flint, Treading of Clay.

   Inglefield, Cutting of Wood and helping at the Cases.


                           _Sep. 22 to 29._

   Barton, making 5 Cup Vauses, &c.

   Boyer, Making of 3 Season Vauses, Cleaning of the Gallory, &c.

   Roberts, Making Soports for the inhamil kiln and Mending of
   ditto, and Burning of the Gleasd Kiln.

   Piggot, Cleaning of flint, Bruising Clay, &c.

   Inglefield, Cutting of Wood.


   _1770. Sep. 15 to 22. Work Don this Week by Barton, Boyer, &cc._

   Barton, Barbing of 1 of the Plaister heads & Casting 3
   Paddistols for ditto, Making of 2 Antike Vauses with figies & 1
   Cup Vause.

   Boyer, 2 Ornement Vauses with Chinas figuars, 2 ditto Seasons
   Vauses, and Casting the Leaf in a Basket in Wax.

   Roberts, making Tiles & Triangles and c.

   Piggot, Cleaning of flint, &c.

   Inglefield, Cutting of Wood.

From these weekly lists of “work don by Barton, Boyer,” and others, I
add, for the same purpose, the following highly interesting extracts:--

    4 hantick Jarr, with heads, wanting to be flowered.
    4 ditto, with handles.
    1 Bottle, with ornement handles.
    48 Compotiers, all made with the Darby Clay.
    24 Ornement Plates, made with ditto.
    Perfume Jarrs, with handles.
    Repairing of Plaister Heads, and greasing of sum Bluework.
    Season Vauses.
    Season Perfume Jar.
    Perfume Pot with Indian figures.
    Junquill beaker with stag-head handles.
    Ornament Vauses, with Chinease figures.
    Cleaning of Flint, Treading of Clay, &c.
    A Jarr, with Dog and Rabbits.
    Pidgeon House Perfume Pot.
    Perfume pots, with boys and girls dancing.
    2 Large Vauses, with Venus at her Toylet.
    Perfume pots, with 2 Boys.
    4 hantike bottles, with handles.
    4 Scollopt Bottles, with handles.
    2 hantike Perfume Vauses, with 3 goats heads.
    24 Strawbery Compoteirs, made with the Darby Clay.
    Crimson and Gould Tea Saucers.
    6 large ornement Pedistols for the Grand Popore.
    5 large Popore Perfume Pots to Ditto.
    1 Square Perfume pot, Dickarated with heads of the 4 Seasons.
    Hantike Vauses, with 3 figures each.
    Making a Large Pedestol for the Quarters of the World.
    Making of Clay Sheep, and c, to go to Darby, and helping at the
      Kiln, and c c.
    Perfume Jar on 4 feet.
    Perfume Vause, with 3 children a dauncing.
    Making of Lambs, Sheep, Dogs, Calfes, and c c.
    Square Perfume Jarr, with Pearc’d Neck and Globe cover.

Mr. Duesbury continued working the manufactory at Chelsea, together
with his large and important works at Derby, until the year 1784, when
he pulled down the buildings, removed all that was useful to Derby, and
so totally put an end to the manufacture of “Chelsea China.” For some
years he had been gradually drafting off the workmen, models, &c., to
Derby, and in the end finally gave up the manufacture at Chelsea, and
continued his works, entire, at their original place, Derby.

It has been said, and generally believed, that the excellence of the
Derby works dates from the time when the Chelsea workmen and the
Chelsea models were brought to it; but this is, undoubtedly, a great
and a grave error. The truth is, the Derby works had risen to such
extreme eminence, and had attained to so high a degree of excellence,
as to more than rival Chelsea, which, in consequence, began to decline.
The successful owner of the Derby establishment was thus enabled to
purchase the Chelsea works, as he also did those of Bow, and to carry
them on, as long as he considered advisable, conjointly.

I am enabled to give copies of two letters now in my possession,
describing the taking down of the buildings, the removal of some of
the kilns to Derby, and the arrangement made with the old and faithful
workman, Robert Boyer, whose name appears so regularly on the “weekly
bills.” The letters are much decayed and mutilated, but fortunately are
decipherable. They will be read with much gratification by all who take
an interest in the history of Chelsea and its China works.

                         “_Laurence Strt., Chelsea, Feby. 18th, 1784._

   “SIR,--I Wright to Inform yow how we are pretty forward in the
   pulling Down of the buildings at Chelsea. I think a little
   better than a fortnight they will be all down to the ground
   and Cleared of the primeses, wich I shall be glad to my hart,
   for I am tired of it. Mr. Lygo[60] says yow would wish to have
   the Ion Kiln Cum to Derby. Its hardley worth sending, for the
   Corners are a good deail burnt at the Bottom, and the sides are
   opend or Drawd so much as 4 or 5 Inches on each side. But if
   yow chuse to have it Cum, say how it shall be sent--by Land or
   Water, and I will send it. I wish yow will Lett me no if yow
   will have the mold of the Large figur of Brittannia sent to the
   warehous or Broake. Now, sir, as my time at Chelsea draws nigh
   to a conclution, I should beg of yow to Informe me by letter
   what yow mean to Imploy me abought at your manufactory, In case
   yow & myself should settle on Tirms agreable. Yow now allow me
   one Ginue p^r Week, house Rent, and fire; and I dont make aney
   Doubght But I shall be found a very Uceful servant to yow if I
   Cum, & must beg of Yow to say if 25/- p^r week will be to much
   to Give me, and house rent free, as I have always had of yow. I
   make no Dought but yow will please to say what yow will allow me
   for the Removall of my Famaley. We have 4 children, my wife and
   self, wich will Cost a deal of money--and thats an articall wich
   is scarce w^{th} mee. I have had severall offers of places’s
   since the manufactory has bin pulling Down, but Refus’d them
   all, Becaus it would have been Wicked in me to have Left yow in
   such a [    ] till I had seen your property Cleared off. If I am
   [    ] Constant at the kilns, I must begg Leaf to [    ] at all; But
   I have no Objection to fire [    ] aney Rich ware in such a kiln as
   I have at [    ]; and if Tirms are such as yow may approve, pleas to
   say; but I Due not like to Cum so maney miles from London on an
   Uncertinty, therefore it will be nesesary to have articals drawd
   for 3, five, or 7 years, as is agreable to yow. I have carrid
   Mr. Lygo a bove sixty-six pounds this week, wich I found to be
   very seasonable. I was very much shock’d, sir, when I heard yow
   had been so Dangeresly Ill, But am happy to find yow are so much
   better than yow was, & God send yow may Continue to Gett mending
   for the Best. Should I Cum to Derby, I shall bring nothing with
   me but my Beds--Land Carridge Cums to a Deal of Money; in short,
   my Goods are But old, therefore they shall all be sold.

                “I am, with Respects, your Obt. Humb^{le} Servt.,

                                                      “ROBT. BOYER.

   “Mr. Lygo desir’d me to wright to yow a bought my Cuming down,
   wich I should have Done if he had not Desired me.”

To this letter Mr. Duesbury, who bore a most excellent character for
kindness and consideration towards his work-people and servants,
evidently returned a satisfactory and pleasant reply, as is evidenced
by the following letter from Boyer:--

                                     “_Chelsea, March 28th, 1784._

   “SIR,--I have your letter of the 24th inst., and am much oblig’d
   to yow for all past favours, and am happy in finding that yow
   are satisfide with my past Conduct. Now, sir, as yow due agree
   to the terms which my letter expresses, and as yow have alway’s
   behav’d with a Deal of kindness towards me, I therefore Due
   asure yow that while I am with yow, yow shall ever find me a
   faithful and honest sarvant, and I further do asure yow that, I
   will make my self as sarvicable as it Lays in my power, so that
   yow shall have no Reason to find aney fault with me. I make no
   doubght but yow will find me very servicable, & will Due every
   thing in my power to forward your Bisness. I hope we shall gett
   done hear in a short time: the peopl are all busey in getting
   their things of the primeses as fast as they possibley Can. I
   hope to be Down at Derby with yow in a short Time, as soon as I
   can gett my matters a Little to gather. Yow shall have the Ion
   Kiln down by the waggon next week w^{th} ought faile. I could
   not Lett it Cum this week on account of things I had by me wich
   wanted firing that I never had time to fire till this week. The
   Lapaderys wheel is packed in a hogshead now at sea, No. 16. Mr.
   Lygo has been Taulking w^{th} me a bought the Burnishing: he
   complains of its being full of scratches, wich will ever be the
   Consequense if your burnishing tools are not kept in good order;
   that is to say, Lett them always be kept with a good polish on
   them, and then they never will have aney scratches to be seen
   on the gold. I wish you will let me no what I shall due with
   your 4 Chears, Table, Looking Glass, and Sofee, that is in the
   Dining Room at Chelsea. I sopose they may go to the warehouse.
   The Liqurs &ca. ought of the seller is gone there ever since a
   Little after Christmas.

                    “I Remain, with Respect, your Obt. Sarvt.,

                                                        “R. BOYER.”

In the former of these two letters it will have been observed that
mention is made of a “mould of the large figure of Britannia;” this was
one of the finest figures produced at Chelsea or Derby, and is now of
great rarity.

The “hands” employed at Chelsea, so far as they are entered in these
“weekly bills,” appear to have been as follows. I give their names and
the rates of wages they were receiving:--

    Boarman, or Boreman         5_s._ 3_d._ per day.
    Wolliams, or Wollams        4_s._ 6_d._    „
    Askew                       4_s._ 2_d._    „
    Jenks, or Jinks             3_s._ 6_d._    „
    Snowden                     3_s._ 6_d._    „
    R. Boyer                    3_s._ 6_d._    „
    Gauron                      8_s._ 9_d._    „
    Barton                      3_s._ 6_d._    „
    Richard Roberts             2_s._ 6_d._    „
    Piggot                      1_s._ 9_d._    „
      And 1/6 for Sunday, for
      taking care of the horse.
    Thomas                      1_s._ 6_d._    „
      (Turning the wheel for
      a Thrower.)
    Inglefield                  1_s._ 8_d._    „

During the time the Chelsea and Derby works were carried on conjointly,
the proprietor held periodical sales by Messrs. Christie and Ansell,
“at their Great Room, next Cumberland House, Pall Mall,” and afterwards
“by the Candle,” at his own warehouse, by Mr. William Hunter of New
Bond Street. Of many of these sales (see “Derby” china works) I possess
catalogues--some of them priced; and they are particularly valuable
and interesting as describing the articles made at the period. The
goods offered for sale were evidently the best that were produced, and
many of them are of a most costly and magnificent character. From the
catalogues of 1781 and 1782--three years before the Chelsea works were
taken down--I have selected a few examples:--

   An elegant Etruscan-shape Vase, enamel’d in compartments with a
   figure of Shenston, and fine blue ground striped with gold.

   Six beautiful Caudle Cups, covers and stands enamel’d with
   festoons of green husks, garland of coloured flowers, and fine
   blue and gold.

   One large Flower Pot, green and gold, finely painted in
   compartments, with a landscape and figures.

   A beautiful large group of the three Virtues, in biscuit.

   One group, Jason and Medea before Diana.

   One superb and elegant Vase, with therms, beautifully enamel’d
   with figures, the three Graces on one side, and a landscape on
   the other, in compartments enriched with chased and burnished
   gold; and 2 ewer-shaped Vases to match, figure of Virtue on one
   side, and Prudence on the other.

   One pair of basket-work antique-handle Vases, enamel’d with
   figures, Pomona and Prudence on one side, and a landscape on the
   other, in compartments gilt to match.

   One beautiful large group of 2 Virgins awaking Cupid, in biscuit.

   One ditto of two Bacchants dressing Pan with a garland of
   flowers.

   One large perfume Vase, beautifully painted in figures in
   compartments, representing Eneas meeting Venus before he enters
   Carthage, richly gilt.

   One pair of large Beakers to match, enamel’d in compartments
   with figures, on one side Bacchus and Ariadne, and on the other
   Venus and Adonis, richly gilt.

   A very beautiful Seve pattern compleat Desert Service, enamel’d
   with roses, fine mosaic border, richly finished with chased
   and burnished gold; consisting of 24 plates, 3 large oblong
   compotiers, 2 heart-shaped, 4 round, 4 square, 4 small oblong
   ditto, and a pair of cream bowls, covers, stands, and spoons.

   One beautiful figure of Shakespear in biscuit, and fine blue and
   gold pedestal.

   One group of 3 Boys playing at Hazard, and 1 ditto of a galanter
   show, in biscuit.

   An elegant Stand for different cheeses and butter, enamel’d with
   vases and fine mazarine blue and gold (rivitted).

   A beautiful large group of 3 Graces and 2 Cupids, supposed to be
   crowning her Majesty with garland of flowers, in biscuit.

   A pair of uncommonly large octagon jars (near 2 feet high),
   decorated with natural flowers, and finely enamel’d with
   figures, landscapes, &c., richly ornamented with chased and
   burnished gold, the figures representing, a votaress of Bacchus,
   and Innocence washing her hands at an altar.

   An elegant Seve pattern complete Desert Service, enamel’d
   with roses, and a rich mosaic and gold border; consisting of
   three dozen plates, 2 large oblong compotiers, 4 round, 2
   heart-shaped, 4 large square, 4 small oblong, and 1 large ditto,
   with a foot for the centre, and a pair of cream bowls, covers,
   stands, and spoons.

   One superb and elegant large Vase, with therms, enamel’d in
   compartments, with figures of the three Graces, enrich’d with
   chased burnish and gold.

   One pair of beautiful oval Jars to match; the figures represent
   Apollo and Agrippina lamenting over the ashes of Germanicus.

   A pair Neptune Head Drinking Mugs, enamel’d and gilt.

   A pair Salad Dishes, enamel’d with a group of coloured flowers,
   festoons of green husks, and pea-green and gold borders.

   Six Egg-Spoons, 6 Asparagus Skewers, and 6 Egg-Cups, blue and
   white.

   One pair Foxes Heads, for drinking-cups.

   A large and elegant Ink-Stand, enamel’d and richly finished with
   burnished gold.

   A pair of beautiful Caudle Cups, covers and stands peacock
   pattern, enamel’d with gold medallions, festoons of green husks,
   and richly gilt.

   One pair of figures, Shakespear and Milton, in biscuit.

   Six Finger Cups and stands, enamel’d with festoons of green
   flowers and gold edge.

   One pair of elegant small Ice-Pails, for pint bottles, enamel’d
   in compartments with figures, fine crimson ground, richly
   finished with chased and burnished gold.

   One pair of beautiful Cabinet Cups, enamel’d with natural
   flowers and gold stripes.

   An elegant Punch Jug, or Coffee Pot, enamel’d with flowers, and
   fine blue and gold border.

   One pair of beautiful Lamps, enamel’d, with vases, and fine blue
   and gold.

   One superbly elegant large Vase, with therms, beautifully
   enamelled in compartments with a landscape, and figures
   representing a Roman marriage; and a pair ewer-shape Vases,
   enamel’d with figures of Minerva and Juno, fine blue ground,
   richly finished with chased and burnished gold.

   One pair beautiful Tripods, fine blue and gold.

   A beautiful group of 4 Cupids, 1 pair figures, Mars and Venus, 1
   pair Baccus and Ariadne, and 2 pair music figures.

   A set of 8 Views in Windsor Park, by Mr. Sandby; very fine
   impressions in elegant green and gold frames.

   A set of 5 superbly elegant Vauses, enamel’d in compartments
   with figures and landscapes, gold stripes, richly ornamented
   with fine blue and gold; the center vase is enamel’d with a
   figure of Mars, the two side pieces with figures of Damon and
   Delia, Paris and Œnone, and the two end pieces with a shepherd
   and lamb, and shepherdess with a birdcage.

   Two pair elegant Rummers, enamel’d with groups of coloured
   flowers, and fine blue and gold border.

   A beautiful large Vase, with therms, enamel’d in compartments
   with a landscape on one side, shepherd with a lamb and
   shepherdess with a birdcage on the other side, gold stripes,
   richly ornamented with green and gold.

   One pair of beautiful Vases to correspond, enamel’d in
   compartments with figures of Damon and Delia, Paris and Œnone.

   A round Cheese Stand, enamel’d with a vase, fine mazarine blue
   border, richly finished, with chased and burnished gold.

   A superb and elegant large Vause, with therms, beautifully
   enamel’d with figures of Wisdom and Vigilance on one side, and
   a landscape on the other; 2 ewer shape ditto to match, enamel’d
   with figures of Virtue and Fortitude, in compartments, fine blue
   ground, richly finished with chased and burnished gold.

The manufactory was situated in Lawrence Street, Chelsea, at the corner
of Justice Walk, and was held by Mr. Spremont--or, at all events, one
house was--at the yearly rental of £24.

   Sept. 5th, 1770. Recd. of Mr. Sproemont, by the Hands of Mr.
   Morgan, Twelve Pound for Half a Years Rent, Due for a House
   at Chalsa at Lady Day, 1770. I say Recd. by Me, Thos. Bush,
   Executor to the late Mr. Chas. Ross, £12.

Several of the adjoining houses are said to have been used as show and
ware rooms; but the whole of the premises have been, of course, rebuilt
many years. In a pleasant gossiping conversation between Nollekins,
the sculptor, and Betew, a friend of Hogarth, related in Smith’s “Life
of Nollekins,” the following allusion to the works and its situation
is made:--“The factory stood just below the bridge, upon the site of
Lord Dartery’s House. ‘My father worked for them at one time,’ said
Nollekins. ‘Yes,’ replied Betew, ‘and Sir James Thornhill designed for
them. Mr. Walpole has at Strawberry Hill half-a-dozen china plates by
Sir James, which he bought at Mr. Hogarth’s sale.[61] Paul Ferg painted
for them. The cunning rogues produced very white and delicate ware,
but then they had their clay from China, which when the Chinese found
out, they would not let the captains have any more for ballast, and the
consequence was that the whole concern failed.’”

It is much to be regretted that no view of the works is known to be in
existence; and their absolute site is not, as far as I am aware, marked
on any plan of the locality.

The following relate to these works, and possess more than a passing
interest:--


           _Work Done for the China house By John Sherman._

                                                           £ _s._ _d._
    To a Strong Double Waterpot                            0   5    6
    Lighting the Lamp two Quarters                         1   1    0
                                                          -----------
                                                          £1   6    6
            Recd. July 14th, 1770, the Contents and all Demands.

    _Exd. & Entd._                                 P^d JOHN SHERMAN.

    _Mr. Dewsbury,                  _To J. Booth & Co._      _Dr._
      at Chelsea China house._

    1771.

    May 3^d To 2 Tons Clay and Shipping off               £1  15    0
                                                          -----------
           Recd. 5th Octor. the above Contents for J. Booth & Co.

                                                            J. PROCKTER.

      1770. (Carriage.)                                      _s._ _d._
    To 10 Bags of Boneash from London                          3    0
    To 2 Tuns of Clay from ditto                               5    0
    To 2 Tuns of Clay from London                              5    0

   Rec^d 7 June 1770 of Mr. William Dewsbury the Sum of four pound
   Ten Shillings in full for paint Sent to Chelsea China Work.
   Charged to Mr. Cox.

         £4--10--0.      _Exd. & Entd._      Pd. THOS. COLES.

The body of the Chelsea china is very frequently uneven--_i.e._
it has often the appearance of being unequally mixed. One of its
peculiarities is that it would bear no fresh exposure to the heat
of the kiln, and consequently could not be re-painted and altered.
The second application of heat would most probably end in the entire
cracking and destruction of the piece. The body was not so compact as
the Derby, and of very different general character from Worcester.

The earliest examples made at Chelsea I believe to have been the
ordinary white with blue patterns, after the Delft and other makes; and
in these early days no marks were used. The glaze, too, was somewhat
thick and clumsy, and unevenly laid on. A little later on, Oriental
patterns were copied very successfully, both in blue and white and in
mixed colours, and the potting became careful and less clumsy. Some
early specimens of cups and saucers copied from Oriental patterns,
which I have seen, are remarkably well potted, and bear a wonderfully
close resemblance to the originals, both in body and in ornamentation.
The best Oriental specimens which could be had were, however, used
as models, as were also those of France and Germany; and very soon
the articles produced at Chelsea most successfully rivalled the
best productions of Dresden and Sèvres, both in modelling, potting,
colouring, and glazing. The colours were remarkably fine and vivid; and
as only the best artists were employed as painters, the pieces produced
were extremely choice and good. Many of the landscapes, of which
Boreman (or Bowman) was for a long time the chief painter, are in most
exquisite taste, both in colouring and choice of subject. The groups of
figures, historical, mythological, or otherwise, are, too, remarkably
fine, and evince a correct taste and a high degree of manipulation on
the part of the artists employed. In modelling, Bacon, Nollekins, and
many other of the most eminent men were employed, and the figures they
produced were of the highest possible degree of beauty.

In flowers and insects, the Chelsea painters were particularly happy
and successful, and they had a peculiar “knack” in “accidental
arrangement” which produced a most pleasing effect. Thus, on a plate or
dish, the little groups or single sprigs of flowers were often thrown
on, as it were, “hap-hazard” along with butterflies, bees, lady-cows,
flies, moths, and other insects, and thus produced a pleasing, because
an apparently unstudied, effect. The raised flowers, arranged on vases
and other ornamental pieces, are usually of extremely good character,
and are well painted; and the birds and figures which are introduced
along with them are also very nicely and carefully modelled.

  [Illustration: Figs. 374 and 375.--Figures in the Museum of
  Practical Geology.]

Specimens of Chelsea china are to be found in most collections, both
public and private, and, being much sought after, usually produce high
prices when offered for sale. It may be well, as a guide to collectors,
to quote the prices which have been realised in some few instances. In
the Bernal collection were the following:--

   A pair of oval Dishes, crimson borders, painted with birds,
   butterflies, and fruit, sold for thirteen guineas.

   A pair of beautiful globular scalloped Vases and covers, deep
   blue, painted with exotic birds with pierced borders and covers
   of the highest quality, were bought by Mr. Addington for £110
   5_s._

   An imperfect (chipped) Cup and Saucer, with festoons raised in
   white, sold for a guinea.

   Another Cup and Saucer, with flowers and crimson drapery edge,
   sold for three guineas and a half.

   A beautiful two-handled Cup and Saucer, with medallions of
   Cupids in pink, and striped gold sides, realised twenty-one
   pounds.

   An Ecuelle, cover, and stand, with pink scalloped edges, and
   delicately painted sprigs of flowers, sold for £27 6_s._

At the sale of the late Queen Charlotte’s collection, the Chelsea
porcelain realised in many instances very exorbitant prices. At the
Strawberry Hill sale a pair of cups of the famed claret colour, without
saucers, enriched with figures of gold, sold for 25 guineas. Another
pair, blue, with gold figures, sold for 17 guineas; and a similar
pair, with groups of flowers on a ground of gold, made £11 6_s._
At the sale of the Angerstein collection a pair of bleu-de-roi vases,
with paintings, were bought by Lord Kilmory for 100 guineas. Another
pair, pink and gold ground, with paintings, and with open-work lips,
realised 142 guineas. A single vase and cover, from Queen Charlotte’s
collection, sold for 106 guineas; and a pair of splendid globular vases
and covers, with paintings of Bathsheba and Susanna, realised 203
guineas.

  [Illustration: Fig. 376.--Vase formerly in the Foundling
  Hospital.]

In the British Museum are some good examples of Chelsea porcelain,
presented to that Institution in 1763; and in the Museum of Practical
Geology, in Jermyn Street, are also some excellent specimens, which can
be examined by the collector. The Foundling Hospital, until recently,
possessed a remarkably fine blue vase, richly gilt and painted, which
was presented to that excellent institution in 1763, during the time
the works were in the hands of Mr. Spremont, by Dr. Garnier.

   _Foundling Hospital._--At a Meeting of the Committee, Wednesday,
   20 April, 1763, the Treasurer acquainted the Committee that he
   has received from Dr. Geo. Garnier a fine vase of porcelain,
   made at Chelsea.

   _Resolved_,--That the Treasurer be desired to direct that a
   glass case be made for the safe keeping of the said vase, to be
   placed in the Committee-room of this hospital.

The vase, which has been broken, has passed by purchase into the hands
of the Earl of Dudley, who, about the same time, became the purchaser,
for the sum of £2,000, of the famous vase belonging to the late Earl of
Chesterfield.

The earliest specimens of Chelsea ware have no mark, and can only be
judged by the body, the general style of workmanship, and the glaze.
But it is difficult correctly to appropriate many examples, especially
those in which the _painting_ alone was Chelsea work on foreign
bodies. In many of the old examples the marks produced by the triangle
or tripod are said to be indicative of the Chelsea works; but this is
by no means to be relied on, as the same appearances are frequently
found on the productions of other work.

  [Illustration: Fig. 377.--Museum of Practical Geology.]

The general distinctive mark of Chelsea is an anchor--sometimes drawn
with the pencil, at others raised from a hollow mould; and this is
used either singly, two together, or in conjunction with one or more
daggers. It is usually said that the raised anchor is the oldest mark;
but this can scarcely be depended on, for instances are known where, on
the same set, the _raised_ anchor appears on some of the pieces,
while the anchor drawn with the pencil occurs on others.[62] This being
the case, it is difficult to decide which is the oldest; but, judging
from the workmanship of the specimens I have examined, I should feel
inclined to say that the earliest mark was the simple plain anchor,
drawn on the piece with the hair pencil, in the colour which the
workman happened to have in use at the time. It has been asserted that
the mark of the best kind of porcelain was an anchor in gold, and of
the inferior an anchor in red. This is, however, erroneous: the quality
of the body had nothing whatever to do with it, and I believe the
golden anchor is never found on pieces except where gold is used in the
ornamentation. The raised anchor appears on the cup and saucer.

  [Illustration]

  [Illustration: Fig. 378.]

One of the most, if not the most, interesting marks connected with
Chelsea occurs on a cream ewer formerly belonging to Dr. Wellesley,
and afterwards to Mr. W. Russell, the Accountant-General. One of the
marks usually ascribed to the Bow works is the triangle (Fig. 378);
and in the Museum of Practical Geology is a cream ewer bearing this
mark in the paste. This specimen was formerly in the Strawberry Hill
collection, and afterwards in Mr. Bandinell’s. The cream ewer which
belonged to Mr. Russell is moulded in the same mould, and is, in fact,
identically the same as the one in the Museum, but has, in addition to
the above mark, the word “Chelsea” and the date “1745” upon it. The
mark and the words “Chelsea, 1745,” are graved or scratched in the soft
paste before firing, and, of course, under the glazing (Fig. 379). This
mark is particularly interesting and curious, as being the earliest
_dated_ example of English porcelain known. This example, and the
occurrence of the triangle with the name of Chelsea, was first noticed
by me in my history of the Chelsea works in the _Art-Journal_ of
1863.

  [Illustration: Fig. 379.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 380.]

Fig. 380 is an engraving of an elegant little scent-bottle, formerly in
my own collection, which bears the embossed anchor. The bottle has a
continuous landscape running around it, which is beautifully pencilled,
and is evidently of early work. The plain anchor, drawn in red
([anchor]), I have copied from a leaf-shaped dessert dish of early
workmanship. The dish is beautifully painted in small groups and sprigs
of flowers, thrown indiscriminately on the surface, and intermixed with
well-painted insects. The form of the anchor varied, as is natural
to be supposed, according to the idea of the workman, and it was
occasionally drawn with the cable attached. Figs. 382 to 389 exhibit
some of the varieties; they are drawn in different colours, red, blue,
and brown, and in gold.

Two anchors, side by side, occasionally occur. Fig. 381 is from a
small vase in the Museum of Practical Geology, Jermyn Street. The vase
is of deep blue colour, with peacocks, and is painted in compartments
and richly gilt. An anchor and a sword, or an anchor and two swords,
are not unusual marks, and Fig. 391 is an elegant vase, with open-work
rim, on which it occurs. The raised flowers are beautiful in their
modelling, and the colouring is extremely good. Between the flowers,
leaves, &c., are painted on the vase, which is also decorated with
butterflies, caterpillars, and other insects. On either side is a
cherub’s head, surrounded by raised flowers. The mark on this vase
engraved (Fig. 392) is the usual anchor, preceded by a dagger, in red.
It is worthy of remark that on the inside of the cover of the centre
vase--a globular cover surmounted by a bird, and covered with raised
flowers of similar character to those on the vase here given--the mark
is reversed, the anchor preceding the dagger.

  [Illustration: Fig. 381.]

  [Illustration: Figs. 382 to 389.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 390.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 391.]

A singular mark (Fig. 394), communicated to me by Mr. Octavius Morgan,
M.P., occurring on some small groups of figures belonging to Lady Mary
Long, is an anchor, with cable, in red; on one side is an upright
dagger, point upwards, in red; while on the other is a horizontal
dagger, point outwards, in _blue_. This mark occurs on each piece.
Another mark is the anchor with cable, and dagger sometimes on its
right, and at others on its left side. It has been surmised that the
cabled anchor and dagger, or sword, may be Bow; but there is no reason
for supposing this to be the case, and I am inclined to believe they
are really what I have named them--Chelsea. In reference to this remark
I give the following marks, which are considered by Mrs. Palliser
to belong to Bow; but of course there is no proof either way. Those
collectors whose affections mainly centre in Chelsea ascribe pieces
having these marks to that locality, while those whose loves direct
them to the attractions of Bow, with equally as little hesitation
pronounce them to belong to those works. It seems in fact to be, in the
instance of these marks, that the collector has to act on the showman’s
advice--he “pays his money” for the rare piece of china and “takes his
choice” whether he appropriates it to Chelsea or to Bow! I am disposed
to think the anchor really is, as has always been considered, the true
Chelsea mark, and that most of the varieties belong to those works, but
that it was also used by other manufacturers, either separately or in
combination with other devices.

  [Illustration: Figs. 392 to 395.]

  [Illustration: Figs. 396 to 402.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 403.]

It would leave my notice of the marks of the Chelsea works incomplete,
were I not to introduce the mark which was, for a time, used to denote
the fusion of these works into those of Derby. When Mr. Duesbury
purchased the Chelsea works, and carried on the two together, he added
the letter D to the Chelsea anchor (Fig. 403): and this is the mark
which denotes what is known to collectors as “Chelsea Derby” or “Derby
Chelsea” ware, and which, being of comparative rarity, is eagerly
sought after.

  [Illustration: Fig. 404.]

It may be well, perhaps, to notice a curious mark which I have
described in my account of “Salopian China,” for the purpose of
suggesting that it _may_ have been engraved for marking on
porcelain made at Caughley, and intended to pass as “Chelsea Derby.”
This mark I reproduce. It occurs on a copper plate (for a mug), and
represents a landscape--a river, with swans sailing, trees on either
side, boat with fishermen, sailing boat, &c.; and in the background a
bridge, a church with ruins to the left, and a tall, gabled building,
over which are the words “Sutton Hall” to the right, above which are
the words “English Hospitality.” It is also well to hint that all china
bearing the well-known red or golden anchor must not be taken to be
Chelsea, for examples which are undoubtedly the production of other
works are constantly occurring.

       *       *       *       *       *

_Second China Works._--Another small china manufactory was
commenced, according to Lysons, at an old mansion by the water side.
This would probably be the works started by a party of workmen from
Staffordshire, thus spoken of by Shaw:--“Carlos Simpson was born at
Chelsea, to which place his father, Aaron Simpson, went in 1747 along
with Thomas Lawton, slip maker; Samuel Parr, turner; Richard Meir,
fire-man; and John Astbury, painter, all of Hot Lane; Carlos Wedgwood,
of the Stocks, a good thrower; Thomas Ward, and several others, from
Burslem, to work at the Chelsea manufactory. They soon ascertained
that they were the principal workmen, on whose exertions all the
excellence of the porcelain must depend; they then resolved to commence
business on their own account at Chelsea, and were in some degree
successful; but at length, owing to some disagreement among themselves,
they abandoned it and returned to Burslem.” The fact may be as Shaw
stated it, so far as regards the workmen going to Chelsea, for some
reason leaving it again and commencing for themselves; but his remark
as to their being “the principal workmen on whose exertions all the
excellence of the porcelain must depend” is sheer nonsense, as at that
time (1747) the Staffordshire workmen did not make porcelain at all.

       *       *       *       *       *

_Wedgwood’s Chelsea Works._--In 1769 or 1770 Josiah Wedgwood
established a branch of his manufactory at Chelsea. This was for the
decoration of his vases by his “peculiar species of encaustic painting
in various colours, in imitation of the ancient Etruscan and Roman
earthenware.” The reason for the founding of this branch was that it
was judged better to have this peculiar style of ornamentation carried
on near London, where suitable artists could easily be got together,
and where the operations could be conducted under the personal
superintendence of Mr. Bentley, who there resided, and for whom in 1769
a house was taken at Chelsea. The partnership between Wedgwood and
Bentley had reference only to the _ornamented_, not to the _useful_
ware; but both kinds were decorated at Chelsea, the two being kept
separate in the accounts. The workmen at Chelsea were thus employed
on both branches, the amounts paid them in wages being distinguished
as on “Josiah Wedgwood’s account” and as on “Wedgwood and Bentley’s
account.” Thus, for instance, in the following document, John Lawrence,
for the week ending October 6th, is paid for six days’ work, at 1_s._
9_d._ a day, of which 5_s._ 3_d._ is charged to “J. W.,” and the other
5_s._ 3_d._ to “W. & B.” I am enabled, from the following document in
my possession, to show the names of a portion, at all events, of the
artists who were employed there in the month of October, 1770. The
document is very fragmentary and imperfect, but, so far as remains, is
as follows. The year 1770, it must be borne in mind, was the very year
when the Chelsea China Works finally passed by purchase into the hands
of Duesbury, the owner of the Derby China Works:--

                                                   On             On
             _Cash paid at Chelsea for Wages_    J. W.’s       W. & B.’s
                                                  Acct.          Acct.
   1770.                                       £ _s._ _d._    £ _s._ _d._
  Oct. 6.  John Lawrence, 6 days               0   5    3     0   5    3
           Timothy Roberts, 6 days                            0  12    0
    „  5.  James Bakewell, 6 days              0  16    0
           Thos. Blomeley’s Bill               1   0    5
           Thos. Hutchings, 6 days                            1   6    0
           William Roberts, 4 days             0   4    4
           Nathl. Cooper, 6 days               0  16    0
           William Shuter’s Bill                              0   8    0
           Thomas Simcock, 6 days              0  16    0
           Ralph Wilcocks, 6 days
           Mrs.   ditto    6 days
           John Winstanley, 6 days             0  13    0
    „  6.  Thomas Barrett,[63] 5 days          0   7    0
           Thomas Green, 6 days.
           Miss Edwards, 6 days.
           Miss Parkes,[64] 6 days.
           Mr. Rhodes.[65]
           Ditto for Joe.
           Ditto for Will.
           Ditto for Unwin.

How long the establishment at Chelsea was continued, I do not know;
but painting was done in London for Wedgwood to a late date. A letter,
dated February 27th, 1795--the month following Josiah Wedgwood’s
death--while speaking of painters and enamellers on porcelain, says,
“I believe Wedgwood’s men here do not get less than 26s. or 28s. per
week,” and the presumption is that these men might be employed at his
Chelsea establishment.

       *       *       *       *       *

_Chelsea Pottery._--About 1774 a pottery was established in Upper
Cheyne Row, Chelsea, for the manufacture of crucibles and melting pots.
It was established by a person named Ruhl, or Ruelle, who was succeeded
by his son-in-law, C. F. Hempel. It had the reputation of producing the
best made crucibles in this country. After the death of Mr. Hempel,
his widow, Johanna Hempel, on the expiration of the lease, removed
the works from Cheyne Row to the King’s Road, where she not only made
crucibles, but table services, being patronised by Queen Charlotte. In
1790 she took out a patent for “a certain composition made of earth and
other materials, and the means of manufacturing the same into basins
and other vessels, which, so manufactured, hath the power of filtering
water and other liquids in a more cheap, easy, and convenient manner
than water or other liquids could then be filtered.” In 1797 Mrs.
Hempel became bankrupt, and the plant and stock-in-trade, including
table services, vases, crucibles, stoves, &c., and a carved sign of
the Queen’s Arms, were sold by auction. The manufactory was afterwards
carried on by Messrs. Ludwig and Warner.

Near this pottery, in 1795, was a manufactory of artificial stone,
carried on by a Mr. Triquet.


                                 BOW.

Nothing is known definitely as to the date of the first establishment
of this very important china manufactory situated at Stratford-le-Bow.
It must, however, have been in existence some little time prior
to 1744, for in that year it was carried on by “Edward Heylyn, in
the parish of Bow, in the county of Middlesex, merchant,” who, in
conjunction with “Thomas Frye, of the parish of West Ham, in the
county of Essex, painter,” took out a patent for “a new method of
manufacturing a certain material, whereby a ware might be made of the
same nature or kind, and equal to, if not exceeding in goodness and
beauty, china or porcelain ware imported from abroad.” The patent,
which was for fourteen years, bore date the 6th of December, 1744,
and the specification was duly enrolled on the 5th of April, 1745.
This specification I have printed in full on page 112, and it will be
found of the highest interest and totally different from what is put
forth by Chaffers as a copy of it. On the 17th of November, 1748, the
same “Thomas Frye, of the parish of West Ham, in the county of Essex,
painter,” took out another patent, by which he “lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend my new method of making a certain ware, which
is not inferior in beauty and fineness, and is rather superior in
strength, than the earthenware that is brought from the East Indies,
and is commonly known by the name of China, Japan, or Porcelain ware.”
The specification was duly enrolled on the 17th of March, 1749, and is
highly interesting. This will be found printed entire on page 113.

  [Illustration: Fig. 405.--Inkstand in possession of Mr. R. W.
  Binns.]

There is nothing, it will be seen, in these patents or specifications
to show that the works at Bow were carried on by Heylin and Frye--the
one being simply described as of the “parish of Bow, _merchant_” (not
potter), and the other “of the parish of West Ham, _painter_;” nor
has anything yet been found, to my knowledge, to prove that they were
actual proprietors of the manufactory. Indeed, Frye is stated, in more
than one work, to have been engaged to _superintend_ the manufactory.
He was an artist of considerable skill, who is said to have come to
London in 1738, and soon afterwards to have painted a portrait of
Frederick, Prince of Wales, for the Saddlers’ Company. He was also a
mezzo-tint engraver of considerable note. To his skill as an artist
no doubt he was in the main indebted for the position he held at Bow;
and here it would appear he remained some fifteen years, to the great
injury of his health, and then returned to his previous occupation;
he died in 1763. His daughters are stated to have assisted him in the
painting of china at Bow.

In 1750 the works appear, from the original account-books in the
possession of Lady Charlotte Schrieber, to have come into the hands of
Messrs. Weatherby and Crowther, who, I may add, were potters at St.
Catherine’s, near the Tower. At this time the manufactory was evidently
called “New Canton,” by which name it continued to be known for some
years. It was thus named because, as Thomas Craft wrote in 1790, “the
model of the building was taken from that at Canton in China.” With
reference to this name of “New Canton” a remarkably curious and very
interesting example is in existence, and belongs to my friend, Mr.
Binns F.S.A. It is an inkstand of flat circular form, and is decorated
in blue with flowers, etc. On the top it bears the words, “MADE
AT NEW CANTON, 1750.” In the centre of the well for the ink,
and around it, are five pen-holes. It is shown on the accompanying
engraving (Fig. 405). The date, 1750, would show that it was made in
the year when the works first passed, as is supposed, into the hands
of Crowther and Weatherby. Another similar inkstand, deposited in the
Museum of Practical Geology by Mr. Brooks, is dated one year later, its
inscription being, “MADE AT NEW CANTON, 1751.”

On the 7th of February, 1753, the Bow manufactory opened a wholesale
and retail warehouse in Cornhill, London; as shown in the following
advertisement which I copy from the _Derby Mercury_ of Friday,
March 9th, in that year:--


                         “BOW CHINA WAREHOUSE

   “Was opened on _Wednesday_, the 7th of _February_, near the
   _Royal Exchange_, in _Cornhill, London_, with a Back Door facing
   the _Bank_, in _Threadneedle-street_, for the convenience of all
   Customers, both in Town and Country; where it will continue to
   be sold in the same manner as formerly, at _BOW_, with Allowance
   made to Wholesale dealers.”

In November of the same year an advertisement for painters appeared in
_Aris’s Birmingham Gazette_, as follows:--

   “This is to give notice to all painters in the blue and white
   potting way and enamellers on china ware, that by applying, at
   the counting house at the China-house, near Bow, they may meet
   with employment and proper encouragement according to their
   merit; likewise painters brought up in the snuff-box way,
   japanning, fan painting, &c., may have an opportunity of trial,
   wherein if they succeed they shall have due encouragement.
   N.B.--At the same house a person is wanted who can model small
   figures in clay neatly.”

In 1760, among the many clever artists employed was one Thomas Craft,
who has left a most interesting souvenir of his connection with these
works in the shape of a fine punch-bowl, measuring nearly nine inches
in diameter, which is accompanied by the following note in his own
handwriting:--

   “This Bowl was made at the Bow China Manufactory at
   Stratford-le-Bow, Essex, about the year 1760, and painted there
   by me, Thomas Craft: my cipher is in the bottom. It is painted
   in what we used to call the old Japan taste, a taste at that
   time much esteemed by the then Duke of Argyle; there is nearly
   two pennyweight of gold--about 15 shillings; I had it in hand,
   at different times, about three months; about two weeks’ time
   was bestowd upon it; it could not have been manufactured, &c.,
   for less than £4. There is not its similitude. I took it in a
   box to Kentish Town, and had it burned there in Mr. Gyles’s
   kiln,[66] cost me 3s; it was cracked the first time of using it.
   Miss Nancy Sha, a daughter of the late Sir Patrick Blake,[67]
   was christened with it. I never used it but in particular
   respect to my company, and I desire my legatee (as mentioned in
   my will) may do the same. Perhaps it may be thought I have said
   too much about this trifling toy; a reflection steals in upon
   my mind, that this said bowl may meet with the same fate that
   the manufactory where it was made has done, and like the famous
   cities of Troy, Carthage, &c., and similar to Shakespear’s Cloud
   Cap’t Towers, &c.

   “The above manufactory was carried on many years under the
   firm of Messrs. Crowther and Weatherby, whose names were known
   almost over the world; they employed 300 persons; about 90
   Painters (of whom I was one), and about 200 turners; throwers,
   &c., were employed under one roof. The model of the building
   was taken from that at Canton in China; the whole was heated by
   two stoves on the outside of the building, and conveyed through
   flues or pipes and warmed the whole, sometimes to an intense
   heat, unbearable in winter. It now wears a miserable aspect,
   being a manufactory for turpentine and small tenements, and like
   Shakespeare’s baseless fabric, &c. Mr. Weatherby has been dead
   many years; Mr. Crowther is in Morden College, Blackheath, and
   I am the only Person of all those employed there who annually
   visit him.

                                                T. CRAFT, 1790.”

And the allusion to the works, a little later on--perhaps about
1780--will be found in “Nollekins and his Times,” as follows:--

   “_Nollekins_ (to Betew, a dealer in curiosities in Old Compton
   Street). Do you still buy broken silver? I have some odd sleeve
   buttons, and Mrs. Nollekins wants to get rid of a chased
   watch-case by old Moser, one that he made when he used to model
   for the Bow manufactory.

   “_Betew._ Ay, I know there were many very clever things
   produced there; what curious heads for canes they made at
   that manufactory; I think Crowther was the proprietor’s name.
   He has a very beautiful daughter who is married to Sir James
   Lake.[68] Nat Hone painted a portrait of her in the character
   of Diana, and it was one of his best pictures. There were some
   clever men who modelled for the Bow concern, and they produced
   several spirited figures--Quin in Falstaff; Garrick in Richard;
   Frederick Duke of Cumberland striding triumphantly over the
   Pretender, who is begging quarter of him; John Wilkes, and so
   forth.

   “_Nollekins._ Mr. Moser, who was keeper of our Academy, modelled
   several things for them; he was a chaser originally.”

It will be perceived that Betew and Nollekins both speak of the Bow
works as a thing of the past. And so they were; for in October,
1762, says the _London Chronicle_, “Mr. Weatherby, one of the
proprietors of the Bow china warehouse in Cornhill, died at his house
on Tower Hill, on the 15th October, 1762;” and, in the following
year, 1763, his partner, “John Crowther, of Cornhill, china-man,” was
gazetted a bankrupt. This bankruptcy, however (which was followed by
that of “Benjamin Weatherby, of St. Catherine’s, merchant,” probably
son of the above), appears only to have had reference to the London
warehouse and business, and not to the manufactory at Bow. The stock
was sold by auction, by order of the assignees of John Crowther, on
March 12 and following days, and on May 19th and 30th, the two first
at the Bow warehouse in Cornhill, and the last at the great exhibition
room in Spring Gardens, and consisting, among other things, of “curious
figures,” “girandoles,” “branches for chimney-pieces finely decorated
with figures and flowers,” “dishes,” “compotiers,” “beautiful desserts
of the fine old partridge and wheatsheaf patterns,” “knife and fork
handles,” &c. John Crowther, however, it seems, retained and still, in
his own name alone, carried on the manufactory at Bow, and after a time
opened a warehouse in St. Paul’s Churchyard, which he continued to hold
from 1770 to 1775, when he sold his entire concern--the works, moulds,
tools, &c.--to Mr. William Duesbury, the proprietor of the Derby China
Works.

Mr. Duesbury, who not only held the Derby China Works, but had
purchased those of Chelsea, Giles’s, and one at Vauxhall, thus became
proprietor of the Bow works as well, and was therefore the largest
holder either in those or later days. Mr. Duesbury, as he did with
those of Chelsea, removed the moulds, models, implements, &c., to
Derby, and the Bow manufactory was brought to a close. The next year,
1777, John Crowther became an inmate of Morden College, Blackheath,
being elected on the foundation on the 17th of March, and here he was
still residing in 1790, “and,” says Thomas Craft, “I am the only person
of all those employed there (at Bow) who annually visit him.” On the
site of the works some small tenements and a turpentine manufactory
soon sprang up, and their exact site was forgotten, having been later
on converted into chemical works by Mr. Macmurdo, the calico printer.
Afterwards a portion of the place was used as emery mills by Mr.
Marshall, and, since then, as a manufactory of lucifer matches, vesta
lights, &c., by Messrs. Bell and Black. In 1867, during some sewering
operations at these works, a considerable number of fragments of Bow
china--probably on the site of one of the old kilns--was discovered. Of
this discovery the following interesting account appeared in the _Art
Journal_ for 1869:--

“In trenching a drain from the manufactory into the sewer, the workmen,
at about eight or ten feet from the surface, came upon the débris of
the old Bow China Works.

“Mr. Higgins, jun., who is attached to the match-manufactory, received
his first intimation of the _trouvaille_ from perceiving fragments
of delicate biscuit china in the hands of some children, who had picked
them up as playthings. This led him to keep strict watch over the
excavation, and, by permission of the proprietors, the ground remained
open for a few months, and, as leisure permitted, he examined the earth
for some distance immediately round the spot. Limited as the space
was, he found a great quantity of specimens, which he and his sister,
Miss Higgins, have taken the pains to arrange carefully in trays, and
through their kindness we are enabled to describe some of the more
interesting examples.

“Although fragmentary, they are particularly interesting, as showing us
the various descriptions of ware made at Bow, verifying its products,
and enabling us to identify not only the paste and glaze, but the
methods of ornamentation.

“The spot where the excavations were made is supposed to have been
where one of the kilns formerly stood; this is borne out to a certain
extent by the presence of a quantity of bricks cemented together, the
inner surface having become vitrified by the heat of the kiln; and also
by a vast number of broken saggers, or cases of baked earthenware,
used to contain the china, and protect it from the flame and ashes
in the kiln. One of these saggers, of cylindrical form, measures 10
inches in diameter by 8½ inches in height; it had three rows of holes
pierced through the sides, at equal distances from top to bottom, into
which clay pegs (like large clout nails) were inserted, to support the
circular platforms within, at convenient distances, on which the china
articles rested while baking. The cockspur, or point, used to separate
the china is a simple cone of baked clay, not the usual form, which
is like the _caltrop_, having always three points below and one
only uppermost. Large pieces of china clay were found, some in a soft,
soapy state, others hardened; bones of animals, which entered into
the composition of the paste, as well as calcined flints and pieces
of quartz, used in making the frit or glaze; a number of circular
medallions of baked clay, from two to six inches in diameter--one was
marked on each side with H and M cut into the clay. All the fragments
of vessels discovered are of porcelain biscuit: not a piece of Delft or
common earthenware was found among them: some few are glazed, but these
form the exceptions.

“The first we shall notice, and probably the earliest manufacture, are
the pieces decorated with blue painting: the designs are painted, in
mineral colour, on the biscuit, and have not been glazed or burnt in.
These designs are principally of Chinese landscapes, flowers, figures,
and birds. A few examples are given on the next page, to show their
general character.

“A very frequent pattern of simple character in the blue ware is three
hanging branches of willow leaves. Among the rest is a mottled ground
plate with white angular medallions of light blue scenery. The only
variations in colour are a cup with green leaves and lake flowers,
and a fragment painted in lake _camaïeu_, with a castellated
mansion, of high finish: these two are glazed. Not a single specimen of
blue-_printed_ china was discovered: all are _painted_ with
a brush. This is not at all surprising, for it must be remembered they
are all unfinished pieces, which have never been out of the factory;
and, when this decoration was required, they were sent to Liverpool to
be printed.

“The next division consists of biscuit china, fragments of services
ornamented in relief, the favourite pattern being the Mayflower. The
hawthorn is represented quite after nature, with its thorny branches
and blossom. About a dozen of the moulds for stamping these flowers
were also found quite perfect; they are of biscuit, three inches by two
and a half in diameter. Fig. 408 is interesting, being the original
mould of a biscuit cup which has its exact counterpart glazed. These
pieces form a history in themselves.

“Another mould is of two roses and leaves on a stalk (Fig. 409). The
raised figures on the biscuit are remarkably sharp; but the application
of the glaze fills up the spaces.

  [Illustration: Figs. 406 to 415.]

“The other decorations in relief are the basket pattern, overlapping
leaves, vertical bands overlaid with scrolls, ribbed cups and
basins, a biscuit candlestick in form of a vine-leaf, another of
different pattern painted blue. In this extensive collection we
find milk-pots, cups, cans, and saucers, open-work baskets, octagon
plates, cup-handles, lion’s-paw feet, small pots for colour or rouge;
but not a single piece has any mark which can be assigned to the
_fabrique_. One of the cups has the name of ‘Norman’ written on it
in pencil--perhaps the name of one of the painters. Among other relics
are pieces which have been injured in the kiln by falling into ugly and
distorted shapes, plates and saucers that have inadvertently gone in
contact with each other and could not be separated.

“There is a great variety of china biscuit knife-handles, some plain,
others with rococo scrolls in relief, heightened with blue; two
specimens are here given (Figs. 414 and 415).

  [Illustration: Fig. 416.]

“Some few pieces of an ornamental character are among the débris. The
foot of a salt-cellar beautifully modelled in biscuit, formed of three
shells, with smaller shells and seaweed between; the upper shell, to
hold the salt, is wanting. A sketch of it is here given (Fig. 413).
To these may be added the foot of a large centre ornament of the same
character as the last, to hold sweetmeats, also modelled by hand in
shells of all sorts, rock-work, coral, seaweed, &c., with three escalop
shells: this has had one or more tiers above, but broken off at stem.
Some natural shells were found which served as copies. There are two
pug-dogs nearly perfect, with collars, on which are roses. Two handles,
in form of female heads, in high relief, for tureens and other large
bowls (Fig. 416); and a man’s head, with a high cap and feather, nicely
modelled (Fig. 417); also the body of a female figure in biscuit, with
laced bodice.

“The Bow paste is exceedingly hard, and the fracture very close and
compact; consequently the pieces, as a rule, are very heavy for
their size, but many of the cups and saucers are almost of egg-shell
thickness. The colour is a milky white.”

  [Illustration: Fig. 417.]

In the _Art-Journal_ for 1869 a notice of the account-books of the
Bow works, now belonging to Lady Charlotte Schrieber, is given; and
this I here quote, as it contains some highly interesting matter:--

“The first contains the accounts from January, 1750.--1. O.S.,
in which year the partnership of Messrs. Crowther and Weatherby
commenced, up to December, 1755. From these it appears that a branch
establishment was opened in London in 1753, which, no doubt, was that
of St. Catherine’s, near the Tower,[69] although the place is not
mentioned. An account is given in separate columns of the value of the
_bisket_ and _glazed-ware_ taken into the warehouse at Bow,
and sold out of the warehouses at London and Bow, in each year.

“A statement for the year 1754 is here given, to show the extent of the
business transacted.


          A WEEKLY ACCOUNT OF TRADE, &C., AT LONDON AND BOW.

 +-------+-------------+---------+------------+----------+----------+---------+
 | 1754. |    Goods    | Credit  |Retail Cash,|Cash, per |   Cash   |  Goods  |
 |Jan. 5.|Credited with| without |  London.   | Journal. | Recd. at |Returned.|
 |       |  Discount.  |Discount.|            |          |   Bow.   |         |
 +-------+-------------+---------+------------+----------+----------+---------+
 |      5|  134 15  5  |  1  1  0|  20  4  3  |  11  1  6| 28 17  9½|  9 15  0|
 |     12|  174  6  1  | 25  5  6|  29  4  8  | 138  9  3| 16 14  8 |  4 13  0|
 |     19|  192 13  6  | 24 16 10|  50 16  0  | 153 18  9| 28 15 10½| 15  5  0|
 |     26|  115 14  4  |  1  0  0|  59  6  2  |  94 13  0| 20  8  9 | 16 16  3|
 |Feby. 2|   50 16 11  | 15 19  3|  26  2  6  |  86 15  0| 30  9  6½|  1  6  6|
 |      9|   69  8  7  |  9 14  7|  42  3  9  |  40  5  4| 21  6  1 | 62  1  5|
 |     16|   51 16  8  |  3  7  6|  32 17  5  |  71 18  5| 24 14  7½|  7 16  6|
 |     23|   48  9 11  | 71  1  8|  38 12  8  |  58 17  7| 22 10  7½|  2 19  3|
 |Mar.  2|   67  1  3  | 13  9  6|  56  4  3  |  83  2  5| 26  3 10 | 17 14  6|
 |      9|   89 12  7½ |  8  9  4|  44 11  9  | 145 14  2| 35  5  1½|         |
 |     16|  136 17  0½ |  9  5  6|  27 11  5  |  70 12  6| 33 16  4 |  2  0  6|
 |     23|   41  7  5  | 13  6  0|  36  8 10  |  55  9  6| 14  7  0 |  1  9  0|
 |     30|  104 11  0  | 14 10  6|  41 18  3  |  90 16  2| 21  9  9 |         |
 +-------+-------------+---------+------------+----------+----------+---------+
 |       | 1277 10  9  |211  7  2| 506  1 11  |1101 13  7|325  0  0 |141 16 11|
 +-------+-------------+---------+------------+----------+----------+---------+


  ANNUAL ACCOUNT OF THE PORCELAIN COMPANY’S TRADE FOR THE YEAR 1754.

 +-----------+----------+------------+--------------+--------------+------------+
 |           |Sold with |Sold without|Cash received,|Cash received,|   Debts    |
 |           |Discount. | Discount.  |   London.    |     Bow.     |  come in.  |
 +-----------+----------+------------+--------------+--------------+------------+
 |1st Quarter|1277 10  9| 211  7  2  |   506  1 11  |  325  0  0   |  1101 13  7|
 |2nd Quarter|2222 11  8| 200  0  3  |   569  3 11  |  299 10  4   |  1434 10  1|
 |3rd Quarter|2647 18  1| 385  2  2  |   381 18 11  |  150  4  0   |  2184  6 11|
 |4th Quarter|1982  3  8| 189  0  0  |   353  5  8  |   77  8 11   |  2429 10  9|
 |           +----------+------------+--------------+--------------+------------+
 |    Total  |8130  4  2| 985  9  7  |  1810 10  5  |  852  3  3   |  7150  1  4|
 |Disct. 10% | 813  0  0+------------+--------------+--------------+            |
 |           +----------+                 Cash received Bow        |   852  3  3|
 |           |7317  4  2|                   „      „    London     |  1810 10  5|
 |           +----------+                 Sold without Discount    |   985  9  7|
 |                                        Sold with Discount       |  7317  4  2|
 |                                                                 +------------+
 |                                                          Total  |18,115  8  9|
 +-----------------------------------------------------------------+------------+

“The following extract will show the actual cash receipts at Bow and
London, 1751 to 1755, exclusive of the book debts received during
the year, which, as will be seen in the preceding account for 1754,
amounted to upwards of £7,000.

“This statement gives us an idea of the steady increase of the
business, which had nearly doubled itself in five years.

    O.S. 1750–1      £6,573  0  8
    N.S. 1752         7,747  4  8
     „   1753        10,114 11  6
     „   1754        10,965  6  3
     „   1755        11,229 15  2

“The next entry gives us the weekly account of biscuit china made at
Bow in 1754, and is interesting, as it distinctly informs us that the
name of the Bow factory was _New Canton_; the China works being,
as Thomas Craft says, on the same plan as that of Canton.”


          A WEEKLY ACCOUNT OF BISKET WARE MADE AT NEW CANTON.

     1754.
    Jan.  5    No Kilns
         12    Do.
         19    Do.
         29    Do.
    Feb.  2    Do.
          9    Do.
         16    Do.
         23  2 Kilns                              128 15  2
    Mar.  2  2 Do.                                126  8 11
          9  2 Do.                                134  9 10
         16  2 Do.                                147 18  6
         23  2 Do.                                129  0  6
         30  2 Do.                                132 14 10
                                                  ---------
                                                  799  7  9

     1754.
    Apr.  6  2 Kilns                              109  4  3
         13  2 Do.                                140 13  3
         20  2 Do.                                128  8  6
         27  2 Do.                                115  3  6
    May   4  2 Do.                                121 13  3
         11  2 Do.                                115 16  6
         18  2 Do.                                128  5  0
         25  3 Do.                                184 13  8
    June  1  3 Do.                                177  0  8
          8  3 Do.                                177 17  6
         15  3 Do.                                181 14  5
         22  3 Do.                                177  3  0
         29  3 Do.                                169  9  1
                                                -----------
                                                1,927  2  7
                                                  799  7  9
                                                -----------
    Amount one week with another for 19 weeks
      is £143 10 0 each week                   £2,726 10  4

“There is a cash-account book for 1757 and 1758, of receipts and
payments of a London branch of the Bow factory, either at St.
Catherine’s or in Cornhill: it is balanced weekly. The moneys received
are principally from customers, whose names are given, and ready money
taken daily, cash received from St. James Street, &c., averaging about
£120 per week. The bulk of the money was paid to Mr. Crowther every
week, occasionally to Mr. Weatherby.

“Mr. Frye frequently received sums varying from £15 to £30, possibly
for expenses at Bow; Mr. Heylin’s name occurs once or twice only for
small sums. Other payments are for powder gold and for grain gold
for Bow; freight of clay; weekly wages--to Mr. Brown, 18_s._; Mr.
Sandys, 12_s._; Hugh Williams, 12_s._; Stephenson, 12_s._; Burnett,
10_s._,--which average about 60_s._ per week.

“The book we now refer to contains memoranda made by John Bowcocke, in
1756; he was one of the managers, or perhaps traveller, for the Bow
works. In it we find orders from customers, and many interesting notes
relating to the business. We shall have occasion to quote largely from
this manuscript, as the items throw considerable light upon the various
descriptions of ware made there, among which many will be identified by
the curious reader.

   “‘1756. Insure £450 on board the _Antilope_: John Cowling.

   Mr. Crowther paid Thos. Osborne for an anchor for the ship
   _Antilope_ £12 1_s._ 0_d._

   2 doz. crimson buttons for Mr. Frye.

   _Jany. 29._ Mr. Fogg: a sprig’d sallad vessel, 12_s._; 1 pair
   sprig’d boats, 6_s._; 16 cooks, 2_s._ each, abated; a swan; two
   harlequins (returned), 7_s._

   _March._ Mr. Fahy: 9 gentlemen and ladies, at 9_s._, £4 1_s._
   0_d._

   Mr. White: 1 small fluter white: 3 pair boys and girls; 1 pair
   small fidler and companion; 1 pair tamberines; 1 cook.

   Mr. Fogg: 2 doz. odd cups and 2 doz. imag’d small; 2 pair image
   ewers; 6 swans; 6 white boars; 6 sprig’d handled cups and 6
   cans; 1 pair sauce boats, Mr. Vere’s pattern, 4_s._; 1 pair
   large ribbed boats, 4_s._; 1 large dragon milk-pot; 12 dragon
   breakfast cups and saucers with good deep colour; 1 sprig’d
   upright teapot, 3_s._; 1 sprig’d cream ewer; 24 octagon nappy
   plates, partridge pattern; 1 vine-leaf milk-pot.

   _March 27._ Mrs. Ann Howard, the Lamb, in Broad Mead, Bristol.
   10 round dishes; 2 of each size from the smallest to the
   largest, both included; 1 largest octogon dish; 1 next less size
   dish; 36 table plates; 12 soup plates; 2 pair rib’d boats; 3
   pair flatt salts, without feet; they must all be the bordered
   image, blue and pale, as you please.

   She has it greatly in her power to serve the factory. I hope
   they will be very neat and charged reasonable; I have not told
   her any price. Add 1 soup dish, 13, or not above 14 inches over;
   12 table plates. Imaged pale blue.

   Quy. What’s to be done with white bud sprigs; what quy. of
   Cupids and B is wanted white; white floras, &c.

   _March 30._ Lent Mr. Frye, cash £8.

   _April 22._ Colol. Griffin, Brook Street; 4 small upright pint
   mugs to be painted to the very fine landskip pattern, as soon as
   possible.

   _April 22._ 4 doz. blue plates, Newark pattern; 8 doz. mosaic do.

   _April 28._ Lord Southwell: Mr. Heylin has promised him to make
   an oval tureen, the image pattern, and to be done in 6 weeks
   without fail. Think of the Chinese head for Mr. Weatherby.

   _May 4._ Mr. Vanderkist: an enamelled partridge coffee-pot,
   9_s._ Mr. White: 1 imag’d cup and 7 sprig’d chocolates. What
   is meant by 36 white men with salt-boxes? Mr. Hunter desires
   to have some mustard ladles as the cream ladles, only small
   boles and long handles; 6 enamelled roses; 2 pr. green leaf
   candlesticks; 4 white leaf candlesticks.

   Mr. Kentish: mandrill coffee-pot.

   Mr. Fogg: 2 swans, wings open.

   Mrs. Whitfield to have 1 pr. white branch candlesticks. Mr.
   Williams, 1 pr. sporters; 1 enamelled pero, 6_s._ 1 shepherd,
   imperial, 7_s._; 1 shepherdess, 9_s._

   _May 7._ Quy. whether any Windsor bricks were received at the
   glass house, which is charged to the porcelain compy.

   Paid Mr. Heylin, Minshull’s draft, £10 10_s._ 0_d._ J. B. paid
   Sir Joseph Hankey for Messrs. Weatherby and Crowther, £348
   18_s._ 0_d._

   Mr. Fahy: 1 pr. of the new shepherd and compn.; 1 pr. Dutch
   dancers, 9_s._; 1 gentleman and lady, 18_s._; 1 cook, 7_s._;
   1 boy and girl, 12_s._; 1 Paris cries, 6_s._; 1 woman with
   chicken, 7_s._

   Whether any _bucks_ is wanted? There was 5 pair sent down, and
   only 1 pair came back.

   Send down what _does_ there is in town, and send down the Bow
   books.

   _May 28._ Patterns received from Lady Cavendish: a Japan octogon
   cup and saucer, lady pattern; a rib’d and scollop’d cup and
   saucer, image pattern; a basket bordered dysart plate; a Japan
   bread and butter plate.

   Mr. Williams: 12 setts blue teas, at 2_s._ 10_d._; a sett
   compleat of the second _printed_ teas.

   _May 15._ Recd. a pair of birds on pedestals, to be painted for
   Mr. Legg, corner of Birchen lane.

   Lady Stairs: a compleat sett Dresden sprig, the canister top;
   parteridge octogon plates.

   Mrs. Whitfield to have 1 pr. white biscuit candlesticks.

   _May 20._ Duchess of Leeds: 2 square enamd. and sprig’d desst.
   15_s._; 1 blue dolphin-pickle stand, 5_s._; 1 white basin and
   cover, 3_s._; the Duke of Argyle’s acct., £20 5_s._ 0_d._

   The Duchess of Portland’s acct. to be made out, and wait on the
   steward, Mr. Guidon, in Privy Gardens, Whitehall, and will be
   paid when her ladyship returns.

   _June 18._ Mr. Fogg: 1 pint _printed_ mug, 5_s._; 1 half-pint
   do., 3_s._ 6_d._; 1 fine plate, 4_s._; 1 partridge handd. cup
   and saucer, 3_s._ 6_d._ Allowed Mr. Fogg. In a Pero’s broken
   hat, 1_s._ (Pierrot); in two Turks 3_s._; octogon dysart
   partridge plate, 3_s._ 6_d._ Mr. Fogg to know the price of the
   best cock plates; 4 pair rib’d boats, at 4_s._, good; 2 pr.
   small imaged boats and plates; 6 squirrels; butter tubs; 2 small
   dragon milk-pots; 2 do., a little larger; 1 dragon sugar dish.

   Mr. Morgan lent me a leaf for the roses; 4 vauses; 1 pair
   Minervas of each size.

   2 double dozn. of lase and 2 double doz. dysart rose pattern
   knife handles; to be mounted and sent in Baxter’s parcel.

   _July 24._ Mr. Fogg to have 1 pair of coloured squirrels.

   The knife-handles; how many sold of Dresden flowers; and to have
   a double dozn. mounted.

   Has Mrs. Bernardeau had what she ordered of the wheatsheaf?

   To buy a partridge either alive or dead.

   To bring down the Chelsea cabbage leaves and bason.

   Recd. and gave Mr. Beswick receipt for £107 12_s._ 0_d._ in full
   to Sept. 1755, for Weatherby and Crowther. J. B.

   Mr. Coleman: harliquin, columbine, and Pero (Pierrot). 1 small
   sprig’d round teapot.

   Goats, swans, and every other sorts of toys to be sent in
   Baxter’s order, flatt drawers to be made on purpose, and each
   kept separate.

   A plate of the Princess Wales’ pattern, good.

   _Aug. 30._ Paid Mr. Heylin’s draft on Mr. Crowther for £13,
   and charged Mr. Crowther’s cash acct. with it: quy. how is Mr.
   Heylin made Dr. and J. C. Creditor?

   _Nov. 29._ J. Bowcocke borrowed of Mr. Crowther for Bow £30.

   Mr. Fogg: caudle-cups, white sprig’d and saucers; 3 pr. image
   cream ewers, full blue; 4 white leaf candlesticks, 2_s._ 3_d._;
   1 set large sprig’d teas, handled; 2 pr. rib’d boats, at 4_s._
   6_d._; 1 sprig’d tea pot, 4_s._, good.

   Patterns received from Lady Cavendish; a Japan octogon cup and
   saucer, lady pattern; a rib’d and scollop’d cup and saucer; a
   basket bordered dysart plate; a Japan bread and butter plate. To
   be returned in a month, May 28th, 1756.’

“On analyzing these memoranda, although they are but imperfect and
necessarily curt, being written only for the writer’s guidance, we are
made acquainted with many facts not before disclosed; for example--it
has never been suggested that _printed_ china was produced at Bow,
yet it is evident that china was decorated with transfer engravings as
early as the year 1756, as appears from the following entries:--

    “‘One pint _printed_ mug,
    One half-pint, do.,
    A sett compleat of the second _printed_ teas.’

“The patent which Messrs. Sadler and Green, of Liverpool, proposed
taking out as inventors of the process is dated 1756, but they had
brought the art to perfection several years before, and had kept it a
profound secret. Transfer printing on enamel was in vogue at Battersea
before 1755, and the process would be the same on china as enamel.
Horace Walpole, writing to Richard Bentley in Sept. 1755, says, ‘I send
you a trifling snuff-box, only as a sample of the new manufacture at
Battersea, which is done with copper-plates.’ Mr. Binns, of Worcester,
has a Battersea enamel watch-case with the tea-party from the same
plate as the impressions on china. The _Liverpool Guide_ of 1799
says ‘copper-plate printing upon china and earthenware originated here
in 1752, and remained some time a secret with the inventors, Messrs.
Sadler and Green. The manner in which this continues to be done here,
remains still unrivalled in perfection. As late as 1783, Wedgwood
constantly sent his ware to Liverpool to be printed.’

“The proprietors of the Bow works availed themselves of assistance
by occasionally sending their china to Liverpool to be printed.[70]
All the pieces decorated with transfer engravings, have, without
discrimination, been erroneously assigned to Worcester, owing to the
want of a thorough investigation of the quality of the body.

“Lady Charlotte Schreiber has a teapot with a transfer portrait of the
‘Prussian Hero,’ the handle and spout ornamented in relief with the
enamelled flowers peculiar to Bow; a bowl with prints of the well-known
tea-party, and garden-scenes; and two plates, part of ‘a sett of the
second _printed_ teas,’ before alluded to, with poultry and leaves. All
these are undoubtedly of Bow body, probably decorated at Liverpool.

“Large quantities of blue-painted ware issued from the Bow works, and
there are frequent allusions to them in the order-book, for cheap
services. On examining the blue pieces, which can be safely assigned to
Bow from the nature of the body, there is a peculiarity in the glaze
which arises in this way: blue being at that time the only colour that
would bear the intense heat of the kiln (_au grand feu_), it is always
painted on the biscuit before being dipped in the glaze; consequently
portions, however slight, are apt, while the glaze is in a fluid state,
to spread over the surface, giving it a blue tinge, especially on
large surfaces; the other colours, as well as the gold, are painted
_over the glaze_, and set in a kiln of lower temperature, called the
reverberatory or muffle kiln. Hence the blue, being _under the glaze_,
is imperishable, but the other colours, from frequent use, get rubbed
off.

“We find in the order-book the blue Newark pattern; blue dolphin
pickle-stand; ‘setts of blue teas.’ A dinner-service was ordered to be
‘blue and pale as you please,’ &c.

“Among the patterns noticed in the same book are white bud sprigs,
sprigged tea sets, and Dresden sprigs; partridge services, imaged
services, and dragon services, were in great demand; Chelsea cabbage
leaf, the lady pattern, and the Princess of Wales’s pattern, white men
with salt boxes, mugs painted to the fine landscape pattern, &c.

“Of the figures and groups, only a few are mentioned, such as
Minerva of two sizes, Flora, imperial shepherd and shepherdess, the
new shepherd and its companion, Cupid, gentleman and lady, boy and
girl, fluter, fiddler, harlequin, columbine, and pierrot or clown,
tambourine-player, sportsman, cook, Dutch dancer, woman with chicken,
Turk and companion, female figure, birds on pedestals, swans, boars,
squirrels, buck and doe, goat, and toys of all sorts.

“These short notices of Bow figures, although far from being important
examples, will remind many of our readers of similar pieces which have
been classed as Chelsea.

“We may also refer to the pair of white china figures of Woodward the
actor, and Mrs. Clive, in the costumes as given in Bell’s ‘Collection
of Plays.’ A pair of these in the white Bow china, exquisitely modelled
and finished, bear the date 1758 stamped in the clay: they are in the
possession of a lady whose family has retained them ever since they
came from the factory.

       *       *       *       *       *

“Memorandum-book of John Bowcocke for 1758.

“There is very little to interest us in this book. Bowcocke was at
Dublin for the first eight months, receiving consignments of glass and
china from the works, which were sold principally by auction. The money
taken was remitted weekly to the company.

   “‘_Feb. 9, 1758._ Dublin. I went to see Sheridan, in Hamlet.

   _April 19._ Lady Freik shew’d me two tureens she brought from
   France, moulded from a full-grown cabbage. (A sketch is given.)

   _Aug. 22._ At Nottingham. Called on Mr. Rigley; he says he was
   used ill about some figure Thorpe sent, not to order, and has
   done.

   _Sept. 24._ At Bow. Went to hear Mr. John Crowther preach his
   first sermon.

   _Oct. 16._ Bought a china figure for Mrs. McNally, 4_s._

   Painting do., 1_s._ 3_d._

   Treating Mrs. McNally, wine, 1_s._

   Went to see her home from the play, 1_s._; purl, 2_d._

    (This lady was a good customer of the firm: on
    referring to the cash-book, we find she paid, on Oct.
    16th, £18 13_s._ 9_d._)

   _Nov. 27._ At Bow. Observed in the burning of the bisquit ware
   that dishes and plates should be burnt in new cases, and only
   one in each case, as when two are burnt in one another it is
   certain that one is always bad.

   All handled chocolates and coffees and handled teas to be burnt
   with covers.

   _Dec. 26._ Dined with Mr. H. Frye and family at Stratford.’

“In the front of this book is a note in pencil, written in 1866,
stating that--

   “‘One hundred years since, John Bowcocke died, Tuesday, Feb.
   26th, 1765, at 6 o’clock in the evening, of lockjaw. He was
   brother to William Bowcocke, of Chester, painter, my mother’s
   father.--THOS. BAILEY.’

“In the same collection are two books of pencil sketches by a French
artist named De la Cour, of plants, trees, festoons of flowers, rococo
scrolls, cane handles, frames, chimney-pieces, landscapes (among which
is a view of London), figures, single figures for statuettes, &c.
Another book contains coloured engravings by Martin Engelbrecht, of
Nuremberg, of a great variety of subjects suitable for painting on
china: costumes of various nations, ladies and gentlemen splendidly
attired, shepherds and shepherdesses, garden scenes and summer-houses,
palaces, birds, animals and insects, hunting scenes, musicians, Chinese
figures and scenery, interlaced ornaments, &c. A fourth book, published
by Edwards and Darley, 1754, consists of engraved subjects,--Chinese
interiors, vases, figures, pagodas, bridges, animals, exotic birds,
insects, &c. The Chinese designs are mixed up with _rococo_ scrolls and
other ornamental work.”

Enough will have been gleaned from the foregoing regarding the various
productions of the Bow Works. One or two noted examples, however,
require to be specially named, as being usually associated in the minds
of collectors with this manufactory. One of these is a well-known small
goat milk-jug which was formerly always attributed to Bow. It bears a
bee in relief under the spout which was supposed to be allegorical of
the initial B of Bow. Some examples, however, are without the bee. They
are occasionally marked with a simple triangle, which, however, has
been shown to have been occasionally used at Chelsea; and that the goat
jugs were also there made.[71]

The marks attributed to the Bow factory are numerous and varied;
and some which are so ascribed have not, I believe, the slightest
connection with those works. The following are among the marks, said
by one writer or other to belong to Bow, but some of them are very
doubtful. Indeed, there is almost an absolute certainty that some of
those ascribed to Bow, in reality belong to Chelsea and other places.
Some of these marks are incised.

  [Illustration: Figs. 418 to 450.]


                              STRATFORD.

The _London Chronicle_ of 1755 contains the following paragraph:
“Yesterday four persons, well skilled in the making of British china,
were engaged for Scotland, where a new porcelain manufacture is going
to be established in the manner of that now carried on at Chelsea,
Stratford, and Bow.” From this it is evident that in 1755 a china
manufactory, distinct from that at Bow, was carried on at this place.
Nothing, however, is at present known as to its history.


                             KENTISH TOWN.

In the middle of last century John Giles had a small establishment
and kiln at Kentish Town, where he finished and burned china, &c.,
procured in the white from other manufactories. He advertised “to
procure and paint, for any person, Worcester porcelain to any or in any
pattern;” and here vases and other articles, decorated by himself and
by other artists and amateurs, were burned. An interesting reference
to this kiln will be found in my account of the Bow china works on
another page, where Thomas Craft, speaking of a bowl he had made,
writing from memory in 1790, says “about the year 1760:” “I took it in
a box to Kentish Town, and had it burned there in Mr. Gyles’s kiln,
cost me 3_s._” In 1771 Giles took premises in Cockspur Street,
as a sale-room, &c. On the 9th of July in that year the lease of
these premises was granted from “George Stubbs, of the parish of St.
Margaret, Westmr., in the county of Middx., Esq.,” “to James Giles, of
the parish of St. James, within the liberty of Westmr., in the said
county of Middlx., china-man,” of “all that messuage or tenement and
premises, lately called or known by the name of the Gun Tavern, in
the parish of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, in the said county of Middx.,
situate and being on the north side of a street called Cockspur Street,
leading from Pall Mall to Charing Cross, and lately in the tenure or
occupation of Susannah Cannon, deceased, together with all ways,”
&c., &c., for a term of 21 years, at an annual rental of £110. These
premises were held from the Crown, on a longer lease, by Stubbs, so
that this was a sub-letting to Giles, who had power to enter upon them
on the above date, but to be free from rent until September 29th in
consideration of any sums he might lay out in repairs, he covenanting
to lay out in improvements and repairs £300, if requisite. The deed, in
my own possession, bears the signature and seal of “Geo. Stubbs,” and
the attesting signatures of “G. Stubbs. Jos. Mead, his Clerk.”

Giles appears to have become involved soon after this, and was assisted
with loans and money and in other ways, by Duesbury, of the Derby china
works. This is proved by papers in my own possession, amongst which are
several notes of hand, as “Borrowed of Mr. Duesbury five guineas, which
I promise to repay on demand. James Giles.” “Paid Mr. Heath a Bill on
Mr. Giles, dated Feb. 20, at two months, value £120.” “April 1, James
Giles’s note due 4th June, 1777, £50.” “May 29, Jas. Giles’s note due
July 12, £50,” etc., etc. Ultimately Mr. Duesbury, on the failure of
Giles, took to his stock and entire concern, and the original accounts,
&c., connected with this are in my own possession. One of these, the
balance-sheet of the estate for 1776–77, is very curious as showing
some of the fashionable people with whom he did business:--

                       JAS. GILES’S ESTATE, CR.

  1776.                                                     £  _s._ _d._
  May    4. By Miss Clarkson’s Bill received                3    8    6
    „          Lord Palmerstone’s      do.                  0   14    6
        13.  „ Coll. Twisleton’s       do.                  0   10    6
        15.  „ Lady Nuneham            do.                  2   14    6
    „        „ Lady Ailesford          do.                  0   15    0
    „   28.  „ Mrs. Nesbitt            do.                  0   10    6
  June  14.  „ Duke of Bolton          do.                  3    4    0
    „   17.  „ Mr. Robt. Child         do.                  2   15    0
    „   10.  „ Mr. Duesbury         borrow’d                5    5    0
  July  23.  „ Ditto                   do.                  5    5    0
  Aug.  17.  „ Ditto                   do.                  3   13    0
  1777.
  May   17.  „ Mr. Buller           his Bill                8   19    0
    „   30.  „ Dutchess of Ancaster    do.                 10    1    0
  June  14.  „ Mrs. Stevens            do.                  0   11    6
    „        „ Mr. Cooper              do.                  0    9    0
    „        „ Mr. Kent                do.                  2   10    6
  July  12.  „ Mr. Sheridan, on Acct.                      20    0    0
  Sept.  8.  „ Ditto, in full                               3   12    6
                                                          -------------
                                                          £74   19    0
                                                          =============


                       JAS. GILES’S ESTATE, DR.

  1776.                                                   £  _s._ _d._
  May   11.  Jas. Steventon, assisting before, at and
               after the Auction at Squibs, 17 days
               at 3_s._            2   11    0
    „        Saml. Sanders do., 10 days at 3_s._          1   10    0
    „        Paid Cartage from Berwick Street             0    4    0
    „        Hay, paper, nails, &c.                       0    3    7
        13.  Pd. ½ year’s rent to Mrs. Becket            15    0    0
  June   5.  Steventon and Sanders, 14 days each at
               Sale King’s Head, Butcher Row, at 3_s._
               each                                       4    4    0
    „        Paid Porterage                               0    2    0
  July   5.  Paid Mrs. Becket ½ year’s Rent in full      15    0    0
  Aug.  28.  Bill for enamelling sundries to compleat
               Stock                                     25    2   10
  1778.
  April 30.  Paid Debt to Flight & Co.                   12    6    2
    „        Cost of arrest to do.                        2    2    0
    „        Paid Debt to Mr. Maiden                      0    7    6
                                                        -------------
                                                        £78   13    1
                                                        =============

The £25 2_s._ 10_d._ “for enamelling sundries to complete stock” was
thus expended:--


    Acct. of Goods Enamel’d to compleat the Stock, and Deld. to Mr.
               Duesbury, Augt. 28th, 1776, by Js. Giles.

                                                            £ _s._ _d._
  48 Shank’d Tea Cups and Saucers, blue edge, at 8_d._      1  12    0
   2 Teapots 4_s._; 2 Milkpots, 3_s._; 2 Slop Basons,
       3_s._; do.                                           0  10    0
   2 Sugar Boxes, 4_s._; 2 large Plates, 4_s._; 2 less
       do., 3_s._                                           0  11    0
   2 Teapot Stands, 2 Spoon Trays do. at 1_s._              0   4    0
  12 Plain Handle Teas, 12 Saucers do. at 8_d._             0  16    0
   6 Coffee Cups, 4_s._; 2 Slop Basons, 4_s._; 2 Sugar
       Boxes, 4_s._; do.                                    0  12    0
   2 Bread and Butter Plates, 3_s._; 2 Teapots, 4_s._       0   7    0
  12 Handle Teas, 12 Saucers, 6 Coffee Cups, green edge,
       at 8_d._                                             1   0    0
   1 Slop Bason and 1 Sugar Box, do., at 2_s._              0   4    0
  17 Fluted Teas, 1 Coffee Cup, 1 Slop Bason, 1 Sugar
       Box, 1 Milk Pot, blue wreath                         1  11    6
  24 Handle Cups and Saucers, 6 Coffee Cups, and 1
       Sugar Box, fruit and flowers and pea-green ground    4  16    0
   7 Twig Handle Teas, 6 Coffee Cups, gold Dontell,
       at 1_s._                                             0  13    0
   1 Teapot, 1 Milkpot, do.                                 0   5    0
  12 Plain Handle Cups and Saucers, for Breakfast, do.      0  15    0
   1 Slop Bason, 1 Sugar Box, do.                           0   5    0
   2 Saucers, 1_s._; and 1 Coffee Can, do.                  0   2    6
  24 New Ribb’d Handle Teas and Saucers, do., at 1_s._      1   4    0
   1 Teapot, 3_s._; 1 Milkpot, 2_s._; 1 Slop Bason,
       2_s._ 6_d._; 1 Sugar Box, 2_s._ 6_d._                0  10    0
   1 Stand, 1 Boat, 2_s._ 6_d._; 1 large Plate, 2_s._
       6_d._; 1 less, 2_s._                                 0   7    0
  24 Shank’d Handle Teas and Saucers, 1 Sugar Box,
       1 Milkpot, green flower, &c.                         1  10    0
   2 Chocolates, 2 Saucers, flowers and brown edge          0   4    0
   1 Coffee Cup, pink sprigs                                0   0   10
   1 Table Plate, French blue ring                          0   3    0
  12 Handle Teas, 12 Saucers, sky-blue and gold             3   0    0
   2 Slop Basons, 9_s._; 1 Teapot, 6_s._; 1 Butter Tub
       and Cover do., 5_s._                                 1   0    0
  18 Desert Plates in large birds                           3   0    0
                                                           -----------
                                                          £25   2   10

The “Debt to Flight & Co.,” and “Cost of Arrest to do.,” as entered
under the date of April 30th, is thus explained:--


                    Thomas Flight and Robert Tabor
                                Against
                             James Giles.

    In the Common Pleas.      Hilary Vacation, 1778.

    To Debt as pr. Warrant      £12   6    2
    To Cost of Suit, &c.          2   2    0
                                 -----------
                                £14   8    2

   Received 30th April, 1778, of Mr. James Giles, the above-named
   Defendant, Fourteen Pounds, eight Shillings and 2_d._, for the
   purposes above mentioned.

                                              Pr. Thomas Vere,
    £14 8_s._ 2_d._                     No. 15, Southampton Buildings.

One of the assignees of James Giles was Mr. Wm. Randall, who died
before Dec. 23, 1779. In the balance-sheet of his accounts, from May 7,
1776 (the date of assignment), to that date, are frequent entries of
postage of letters from Worcester; and among the receipts are accounts
from Lady Melbourne, Lady Warren, Paul Orchard, Esq., Mrs. Powis, --
Kent, Esq., Lady Jersey, Dutchess Dowager of Leinster, etc. The account
is as follows:--

      THE ACCOUNT OF THE LATE MR. WILLIAM RANDALL, AS ONE OF THE
ASSIGNEES OF THE EFFECTS OF THE LATE MR. GILES, FROM MAY Y^E 7TH, 1776,
                      TO DECEMBER Y^E 23RD, 1779.

                       WILL^M. RANDALL, CRED^R.
  1776.                                                     £  _s._  _d._
  May   7.  For a year’s rent of Mr. Giles’ House, due at
                  Xmas 1775, & paid to Mr. Stubbs          110   0    0
    „       For a Bill to Mr. Stubbs, Attorney               5  13    9
    „  31.  For a Quarter’s Rent paid to Do., due at
                  Ladyday                                   27  10    0
  June 26.  For a Letter from Worcester                      0   0    4
    „  29.  For an half-year’s Interest of £200, due April
                  ye 4th, upon Bond, to Mrs. Twiss           5   0    0
  Aug. 21.  For a Bill to Mr. Sheppard, Attorney            21  18    6
    „       For a Letter f^m Worcester                       0   0    4
    „  23.  For a Quarter’s Rent, due at Midsummer, paid to
                  Mr. Stubbs                                27  10    0
  Nov. 16.  For Do.       „       due at Michaelmas         27  10    0
  1777.
  Jan. 15.  For an half-year’s Interest, due Oct. 4th,
                  1776, to Mrs. Twiss                        5   0    0
    „  29.  For a Letter f^m Worcester                       0   0    4
  Dec. 13.  For a Year’s Rent, due at Michaelmas, and
                  paid to Mr. Stubbs                       110   0    0
  1778.
  Dec. 28.  For Do.     „      due at    Do.               110   0    0
  1779.
            For a Letter from Worcester                      0   0    4
  Dec. 23.  For a Year’s Rent, due at Michaelmas, to
                  Mr. Stubbs                               110   0    0



                             PER CON: D^R.
  1776.                                                     £  _s._  _d._
  May   7.  For cash recd. of Messrs. Stubbs--Shop
                             Account                        42   6    6
    „   8.  For Do.   „    of Lady Warren        Do.        11   7    0
    „   9.  For Do.   „    of Paul Orchard, Esq. Do.
                                                   10 10 0
                           Deducted for China
                             broken                 0 10 6
                                                    ------   9  19    6
    „  20.  For Do.   „    of Mrs. Powis         Do.        15   4    0
    „  23.  For Do.   „    of  --  Kent, Esq.    Do.         2  10    0
    „  --   For Do.   „    of Lady Melbourne     Do.        15   1    0
    „  31.  For Do.   „    of Mr. Harris, for a Quarter’s
                             Rent of the House late Mr.
                             Giles’, due at Ladyday         35   0    0
  June 11.  For Do.   „    of Lady Jersey--Shop Account      2  14    0
  Nov. 16.  For Do.   „    of Mr. Harris, for an
                             half-year’s Rent due at
                             Michaelmas                     70   0    0
  Dec.  7.  For Do.   „    of the Dutchess Dowager of
                             Leinster, Shop Account         32  13    6
  1777.
  June 17.  For Do.   „    of Mr. Tho: Jones       Do.       0   8    6
  Dec. 13.  For Do.   „    of Mr. Harris, for a Year’s
                             Rent, due at Michaelmas       140   0    0
  1778.
  Dec. 28.  For Do.   „    of Do.      „     „ due at Do.  140   0    0
  1779.
  Dec. 23.  For Do.   „    of Do.      „     „ due at Do.  140   0    0


                             EUSTON ROAD.

In 1860 Messrs. W. and T. Wills, sculptors, having turned their
attention to the production of works of art in terra-cotta, commenced
the manufacture at this place. The works produced consist of vases,
figures and groups of figures, busts, &c., of a size and character for
drawing-room use. The subjects are principally mythological, and are
admirably modelled--each piece sent out receiving its finishing touches
from the artist’s own hands. In colour, Messrs. Wills’ terra-cottas are
a delicate pink and deep rich red. Their names are marked on each piece.


                            OXFORD STREET.

Among London establishments who, from a long and intimate connection
with some of the more eminent of our porcelain works, may almost be
considered to be manufacturers, are the following. To these firms
the world owes many of the most striking and beautiful of ceramic
productions. These have been designed by the firms themselves, and made
specially for them; they thus become literally their own productions.

       *       *       *       *       *

_Mortlocks_; Oxford Street.--This house was established in 1746, by
John Mortlock, and has been uninterruptedly continued since that date
through five generations, in direct line, of the same family; its head
at the present time being, as it was more than one hundred and fifty
years ago, a John Mortlock. In the palmy days of the old Rockingham
works, John Mortlock was London agent for the goods made there. One
speciality of these works, the “Cadogan” teapot, formed on the model
of an example of Indian green ware brought from abroad by the Marquess
and Marchioness of Rockingham, or the Hon. Mrs. Cadogan, was the means
of adding largely to his connection with these works. The first of
these was made for the Marchioness of Rockingham; and when the Prince
Regent, afterwards George IV., visited Wentworth House, the seat
of Earl Fitzwilliam, these teapots were then in use, and were much
admired; the prince, who was a great connoisseur in tea, I believe,
bringing one of them away with him. On the return of the prince and
his suite to town, inquiries were made for them of John Mortlock, who
supplied the palace with china, &c. He at once saw that they would come
into great repute, and ordered a large quantity, stipulating that his
name, MORTLOCK, should be stamped upon them. This was done in place of
the word ROCKINGHAM, and they thus passed as Mortlock’s own make; he
ordered at one time as much as £900 worth for one season’s consumption.
(See “Rockingham Works.”)

When the Nantgarw works were first started, Mr. Mortlock became a large
purchaser as well as agent. He regularly took a large quantity of the
ware in the white; this he had painted in London, by Webster, Randall,
and various other artists, and fired at the enamel kiln of Messrs.
Robins and Randall, in Spa Fields. At this time Mortlock was also agent
to the Coalport and Swansea works; and Mr. Nore, of Coalport, feeling
a jealousy, and finding that the sale of the Swansea and Nantgarw
productions interfered with his own, bought up those two concerns,
removed their models, &c., to Coalport, and closed them. The firm
still retain an agency for Coalport, and also for Messrs. Minton & Co.
Mr. Mortlock has special marks for some of the Coalport productions
prepared from his designs.


                                HOXTON.

In 1693 there was “a famous brick-moulder at Hoxton.” Some very
interesting particulars are given by Houghton, in his “Husbandry and
Trade Improved,” 1693.


                             HAMMERSMITH.

Houghton, in 1693, thus alludes to the brick works at this place:
“Some can make fourteen or 15,000 in a day, some 18,000; but _Nicholas
Gooding_, of _Hammersmith_, for a wager of 10_l._, made in one day
22,000 bricks, upon which _Sir Nicholas Crisp_ assisted him to set
up, and he is now living at _Hammersmith_, and worth several thousand
pounds. His master’s name was _Gosling_, who had three men whom he
often encouraged to wagers.”




                             CHAPTER VIII.

   Worcester--Royal Porcelain Works--Dr. Wall--Warmstrey House
   and its Owners--The Porcelain Company--Early Marks--Transfer
   Printing--King of Prussia Mug--Josiah Holdship--Poem--Robert
   Hancock--Richard Holdship--Derby China Works--Caughley--Flight
   and Barr--Chamberlain--Kerr and Binns--R. W. Binns--Productions
   of the Works--Royal Services--Tokens--Royal China
   Works--Grainger and Lee--Productions--St. John’s Encaustic
   Tiles--Rainbow Hill Tileries--St. George’s Pottery Works--Rustic
   Terra-Cotta--Stourbridge--The Lye Works--Stourbridge Clay.


                 WORCESTER--THE ROYAL PORCELAIN WORKS.

There are three things for which the “faithful city” of Worcester, so
celebrated in history for its loyalty, is at the present day especially
famous. These are its porcelain, its gloves, and its sauce. For who
has not drunk out of or seen “Worcester china,” worn “Dent’s gloves,”
or tasted “Lea and Perrin’s Worcestershire sauce”? These three are
things which are identified with its name wherever Worcester is heard
of, and, in the minds of some people, take precedence of its glorious
cathedral, its tomb of King John, or its exquisitely beautiful shrine
of Prince Arthur. With the first of these only I have now to do, and
its history is one of great interest, as connected with that of the
general porcelain manufacture of the kingdom.

At a time when foreign china was much sought after, when Fulham,
Chelsea, Bow, and Derby were gradually working their way into favour,
and gaining ground on their foreign rivals in the estimation of
people of taste, Worcester was quietly experimentalising in the
same direction, and gradually paving the way for the establishment
of those works which have since become so great a benefit to it,
and so great an honour to the country. Exactly in the middle of the
last century these experiments were carried on, and the works were
soon afterwards established, and rapidly grew into note. So rapidly,
indeed, did the ware made at this manufactory come into repute, that
in the year following the opening of the works it was noticed in the
_Gentleman’s Magazine_, and in 1763 was alluded to in the “Annual
Register.”

  [Illustration: Fig. 451.--Portrait of Dr. Wall.]

The “faithful city” was indebted for the establishment of its pottery
to the exertions and scientific researches of Dr. John Wall, a
physician of that city. The learned doctor was born at Powick, a
village in Worcestershire, in the year 1708. His father was a tradesman
in Worcester, of which city he served the office of mayor in 1703;
he was descended from a good family in Herefordshire. Dr. Wall’s
father dying while he was young, he was educated at the King’s School,
Worcester, and in 1726 became a scholar at Worcester College, Oxford.
Nine years later, at the age of twenty-seven, he became a fellow of
Merton College. Having studied at Oxford and at St. Thomas’s Hospital,
he in 1739 took his degree, and commenced practice in Worcester. He
married Catherine Sandys, cousin to the first Lord Sandys. Dr. Wall,
besides being a clever practitioner and an excellent chemist, was also
an artist of great ability; he painted historical pictures with great
judgment, and his conceptions were sometimes marked with considerable
originality and grandeur. One of his principal pictures is that of the
founder, &c., in the hall of Merton College, Oxford--a painting[72]
he presented to that college in 1765. Of his other works, his “Brutus
condemning his Sons,” “The Head of Pompey brought to Cæsar” (now at
Hagley), “Regulus returning to Carthage,” “Queen Eleanor sucking the
Poison from the Arm of Edward I.,” “Elijah fed by the Ravens,” “Moses
striking the Rock,” “The School of Physic,” “The Shunamite’s Child
restored,” and “The Head of St. John the Baptist,” are among the
best. He also etched some remarkably clever plates, and designed the
stained-glass window in the bishop’s private chapel at Hartlebury, the
“Presentation of Christ in the Temple,” a window at Oriel College,
and others. Dr. Wall was also the author of several medical works,
and was eminently instrumental in bringing the Malvern waters into
public notice. He was also one of the most zealous supporters of the
Worcestershire Infirmary.

Dr. Wall, besides his other accomplishments, was, as has already been
intimated, an excellent practical chemist; his laboratory was at
No. 33, Broad Street. He turned his attention more particularly to
experimentalising on materials which might be used for the manufacture
of porcelain; and in 1751, about a year after the establishment of the
works at Derby, and while those at Chelsea and Bow were being carried
on, he brought his experiments to a successful issue; the result being
the discovery of a body of surpassing excellence.

It has been said, and there is indeed a traditional belief in the
fact, that the mainspring of Dr. Wall’s experiments was a political
one, and that he was induced to turn his attention to the subject in
the hope of introducing into Worcester a new branch of manufacture,
by which “the low party of the county” might be enabled, by the votes
it would command, “to stand a competition for members of parliament
with the ministerial or popular party.”[73] I cannot, however, for a
moment, and, despite all that has been brought forward on the matter,
believe that this was the motive power by which Dr. Wall, a man of high
intellect and attainments, and of noble character, was impelled to the
prosecution of his inquiries; but that for the good of science and of
commerce alone, and with a knowledge that a branch of manufacture of
the kind, if once well established, must be lucrative to its possessors
and advantageous to the city, he was induced to work hard and zealously
in his laboratory until he had mastered the difficulties which
surrounded him, and had produced a material that should successfully
rival the foreign examples which he took for his model. However, be
this as it may, in the year 1751 success had so far attended his
labours that he formed a company for the manufacture of porcelain in
Worcester, and thus laid the foundation of that manufacture which has
been carried on with uninterrupted success for a century and quarter.

The “Worcester Porcelain Company,” founded, then, in 1751 by Dr. Wall,
consisted of several gentlemen who joined him in his undertaking,
and thus formed a “joint-stock company” for the manufacture of the
chinaware on the principle he had discovered. The names of these
proprietors from 1751 to 1772 were Dr. Wall, Richard Holdship, Rev.
Benjamin Blayney, Samuel Bradley, Rev. Samuel Pritchett, Wm. Oliver,
David Henry (in place of Richard Holdship), Wm. Davis, John Salway,
Germain Lavie, Rev. Thomas Vernon, Mary Blayney, Richard Cook,
Henry Cook, and John Thorneloe. The company thus formed commenced
its operations in a fine old mansion, formerly the residence of the
Warmstrey family, in Warmstrey Slip and Palace Row, nearly adjoining
the bishop’s palace; the grounds at the back, at that time beautifully
laid out, running down to the banks of the Severn, and commanding a
delightful view of the valley, and of the Malvern and Abberley hills
beyond.

   “The mansion of the Warmstrey family,” says a local writer, in
   1837, “is conjectured to have been occupied as far back as the
   reign of Henry VII. and Henry VIII., by Sir William Windsor,
   second Lord Windsor, an ancestor of the late Earl of Plymouth.
   On the first floor of the house is a parlour, wainscoted round
   with oak, and over the fire-place is a very curious specimen
   of armorial ensigns, carved in wood, and bearing the marks of
   great age. They are the arms of Sir William Windsor, second Lord
   Windsor, the distinguished nobleman just alluded to, and such as
   are borne by the Earls of Plymouth. The arms are quartered as
   follows:--

   “1. Windsor--gules a saltire ar. between twelve cross
   crosslets, or. 2. Blount--barry nebulæ of six, or and sable. 3.
   Eckingham--azure, fretty, argent. 4. Beauchamp of Hatch, co. of
   Somerset--vairy, argent and azure; Crest; a buck’s head gardent,
   couped at the neck, ar.

   “The arms have supporters, and underneath them is this motto or
   inscription--‘Stemmata quid faciunt?’

   “The late Earl of Plymouth, when inspecting the process of the
   porcelain works a few years back, with his sister, the late
   Marchioness of Downshire, and his father-in-law, Earl Amhurst,
   recognised these memorials of his ancestors, and viewed them for
   some time with much interest.

   “In 1533, reign of Henry VIII., this Sir William Windsor,
   second Lord Windsor, was made one of the Knights of the Bath,
   against the coronation of Anne Boleyn, which was performed
   with great solemnity at Westminster. And at the decease of the
   king, he was one of the twelve peers, chief mourners, who, on
   August 8th, 1553, attended the funeral. His lordship was buried
   at Bredenham, in Buckinghamshire (where the family then had
   estates), very splendidly, according to his quality, says Strype.

   “After a lapse of ages, the family of the Plowdens occupied
   the mansion for some time; and ultimately this ancient
   edifice, about eighty-six years since, was devoted to its
   present purposes, and now exhibits an animating scene of art
   and industry, rivalling most successfully some of the finest
   productions of the Royal Porcelain Works of the Continent.

   “A few of the old rooms are preserved in their original state,
   and have been much admired by some learned antiquaries, and
   others who delight in viewing the relics of past ages. The house
   forms a sort of quadrangle, with a court in the centre, and was
   formerly the residence of the ‘Warmstreys,’ several of whom
   were connected, as registrars and others, with the Cathedral
   Church of Worcester. The library of the house is a lofty and
   spacious room, wainscoted with oak, carved in various parts with
   different devices, and the arms of the family of ‘Warmstrey,’
   viz., a cross molyn between crescents and decrescents, and
   impaled and quartered with the arms of other families. The
   fire-place is of very ample dimensions, with handsome pillars
   on each side, and the chimney-piece is decorated with a scroll
   extremely well cut. Surmounting it, the royal arms of England
   appear most curiously carved; and around the room may still be
   seen the antique book-shelves, edged with a scolloped border of
   green cloth, remaining quite firm in its texture. Adjoining the
   library, is a small study, fitted up with book-shelves in the
   same style.”

The family was one of considerable note, and monuments to Mrs. Cecil
Warmstrey, widow of the registrar of the diocese, 1649; to the said
registrar; and to Dr. Thomas Warmstrey, dean of Worcester, their son,
1661, who was a famous divine, and was one of the persons appointed
by the city to treat as to terms of its surrender to the army of the
parliament in 1646--are to be seen in the cathedral. The building
still remains, and is now occupied by Messrs. Dent and Co. for the
manufacture of gloves. The old part of the building has been entirely
denuded of its ornament, and stripped of every vestige of its former
grandeur; the gardens have been covered with engine-houses, scouring
and dyeing rooms, and other buildings necessary to the works now
carried on, and which find employment for many hundreds of people.

Warmstrey House was sold in 1707 by its then owners, the Rev. Chewning
Blackmore and Abigail his wife, for the sum of £340, to William Evett,
glover. On the 16th of May, 1751, the premises were leased by William
Evett, glover, to Richard Holdship the younger, glover, for the term
of twenty-one years, with right of renewal for a further term of
twenty-one years on payment of a fine of £20, the annual rent being £30.

This Richard Holdship was one of the partners in the porcelain
company, and it was, it appears, for the purposes of this company
that he became lessee of the premises. The company at this time, on
its first formation, appears to have consisted of Dr. John Wall, Mr.
Richard Holdship, the Rev. Benjamin Blayney, and Mr. Samuel Bradley, a
goldsmith, who kept the house in High Street for retailing the ware.
To these were subsequently added the others named above. In 1772–4 the
partners were Dr. Wall, the two William Davises, father and son, Rev.
T. Vernon, Robert Hancock the engraver, and Richard Cook of London. In
1774 Hancock left the concern, and from 1776 to 1783 the two Davises
and Vernon were the only proprietors.

The company at first turned its attention principally to the production
of imitations of the Chinese porcelain, both in form and colour. Thus
the blue and white patterns--then so general in Chinese porcelain, and
the characteristic of the Nankin ware--were for a time, it appears,
exclusively followed at Worcester. Some of the brilliant colours of the
Japanese ceramists were, however, soon attempted, and with complete
success; and by the conventional arrangement of these colours in new
patterns the Worcester potters were gradually led on to more elaborate
productions.

  [Illustration: Fig. 452.]

The works must have been commenced on a tolerably large scale, and
have rapidly risen in importance, for in 1752--only a year after the
formation of the company--the premises were very business-like in their
arrangement and extensive in their proportions, and were sufficiently
important to be engraved in the _Gentleman’s Magazine_ of that
year. Of that view the accompanying engraving is a reduced fac-simile,
and it will show at once how soon the works had risen to a state of
importance. The following explanatory references from the Magazine will
make it better understood:--“Explanation. 1. St. Andrew’s. 2. Warmstrey
Slip. 3. Biscuit kilns. 4. Glazing kilns. 5. Great kiln for segurs. 6.
Pressing and modelling gallery. 7. Rooms for throwing, turning, and
stove-drying the ware on the first floor, _a_, of the chamber
floors. 8. The garden. 9. The yard for coals. 10. Mr. Evett’s house
and garden, landlord of the premises. _b_. The eight windows in
two large chambers, in which the ware is placed on stallions, on the
east and north, where are the painters’ rooms. All the beginning of the
process is carried on under the quadrangular building, ground floor,
marked A; in its N.W. angle is the great rowl and ring; in the
N.E. the horses turn the same, and the levigators near to the rowl. The
next (on the ground floor) is the slip and treading-rooms; behind No.
4 is the glazing-room; behind 5 is the secret-room on the ground-floor.”

Accompanying this engraving, which bears the initials “_J. D. delin._”
(probably John Davis, one of the partners) and “J. C. sculp.” (probably
J. Cave), is the following interesting note:--“N.B. A sale of this
manufacture will begin at the _Worcester_ music-meeting on Sept. 20,
with great variety of ware, and, ’tis said, at a moderate price.”

This was probably the first time the Worcester goods were brought into
the public market. The goods were first vended by Mr. Samuel Bradley,
one of the partners, at a shop opposite the Guildhall in High Street,
and afterwards in larger premises near the Cross.

The characteristic of the early ware was a peculiarly soft greenness
of hue in the body, and by this, as well as the general style of
ornamentation, and by the marks, Worcester specimens may without
difficulty be recognised. The first mark used I believe to have been
a simple letter W., but the marks are so various in the early period
of the manufacture that it is most difficult, indeed impossible, to
arrange them chronologically. Like the D on the Derby porcelain, which
might be either the initial of the founder of the works, _Duesbury_,
or that of the town, _Derby_, the Worcester ware had a W., which might
be the initial of _its_ founder, _Wall_, or of the city, _Worcester_,
itself. The different varieties of the letter W which have come under
my notice are the following, and these may certainly all of them be
ascribed to an early period. Another distinctive mark of about the same
time is the crescent, which is sometimes drawn in outline, sometimes
filled in in lines, and sometimes of full blue colour. This mark is
supposed to be taken, and perhaps with some probability, from the arms
of the Warmstreys, which decorated the rooms used by the workmen.
It is worthy of note here, that one of the marks of the Caughley or
Coalport porcelain was also a crescent. As these works are said to have
been established by Worcester workmen, the use of this mark may be
attributed to them, and it may have had the double signification of a
crescent and a C for _Caughley_.

  [Illustration: Figs. 453 to 460.]

As the Worcester aim was to copy, and emulate in design and material,
the ceramic productions of China and Japan,--indeed, there were
scarcely any others to copy from at this early period,--so it appears
to have been the study of the artists to copy, or to simulate, the
marks used on the productions of these foreign manufactories; and thus
a great variety of marks are to be met with principally, or, I may say,
entirely, drawn in blue. Some of the most characteristic and general of
these I here append.

  [Illustration: Figs. 461 to 481.]

A considerable variety of other marks are to be met with, but I
apprehend they are most probably but the distinctive marks of the
artists employed. It must be borne in mind that in other factories the
“hands” were numbered, and, as was the case at Derby, were required to
attach each one his number below the general mark of the establishment.
At Worcester I am not aware that such a regulation existed; and thus,
probably, each artist had his “mark” instead. A few examples of these I
here give:--

  [Illustration: Figs. 482 to 511.]

After a time the Dresden and Sèvres productions were studied and
successfully followed at Worcester, the salmon-coloured ground and
_bleu de roi_ being excellently managed. Tea and dessert services,
vases, &c., were produced in these styles, some of which are remarkable
for the elegance of their painting and ornamentation. On many examples
of this period the Dresden mark was used, as shown in the accompanying
woodcut.

  [Illustration: Fig. 512.]

In March, 1756, “The proprietors of the Worcester China Manufacture,
for the better accommodation of merchants and traders, have opened a
warehouse at London House, Aldersgate Street, London, where they may be
supplied every day, between the hours of nine in the morning and three
in the afternoon, with a sortment of goods, wholesale, on the most
reasonable terms. Orders are likewise taken and executed with dispatch
for home and foreign trade.”

  [Illustration: Fig. 513.]

A remarkable bowl, apparently from a mould cast from a silver original,
is of the date of the commencement of these works. It is in possession
of Mrs. Barr, and bears beneath it the date [1751] Mr. Binns also
possesses specimens which may be attributed to about the same period.

In 1756, the truly important invention of printing on china, _i.e._
transferring printed impressions from engraved copper-plates on to the
china body, is said to have been made in Worcester. At all events, it
is an undoubted fact that, in 1757, the art in Worcester had arrived
at a wondrous state of perfection; and it is but fair, therefore,
to say that the belief in its being practised in the previous year
is well founded. To have arrived at the state of perfection which
is exhibited in the example to which I am alluding (a mug bearing
the head of the King of Prussia, and dated 1757), must at least have
been the work of months, if not of years. The invention of transfer
printing is claimed, and very plausibly, for Liverpool, and is said
to have been made by Mr. John Sadler, who drew up papers, and procured
affidavits, for obtaining a patent, in August, 1756; on the 27th of
July in that year he and his partner, Guy Green, were sworn to have
printed more than twelve hundred earthenware tiles in six hours.
Whether the Worcester idea was taken from Liverpool, or whether both
were taken from Battersea, or whether, as is not unfrequently the case,
the invention originated in two minds about the same time, without
one being at all connected with the other, it is not for me now to
determine. It is enough for my present purpose to say that _highly
finished_ printed goods were made at Worcester in 1757, and the dated
example now in existence clearly establishes the fact that it was a
work of some forethought and care. On this mug the following poem
appeared in the _Gentleman’s Magazine_ for December, 1757:--

  [Illustration: Fig. 514.]


                                 POEM

   ON SEEING AN ARM’D BUST OF THE KING OF PRUSSIA CURIOUSLY
   IMPRINTED ON A PORCELAIN CUP OF THE WORCESTER MANUFACTURE, WITH
   THE EMBLEMS OF HIS VICTORIES. INSCRIBED TO MR. JOSIAH HOLDSHIP.

      Here, taught by thee, we view with raptured eyes,
    Graceful and bold, the Prussian hero rise--
    The royal chief, the Cæsar of the age,
    Whose acts the wonder of the world engage.
    The martial spirit animates his mien,
    His heart intrepid, and his look serene.
    There Fame, regardless else who reigns or bleeds,
    With all her breath resounds his mighty deeds.
    Here from whole nations in the field o’erthrown,
    He points to trophies which are all his own;
    While Victory gives to valour so renown’d
    The blooming wreath which her own temples bound.
      See where his virtues still his life expose,
    And smile defiance to surrounding foes.
    The intriguing Saxon see him there[74] surprise;
    Here from his arms the Imperial Eagle[75] flies;
    Tho’ fortune frowns,[76] unknowing how to yield,
    He drives, by proxy,[77] Russia from the field.
    Now, farther prest, behold him still advance,
    And pour destruction on the troops[78] of France;
    Before his glitt’ring arms the Swedes retire,
    And mourn pale Envy’s unfulfilled desire.
    Yet lo! once more by frowning fortune crost,
    He sees a battle, Breslau, Bevern lost:
    Yet soon, that loss retrieved, the hero gains
    Immortal glory on Silesian plains.
    His active spirit still disdains repose,
    Resolv’d to combat with stern wintry snows;
    And through the regions of her cold domain,
    To stretch the triumphs of the long campaign.
    What praise, ingenious HOLDSHIP, is thy due,
    Who first on porcelain the fair portrait drew;
    Who first alone to full perfection brought
    The curious art, by rival numbers sought.
    Hence shall thy skill inflame heroic souls,
    Who mighty battles see round mightier bowls;
    While Albion’s sons shall see their features, name,
    And actions copied on the _cup_ of fame.
      Hence beauty, which repairs the waste of war,
    Beauty may triumph on a china jar:
    And this, perhaps, with stronger faith to trust,
    Than the stain’d canvas or the marble bust.
    For here, who once in youthful charms appears
    May bloom uninjured for a thousand years;
    May time--till now opposed in vain--defie,
    And live still fair, till Nature’s self shall die.
    Here may the toasts of every age be seen,
    From Britain’s Gunning back to Sparta’s Queen:
    And every hero history’s page can bring
    From Macedonia’s down to Prussia’s king.
      Perhaps the art may track the circling world.
    Where’er thy Britain has her sails unfurl’d;
    While wond’ring _China_ shall with envy see,
    And stoop to borrow her own arts from thee.

                                             CYNTHIO.
    _Worcester, 20th Dec., 1757._

A different version of this poem was reprinted in the _Worcester
Journal_ of January, 1758, with the addition of a couple of lines.
It is there headed:--“On seeing an armed bust of the King of Prussia
curiously imprinted on a Porcelain Cup of the Worcester Manufacture,
with Fame resounding her Trump and an emblematical representation of
his victories: Addressed to Mr. Josiah Holdship;” and an “_extempore_
on the compliment of imprinting the King of Prussia’s Bust being
ascribed to Mr. Josiah Holdship.” The _extempore_ being the following
important lines:--

    “Handcock, my friend, don’t _grieve_, tho’ Holdship has the praise,
    ’Tis yours to execute--’tis his to wear the bays.”

From this it would seem that the credit of the invention (for more
information see the chapters on the Liverpool potteries and the
Coalport china works) was even then a vexed question in Worcester;
some ascribing it to Holdship, and others to Hancock; and, no doubt,
each of those individuals claiming it for himself. Robert Hancock was
an engraver of some eminence in Worcester, and “was chief engraver[79]
to the Worcester Porcelain Company on its first establishment;” and
it is also said he was in partnership with Dr. Wall. He died in 1817,
aged eighty-seven. Valentine Green, the historian of Worcester, and a
famous mezzo-tint engraver, was a pupil of Robert Hancock’s (by whom
many of the plates in his “History of Worcester” are engraved), as was
also James Ross, the line engraver. Valentine Green died in London in
1813, and was buried in the churchyard of St. Mary’s, Paddington, where
his gravestone now stands. Hancock, it is believed, had, previously
to printing on porcelain at Worcester, produced some printed plaques
at Battersea, specimens of which, with his name attached, are in
existence.[80]

Richard Holdship, it will have been seen, was one of the original
proprietors of the Worcester works, and became, in 1751, the lessee of
the premises (Warmstry House) in which the manufacturing operations
were commenced. In 1759 he, conjointly with his brother Josiah
Holdship, purchased the property for £600, having previously purchased
some houses to the south of the works, on whose site he erected a large
and commodious mansion. He, however, became bankrupt in 1761, having
sold his shares in the porcelain works to Mr. David Henry, of London,
for the immense sum of five shillings.

Shortly after that, Holdship appears to have left Worcester, and, as
evidenced by the original deed in my own possession, in 1764 bound
himself by bond and various articles of agreement, to Messrs. Duesbury
and Heath, of Derby, for the making and printing china or porcelain
ware. In these “articles of agreement” he is described as “Richard
Holdship, of the city of Worcester, china maker,” and in it he agrees
for “the sum of one hundred pounds of lawful British money,” to be
paid down, and for an annuity of thirty pounds a year, to be paid
to him during life, to deliver to Messrs. Duesbury and Heath, “in
writing under his hand, the process now pursued by him the said Richard
Holdship, in the making of china or porcelain ware, agreeable to the
proofs already made (by him) at the china manufactory of the said John
Heath and William Duesbury, in Derby;” also, “during his life to supply
and furnish” them “with a sufficient quantity of soapy rock used in
the making of china or porcelain ware, at such a price as any other
china manufacturers do, shall, or may at any time hereafter give for
that commodity;” and “also that he, the said Richard Holdship, shall
and will during his life print, or cause to be printed, all the china
or porcelain ware which the said John Heath and William Duesbury,
their heirs, &c., shall from time to time have occasion to be printed,
of equal skill and workmanship, and upon as reasonable terms as the
said (Heath and Duesbury) can have the same done for by any other
person or persons whomsoever, or agreeable to the prices now given
in.” He also binds himself not to disclose or make known his process
to any other persons during the continuance of these articles, nor
to bequeath, sell, or communicate them to any persons, so as to take
place after his death, unless the articles are cancelled during his
lifetime. The agreement was to continue in force so long as Duesbury
and Heath determined to carry on the business according to his process;
and whenever they should decline doing so, then Holdship was to be at
liberty to sell or communicate his process to any one else. At Derby,
Holdship also printed stoneware. As I have stated in my account of
the Derby china works, the printed ware did not appear to meet Mr.
Duesbury’s views, or to be so advantageous as the higher class of
goods painted by hand, for which he was famed, and thus there were
constant complaints and recriminations passing between Holdship and
his employers. From some of the documents I glean that his process was
“for printing enamell and blew;” that he had an assistant named William
Underwood; that he valued his press at £10 10_s._; offered his
“utensils and copper engraved plates at half prime cost;” that his
“enamell collours, weight 151 lbs.,” he valued at £35, including his
process for making the same; and that he proposes to “yield his process
for printing enamell and blew, for which he hath been offered several
hundred pounds.” How long the agreement continued I cannot say, but at
all events, Holdship was still employed at Derby at the end of 1769.

Of much of the work of Robert Hancock, fortunately, there can be no
possible doubt, for his name appears in full on some examples, and his
initials--at least, initials believed to be his--on others. These will
be seen in the accompanying engraving:--

  [Illustration: Figs. 515 to 517.]

Two of these, it will be seen, are somewhat curious, having the Chelsea
anchor attached to the name of Worcester. It is a problem worth solving
whether this monogram of RH conjoined was that of Robert Hancock, and,
if so, whether he had previously been connected with the Chelsea works;
or whether the anchor was adopted as a mark by Richard Holdship in
allusion to his name, _hold ship_, which, it must be admitted, would
be a clever and very appropriate colophon. The engraving, looked at
as engraving alone, upon some of the pieces of this period, is truly
beautiful and sharp; but when considered as _transfer_ on to china
paste, is very wonderful.

In Mr. Binns’s possession is a watch-back of Battersea enamel, transfer
printed, bearing the initials “R. H. f.” The subject was a popular one
for china and enamels, and was frequently reproduced.

  [Illustration: Fig. 518.]

Richard Hancock, it is supposed, was employed at Battersea before
coming to Worcester, where he must have been settled before the date
(1757) of the poem just quoted. He was an excellent engraver, as
the watch-back (Fig. 518) will testify. Examples of his engravings,
transferred on to _Chinese_ porcelain, are also preserved, and are
considered to be his trial pieces from transferring on to this material.

The copper plate itself from which these foreign china specimens as
well as many of the choicest known examples of Worcester china have
been printed, I had myself the good fortune to discover a few years ago
at Coalport. It bears the engraver’s name--_R. Hancock fecit_.

  [Illustration:

  VOL. I.

    PLATE II.

  HANCOCK’S ORIGINAL ENGRAVINGS, FROM CAUGHLEY AND COALPORT.

  (The central group bears his name. “R. Hancock, _fecit_.” See pp.
  234, 270.)]

I know, for the first time such a thing has been done, give as an
illustration (on Plate II.) impressions actually printed from this very
plate engraved by Hancock a century ago.[81] On the same plate,
it will be noticed, is another engraving by Hancock, of a group of
children playing at “Blind Man’s Buff,” which collectors will recognise
as occasionally occurring on rare examples. On Plates III. and IV. I
also give, for the first time, impressions from other copper plates,
to which I shall make allusion later on. Among Hancock’s pupils were
Valentine Green, the historian of Worcester; James Ross, who earned
a considerable local reputation; and, it is believed, Thomas Turner,
afterwards of the Caughley china works. In 1769 Hancock purchased
from the mortgagees of Richard Holdship the buildings he had erected,
and became a partner in the china works; in which he held a sixth
share. The partnership, however, did not last long, and in 1774 he
was “paid out,” as appears by the following entry:--“Whereas certain
controversies, differences, and disputes had arisen between the parties
touching the said Robert Hancock’s share of the said stock, it was
agreed by indenture, dated October 31, 1774, in order to prevent all
such disputes, to purchase from him his share in said stock for the sum
of £900, being exactly one-sixth.” Hancock, it is said, left the works
in the same year, 1774. The group (Fig. 517) exhibits a selection of
the early transfer-printing examples of Hancock’s work and that of his
clever contemporaries.

  [Illustration: Fig. 519.--Worcester Transfer Printing.]

A few years before the Chelsea works passed into the hands of Duesbury
of Derby, it appears that some of the workmen migrated to Worcester,
and this circumstance gave a fresh impetus to the manufacture of
porcelain in that city, and enabled the proprietors of the works to
produce many exquisite articles after the Dresden and Sèvres schools of
art. Some examples of this Chelsea style are shown grouped on Fig. 520.
In 1776 Dr. Wall died, and was buried at the Abbey Church, Bath, in
which city he had resided for some time for the benefit of his impaired
and declining health. Soon after this time the works began to decline;
the goods produced were far inferior to those made in former years,
and their whole style, body, and finish showed an evident falling off
in the management of the works. It is surely not too much to attribute
this decadence in a great degree to the loss of the master mind of Dr.
Wall.

  [Illustration: Fig. 520.--Worcester China in the Chelsea style.]

After many changes in proprietorship,[82] the Worcester works, in 1783,
were purchased by Mr. T. Flight, a merchant of Bread Street, London,
and of Hackney (who was agent to the Worcester Porcelain Company), for
his sons, Joseph and John, for the sum of £3,000, including premises,
models, plant, and stock, and here he established them. These two
brothers were jewellers, and carried on both concerns at the same time.
Under their management the works rapidly more than regained their
former eminence, and became very successful. The mark used by Messrs.
Flight was as follows--simply the name in writing letters. Another mark
of this period was the name _FLIGHTS_, in italic capitals, impressed
on the ware, sometimes with the crescent painted in blue. In 1786
Joseph Flight, one of the partners, “jeweller and china manufacturer,”
advertised that he had taken Mr. Bradley’s shop, 33, High Street.
Shortly afterwards he removed to larger premises, No. 45, where he
received the king and queen.

  [Illustration: Fig. 521.]

  [Illustration: Figs. 522 and 523.]

  [Illustration: Figs. 524 to 526.]

In 1788 an event of great importance to the works occurred. In that
year the king, George III., with Queen Charlotte and the princesses,
visited Worcester, and having gone through the porcelain works, and
been much pleased with the beauty of the articles manufactured, his
majesty desired that the word “royal” might be prefixed to the name,
and recommended the proprietors to open a show-room in London. This
suggestion was at once acted upon, and a warehouse opened in Coventry
Street, which secured a large and very fashionable patronage for the
ware. After the king’s visit the distinctive mark of a crown was added
to the marks, which at this time were the following. The subsequent
changes in the proprietorship, consequent on deaths, were “Messrs.
Flight and Barr”--Mr. Martin Barr having joined the concern in
1793--“Barr, Flight, and Barr,” and “Flight, Barr, and Barr” (Joseph
Flight, Martin Barr, and Martin Barr, jun., and afterwards George
Barr in place of the elder Martin). From 1829 till 1840 the firm was
simply “Barr and Barr,” the parties being Martin and George Barr. Some
of the marks I here give. Others, which were _printed_ marks, it is
scarcely worth while to engrave; they are as follows:--“_Flight, Barr,
and Barr_”--B, the initial of Barr, scratched in the ware; “Barr,
Flight, and Barr, Royal Porcelain Works, Worcester; London House, No.
1, Coventry Street,” in five lines, and surmounted by two crowns;
“B.F.B.,” imprint on the ware: “Barr, Flight, and Barr, Royal Porcelain
Works, Worcester; London House, Flight and Barr, Coventry Street”
(within an oval), “Manufacturers to their Majesties, Prince of Wales,
and Royal Family; established 1751” (surrounding the oval); the whole
surmounted by a crown and the Prince of Wales’s feathers: “Flight,
Barr, and Barr, Proprietors of the Royal Porcelain Works, Worcester,
established 1761,” in five lines; above are the royal arms, and
beneath are the Prince of Wales’s feathers, the whole within a circle;
surrounding the circle is, “Manufacturers to their Majesties and the
Prince Regent; London Warehouse, No. 1, Coventry Street.”

In 1786, Robert Chamberlain, who was the first apprentice to the old
Worcester Porcelain Company, and who had continued with the different
proprietors up to that period, commenced business for himself in
premises at Diglis--the same which are now carried on by the Royal
Worcester Porcelain Company. Chamberlain was a painter, and on the
first establishment of his business bought his porcelain from the
Caughley works (Coalbrookdale) and painted it at Worcester. In a
very short time, however, he made his own, and his works soon grew
into public favour and eminence. His son was an excellent artist,
and a portrait of the Princess Charlotte, which he painted, is said
to have given the highest satisfaction to Prince Leopold and others.
The mark adopted by Chamberlain was simply his name in writing, thus,
“_Chamberlain’s_,” or “Chamberlains completes the sentence. Worcester”. Afterwards the
following marks were used:--

  [Illustration:

    _Chamberlain’s,
    Worcester,
    & 63, Piccadilly,
    London._

    _Chamberlain’s
    Regent China,
    Worcester,
    & 155,
    New Bond Street,
    London._

    _Chamberlain’s,
    Worcester,
    & 155,
    New Bond Street,
    London.
    Royal Porcelain Manufactory._

    CHAMBERLAINS.

    _Chamberlain & Co., Worcester._

    CHAMBERLAIN & CO.,
    WORCESTER,
    155, NEW BOND STREET,
    & NO. 1,
    COVENTRY ST.,
    LONDON.

  Figs. 527 to 536.]

As a companion picture to the fac-simile of Dr. Wall’s works I give
views of those of Chamberlain’s (Fig. 537), and, later, of Flight and
Barr’s, the latter copied from an engraving transferred to porcelain.
From these the extensive character of the place will be seen. It
has, however, been much increased since the amalgamation of the two
establishments, and within the last few years has been almost entirely
rebuilt by the present proprietors.

  [Illustration: Fig. 537.--Chamberlain’s Worcester Porcelain
  Works.]

The business was afterwards carried on successively by “Chamberlain and
Sons” and “Chamberlain and Co.” During the continuance of the two works
it is believed that by far the greater part of the entire production of
porcelain in the kingdom was made at Worcester; and certainly the books
and the samples of various sets still remaining in the show-rooms bear
evidence both of the high patronage and the extent of orders received,
and of the beauty of workmanship which the proprietary had attained
in their ware. The successive changes in the proprietary were as
follows:--1786–1798, Robert Chamberlain, senior, Humphrey Chamberlain,
and Richard Nash (sleeping partner); 1798–1804, Humphrey Chamberlain
and Robert Chamberlain, junior; 1804–1811, the same, with G. E. Boulton
as sleeping partner; 1811–1827, the same, without Boulton; 1828–1840,
Walter Chamberlain and John Lilly. The marks then used, from 1840 to
1850, being _Chamberlain & Co., Worcester_, in writing italics, and
CHAMBERLAIN’S in capital letters.

In 1800, a third china manufactory was established in Worcester by
Mr. Thomas Grainger, nephew of Humphrey Chamberlain, who had for many
years taken an active and principal part in Chamberlain’s works. This
establishment, of which a few words anon, is still continued by the son
of its founder and partners under the firm of “G. Grainger and Co.”

  [Illustration: Fig. 538.]

  [Illustration: Figs. 539 to 545.--Productions of Messrs.
  Chamberlain, 1851.]

The two principal manufactories, those of “Flight, Barr, and Barr,” and
“Chamberlain and Co.,” continued until 1840, when they amalgamated, and
the two firms formed one joint-stock company. The plant and stock were
removed from Warmstry House to Messrs. Chamberlain’s premises, and the
works were there carried on under the style of “Chamberlain and Co.”
The mark used by Chamberlain and Co. was as follows:--

From 1840 to 1847 the managing directors were Walter Chamberlain,
John Lilly, and Martin and George Barr, and Fleming St. John; from
1848 to 1850 the proprietors were Walter Chamberlain and John Lilly;
in 1850, Walter Chamberlain and Edward Lilly. In 1850 Mr. W. H. Kerr
joined the concern, which was for a short time carried on under the
style of “Chamberlain, Lilly, and Kerr;” but on the 1st of January,
1852, another change took place in the proprietary. On this occasion
Mr. Chamberlain and Mr. Lilly retired, and Mr. R. W. Binns entered into
partnership with Mr. Kerr, and the firm was carried on under the style
of “Kerr and Binns,” and “W. H. Kerr and Co.” In 1852 the works were
considerably increased, in fact they may almost be said to have been
then rebuilt, by Mr. Kerr, whose great desire was to make them the best
constructed, and most roomy and convenient, of any porcelain works in
the kingdom. In 1862 Mr. Kerr retired from the concern, and it is now
carried on by a company of shareholders, Mr. R. W. Binns, F.S.A., who
is one of them, holding the proud position of “Art Director,” a post
for which no man is better qualified than he is. The total number of
hands employed at the present time is between five and six hundred.

  [Illustration: Fig. 546.]

  [Illustration: Figs. 547 and 548.--Ewer and Stand, painted by
  Bott.]

The productions of the Worcester works have been brought to a wondrous
state of perfection, both as to body, glaze, form, and decoration.
Certainly neither in ancient nor in modern specimens of ceramic
art have such exquisitely beautiful works been produced as some of
the enamels which, under the fostering hand of Mr. Binns, have of
late years been made here. The body, unlike the works of Limoges or
the Sèvres imitations, is _pure porcelain_, not a coating of
porcelain over sheets of metal; and the effect is produced by the
partial transparency of the white laid on the blue ground, instead
of by heightening. The tone produced in these enamels is peculiarly
soft and delicate, and the colours are pure and intense; they will
bear--and bear well--a close and critical comparison with those of
the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.[83] Examples consisting of an
ewer and stand, a vase, a pastile-burner, a plate, a tazza, and other
articles, are given on Figs. 547 to 553. The late Mr. Bott, an artist
of the very highest eminence, was brought up by Mr. Binns specially
for the production of these enamels, and his early death has been a
great loss to Art. Through his death examples have become very scarce,
and realise high prices. At the present time a pair of vases--still
in the hands of the Worcester Company--are valued at 1,500 guineas,
and an ewer and basin at 350 guineas, and the probability is that they
will still increase rapidly in value. To Mr. Binns is entirely due the
introduction and carrying out of the Worcester enamels in the style of
Limoges; the ivory porcelain, a soft-glaze body of an ivory tint; the
Raphaelesque porcelain; jewelled porcelain, of a totally different and
far higher character than that of Sèvres; and Japanese decoration on
porcelain and pottery. Besides these, to his taste, skill, and judgment
are due the great varieties of styles and improvements in form and
decoration which now characterize these works.

In parian, the Worcester works produce a large variety of figures,
busts, groups, and ornamental articles of every kind, and of a
remarkably clean and pure body.

The ivory porcelain--an improvement upon parian, and capable of greater
development--is one of the specialities of these works. Besides being
used for busts, figures, and ornamental pieces, in its simple state,
when it has all the softness, beauty, and natural tint of ivory
itself, it forms the basis of many of the ornamental decorations,
especially the Raphaelesque ware, which is the colouring of the surface
in relief in the style of the old Capo di Monte ware and the Buen
Retiro porcelain. This style was first introduced by Mr. Binns for the
Exhibition of 1862, and has retained its popularity to the present hour.

  [Illustration: Fig. 549.]

  [Illustration: Figs. 550 to 552.--Enamel; the subject taken
  from the Raphael Tazza.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 553.--Group of Worcester Porcelain Enamel.]

  [Illustration: Figs. 554 and 555.]

The jewelled porcelain, for which Worcester now is famous, is totally
different from that made at Sèvres or Tournay, whether ancient or
modern. The French jewels are all made by enamellers, and each colour
is fused on a small plate of metal which forms the setting, and may be
stuck on the vase or plate with gum if it is not required to pass it
through the fire. These jewels may be bought by the dozen or hundred in
any variety: but the work decorated with them is essentially French,
and tinselly. The English jewelling, though perhaps not so brilliant,
is of far higher and purer character, and is far more legitimate
as a decoration for pottery. Each of these jewels is formed of colour
melted on to the china, and occasionally raised higher and higher by
repeated firings, and thus it becomes, and is, a part of the material
itself. The most elaborate piece of work produced at Worcester in
this style is a déjeûner set made for presentation to the Countess of
Dudley on her marriage, from the city of Worcester. It is powdered
all over with turquoise, but so arranged in geometric lines that only
the different sizes of the jewels are noticed. In Japanese porcelain
the Worcester works produce a vast variety of articles; amongst these
are vases, spill-cases, jardinières, toilet ornaments, trays, and
an infinite number of other elegancies. These Japanese productions
are not servile imitations of native art; they are Japanese art and
art-characteristics adapted and rendered subservient to the highest
aims of pure design of our own country. Mr. Binns, to whom this
introduction is owing, has caught the very spirit of Japanese art,
and, with the happy facility he possesses of turning everything to
good account, has so grafted it upon English productions that the
one becomes an essential and component part of the other. Among the
more pleasing and characteristic of the vases are a set on which the
designs, in relief (admirably modelled by Mr. Hadley) upon tablets,
represent the various processes of the potter’s art as followed in the
East; and these pictures--for true pictures they are--are so minutely
and exquisitely painted and gilded (by Callowhill), that it requires
a good lens to bring out their many and very minute beauties. Of
these I give some engravings. This introduction, which now forms a
distinctive feature of the Worcester works, is a marked and decided
advance in ceramic art; the effect of bronze and other metals being
quite an achievement.

  [Illustration: Figs. 556 to 559.--Worcester Japanese Ware.]

  [Illustration: Figs. 560 to 565.--Worcester Porcelain.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 566.]

In majolica the Worcester works produce many splendid varieties of
articles, and many spirited and beautiful designs. Dessert services,
floral table decorations, shell-pieces, spill-cases, and vases are
among the articles produced. The body is finer and more compact than
that frequently used by manufacturers, and the colouring is faultless
and in the purest taste. It was a wise thought to graft this branch of
ceramic art on to that of the finest porcelain at Worcester, and its
rapid development shows how thoroughly it has been appreciated.

But it is not in ornamental goods only that these works take high rank.
They produce every possible variety, from the simple gold and white
to the most highly decorated tea, coffee, déjeûner, dinner, toilet,
and other services. These are produced in very large quantities, and
form a staple and constantly increasing branch of the manufacture; and
in all these, however simple, the same purity of taste in patterns is
displayed as in the rarer and more costly gems of art.

It is a common belief that high art and commercial success cannot go
hand in hand,--that to make things _sell_ you must sink _art_--or that,
if you produce high art examples, you must give up all expectations of
a remunerative trade. This theory I do not believe in. I hold it to be
the mission of the manufacturer, in whatever branch he may be engaged,
to produce such goods as shall tend to educate the public taste, and to
lead it gradually upwards to a full appreciation of the beautiful. The
manufacturer is quite as much a _teacher_ as the writer or the artist,
and he is frequently a much more effectual one. In pottery especially,
where the wares of one kind or other are hourly in the hands of
every person in the kingdom, it behoves the manufacturers to produce
such perfect forms, and to introduce such ornamentation, even in the
commonest and coarsest ware, as shall teach the eye, and induce a taste
for whatever is beautiful and perfect and lovely in art. The mission
of the manufacturer is to _create_ a pure taste, not to perpetuate
and pander to a vicious and barbarous one; and I believe, in the end,
that those who do their best to elevate the minds of the people by
this means will find that, commercially, their endeavours will be most
satisfactory--assuredly they will be the most pleasant to their own
minds. The Worcester people seem to understand this thoroughly, and to
have wisely determined that nothing, even of the most simple design or
common use, which is not pure in taste and elegant in form shall be
issued from their works.



The marks of Messrs. Kerr and Binns were the following:--[Illustration:
Figs. 567 and 568.] But they had also another, a special mark, designed
by Digby Wyatt, which is used solely for marking the goods made for her
Majesty. In the mark (Fig. 568) in the third quarter of the shield,
left white in the engraving, the initials of Mr. Bott, the painter, are
found on his beautiful enamels.

  [Illustration: Fig. 569.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 570.--Breakfast Service made for the Duke
  of Cumberland in 1806.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 571.--Service made for King William IV. in
  1831.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 572.--Service made for the Princess
  Charlotte on her marriage in 1816.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 573.--Service made on the occasion of the
  creation of the Duke of Clarence in 1789.]

The Worcester works have, at one time or other, been favoured more than
most English establishments with orders from royalty. Of these I give
five examples of plates, to show the beauty and intricacy of their
designs. Fig. 569 is a part of a service made for the Queen; Fig. 573,
from the service made for Prince William Henry, Duke of Clarence, in
1789; 572, for the Princess Charlotte on her marriage; 571 for his
Majesty King William IV.; and 570, for the Duke of Cumberland in 1806.

  [Illustration: Fig. 574.]

A curious feature in connection with these works, and one which I am
only aware has been followed by one other English china manufactory
(that of Pinxton), was the issuing of porcelain tokens--that is, china
money--for the convenience of the masters and workmen at the factory.
They are, it will be seen, in the form of a promissory note. They bear
the “promise” on the obverse, and on the reverse the letters W P C
(Worcester Porcelain Company), and were issued for various amounts.

  [Illustration: Fig. 575.]

Examples of some of the more recent productions of the Royal Worcester
Porcelain Company (as shown at the French Exhibition of 1868) are shown
on our cuts, Figs. 560 to 565.

       *       *       *       *       *

_Royal China Works._--The porcelain works of Messrs. Grainger and
Co. are situated in St. Martin’s Street, with show-rooms in the
Foregate. They were established in 1800, as I have before stated, by
Mr. Thomas Grainger, nephew to Mr. Chamberlain, to whom he served an
apprenticeship as a painter; the latter part of his apprenticeship
being devoted to taking a share in the general management of the
works. When out of his time, Mr. Grainger started a manufactory on
his own account, and took into partnership a Mr. Wood, a painter
of considerable skill and eminence, whose productions on the early
porcelain made by them are characterized by a peculiar mellowness
of shade, and who excelled in “mezzo-tint drawing;” and the works
were carried on for some time under the firm of “Grainger and Wood.”
Afterwards, Mr. Grainger took into partnership his brother-in-law, Mr.
Lee, and the style of the firm was then changed to that of “Grainger
and Lee.” The mark was as appended.

  [Illustration: Fig. 576.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 577.]

In 1810, about two years before Mr. Lee became a partner, the works
were destroyed by fire. The manufactory was shortly rebuilt on a new
site, on the opposite side of the street, and has been considerably
enlarged. Mr. Lee having retired from the concern, the business was
then carried on by Mr. Grainger until his decease in 1839, when his
son, Mr. George Grainger, one of the present proprietors, succeeded
him, and has carried on the works, under the style of “G. Grainger and
Co.,” to the present day. Up to the year 1850, porcelain alone was made
at this establishment, and its quality was remarkably good, both in
body and in ornamentation. In that year, however, Mr. George Grainger
invented a new body, which he named “_semi-porcelain_.” This new
ware was first made public at the Great International Exhibition of
1851, and from its peculiar qualities of durability, hardness, and
freedom from cracking with heat, attracted considerable attention. The
surface of the semi-porcelain bears every characteristic of the finest
china, and, of course, in colour, in painting, and in gilding can be
made quite equal to it; but it has the additional advantage of being
so completely vitrified that the inside, in case of being chipped or
broken, remains of its original whiteness. It is peculiarly adapted for
dinner-services through not flying or cracking with heat so readily as
the ordinary china does, and because of its power of retaining heat
for a much longer time. It is somewhat extensively exported both to
France and to India. Mr. Grainger manufactures very largely of this
material chemical vessels, batteries, insulators for telegraph wires,
&c., and for these purposes its superiority is admitted by the highest
scientific authorities. These insulators (in an unglazed state) after
being soaked for many hours in acid, stood the test of a battery of
two hundred Daniel’s cells--a very severe test--showing thus great
strength and resisting power--a strength which would be much increased
when glazed.

  [Illustration: C. GRAINGER &. C. MANUFACTURERS WORCESTER.

  Fig. 578.]

The mark of the present firm is as follows:--[see Fig. 578] Another has
simply the words “Chemical Porcelain, Grainger and Co., Manufactory,
Worcester.” Messrs. Grainger and Co. also produce some admirable vases,
excellent parian figures and ornaments. Another variety of goods is
the perforated parian ware, in which is made vases, &c., of remarkably
pure design and careful execution. Some of the best specimens of lace
drapery have been produced by this firm. At the Exhibition of 1862, the
last at which the firm exhibited, a medal was awarded them for this
“semi-” or “chemical porcelain,” which, undeniably, well deserved such
a distinction.

  [Illustration: Fig. 579.]

The toilet services of this firm are of considerable elegance in
design, as will be seen on Figs. 581 and 582. Fig. 580 exhibits a
“honeycombed” coffee-service of very elegant design, the foliage being
gracefully thrown.

  [Illustration: Figs. 580 to 583.]

A new invention of Messrs. Grainger is their “Opalite,” a highly
vitrified and very fine body, in which they have produced, with
remarkably good effect, embossed tiles for external decorations in
shop fronts, &c. A design of a celadon ground with the blackberry,
conventionally treated, in relief, in white, with the stems relieved
with burnished gold, burned into the body, is remarkably beautiful and
effective.

       *       *       *       *       *

_Mr. St. John’s Encaustic Tile Works._--After the removal of Messrs.
Flight and Barr’s works to the present site of the Royal porcelain
manufactory, on the amalgamation spoken of on a preceding page, Mr.
Barr for a time continued making encaustic paving tiles on the old
premises. In this he was joined by Mr. Fleming St. John, who was one of
the managing directors of the Royal porcelain works, and some excellent
patterns, and of good colour and material, were produced. The tile
works were, however, in 1860, sold to Messrs. Maw, who continued to
carry on the manufacture until 1852, when they removed to Broseley,
where the manufacture is still continued (see “Broseley”). In 1853 the
premises were purchased from Mr. Fleming St. John by Mr. Allcroft,
one of the partners in the firm of Dent, Allcroft, and Co., and their
business of glove-making was removed within the same year.

       *       *       *       *       *

_“Worcester Tileries,” Rainbow Hill._--These works were established in
1870 by Mr. H. C. Webb, their present proprietor. The tiles produced
are in three series--1st, geometrical tiles in five colours, viz.
black, red, buff, grey, and chocolate; 2nd, geometrical tiles in these
colours with the addition of cream, fawn, blue, white, and green;
3rd, the whole of these, with encaustic or inlaid tiles added. The
geometrical tiles are made of various sizes and of every necessary
shape, and thus pavements of admirable and effective design and of
endless variety are produced, which are equally suitable for small
villas, cottages, schools, &c. The colours are clear and good, and the
quality hard and durable. The mark used by Mr. Webb is the name HENRY
C. WEBB, WORCESTER, in raised letters, in a small circle impressed in
the clay.

       *       *       *       *       *

_St. George’s Pottery Works._--These works were established by
their present proprietor, Mr. D. W. Barker, formerly of Frome
in Somersetshire, in 1869, for the manufacture of rustic ware,
terra-cotta, and patent bricks--the latter being the main production
of the establishment. The works are situated on Gregory’s Bank, close
to the canal, on the north side of Worcester, where they occupy a
large area of ground. The kilns were erected from the designs of the
patentees, Hoffman and Licht, of Berlin and Dantzic, and the machinery
by the patentees, Bradley and Craven, of Wakefield. As these are said
to be among the best constructed of modern brick and terra-cotta works,
I quote the following particulars:--

   “The kiln consists of a long railway-tunnel-shaped passage,
   forming a long annular channel or ring. This ring is divided
   into twelve compartments, which may be made to communicate or
   to be separated from each other by the raising or lowering
   of a partition or damper. To each compartment there is an
   entrance-doorway, which can be closed with temporary brickwork.
   Flues lead from the bed of each compartment to the central
   smoke-chamber, which communicates by a main flue with the
   chimney. The state and progress of the fire can be at any time
   easily seen through the apertures on the top, down which the
   fuel is passed; and as the draught is under perfect control, the
   heat can be at once raised or lowered as may be required. The
   low temperature at which the gases leave the kiln is indicated
   by the fact that a high chimney for getting up the draught is
   required. There is thus a perpetual current, so to say, of
   bricks, which is brought slowly to revolve against, and in the
   contrary direction to, a perpetually revolving draught. In the
   green stage of the bricks they thus come in contact with air
   at a comparatively low temperature, and then gradually advance
   towards higher temperatures until they are at last burnt. Each
   stack of bricks to be burnt is, therefore, most ingeniously made
   to combine successively--(1) the functions of a grate with bars;
   (2) of a Leimen’s regenerator, for heating the air to be burnt;
   (3) of a drying-room for themselves when green; and (4) of a
   cooling-room for themselves when burnt. It is impossible not to
   enjoy the examination of such an exemplification of the dominion
   of mind over matter. Each day one chamber is emptied of its
   burnt and cooled-down bricks, and another chamber is filled with
   green goods. Any repairs can also be at once done to any one of
   the chambers as it gets emptied in its turn. In every process of
   treating clay or marl, with a view to drying it in the open air
   or to burning it, it is absolutely necessary to carry out these
   operations gradually at the risk of cracking and splitting the
   goods. This kiln, from its very gradual action and absence of
   sudden changes of temperature, produces no “wasters” from these
   causes, and the bricks can also be burnt in a much more moist
   state than in ordinary kilns, as the heat is very gradually
   brought to bear upon them. The extraordinary and widespread
   success of the patent annular kilns, the beauty of the
   scientific principles they so ingeniously embody, and the many
   fresh applications of which they are capable, are well deserving
   a careful study. In all there are not less than five hundred of
   these kilns at work in different parts of the world--Europe, the
   United States, India, and Australia. In England and her colonies
   alone there are upwards of ninety in use, and the power of
   production, within merely England and Ireland, can be reckoned
   at nearly one million of bricks _daily_. Our Admiralty use five,
   the Indian Government already six. In the Patent Kiln there is
   an important source of saving in the fact that the moisture is
   driven into the chimney, and is never carried over the fuel,
   uselessly conveying away, as it would do, enormous amounts of
   latent heat. The chimney, which rises from the centre of the
   kiln, is of a circular form, about 160 feet in height, 21 feet 6
   inches in diameter at the base, and 7 feet 6 inches at the top.”

The analysis of the clay, as reported by Dr. Arthur E. Davis, is as
follows:--silica, 56·74; alumina, 31·66; oxide of iron, 6·96; lime,
3·43; magnesia, trace; alkaline salts, 0·53; loss in analysis, 0·68;
total, 100·00.

The rustic terra-cotta ware produced at these works is of a very
superior quality, and the designs are so true to nature as to be
faultless in every respect. In this ware garden-seats, flower-pots,
and flower-vases, mignonette and other boxes, spill-cases, and a
variety of other articles have been made, and all are equally good in
design. Among the rustic flower-pots and stands some are excellent
representations of the gnarled root of a tree; the small branches
of trees nailed to the sides of the vessel; and the bole of a tree
beautifully modelled, and apparently hollowed out to receive the plant.
In these cases the grain of the wood is well copied. Mr. Barker’s great
forte in these designs seems to have been the accurate and truthful
copying of nature in the barks and peculiarities of growth of various
trees.

Mr. Barker manufactures the ceramic part of Beckitt’s patent
photographic apparatus--an apparatus consisting of an earthenware
cylinder and a series of troughs of the same material, in which the
cylinder is made to revolve by means of a handle; the troughs being
intended for the hyposulphate bath, the gold solution, and wash,
respectively.

Ordinary flower-pots and other horticultural ware, of good quality and
excellent material, are extensively made, and form a staple branch of
the St. George’s trade.


                             STOURBRIDGE.

The _Lye Works_ have the reputation of being the oldest in this
district, having been established in 1750. Its present proprietors
are Messrs. William King Perrens, of Wilmcote Hall, and George King
Harrison, of Hagley. They are makers of fire-bricks of all kinds, blast
furnaces, glass-house furnaces, gas retorts, gas ovens, &c., and are
proprietors of best Glasshouse pot-clay.

The other makers at Stourbridge are--

    F. T. Rufford                  Hungary Hill.
    Hickman & Co.                  Haygreen and Brettell Lane Works.
    Perrens & Harrison             The Lye and Brettell Lane Works.
    E. H. J. Pearson               The Delph and Tintern Abbey Works.
    Jas. B. Fisher & Co.           The Hayes.
    Mobberley & Bayley             The Thorns and Cradley.
    King Brothers                  Netherend.
    Harris & Pearson               Amblecote.
    Edward Bowen                   Clattershall.
    John Hall                      Amblecote and Bug Hole.
    Trotter, Haines & Corbett      Brettell Lane.

                                  AND

    John Walker                    Kingswinford, near Dudley.
    The Himley Fire Brick Company  Near Dudley.

I am indebted to Mr. George King Harrison, of the “Lye Works,”
Stourbridge, for the following interesting particulars respecting
Stourbridge clay. He says--

   “The earliest account I have been able to obtain respecting
   Stourbridge fire-clay shows that, in the year 1566, a lease
   was granted for the purpose of getting and digging Glasshouse
   pot-clay. It is probable at that time it had only recently been
   discovered, and that its peculiar properties and purity, with
   the well-known abundance of fuel in the neighbourhood, were the
   causes of the establishment of the glass manufacture, which was
   introduced by refugees from Lorraine about 1557. It is believed
   that one of the first glasshouses was erected in a field (near
   to Stourbridge Station), and which is known by the name of the
   Glasshouse Field at the present time; an old plan shows the
   position of the works, foundations of furnaces, and portion of
   old furnace.”

Dr. Plot, in his “History of Staffordshire,” date about 1686, says--

   “The most preferable clay of any is that of Amblecote, of a
   dark blewish colour, whereof they make the best pots for the
   glasshouses of any in England; nay, so very good is it for this
   purpose that it is sold in the place for 7_d._ the bushel,
   whereof Mr. Gray (an ancestor of the present Earl of Stamford
   and Warrington) has 6_d._ and the workman 1_d._, and so very
   necessary to be had that it is sent as far as London, some time
   by waggon and some time on pack horses to Bewdley, and so down
   the Severn to Bristol, and thence to London.” “The goodness of
   which clay and cheapness of coal hereabouts no doubt has drawn
   the glasshouses both for vessels and broad glass into these
   parts, there being divers set up in different forms here at
   Amblecote, Oldwynford, Hollowaysend, and Coburnbrook.”

Stourbridge clay (_properly so called_) is found only in a
comparatively small district, say within a circle of not more than two
miles, taking the valley of the Stour at the Lye as the centre, and
at depths varying from three or four yards from the surface to one
hundred and eighty yards; its position in the strata is in all cases
below the thick coal, at distances varying from twelve to twenty-five
yards; and it is generally overlaid by a shaly, friable kind of coal,
called “batts,” from twelve to twenty-four inches thick. The thickness
of the seam varies very much, rarely exceeding thirty-six to forty-two
inches, and sometimes thinning down to five or six inches when close
to faults or small disturbances in the measures. The quality is very
variable, in some instances as hard as stone, having to be blasted
with powder, and in others soft and easily workable. There is a great
variation in its component parts, arising principally in the proportion
of silica; a clay containing only about fifty per cent. of silica being
very inferior, and contracting very much on exposure to intense heat.
In order to show this difference in a practical form I have had eight
clays from as many mines in the Stourbridge district, prepared under
precisely similar circumstances, subjected to the same heat, and all
burnt in the kiln at one time. The result showing the great variation
and power of resisting heat, since, in the eight samples, hardly two
are of the same weight and size. The eight bricks all made in one mould.

            No. 1.                      No. 2.
    4-10/16 × 2-13/16 × 1.        4-11/16 × 2¾ × 1.
           15 oz. 1 gr.                 16 oz.

            No. 3.                      No. 4.
    4¾ × 2-15/16 × 15/16.         4¼ × 2-10/16 × 14/16.
          16 oz. 1 gr.                15 oz. 1 gr.

            No. 5.                      No. 6.
    4-11/16 × 2-13/16 × 1-1/16.   4-6/16 × 2¾ × 14/16.
          17 oz. 2 gr.               15 oz. 1 gr.

            No. 7.                      No. 8.
    4-9/16 × 2¾ × 13/16.          4-9/16 × 2¾ × 1.
           13 oz. 2 gr.              15 oz. 2 gr.


The usual treatment of clay for glass-house purposes is as follows.
After having been carefully selected, it is broken into small pieces
by women accustomed to its appearance, who throw on one side all
pieces of discoloured and irregular clay; it is finely ground by heavy
edge-runners, and mixed with a certain proportion of ground potsherds
(old broken burnt pots); the proportion of burnt clay varies according
to the purpose for which the clay is to be used; it is then mixed with
water, and tempered with the foot, and allowed to lie a considerable
time--which should not be less than six or seven weeks--when it should
acquire great tenacity before being made into pots.

These pots are built up by hand gradually, great care being taken that
the last layer of clay is not allowed to become hard or dry, or it will
not unite properly; neglect in this respect causing the pot to give way
in the furnace. The pots are dried very gradually, and are seldom fit
for use under six to eight months.

The clay, after the selection of the best pot-clay, is allowed to lie
in large heaps, subjected to the action of the atmosphere, and is then
used in the manufacture of gas-retorts, fire-bricks, &c. The quantity
of bricks made annually in the Stourbridge district is about fifty
millions.




                              CHAPTER IX.

   Salopian Wares--Uriconium--Caughley Works--Thomas
   Turner--Introduction of “Willow Pattern”--Worcester Works--Close
   of Caughley Works--Marks--Transfer Printing--Hancock and
   Holdship--Coalport Works--Jackfield--John Rose--Swansea and
   Nantgarw--Productions of the Coalport Works--Marks--“Willow
   Pattern” and “Broseley Blue Dragon,” &c.--Broseley
   Pipes--Coalbrookdale Iron Works--Terra Cotta--Madeley--Martin
   Randall’s China--Jackfield Pottery--Maurice Thursfield--“Black
   Decanters”--China--Craven Dunnill & Co.’s Tile
   Works--Broseley--Benthall--Maw’s Tile Works--Broseley
   Tileries--Benthall Potteries--Coalmoor.


In the midst of one of the most historically interesting districts of
the kingdom--a district abounding in spots rendered famous in various
ages by the events which have occurred within its boundaries, and full
of associations as varied as they are interesting--within a few miles
of Boscobel, and Tong, and numberless other places possessing a sad
interest as connected with the wanderings and the painful vicissitudes
of King Charles II.,--within a short distance of those two glorious
monastic ruins, Buildwas Abbey and Wenlock Priory--not far from the
“English Nineveh,” Uriconium, and within easy distance of Shrewsbury
and Ludlow,--is a group of manufactories whose simple history is as
interesting as that of many of these places.

Broseley, whose pipe manufactories two hundred and fifty years ago
were as famed as they are now, and whose makers then got rid of
their goods without advertising the emphatic words, “When you ask
for a Broseley pipe, see that you get it!”--Jackfield, famed of old
for its earthenware, and where it is still to some little extent
made;--Caughley, formerly a successful rival of Worcester in the
excellence of its porcelains;--Coalport, a rival of all other works at
the present day;--Horsehay, with its discontinued pot works;--Benthall,
where “yellow ware” works are in constant operation, and where the
magnificent encaustic and enamelled tile and mosaic works of Messrs.
Maw are situated;--Ironbridge, with its famous one-arch bridge,
the first iron bridge erected in England, from which it takes its
name, spanning the Severn:--Madeley, with its extensive iron
furnaces;--Benthall Edge, with its limestone works;--Coalbrookdale,
whose iron works are known throughout the world, and where _terra
cotta_ is manufactured,--and a score of other busy hives of industry,
are here gathered together, and demand careful attention. To the
history of some of these I therefore devote this chapter.

Like those of Worcester and Derby, the Salopian manufactory of
porcelain dates from the middle of last century; and, like them, has
continued from its first introduction to the present time without
interruption. Indeed, it may be said of the district that an almost--if
not an entirely--unbroken historical chain may be traced from the
Romano-British period down to the present day; for, as I have already
shown, the same beds of clay which, fifteen hundred years ago, produced
some of the fictile ware of the Roman occupiers of the soil, have been
worked in the intermediate ages, and still produce, more largely than
ever, articles of daily use for every class of the people of England.
The same beds which supplied the magnificent city of Uriconium with
jugs, mortaria, bowls, and colanders of white ware, still supply the
neighbourhood with innumerable articles of daily use.


                               CAUGHLEY.

The Worcester porcelain works, as I have shown, were established in the
year 1751; and the commencement of those in Shropshire must have been,
if not coeval, at all events closely subsequent to that event. Indeed,
the two works may be almost said to have sprung into existence at the
same time. The site of the first Salopian china works was at Caughley,
about a mile from the present manufactory, and on the opposite or
south side of the river Severn. The works were situated on the hill
overlooking the valley of the Severn, as it flowed on to Bridgnorth,
and commanding a magnificent view of the surrounding country. On
this spot, it is said, a small pottery was begun by a Mr. Browne,
of Caughley Hall, and after his death managed by a gentleman named
Gallimore, who was a relative, to whom, in 1754, a lease of the place
was granted for the term of sixty-two years. This Mr. Gallimore does
not appear to have been long connected with the works; for the only
name, as proprietor, which I have at present been able to establish,
is that of Mr. Thomas Turner, who married Dorothy, daughter of Mr.
Gallimore and niece to Mr. Browne, and carried on the manufactory.

Mr. Thomas Turner was the son of Dr. Richard Turner, of Magdalene
Hall, Oxford, rector of Cumberton, vicar of Elmly Castle and Norton,
all in Worcestershire, in 1754, and who was also chaplain to the
Countess of Wigtoun. This Dr. Turner, who took his degree at Magdalene
Hall, Oxford, was the author of several works on astronomy, gauging,
trigonometry, education, history, &c., and, in 1765, was a “teacher of
geometry, astronomy, and philosophy” at Worcester. He died in 1791, and
was buried at Norton-juxta-Kempsey, near Worcester. Besides his son
Thomas, he had two other sons, Richard, LL.D., and Edward, the first
of whom also published some works on geography, &c., and the latter
was a general in the army in India, where he died; and two daughters,
Elizabeth, married to Abraham Wyke, of Broseley, surgeon, and Sarah,
married to Dr. William Hancock Roberts, rector of Broadwas and minor
canon of Worcester Cathedral. Mr. Thomas Turner, by his first wife,
Dorothy Gallimore, who died in 1793, had issue two children who died
in infancy; and by his second wife, Mary, daughter of Thomas Milner,
of Dothill, and widow of Henry Alsop, had issue one son, George Thomas
Turner, of High Broughton, near Manchester, who died at Scarborough
March 17, 1869, without issue, and one daughter, Catherine Georgiana
Cecilia, who married John Jacob Smith, of St. James’s Priory,
Bridgnorth, for more than half a century town clerk of that borough,
by whom he had issue the present Hubert Smith, Esq., of St. Leonards,
Bridgnorth, the gifted author of “Tent Life with English Gipsies in
Norway,” who is the lineal and only representative of the main line of
the Turner family. Mr. Turner was born in 1749, and is said to have
been brought up as a silversmith at Worcester; but this is an error,
as, for the purpose of obtaining the freedom of the city, he was, as a
matter of legal form only, apprenticed to his father. It seems pretty
certain that he was, at an early period, connected with the Worcester
china works, and it is an established fact that he was an excellent
chemist, and had thoroughly studied the various processes relating to
porcelain manufacture. He was also a skilful draftsman and designer,
and occasionally engraved: he was also a clever musician. He became
a county magistrate for Shropshire, and was a freeman of the city of
Worcester and the boroughs of Wenlock and Bridgnorth. He was also
chairman of the Court of Equity for the three counties, which he had
been mainly instrumental in establishing. In 1772, he succeeded his
father-in-law, Mr. Gallimore, at the Caughley works (Mr. Gallimore
having leased them from Mr. Browne in 1754), and carried them on until
1799, when he sold out all interest in the works and retired from
business. He died at his residence at Caughley in 1809, aged sixty, and
was buried in the family vault at Barrow, where, later, his daughter,
Mrs. Smith, was also buried. After his death the commissioners of
Oldbury Court presented his widow with a memorial silver cup of large
size, bearing on one side the arms of Turner, and on the other an
appropriate inscription. This is in possession of his representative,
Mr. Hubert Smith.

Mr. Turner had a partner named Shaw. They had a warehouse in London,
and, as was usual in those days with other works, had periodical sales
by auction of their goods. In my own possession is a bill of this firm,
dated January 24th, 1794, and headed “Salopian China Warehouse. Bought
of Turner and Shaw.” The lots in this bill were bought “at public
sale,” and consisted of “jugs,” “bakings,” “china dishes,” and other
“sundry pieces;” the lots were “put up at half price” at the sale.
In 1795, Mr. Turner’s manager at Caughley was one Thomas Blase; and
I have a letter of his, dated 20th February in that year, concerning
a painter, named Withers, at that time employed there, but who had
wrongfully left his employment at the Derby china works, where he was
“Mr. Deusbury’s articled servant.”

No doubt the incentive to the establishment of the Caughley works were
the experiments long carried on at Worcester by Dr. Wall, and the
knowledge that at this spot the two principal materials wanting in a
pottery of this kind could be had at a trifling cost. With abundance of
coal within twenty feet of the surface, with clunch of the best quality
for the making of seggars overlying the coal, and with the navigable
river at hand for bringing the materials and for carrying away the
finished goods, the inducements were strong for the fixing on this
spot the manufactory which was destined ultimately to grow into such
enviable importance. To Worcester, of course, coal and clunch and other
materials had to be conveyed at great cost; but here they were ready
to hand, and indeed were cropping out in every direction, inviting
to be used. In 1756 the works had attained a considerable degree of
excellence; and an example is in existence, bearing that date, which
gives most satisfactory evidence of the excellence of the body at that
time--a body, however, which speedily became greatly improved. In the
early years of the Caughley manufactory, the ware was not many degrees
removed from earthenware; but it gradually assumed a finer and more
transparent character. Like the early Worcester examples, the patterns
were principally confined to blue flowers, &c., on a white ground; and
in this style and colour the Caughley works excelled, in many respects,
their competitors. An excellent example of the body, as made in 1776,
is exhibited in a mug, bearing that date, now in the possession of a
family at Coalport. This interesting mug, here engraved, is white, with
blue and gold flowers, and bears the words “Francis Benbow, 1776,”
surmounted by an anchor; the Francis Benbow, for whom it was made,
being a barge-owner.

  [Illustration: Fig. 584.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 585.--Arms of Turner.]

In 1772, as I have shown, Mr. Turner succeeded Mr. Gallimore in these
works, and set about enlarging them. In 1775 we read, “The porcelain
manufactory erected near Bridgnorth, in this county, is now quite
completed, and the proprietors have received and completed orders to
a very large amount. Lately we saw some of their productions, which
in colour and fineness are truly elegant and beautiful, and have
the bright and lively white of the so much extolled oriental.” In
1780 he visited France, for the purpose of “picking up knowledge” on
the porcelain manufactures of Paris and other places. He is said to
have been an excellent draughtsman, and this added to his chemical
knowledge--for he had a regular laboratory fitted up at the top of
his house--must have been a great advantage to him while in that
country of beautiful and chaste designs. On his return from France
he brought with him some skilled workmen, and at once entered with
increased spirit into the manufacture of porcelain in his own works
at Caughley. One of the men whom he had brought over appears to have
been a clever architect; and from his design a very tasty and elegant
château, which he called “Caughley Place,” and where he resided, was
built for Mr. Turner, near the works. This building being of a novel
design in England--more especially in the sequestered neighbourhood
of Caughley--attracted much attention; and its peculiarities of
construction and arrangement are still often talked about by the old
inhabitants of the place. This house and Caughley Hall, after Mr.
Turner’s death, came into the hands of Lord Forester, and were pulled
down in 1820 or 1821; part of the materials being used for making
additions to the present works at Coalport. At the present time no
vestiges of the house or works remain at Caughley, with the exception
of traces of foundations, and here and there a spring flower or two
which still make their appearance where once the elegantly laid out
gardens existed.

In 1780 Mr. Turner introduced the making of the famous “Willow
Pattern”--the first made in England--at Caughley, and about the same
time the “Broseley Blue Dragon” pattern. The willow pattern is still
commonly known in the trade as “Broseley pattern.”

  [Illustration: Fig. 586.]

An excellent example of dated Caughley ware is the puzzle-jug in
the possession of Mr. Edmund Thursfield, here engraved. It is eight
inches in length, and is formed of the usual body of these works. It
is decorated with blue sprigs, and bears on its front the name, in an
oval border, of “John Geary Cleak of the old Church Brosley 1789.” On
the bottom is written in blue, “Mathew the v & 16,” though one would
fail to see any allusion in the text here referred to either to the
vessel or to its purpose. In Mr. Smith’s possession is a fine Caughley
mug; white, with blue flowers of bold character: it bears the words,
“Wm. Haslewood, 1791,” and has the mark S on the bottom. This William
Haslewood was the representative of an old family of that name in this
neighbourhood, and his property passed to the Mr. J. J. Smith already
spoken of.

In 1788 Mr. Robert Chamberlain commenced his china works at Worcester,
and for some time bought his ware at Caughley, had it sent down by
barge to Worcester, and there painted and finished it. The same
thing was also done when Grainger’s works were first started at
Worcester. The number of hands employed at Caughley must have been
somewhat large, as the premises were extensive, and the quantity of
goods required by Mr. Turner, for his own trade and for Worcester,
was considerable. In 1798 or 1799, in consequence of the increase of
the trade of Mr. Rose, who had been apprenticed to Mr. Turner, and
afterwards commenced on his own account, by which the Caughley business
was much injured, the works were disposed of to Mr. Rose and his
partner; Mr. Turner entirely retiring from the concern. The Caughley
works were then carried on by Messrs. Rose and Co., in conjunction
with their own. The coal at Caughley beginning to work out, and the
cost of carrying the unfinished ware from thence down the hill and
across the water to Coalport was so great,--the unfinished ware being
carried on women’s heads the whole distance,--that Mr. Rose determined
to remove the works to Coalport, which he did at different times,
gradually drafting off the workmen, until about 1814 or 1815, when
they were finally removed, the kilns and rooms taken down, and the
materials used for the enlargement of the works at Coalport. The last
of the buildings, with the house, were not, however, destroyed until
1821, when the materials were brought to Coalport to build the present
burnishing-shops and some workmen’s cottages.

  [Illustration: Fig. 587.--The Caughley China Works, taken down
  in 1815.]

The works were built in form of a quadrangle, with an entrance gateway
surmounted by an inscribed stone. Of these historical works I am
enabled, through the courtesy of my friend Mr. Hubert Smith, to give
an engraving from an original drawing in his possession. The entrance
building, it will be seen, was three stories in height, the remainder
two stories, and the kilns were of large size.

The marks used at Caughley and Coalport have been very few, but they
are very important, and require careful attention at the hands of the
collector. In my account of the Worcester works I have given several
varieties of the _crescent_ as a mark of that establishment, and
have also stated that it was used at Caughley. I believe the first
mark used at Caughley to have been the crescent alone, and that it
was, as I have before stated, intended to have the signification of a
C for Caughley, and that its connection with the Worcester works may,
in a great measure, be traced to the fact of the goods on which it
appears being printed, not at that city, but at Caughley. I have seen
examples of this mark on undoubted Worcester body, and also on equally
undoubted Caughley make, bearing precisely the same printed patterns.
The following are some of the varieties of the crescent occurring on
Caughley specimens, and show pretty clearly its transition from a
common “half-moon” (I have often heard it called “half-moon china”) to
the finished and engraved C.

  [Illustration: C C’ C C c

  Figs. 588 to 592.]

Another mark said to have been used at Caughley, but of which at
present I have met with no example, is the accompanying, [Illustration:
Fig. 593.] which is very similar to the mark ascribed to the Leeds
manufactory.

Another distinctive mark of the Salopian works was the capital letter
S, of which the following are varieties:--

  [Illustration: S S Sx S^x So S S

  Figs. 594 to 600.]

When the S was introduced it is difficult to say; but, at all events,
it appears on the dated example alluded to above in 1776, and it was
used at the same time as the C for a considerable period. On many of
the engraved plates still in existence, indeed, both the C and the S
occur, and this leads me to suspect that the one was used to mark the
goods sent to Caughley to be printed, and the other those made and
printed for their own market. I have seen precisely similar articles in
pattern, bearing each of these letters. Occasionally the S and crossed
daggers occur.

  [Illustration:

  Vol.I.

  PLATE III.

  ORIGINAL COPPER-PLATES--CAUGHLEY AND COALPORT.

  (The letters C and S are the marks alluded to on page 270; they
  here occur side by side on the original copper-plate.)]

Another circumstance is also worthy of note. On two mugs printed
from the same engraved plate, which I have seen, the one bears the
S, and the other the accompanying curious mark (Fig. 598), which is
evidently of the same character as the examples of assimilated Chinese
ones, which are occasionally ascribed to Worcester, but which are in
reality, I believe, those of Caughley. Of these I give the following as
examples; many of these are disguised figures.

  [Illustration: Figs. 601 to 606.]

Following the C and S, two _impressed_ marks, bearing the word
“Salopian,” were used. These are as follows:--

  [Illustration: Figs. 607 and 608.]

and it is worthy of remark that, on some examples of plates bearing
this impressed mark, the blue printed S also appears; as, on others,
does also the crescent. Others, probably merely workmen’s marks, are

  [Illustration: Figs. 609 and 610.]

The subject of _printing_ upon porcelain, to which I have already
alluded under “Worcester,” is one so intimately and intricately
connected with the Caughley and Coalport works, that it will be
necessary to consider the period of its introduction at some length.
I have already shown that transfer-printing was used as early as 1757
on Worcester porcelain (p. 229, _ante_); and I have little doubt that
quite as early, if not a few years before that period, it was practised
at Caughley. Indeed, in the early years of the manufactory, the two
works, Caughley and Worcester, seem to have been closely connected,
and to have worked “in and in,” if I may be allowed the use of so
unscientific an expression, and I believe, with ample reason, that a
great proportion of the printed goods bearing the Worcester mark were
printed at Caughley. Indeed, it is known that the ware was sent up
from Worcester by barge to be printed at Caughley, and returned, when
finished, by the same mode of conveyance. I have closely examined the
style of engraving and the patterns of a large number of examples, and
I am clearly of opinion that they are the work of the same hands.

I do not, by this, claim for Caughley the honour of _inventing_ the art
of transfer-printing on to porcelain; but I feel assured that that art
must have been there practised at quite as early a period as the dated
example of Worcester make; and I am led to this belief partly from the
fact that the Robert Hancock whose beautiful productions I have before
spoken of, and to whom the engraving of the dated example is ascribed,
also engraved for the Caughley works. And I have an impression of a
plate, of an identical pattern with the famous tea group, which bears
his monogram on the Worcester specimens, on which his name, _R. Hancock
fecit_, occurs in full at Caughley. Collectors, therefore, in a case of
this kind, must not be too hasty in ascribing, from appearance _alone_,
examples to either one or the other make, but must be guided, in a
great measure, by the _body_ on which the engraving occurs.

It cannot be wondered that an art, then such an important secret,
should have been followed at Caughley,--a place so perfectly retired
from the world, situated in the midst of woods and wilds, almost
unapproachable to strangers, and with every facility for keeping the
workmen away from all chance of imparting the secret to others,--in
place of in Worcester, where secrecy would be almost impossible, and
where the information would ooze out from the workmen, at the ale-house
or elsewhere, and be greedily caught up by those interested in the
process. At Caughley every possible precaution seems to have been taken
to secure secrecy; and the workmen--the engravers and printers--were
locked up and kept apart from every one else. Who the engravers were
I cannot satisfactorily say. It is, however, certain, that Hancock
engraved for the works; and it is said that Holdship, of whom I have
before spoken, was also employed. Among the other engravers was a man
named Dyas, who was apprenticed as an engraver at Caughley about the
year 1768, and who continued at the works until his death, at the ripe
age of eighty-two. It is also worthy of note that Mr. Minton, the
father of Mr. Herbert Minton, was in his early days employed as an
engraver at these works. It is not too much to say, that the style of
engraving adopted at so early a period was remarkably good, and of
really high character. Indeed, some specimens which I have seen of the
plates used at Caughley are far superior to most of the productions of
the period.

  [Illustration:

    Vik. I.

    PLATE IV.

  ORIGINAL COPPER-PLATES--CAUGHLEY AND COALPORT.]

Of the painters employed at Caughley, it will be sufficient to say that
amongst those apprenticed there were John Parker, Thomas Fennell, and
Henry Boden, famous for their skill in flowers; and that Muss, Silk,
and others, excelled in landscapes and figures--some sepia landscapes
being remarkable for their pure artistic treatment; while among the
gilders, a most important art, and one to which special attention has
always been directed at these works, were men of the names of Rutland,
Marsh, and Randall who were considered proficients. Of the latter, a
nephew, who is the author of pleasant little volumes on the “Severn
Valley” and “The Willey Country,” is still employed at the Coalport
works, principally on birds.

I have named above that Robert Hancock engraved for Caughley as well as
for Worcester, or at all events that plates of his were printed from at
the former place possibly for the latter. His name appears on one of
the plates as follows:--[in-line illustration] and other plates
are evidently the work of his hand, though without name. I engraved
a curious mark, the monogram RH, anchor, and name of Worcester, in
the account of those works. This I reproduce on Fig. 611, and give
another which occurs on a plate from Caughley, with the anchor and the
word Derby, which I introduce for the purpose of comparison, and to
suggest the probability that the place which produced the one with the
word Derby (for whatever reason that may have been done), which was
undoubtedly Caughley, also produced the one with the word Worcester.
The engraved plate, with the anchor and Derby, is a curious one (for a
mug), and represents a landscape--a river, with trees on either side,
swans sailing in the foreground, behind them two fishermen in a boat
drawing a net, beyond them a boat with sails, and in the background a
bridge, and church with ruins to the left, and a tall gabled building
on the right, over which are the words “Sutton Hall,” whilst above the
whole picture is “English Hospitality.”

  [Illustration: Figs. 611 and 612.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 613.--Coalport China Works, from a painting
  by Muss.]


                               COALPORT.

One of the most flourishing, most important, and most successful in
art-productions of any in the kingdom are the Coalport works, at one
time also known as “Coalbrook Dale,” to whose history I now devote
a few pages. The founder of these works was Mr. John Rose, a man of
wondrous skill and enterprise, to whom the ceramic art is indebted for
many important improvements. Mr. Rose, who was the son of a farmer
in the neighbourhood of Caughley, was apprenticed to Mr. Thomas
Turner, of the Caughley China Works, by whom he was taken into the
house, and taught the art of china making in all its branches. Here
he remained for several years; but ultimately, from causes which it
is not necessary to enter upon, a difference arose between them, and
Mr. Rose left Mr. Turner, and commenced a small business on his own
account at Jackfield, in the immediate neighbourhood. Here he did not
remain long, but removed his works to Coalport, on the opposite bank
of the Severn, where he fixed himself in some buildings which had
previously been a small pottery belonging to a Mr. Young, a mercer
of Shrewsbury, and in these buildings in part they have continued to
the present day. Mr. John Rose had not long established himself at
Coalport, it appears, before he met with opposition; for other works
were started on the opposite side of the canal, and only a few yards
distant, by his brother, Mr. Thomas Rose, and partners, who commenced
business under the style of “Anstice, Horton, and Rose.” These works,
however, did not continue long, but passed into the hands of Mr.
John Rose and his partners, who, with other additions, formed them
into one establishment. In the space of three or four years from the
establishment of the Coalport works by Mr. Rose, he had so successfully
carried on his business that the Caughley works of Mr. Turner had
become greatly reduced, and were gradually beaten out of the market. In
1799 Mr. Turner, of the Caughley works, gave up the business and sold
the concern to Messrs. Rose & Co., who thus became proprietors of both
works, as well as of those commenced by the brother of Mr. Rose. Both
manufactories were then continued by them, thus giving a great increase
to the establishment, and rendering it one of the most extensive in the
kingdom.

In 1803 Messrs. Blakeway, Rose, and Horton having become bankrupt,
a question as to the ownership of the remainder of the Caughley
manufactory arose and was submitted to arbitration. The following is
the award, for which I am indebted to my friend Mr. Hubert Smith:--

   “TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME we Ralph Wedgwood
   of Bransford in the county of Worcester Gentleman and William
   Horton of Coalport in the county of Salop Gentleman send
   greeting Whereas by articles of agreement in writing bearing
   date the Thirteenth day of December last past and made between
   Thomas Turner of Caughley in the county of Salop Esquire of the
   one part and Timothy Yate of Madeley in the county of Salop
   Charles Guest and Elias Prestwich of Broseley in the county of
   Salop Gentlemen of the other part Reciting that by a Memorandum
   of an Agreement bearing date the Twelfth day of October One
   thousand seven hundred and ninety nine and made between the
   said Thomas Turner of the one part and Edward Blakeway John
   Rose and Richard Rose of Coalport in the said county of Salop
   porcelain manufacturers of the other part The said Thomas Turner
   did agree to assign amongst other things all his interest in
   a Lease from Mr. Browne to him of the several works buildings
   and erections called Caughley China Works and also the colliery
   then held under lease by him from Mr. Browne to the said Edward
   Blakeway John Rose and Richard Rose The said Thomas Turner
   also agreed to assign to the said Edward Blakeway and Co. the
   unglazed stock of goods then in and about the said manufactory
   and all the materials implements fixtures moulds copper plates
   and machinery belonging to the said manufactory and colliery And
   it was agreed that the said Edward Blakeway and Company should
   have and be entitled to the same liberties and privileges so
   far as respected the said manufactory and colliery as the said
   Thomas Turner was entitled to and that the said colliery should
   be worked in a fair and workmanlike manner and that the clod and
   middle coals so far as they were getable together or separate
   to be got so that the best coals should not be got without the
   clod and middle coals The said Edward Blakeway and Company to
   pay Mr. Turner Five hundred pounds per annum for the residue of
   the term and interest in his lease by half-yearly payments as
   herein mentioned provided the said coals so to be got should not
   be sufficient for the use of the said manufactory and the best
   coals should be exhausted the said Edward Blakeway and Company
   should be at liberty to give up the said works and premises to
   the said Thomas Turner at the end of any half year during the
   remainder of the term by which the same premises were held upon
   giving him six months notice in writing for that purpose and
   leaving the materials implements fixtures moulds copper plates
   and machinery then employed thereat not diminishing the same
   in the mean time But if the said Edward Blakeway and Company
   should be desirous of continuing the said works and premises
   till the expiration of the said term the said Thomas Turner
   agreed to make an allowance of Two hundred pounds per annum
   out of the said sum of Five hundred pounds per annum from the
   time the said best coals should be exhausted if the quantity
   of best coals used had not exceeded upon the average eighteen
   tons per week, each ton containing forty eight hundred and it
   was thereby further agreed that in case any dispute or question
   should arise between the said parties touching any clause
   article matter or thing therein contained the same was to be
   referred to and settled by two indifferent persons one to be
   chosen by each party and in case they should not agree as to
   the same then by an umpire to be named by the said two persons
   whose determination should be final And further reciting that
   the said Edward Blakeway and John Rose together with Robert
   Winter their partner who then lately held the said works and
   premises had lately been declared Bankrupt and the said Timothy
   Yate Charles Guest and Elias Prestwich chosen assignees of
   their estate and effects and that they the same assignees had
   lately contracted to sell all their right title and interest
   to and in the said Caughley China Works Colliery and Premises
   unto Cuthbert Johnson and William Clarke Esquires And further
   reciting that a doubt or question had arisen whether the said
   materials implements fixtures moulds copper plates and machinery
   were to be the property of the said Thomas Turner at the end of
   the said term or whether they were to become his property in
   the event only of the said Agreement being determined before
   the expiration of the said term And that the same parties had
   therefore mutually agreed to refer the said doubt or question
   to the decision of the said Ralph Wedgwood and William Horton
   and in case they could not agree then to such person as they
   should name umpire in the premises And that the said Thomas
   Turner had agreed to sell and the said Timothy Yate Charles
   Guest and Elias Prestwich had agreed to purchase all the right
   and interest of the said Thomas Turner of and in the said
   materials implements fixtures moulds copper plates and machinery
   at such a price or sum of money as should be fixed thereon by
   the said Ralph Wedgwood and William Horton or their umpire to
   be named as aforesaid And further reciting that a dispute had
   arisen between the said Thomas Turner and the said Timothy Yate
   Charles Guest and Elias Prestwich respecting the manner in which
   the said colliery or coalwork had been managed and carried on
   which dispute or any other difference which might arise pending
   that reference as a consequence of the investigation of the
   claims of the respective parties the said parties had agreed
   should be adjusted and settled by the said Ralph Wedgwood and
   William Horton or their said umpire to be appointed by them
   in manner aforesaid It is by the Articles of Agreement now
   in recital witnessed that as well the said Thomas Turner as
   also the said Timothy Yate Charles Guest and Elias Prestwich
   did thereby for themselves severally and respectively and for
   their several and respective Heirs Executors and Administrators
   covenant promise and agree to and with each other and to and
   with his and their Executors and Administrators that they
   the said parties respectively their respective Executors and
   Administrators should and would well and truly stand to abide by
   perform fulfil and keep this award order or determination which
   the said Ralph Wedgwood and William Horton or their said umpire
   should make between them as well concerning the said doubt or
   question concerning the right and interest of the said Thomas
   Turner of and in the said materials implements fixtures moulds
   copper plates and machinery and the price or sum of money to
   be paid him for the same as also concerning the dispute which
   had arisen or which pending the said reference might arise
   between the said parties respecting the manner in which the said
   colliery or coalwork had been managed and carried on so as the
   award or umpirage be made in writing under the hands of the said
   Ralph Wedgwood and William Horton or their said umpire within
   twelve weeks from the date thereof But it was thereby agreed
   that that Agreement or any clause therein contained or the
   said award or umpirage to be made in pursuance thereof should
   not alter or extend to alter the rent and royalty reserved and
   made payable by the therein recited Agreement but that the same
   should remain payable upon the terms and conditions therein
   mentioned And for the true performance of that Agreement each
   of the said parties bound himself and themselves his and their
   Executors and Administrators to the other of them his Executors
   and Administrators mutually and reciprocally in the penalty of
   One thousand pounds As by the said recited Agreement reference
   being thereunto had will appear Now know ye that we the said
   Ralph Wedgwood and William Horton having duly examined and
   considered the said Agreement and the proofs and allegations of
   the said parties to the said reference and all such accounts
   documents and evidence as have been produced to us relating to
   the said materials implements fixtures moulds copper plates and
   machinery and also the said colliery coal-mines and premises do
   hereby award order decide and determine that the said materials
   implements fixtures copper plates moulds and machinery were
   by the said Agreement to be the property of the said Blakeway
   Rose and Rose at the end of the term mentioned in the said
   agreement and not the property of the said Thomas Turner but in
   the event only of the said Agreement being determined before
   the expiration thereof by six months notice being given in the
   manner in the said Agreement specified And we do further award
   order decide and determine that the said Timothy Yate Charles
   Guest and Elias Prestwich as such assignees as aforesaid shall
   pay unto the said Thomas Turner his Executors Administrators or
   Assigns for all his contingent or present right and interest
   of and in the said materials implements fixtures moulds copper
   plates and machinery the sum of One hundred pounds on or before
   the Twenty first day of May next And we do further award order
   decide and determine that the said colliery or coalwork hath
   been worked and carried on in a fair and workmanlike manner and
   according to the spirit of the said Agreement of the Twelfth day
   of October One thousand seven hundred and ninety nine and that
   therefore the said Thomas Turner not having been injured is not
   entitled to any compensation or damage from the said Blakeway
   Rose and Co. or their said Assignees in respect thereof Given
   under our hands this Sixth day of March One thousand eight
   hundred and four.

    “Witness        }                          “RA WEDGWOOD
      JN. PRITCHARD }                           WILLM HORTON”

On the 23rd October, 1799, an event occurred in connection with the
works at Coalport which was most sad in its results. At that time a
considerable number of the work-people and painters employed at the
works resided at Broseley, and were in the habit of passing backwards
and forwards across a ferry near the works. On this night, thirty-two
persons, including the best artists, went on board the ferry-boat,
which, about midwater, owing to the intoxicated state of the ferryman,
was capsized, and twenty-nine were drowned. The principal painter at
this time was an artist named Walker, and an unfinished piece of work
of his--the piece he left in progress only a few minutes before he
lost his life--is still preserved, with almost religious care, in the
factory.

Soon after this time considerable additions were made at Coalport,
and since then the manufactory has been constantly and considerably
enlarged, and now occupies, I am told, considerably more ground than
any other porcelain works in the kingdom.

  [Illustration: Figs. 614 to 617.--Coalport Vases.]

  [Illustration: Painted by Hartshorne. Painted by Cook. Painted
  by Randall. Painted by Cook.

  Figs. 618 to 621.--Coalport Vases.]

The view of the Coalport China Works given on page 274 will show its
extensive character in the early part of the present century, and its
pleasant situation on the banks of the Severn. The view is copied from
an interesting painting by Muss, who, before his successful artistic
career in London, was employed as one of the painters at this
establishment. Since the period when Muss made this painting, the works
have been constantly increased, and at the present time are about
doubled in extent.

  [Illustration: Fig. 622.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 623.]

The commercial style of the firm has been, ever since its establishment
at Coalport, and still is, “Messrs. John Rose and Company,” although
many changes in the proprietary have taken place. These changes have
been as follows:--“Rose and Blakeway;” “Rose, Blakeway, and Rose;”
“Rose, Johnson, and Winter;” “Rose, Johnson, Clarke, and Winter;”
“Rose, Winter, and Clarke;” “Rose, Clarke, and Maddison;” “Maddison,
Pugh, Rose, and Rose;” “W. Pugh and W. F. Rose;” and the present sole
proprietor is “William Pugh;” but the firm is still known by its old
style of “John Rose and Co.” Mr. John Rose died in 1841, and was buried
at Barrow. He was succeeded by his nephew, Mr. W. F. Rose, of Rock
House, Coalport, who retired from the firm in the autumn of 1862, and
died in London in 1864, having in the meantime started some small works
at Hanley, where he shortly afterwards failed, and unsuccessfully
attempted to commence others in Derbyshire. He was a man of the most
generous disposition and kindly nature, and his losses were a subject
of deep sorrow to myself and his other many friends.

  [Illustration: Fig. 624.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 625.]

It will be seen from what I have said, that the Coalport works had
already, before the commencement of the present century, absorbed
those of Caughley, of Jackfield, and of the opposition establishment
of Messrs. Anstice, Horton, and Rose. Some years later, the Swansea
Porcelain Works, which had risen somewhat into repute, were
discontinued, and the moulds, &c, bought by Mr. Rose, who removed them,
along with the workmen, to Coalport, about the year 1820. Another
famed manufactory, though small, that of Nantgarw, established by
Billingsley, the famous flower painter, of Derby, and his son-in-law,
Walker, also of Derby, in 1816 (under the assumed name of _Beeley_
and Walker), and which produced, perhaps, the finest examples of
porcelain with granulated fracture ever made, also soon afterwards
was merged into the Coalport establishment. Billingsley and Walker,
on discontinuing the works at Nantgarw, removed to Coalport, with
all their moulds and processes, and continued employed there until
Billingsley’s death, which took place in 1828. Walker was a remarkably
clever workman, and did much during the time of his continuance at
Coalport to improve the art of china-making. He removed thence to
America, where he established a pottery, which, I believe, he still
continues to work. The Nantgarw porcelain was very expensive to make,
but was remarkably fine in its body and texture. The original recipes
for this peculiar body are in the possession of Messrs. Rose & Co.;
and it can be made at Coalport of as fine a quality as ever. I have
carefully examined specimens made _at_ Nantgarw with others made
by Billingsley and Walker when they first came to Coalport, and these
again with examples made by Messrs. Rose in 1860, and they appear all
to be of equal excellence of body. It is, however, too expensive a
process to be followed to any extent, and is never manufactured there
now.

In 1820 Mr. John Rose received the gold medal of the Society of Arts
for his improvements in the manufacture of china. The prize, which
was offered for the best porcelain glaze produced without lead,
was competed for by Copelands, Davenports, and all the principal
manufacturers, as well as by Mr. Rose, but was honourably gained by
him. It bears the inscription--“To Mr. John Rose, MDCCCXX., for his
improved glaze for porcelain.”

The history of the works has been one of complete success from
their first establishment to the present day; and this success has
been attained by untiring and unflagging energy on the part of the
proprietary, and by a determination to make their manufactory second
to none in existence in extent and in beauty and purity of work. The
porcelain trade owes much to the ability and energy of Mr. John Rose;
and this skill, ability, and energy is equally the characteristic of
the present proprietor, Mr. Pugh.

Both at the Great Exhibition in 1851 and that of 1862, as well as at
the French Exhibition in 1855, Messrs. Rose & Co. carried off medals
for their productions; and these recognitions of excellence have
been continued at the later International Exhibitions. At the first
a magnificent dessert service in the difficult but truly beautiful
_Rose du Barry_ colour, which the firm had succeeded in restoring
in all its beauty to the ceramic art, was exhibited, and excited
considerable interest. This service, considered by competent judges
to equal the original Sèvres in evenness of colour, was purchased by
Lord Ashburton. At the second, Messrs. Rose exhibited a large number of
exquisite examples of their make; and services were purchased by the
Emperor of the French, by M. Fould, and by the principal _savans_
of Paris. At the third, the selection of vases and other decorative
pieces was of the finest possible character.

  [Illustration: Figs. 626 to 628.]

At the present hour the productions of the Coalport works take a
foremost rank among the best porcelain of the kingdom; many of the
specialities of this firm being marvels of beauty; the colours pure
and full, and of extreme richness. Sardinian green--a colour for the
extreme depth and richness of which these works are celebrated--is
introduced with remarkable effect both in services and otherwise. One
of the finest pieces of this colour is a tripod wine goblet, with
flowers in tablets, and raised and jewelled gold borders. A lighter
shade of this fine green is introduced, with tablets of flowers and
Westbourne birds, with great effect on two-handled goblets, &c. _Rose
du Barry_ has always been a speciality of the Coalport works, and a
colour on the excellence of which its proprietors, especially the late
clever and enlightened Mr. W. F. Rose, have always prided themselves.
This is used as a ground in every conceivable variety of decoration,
and when enriched with raised dead and burnished gold, and with the
exquisite painting by which it is usually accompanied, has a remarkably
rich and chaste effect. A new jardinière, with pierced key top and
Sèvres fruit and flowers, is one of the prettiest examples of this
colour, combined with raised gold and flowers, which has been produced.
One of the finest and most massive pieces in this colour is a claret
jug, with raised gold vine-leaves and grapes and other decorations,
and splendidly painted on one side with the head of a bacchante and on
the other a bunch of grapes. A pink, or light _Rose du Barry_,
is also much used as a ground for pilgrims’ bottles, vases, services,
&c., where, for some kinds of decoration, it harmonizes better than
the full colour would. A blue with a slightly purplish cast, which
gives it an additional richness and fulness, has been introduced, and
forms a splendid ground for Japanese decoration in vases, pilgrims’
bottles, &c., in which style of now very fashionable decoration
the Coalport artists excel. In these Japanese patterns some of the
designs are unusually elaborate and intricate, and the workmanship is
characterized by extreme precision and regularity, while the gilding
and colour, especially the deep reds and blues, are rich and full in
the extreme. Some of the vases in this style vie with those of the
native art of the Japanese, and are not excelled by any other house.
The principal artists employed at the present time at the works are
Mr. Charles Palmere, Mr. Cooke, Mr. John Randall, Mr. Birbeck, Mr.
A. Bowdler, Mr. J. Hartshorne, and Mr. Jabez Aston; and among those
formerly engaged here was Mr. R. F. Abraham, a student of Antwerp
and Paris and a successful follower of the school of Etty. Modellers
of a very high class in their respective branches are also employed,
and the excellence of their work is apparent in all the higher class
productions of this establishment.

  [Illustration: C C’ C C C S S Sx S^x So S S

  Figs. 629 to 640.]

The marks used by the Caughley works have already been fully
described.[84] After the removal of these works to Coalport, the same
letters, both C and S, for many years were used. At Coalport, however,
marks have been adopted, perhaps, more sparingly than at any other
works; and the great bulk of the goods have been manufactured, from
the first down to the present time, without any mark at all. On some
examples of the early part of the present century, the written name of
“Coalport,” thus--_Coalport_[handwriting]--appears; but these are of
very rare occurrence. Another mark, adopted somewhat later, though only
used very sparingly, was simply the letters [Illustration: _CD_] for
Coalbrookdale, or the same two letters conjoined thus--[Illustration:
_CD_]; sometimes also Coalbrookdale appears in full, and at others the
contraction “C Dale,” in similar writing letters.

Another mark, adopted in 1820, was of large size, and will, perhaps,
be as well understood by description as engraving. It is a circle of
nearly two inches diameter, in which is a wreath of laurel encircling
the words, “Coalport Improved Felt Spar Porcelain,” in four lines
across. Surrounding the wreath are the words, “Patronised by the
Society of Arts. The Gold Medal awarded May 30, 1820;” while beneath,
and outside the circle, is the name “I. Rose and Co.” This mark was
adopted consequent on Mr. John Rose obtaining the Society of Arts’ gold
medal for “his improved glaze for porcelain” to which I have before
alluded, and the articles on which it appears are of extremely good
material and very perfect glaze.

Other marks adopted by this firm, although but seldom used (the great
bulk of the goods, as I have said before, being sent out without any
mark at all), are the following:--[Illustration: 3 mark images] The
first of these is a monogram of the letters C B D, for Coalbrookdale,
so joined together as to produce a very characteristic and distinctive
mark. The second, the same monogram, surrounded by a garter bearing the
name of “Daniell, London”--a firm for many years, like Mortlocks and
other leading houses, connected with Coalport or Coalbrookdale, who
have had that mark used for some especial orders. The third and last
is the most recent mark, and is almost the only one now used by the
Coalport works: it embraces the initials of the various manufactories
which have from time to time been incorporated with, or merged into,
the Coalport establishment. Thus the scroll--which at first sight may,
to the uninitiated, look like a short “and” (&)--will, on examination,
be seen to be a combination of the writing letters, C and S, for
_Coalport_ and _Salopian_, enclosing within its bows the three
letters, C, S, and N, denoting respectively _Caughley_, _Swansea_, and
_Nantgarw_.

Having now passed through the history of these famed works, and shown
their connection with others, both in manufacture and in printing, it
only remains to say a few words on the varieties of goods for which
the Salopian works have been famed, both in times past and at present.
First and foremost, then, of course, come the blue painted and printed
wares copied from Chinese patterns, for which both it and the early
Worcester works were remarkable. The first painted, as well as printed,
wares were close imitations of the foreign; but groups of flowers of
original design, &c., were also introduced, and designs _based_,
perhaps, on foreign models were adopted. Groups of figures, in the
characteristic costume of the period, were also executed with great
taste and ability. Of the Chinese patterns, the two most famous--the
well-known “willow pattern” (known generally among the trade as the
“Broseley pattern”) and the “blue dragon” (also known as the “Broseley
blue dragon”)--owe their first introduction to the Caughley works; and
this fact alone is sufficient to entitle them to more than ordinary
notice. The willow pattern has undoubtedly been the most popular,
and had the most extensive sale of any pattern ever introduced. It
has, of course, been made by most houses, but the credit of its first
introduction belongs to Caughley; and early examples, bearing the
Caughley mark--the cups without handles, and ribbed and finished
precisely like the foreign--are rare. The dragon, known still as “the
Broseley blue dragon” or “Broseley blue Canton,” was also a most
successful imitation of the Chinese, and almost rivalled the “willow”
in popularity. A special form of jug, considered in those days to be
very far advanced in art, known technically as the “cabbage-leaf jug,”
was also first made at the Caughley works.

Later on, the “worm sprig” pattern, the “tournay sprig,” and other
equally successful patterns were here introduced from the Dresden, as
were also the celebrated Dresden raised flowers and the “Berlin chain
edge” pattern. About 1821 a peculiar marone-coloured ground, which is
much sought after, was introduced at Coalport, by Walker, of Nantgarw,
of whom I have before spoken; and at this time many marked improvements
were made in the different processes of manufacture.

  [Illustration: Fig. 641.--Willow Pattern.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 642.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 643.--Broseley Blue Dragon.]

The copies, both in embossing, in body, in colour, and oiliness of
the glaze, and in style of painting of birds and flowers, of the
Dresden at this period were perfect, and, as the Dresden mark was
(perhaps injudiciously) introduced as well, were capable of deceiving
even the most knowing connoisseur. It may be well to note that at this
period an _impressed_ anchor was sometimes used. This must not
be taken to be anything more than a workman’s mark. Very successful
copies of the Sèvres and Chelsea have also been at one time or other
produced, and on these the marks of those makers have been also copied.
Collectors of “old Chelsea,” especially of the famous green examples,
must be careful, therefore, not to take everything for granted as
belonging to that place on which the gold anchor is found.

  [Illustration: Fig. 644.]

The _egg-shell china_ produced at Coalport is much finer than any
other which has come under my notice, from the fact that the body is
_pure porcelain_, being composed of one stone and one clay alone,
unmixed with bone or any other material whatever.


                               BROSELEY.

_Broseley Pipe Works._--Broseley is perhaps more universally known
as a seat of the manufacture of tobacco-pipes than in any other way;
for in this particular it has “held its own” against other localities
for about three centuries, and seems still likely to do so for three
centuries more, should the habit of smoking continue so long. As a
few words must in the course of this work be said upon this branch
of ceramic art, it may be well here to introduce it; and I cannot do
better than give, in an abridged and altered form, what, some years
ago, I drew up for the pages of the _Reliquary_.[85]

The period at which the introduction of tobacco into England took place
is a vexed question, which it is not necessary here to attempt to
solve. To Sir Walter Raleigh, Mr. Ralph Lane (his governor of Virginia,
who returned to England in 1586), Sir John Hawkins (1565), Captain
Price, Captain Keat, and others, have respectively been assigned the
honour of its introduction and of its first use in this country. But,
at whatever period tobacco was introduced, it must not, I think, be
taken for granted that to that period the commencement of the habit of
smoking must be ascribed. It may reasonably be inferred, from various
circumstances, that herbs and leaves of one kind or other were smoked
medicinally, in this country, long before the period at which tobacco
is generally believed to have been first brought to England. Coltsfoot,
yarrow, mouse-ear, and other plants are still smoked by the people,
for various ailments, in rural districts, and are considered highly
efficacious, as well as pleasant; and I have known them smoked through
a stick from which the pith had been removed, the bowl being formed of
a lump of clay rudely fashioned at the time, and baked at the fireside.
I have no doubt that pipes were in use before “the weed” was known in
our country, and that it took the place of other plants, but did not
give rise to the custom of smoking.

It is difficult to assign dates to these early pipes, but the one
represented in Fig. 645 is probably Elizabethan. It bears on its spur
a rose. Mr. Crofton Croker considered that the smaller the pipe,
the more distant its date, and therefore he assigned the diminutive
example shown on Fig. 648, of its full size, to an early period. This
idea, which originated in the knowledge that tobacco was an extremely
expensive luxury when first imported, and as it gradually decreased in
value allowed a larger indulgence to the smoker, will not, I think,
hold good, for dated examples show that some of the later specimens
are far less capacious than others which are of an undoubtedly earlier
period. The _form_ of the pipe is generally a better criterion
of age than its size, though even this cannot always be depended
upon. Adopting Mr. Croker’s arrangement as to periods, the following
series of examples, partly selected from pipes in my own possession,
will be useful to the collector, and enable him pretty accurately
to appropriate any specimens which may come under his notice. The
engravings are, of course, of a reduced size. Fig. 649 is of similar
form to the one above; it is probably Elizabethan.

  [Illustration: Figs. 645 to 665.--Old English Clay Pipes.]

The next example Mr. Croker assigned to the period of James I.
or Charles I. It does not differ very materially in shape from the
preceding specimens. Of pipes of this period, a large variety of shapes
might be adduced. These forms may be understood from the figures in the
accompanying group, copied from engravings of the period. The dates
are, No. 1, 1630; 2, 1632; 3, 1640; 4, 1641. The latter example is
of the same shape as those known to have been in use in the reign of
Elizabeth, and is pretty nearly similar to Mr. Croker’s example. The
same form is found in use through several reigns. The usual shape of
the period, however, will be seen on Figs. 1, 2, and 3.

The barrel-shaped pipe, engraved as an example of the period comprising
the Commonwealth and the reign of Charles II., is from Devonshire,
and may be taken as the usual type of that era. Of this period, the
examples given are chosen principally from Traders’ tokens. One (2)
will be seen to be of the form usually ascribed to William III.’s
reign. The dates of these specimens are 1, 1650; 2, 1666 (Dunstable);
3, 1688 (Chipping Norton); 4, probably same year (Southwark); 5, 1669
(Leeds). Pipes were made at Leeds from a peculiar vein of clay found
there.

Mr. Croker considered the pipes of the reign of William III. to have
had bowls of the elongated form (Figs. 662 and 663), and it would
appear probable that this is correct, for at the places where his
Dutch troops were stationed, the pipes of this and the accompanying
form are most abundant. Barrel-shaped bowls were, however, still in
use, and I have copied one from Mr. Fairholt’s book, on which the
date 1689 is incised. That these long pipes were not imported in very
large quantities, may be gleaned from the following highly interesting
notice, which I quote from Houghton:--

   “The next are _tobacco-pipes_, of which came from _Holland_,
   gross one hundred and ten, chests four. I have seen some very
   long ones and also small from thence, that truly are very fine.
   If there comes no more, they’ll do us no great hurt. I think
   they must be permitted to be patterns to set our people on work,
   and if our smoakers would use none but fine ones, I question not
   but we should make as fine as anybody.”[86]

From this it appears that, in 1694, only 110 gross, or four chests,
of Dutch pipes were imported, and this included both sorts--the “very
long ones and also small.” It is worthy of note, for comparison’s sake,
that in the same year from Holland 12,000, and from Germany 23 tons, of
“marbles for boys to play with,” were imported.

  [Illustration: Figs. 666 to 676.--Old Broseley Clay Pipes.]

The long-bowled pipes continued in use to the middle of last century,
and representations of them may be found on engravings of the period,
thus showing that they gradually merged from the bulbous into the
elongated form of the time of William III., and so passed on to the
wide-mouthed shape of the present day. The heel or spur also changed
from the flat form--made to rest the pipe upon during or after use--to
the long pointed one now so common, and which took its rise probably
from the Dutch. It must be remembered, however, that the Dutch were
originally indebted to England for the introduction of pipe-making into
that country.

Usually the old pipes were perfectly plain, with the general exception
of a milled border, impressed by hand, not in the mould, running round
the mouth. It is also worthy of remark, that the bowls of many of the
older pipes are _scraped_ into form after having been moulded.
Sometimes ornamented examples are met with, but they are of extremely
rare occurrence. Mr. Croker had one which he considered to have been
of foreign make, but which I think there is little doubt is of English
manufacture: and the one in my own possession (Fig. 646) presents some
very interesting features; in form it closely resembles one of the
examples of James I. and Charles I., and I have no doubt, from the form
of the letters, that I am right in appropriating it to that period.

It is not very easy to localise pipes, for but little is known of
places where they were made, and the manufacture was of course of so
small an extent that it is difficult to trace it. In November, 1601,
_Mr. Secretary Cecil_ alludes, in a speech, to a then existing patent
of monopoly enjoyed by tobacco-pipe makers; and in 1619 the craft of
pipemakers were incorporated, their privileges, according to Stowe,
extending through the cities of London and Westminster, the kingdom
of England, and dominion of Wales. They were governed by a master,
four wardens, and about twenty-four assistants. These privileges were
confirmed by subsequent monarchs. At Derby several generations of
pipemakers have uninterruptedly carried on business, and it was in one
of these ovens that the first pieces of Derby china were fired. The
pipes made at Winchester were, in Ben Jonson’s time, great favourites;
they were said to be the best then made, and far superior to those
of Vauxhall and other places. In the neighbourhood of Bath, pipes
were apparently made in the beginning of the seventeenth century, the
makers’ names being Thomas Hunt, Henry Putley, Rich. Greenland, Rich.
Tyler, and Jeffry Hunt; and some of the examples bear a shield with
a branch of the tobacco-plant. At Lichfield they were made to a large
extent, as also at Newcastle-under-Lyme, and indeed they were produced
in most parts of the country.

From the smallness of size of these early pipes has, I presume, arisen
their common name of “Fairy Pipes,” varied sometimes into “Elfin
Pipes,” “Mab Pipes,” “Danes Pipes,” etc. They are also sometimes called
“Celtic” and “Old Man’s Pipes,” and I have heard them designated by the
characteristic name of “Carls Pipes,” a name indicative of a belief
in their ancient origin.[87] In Ireland, they are believed to have
belonged to the _Cluricanes_, a kind of wild, mischievous fairy-demon,
and when found are at once broken up by the superstitious “pisantry.”
In England, they are said to have belonged to the fairies or “old
men,” but, unlike their Irish brethren, our peasantry usually preserve
them, and in some districts believe that a certain amount of good luck
attends their possession. I have known one of these pipes carried about
the person for years, and have heard its owner--a Peak-man--declare in
his native dialect, on being asked to part with it, “Nay, a’d part wi’
a towth sowner!” A quantity of these “fairy pipes” were found in the
parish of Old Swinford, Worcestershire, some few years ago, “and the
country folks there had a tradition that it was a favourite spot for
the resort of Queen Mab and her court, and that among other appendages
of royalty was a fairy-pipe manufactory, of which these were the
remains.”

Broseley has been so long famous for its tobacco-pipes, that a
“Broseley” is a term familiar to smokers all over the world. That this
locality should have been chosen as the place _par excellence_ for
their manufacture, is to be accounted for by the excellent clay of the
district.

The white pottery found at Wroxeter is made of clay from the Severn
Valley, and this shows that the Broseley or other clays were worked at
a very early period of our history. The Shirlot clay, of which a few
pipes were made at Shirlot and Much-Wenlock, is of a coarse texture,
and very inferior to the Devon pipeclay, of which most are now made.
This might lead us to suppose that the earliest manufacturers of pipes
_at first used the clay found in the neighbourhood_, but discarded
it for the purer clays which they obtained from Devonshire; but I
feel assured the Shirlot and Wenlock pipes are not of very ancient
date. In the late Mr. Thursfield’s collection were many with marks on
the spur. Some of these marks exhibit the maker’s name in full, some
abbreviated, others initials only, and one has a gauntlet on the bowl,
with S. D. (probably the initials of Samuel Decon, who was alive in
1729) on the spur; three bowls alone only bear dates, viz., Richard
Legg, 1687; John Legg, 1687; and John Legg, 1696. These three are
engraved on page 293. “I have carefully examined the Broseley parish
register,” Mr. Thursfield informed me, “which dates back as early as
1572, and find in 1575, 17th Elizabeth (ten years before Sir Walter
Raleigh introduced tobacco), that Richard Legg had a daughter baptized.
I therefore consider him to be the father of Broseley pipemakers, for
even at the present day some of his descendants follow the trade in
this place--from various causes no longer as masters--and still bear
the family names of Richard and John Legg. A stone slab let into the
front of a substantial cottage, with the words ‘Richard Legg built
this, 1716,’ testifies to the well-to-do position held by the family in
the early part of the eighteenth century.” The name of Ben Legg also
occurs on a pipe found in Worcestershire. The names of the pipemakers
at Broseley, judging from the examples I have seen, appear to commence
first as follows:--Clarke in 1647, Roden in 1681, Legg 1575, Darbey
1700, Decon 1608, Evans 1615, Hughes 1641, Hartshorne 1620, James 1600,
Jones 1590, Price 1608, Partridge 1718, Overton 1700, Smith 1709, Shaw
1630, Wilksone 1733, and Ward 1700. Other names (Brown, Bradley, Dry,
Hart, Harper, Overley, and Roberts, for instance) occur as pipemakers
here in the olden time.

More than a hundred years ago, the pipemakers began to stamp their
names and residences on the _stems_ of the pipes instead of the
spurs, the stems being, in many instances, 16 or 18 inches or more in
length. They likewise made a small twist or bead mid stem, at such a
length from the bowl, that when held between the fingers at that spot,
the pipe was balanced.

A pipe-maker, named Noah Roden, brought the long pipes to great
perfection, and supplied most of the London clubs and coffee-houses
of that day; he died about 1829, and his business was carried on by
the late William Southorn, who made great strides in improving the
manufacture, and whose eldest son is now carrying on the famed business
of maker of the patent and genuine “Real Broseleys.”

About the middle of last century, and since, the Rodens were famous
makers of pipes at Broseley, and to them is due the introduction of
“churchwardens” and “London straws,” and they were succeeded in the
early part of this century by Mr. Southorn, father of the present
well-known maker, Mr. Edwin Southorn. The works at present carried on
by Mr. Edwin Southorn were established about 1830 by Noah Roden. In
1856 they passed into the hands of Mr. Southorn, and from that time
forward their progress has been of marked improvement in every branch
of the manufacture. In 1860 Mr. Southorn introduced the process of
transfer printing upon pipes, the same as practised in other branches
of ceramics. By this means the crests or armorial bearings, names,
mottoes, or monograms of his patrons, trade marks or initials of firms,
and signs and names of hotels and inns are produced, as are also other
devices in colours. In 1868 Mr. Southorn introduced steam-power into
his manufactory, and has rendered it available to all parts of his
works; he is thus enabled to produce an enormous quantity, counting
at the present time about 10,500 gross or 1,500,000 pipes in the
course of a year. The “Broseleys” thus, not only in quantity but in
quality--for they are the finest produced both in form, in quality of
clay, in beauty of surface, and in manipulation of any made--surpass
all others. In 1851, Mr. Southorn received honourable mention as
“superior tobacco-pipes” at the Exhibition in that year. Mr. Southorn
has also introduced the plan of dipping, or “tipping,” his pipes at the
mouth-piece with green or any other coloured glaze, which is one of the
most marked improvements of modern days.

The variety of pipes produced at these works is somewhat remarkable.
Among these are “large bowls,” 21 inches long; “long plain,” 22
inches long; “long Broseley straws,” or “aldermen,” 27 inches long,
“fit for an alderman or a king;” “long straws,” or “churchwardens,”
25 inches long, which Dr. Richardson, at the Bath meeting of the
British Association, says are unquestionably the best of pipes;
“London straws,” 16 inches; “Raleigh straws,” “Lord Crewes,” 27 inches
long; “long Dutch straws,” 28 inches long; “short Broseley straws,”
“short tips,” “plain tips,” “S. D. straws,” “dhudeens,” “peg-top
straws,” “ovarium straws,” “billiard,” “cutty,” “yachting,” “Broseley
meerschaums,” and a score of other kinds. One of the specialities,
however, of Mr. Southorn’s productions is his “patent Broseley
Narghilé.” In this “the pipe, which is formed of clay noted for its
fineness and remarkably porous qualities, is enclosed for a portion
of its length in a glass tube, which is filled with water; and the
action of the water is to draw away the colouring matter and narcotic
poison from the smoke before reaching the smoker’s mouth. The proof of
this is in the gradual colouring of the water; which may be readily
discharged and the tube refilled. A further effect is coolness of the
extremity. The glass tubes are supplied from the Broseley pipe works
in every variety of style, and we have never seen so much fine art
taste combined with utility as in these, some of them vieing with the
ancient Venetian glass in the combination of opaque and clear, &c. It
is to be understood that by the ‘Narghilé’ is meant the attachment,
or tube containing water, which is removable at the pleasure of
the holder; a title that serves to recall the luxurious and costly
water-pipes of Turkey, to which, in all their best qualities, this
patent completely answers. The ‘patent’ Broseley pipe is manufactured
specially for the Narghilé, and is the only clay pipe for which it is
adapted. It is evident that a clay, either more or less porous than
are these tobacco-pipes, would be equally unsuitable; and what is very
remarkable, and shows the perfection to which the manufacture has been
carried, these pipes are uniform in porousness, in part due to their
being manufactured of the very finest and purest clay.”

Many of the forms adopted by Mr. Southorn are adaptations of mediæval
examples, and others are of the most artistic and elegant outline. The
mark used by him is usually the name “E. SOUTHORN, BROSELEY,”
impressed on the stem. Sometimes his name with the royal arms appears
printed on the bowl.

The other pipemakers at Broseley at the present day are Mr. William
Southorn, of the late firm of William Southorn and Co.; and Richard
Tomkis; but of these it is not necessary to speak.


                            COALBROOKDALE.

The terra cotta works belonging to the world-famed “Coalbrookdale Iron
Company” were established in 1861. The beds of clay belonging to this
company being peculiarly adapted for the finest and best kinds of
terra cotta, they, in conjunction with others in the neighbourhood,
undertook to prepare and send, for the Exhibition of 1862, examples
of goods made from the various clays of the Shropshire coal fields.
The result of this determination was the establishment of this branch
of the company’s manufacture, and, so far as it has been carried out,
it has proved eminently successful. The colour of the terra cotta is
a peculiarly light buff of a pleasing and soft tint; and the quality
is of the highest order both for firmness, fineness, hardness, and
durability. In it the company produce vases, tazzas, pedestals,
brackets, pendants, flower-pots and boxes, chimney-pots, and every
variety of architectural decoration. With their well-known skill in
design, and with the talented artists they employ for their metal work,
it may well be supposed that this company would produce striking and
beautiful patterns in their vases and other ornamental goods; and such
is the case. There is a peculiar sharpness and beauty in the details of
many that is far superior to that produced by some other firms. Some of
the designs will be seen in the accompanying engravings.

  [Illustration: Figs. 677 to 680.--Coalbrookdale Terra Cotta.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 681.--Coalbrookdale Terra Cotta.]

At Lightmoor, in the same neighbourhood, the Coalbrookdale Company have
extensive works for the manufacture of moulded and other bricks in
white, blue, and red clays; ornamental and plain roofing tiles, many
of which are of very effective shapes; garden edgings and ridge tiles
of every style of design, from a simple bead to an elaborate Tudor
ornament; paving tiles, &c. Nothing could better show the variety, the
importance, and the high quality of the clays of this locality than do
these varieties. The colour of the red quarries is rich, and improves
with washing and wear, while their hardness is beyond any others. The
roof tiles of this company are very extensively used (for instance, the
Charterhouse Schools, near Godalming, are covered with them), and they
have the reputation of being among the hardest and best produced.

  [Illustration: Fig. 682.--Coalbrookdale Terra Cotta.]


                               MADELEY.

A small manufactory of china was established and carried on for
about a quarter of a century at Madeley, by Mr. Martin Randall, who
served his apprenticeship at the Coalport works; his elder brothers,
Edward and William Randall, having been apprenticed at Caughley.
From Coalport Martin Randall went to the Derby China Works, where he
remained for some time, and became the friend of two of their famed
painters, Phillip Cleve and William Pegg. From Derby he removed to
London, and entered into business with a Mr. Robins, at Islington.
Upon a dissolution of partnership he came down to Madeley, and fixed
himself in Park Place, where for a few years he confined himself to
re-decorating Sèvres china, which was procured by agents; chiefly of
Baldock and Garman, in Paris. White china was obtained where feasible;
but when that could not be had, dessert, tea, and breakfast services,
vases, wine coolers, jardinières, and other articles, ornamented simply
with blue and gold lines, dots, or sprigs of flowers, were purchased;
the latter of which were removed by fluoric acid, the glaze being so
blended with the body that it gave back a new surface on being passed
through the enamelling kiln. The gold was so thick on the pieces that
it was usually peeled off with a knife, and was then sent to London
to be again reduced by acid. At first Randall used a box kiln, with
charcoal; but afterwards erected an enamelling kiln, which he heated
with billets of wood.

Mr. Randall soon afterwards removed from Park Lane to a larger house
at the bottom of Madeley, where he erected enamelling kilns, and also
a kiln which served for biscuit and glaze. His potters were Thomas
Wheeler, who was thrower and turner; Francis Brewer, modeller; William
Roberts, presser; and David Morris, fire-man. Mr. John Randall,
nephew of Mr. T. M. Randall, was an apprentice to the painting, and
Mr. Francis Brewer, now of the Tamworth Potteries, was an apprentice
to the modelling. Mr. Randall took the decorating department, but he
also employed as figure painter Mr. Philip Ballard, a son of Mr. S.
Ballard, solicitor, Worcester, and brother to Mr. T. Ballard, R.A. Mr.
R. B. Gray, artist, now of Dorking, and father of Mr. George Gray,
A.R.A., and his son Robert were flower painters; and the late Mr.
Enos Raby was ground-layer, colour-maker, and gilder. Mr. Randall’s
want of experience in the processes of making led to frequent errors
and losses, the latter being the greater from his constant desire to
produce a body which should equal Nantgarrw and Sèvres. “Too much
beer” on the part of a fire-man sometimes brought down the entire
kiln of ware, so that the saggers disappeared below the trial-hole,
and the pieces bulged like wax, till they became fast to each other,
and assumed the most fantastic forms. Too much flint in the clay,
at another time, produced a chalky absorbent body, that drank up so
much glaze that when fired it would fly off in the form of small
daggers whilst cooling, and continue to do so for weeks. Mr. Randall,
however, kept his temper like a philosopher; and at length succeeded
in producing the nearest approach to the old Sèvres of any at that
time made in this kingdom. It had all the mellow transparency and
richness, and the same capability of receiving the colours into the
glaze, of that famous ware, and had this to such an extent that the
most experienced connoisseurs found it impossible to distinguish
between them, excepting by the mark, which no bribe would induce him
to imitate; being a strict quaker, he had a conscientious objection to
doing so. From Madeley, Mr. Randall removed his business to Shelton;
and here it was that the late Mr. Herbert Minton was so struck with the
beauty of his productions that he made overtures to him to join his
firm, which, however, he did not do; and he soon afterwards retired
from business, and went to live at Barlaston, near Trentham, where he
died, and was buried in a spot he had chosen for himself. Mr. Randall,
who was uncle to Mr. John Randall, F.G.S., one of the celebrated
painters of the Coalport works, used no mark.


                              JACKFIELD.

The Jackfield Pottery was one of the oldest in Shropshire, and is
believed to have been worked for centuries. The potters had, at
different times, probably from being expert hands, migrated into
Staffordshire; and I am informed that, as early as 1560, several
entries occur in the parish registers of Stoke-upon-Trent of people
(potters, of course) as “_from Jackfield_.” A few years ago a
coal-pit at Jackfield, which was known not to have been entered for
nearly two centuries, was opened, and in it was found a small mug of
brown earthenware, bearing the date 1634. The works were, probably not
long after this period, carried on by a person of the name of Glover,
who used the old salt glaze for his ware. He was succeeded by Mr. John
Thursfield, son of Mr. John Thursfield of Stoke-upon-Trent, about the
year 1713. This John Thursfield had married a daughter of Captain Webb,
who had been in the wars under Marlborough and Prince Eugene, and
had, while in the Low Countries, married a Dutch lady. In 1729 John
Thursfield married a lady named Eleanor Morris, of Ferney Bank, who is
curiously described in the Broseley register as a “sojoinner.” He died
in 1751, leaving two sons--John, who built the works at Benthall; and
Morris, who succeeded his father at Jackfield. The kind of ware made
at Jackfield was a white stoneware, very similar to the Staffordshire
make, and on some examples flowers and other ornaments were incised and
coloured, that is, the outlines were cut in while the clay was soft,
and the flowers and other ornaments touched afterwards with colour.
Tiles of the kind usually known as “Dutch tiles” were also made. In
1763 Mr. Simpson carried on the pottery at Jackfield, and made yellow
ware, and a ware the body of which was pipeclay and glazed with salt.
This he sent down the Severn to the Bristol Channel for export to
America--a trade which the American war of independence put an end to.
Maurice Thursfield made at Jackfield a very superior black ware, highly
vitrified and glazed; indeed, so highly glazed was it that it had all
the outward appearance of glass. The forms, and the potting of these
articles, locally known as “black decanters,” were remarkably good, and
on some specimens which I have seen ornaments have been judiciously
introduced. On one, in the possession of the late Richard Thursfield,
Esq., of Broseley, a head and wreath are executed in gold and colour;
and on others, paintings in oils, both portraits and views, and raised
ornaments, are introduced. Some good examples are preserved in the
Museum of Practical Geology. Maurice Thursfield died in America, where
he had, it appears, considerable business connections.

In these works Mr. Rose, in conjunction with a Mr. Blakeway, soon after
the death of Maurice Thursfield, began making china. The works were
not, however, carried on long, but were removed to Coalport, on the
opposite side of the Severn, where they were begun in some buildings
which had formerly been a pottery (I believe belonging to a Mr. Young,
a mercer of Shrewsbury), and where they have continued uninterruptedly
to the present day.

In the early part of this century a pottery--spoken of in 1836 as the
“new pottery”--was established here by Mr. John Myatt, for brown and
yellow stone-wares. Here, too, at the same time, near the Calcuts,
extensive brick and tile-works were then and still are carried on.

       *       *       *       *       *

JACKFIELD ENCAUSTIC TILES.--Many years ago Mr. Peter Stephan
(still at this date a modeller at Coalport), son of Stephan the potter,
who was a Frenchman, and at one time at Derby and afterwards of
Jackfield, where he had a small pottery, produced some strikingly good
arabesque patterns in blue printing. His mark was an anchor with cable,
impressed in the body of the ware; and also the crest of an anchor on
an heraldic roll, with his name above (see Figs. 683 and 684), and
printed in blue on the bottom of the ware. His pieces are of rare
occurrence. He also made encaustic tiles. These were the first made in
this district.

  [Illustration: Figs. 683 and 684.]

       *       *       *       *       *

  [Illustration: Fig. 685.--The Jackfield Works.]

_The Jackfield Works._--The site of the present works carried
on by Craven, Dunnill, & Co., for the manufacture of Encaustic and
Geometrical tiles, is that of the above old pottery in Jackfield, in
which Hargreaves and Craven for several years made geometrical tiles
by the clay-dust process, and encaustic tiles from plastic clay; but
the buildings being old and dilapidated, Mr. H. P. Dunnill formed a
limited liability company, consisting of seven shareholders, for
rebuilding and carrying on the concern. The old buildings were taken
down, a considerable extent of land added to the premises, and on this
land the present handsome new works were erected. They now cover an
extent of nearly two acres of ground, and are fitted with machinery
and arrangements specially adapted to the requirements of the trade,
each department succeeding the other in perfect rotation; so that the
clay goes into the blunging-house at one point, from thence into the
slip-kilns, mill-room, damping-houses, press-shops, encaustic rooms,
drying-stove, seggar-house, firing and glaze-kilns, sorting-house,
warehouses, packing-room, and finally, having in the various processes
gone the circuit of the manufactory, passes into the railway lurries to
be conveyed to various parts of the kingdom and abroad. The fine clays
of Jackfield and Broseley are largely used in the manufacture, and
within the grounds of the works there is a pit in which, from a depth
of thirty-five yards, is brought up by steam-power a beautiful red
clay, of very fine tone of colour. The firm justly pride themselves on
the colour and quality of their plain tiles; and the hardness of their
buff tiles--a point much desired by the trade--is very noticeable. The
colour and hardness of body of their dove tiles are also very apparent.
In encaustic tiles many beautiful designs by Waterhouse, Goldie,
Gibbs, Bentley, and other architects are produced. At the instance
of one of the firm, Mr. A. H. Brown, M.P. for Wenlock, a noticeable
arrangement has been made in the interest of the work-people. Any
profit made after ten per cent. paid to the proprietors is equally
divided between them and the work-people, and the latter have thus
a direct interest to do their work in the best manner, so as to add
to the reputation of the firm. Glazed tiles for hearths, of great
variety and beauty of pattern, are made here, and also glazed wall
tiles in white, cream, celadon, and other tones. The company also
produce majolica tiles of the richest class, with an endless variety of
printed, painted, and art tiles for decorative purposes. The quality
of the tiles is remarkably good; the colours are pure and clear, the
body hard and durable, and the glaze firm. Many of the patterns are of
extreme beauty and excellence. The marks adopted, impressed on the back
of the tiles, are--

    HARGREAVES
        &
     CRAVEN

    HARGREAVES CRAVEN
      DUNNILL & CO
       JACKFIELD
    N^R IRONBRIDGE SALOP

    CRAVEN DUNNILL & CO
         LIMITED
        JACKFIELD
    N^R IRONBRIDGE SALOP

        HARGREAVES
    CRAVEN DUNNILL & CO
        JACKFIELD

       CRAVEN
    DUNNILL & CO
     JACKFIELD
       SALOP

    CRAVEN
     & CO

       *       *       *       *       *

BENTHALL WORKS.--The manufactory of encaustic tiles, mosaics, and
majolica, which has for the last twenty-two years been carried on by
Messrs. Maw, at the Benthall works, near Broseley, was initiated at
Worcester (as named in my account of the works of Mr. St. John in that
city) in the year 1850, where Messrs. Maw commenced experimenting on
the processes of manufacture on the premises formerly occupied by
the Worcester Porcelain Manufactory, when under the hands of Messrs.
Flight and Barr, and afterwards used for the production of encaustic
tiles by my late friend Mr. Fleming St. John and his partners, by whom
the moulds, &c., which had been used by them in the manufacture of
encaustic tiles were sold to Messrs. Maw. These gentlemen at once saw
that a much wider field was open to them in the production of tiles
than had previously been attempted at Worcester. In 1852, Messrs.
Maw, feeling the necessity for carrying on the manufacture in a
neighbourhood which would produce both the coal and the clay, abandoned
the works at Worcester, and removed their moulds, plant, &c., to the
Benthall works, near Broseley, where another seven years was spent
by them in a series of costly experiments with no immediate profit
except the experience gained by which they have subsequently built up
the business. Their first effort was to thoroughly investigate and
experiment upon the clays of the Shropshire coal-field, as well as the
plastic materials found throughout the kingdom, many of which no one
had before attempted to turn to economic account.

  [Illustration: Figs. 686 to 693.--Examples of Messrs. Maw’s
  Tiles.]

The results of these experiments have been illustrated in an extensive
series of specimens of the clays or plastic slates of Great Britain
presented by Mr. Geo. Maw, F.S.A., to the Government Museum of
Practical Geology, in Jermyn Street, and printed in the supplement
to the catalogue by Sir H. De La Beche and Mr. Trenham Reeks. In
1857, after all these years of patient labours, the manufacture was
commenced on a commercial scale, which for several years barely paid
its expenses; but from that time to the present continual additions
have been made to the works to meet the increasing demand for their
productions. In 1871 supplementary works were commenced at the Tuckies,
about two miles from the Benthall works, celebrated as the spot where
the late Lord Dundonald carried on his experiments in the manufacture
of coal-gas.

  [Illustration: Fig. 694.]

Messrs. Maw have from the first laid themselves out for applying the
very highest art and architectural talents to their manufactures, and,
in 1856, commissioned Mr. M. D. Wyatt to design a series of patterns of
geometrical mosaic, which were issued as a small lithographed volume
of fourteen pages. This little book, which first established their
reputation as art manufacturers, was subsequently superseded by a much
larger volume, published in 1867, including the designs of Digby Wyatt,
George Goldie, J. P. Seddon, George E. Street, J. Burgess, and others,
as well as the reproduction of all the best obtainable examples of
ancient tiles, geometrical, and Roman mosaic, majolica, &c.

  [Illustration: Fig. 695.]

In 1851 Messrs. Maw began the manufacture of plain tiles, geometrical
mosaic, and the ordinary encaustic tiles of two colours, to which
their productions were for several years limited: but since 1857 their
progress has been marked by the continual grafting on of specialities,
the yearly production of new colours, and new phases of ceramic art
applied to tiles. In 1861 they commenced the manufacture of very small
tesseræ for the formation of pictorial mosaics, and produced for the
Exhibition of 1862 their well-known mosaic of “_The Seasons_,” here
engraved (Fig. 695), and which is now in the South Kensington Museum,
from a design expressly made for them by Digby Wyatt. The result was so
successful that Mr. Wyatt commissioned Messrs. Maw to execute a mosaic
frieze for the inner quadrangle of the New India Office.

The production of coloured enamels for the surface decoration of
majolica tiles next occupied their attention, and after years of
experimenting, all the colours employed in the ancient tiles of Spain
or Italy were successfully reproduced, as well as others which were
unknown to the mediæval and Moorish manufacturers.

A stone chimney-piece, enriched with tiles executed for the
International Exhibition of 1862, was their first attempt in the
application of enamels and majolica in architectural work. Shortly
afterwards the successful decoration of ceilings was carried out in
the corridors of the India Office. And now the production of majolica
tiles and enamelled terra cotta for all kinds of internal and external
decoration forms an important branch of Messrs. Maw’s manufacture.
Among the more important of their works in enamelled terra cotta may be
mentioned the beautiful staircase executed for Sir D. Majoribanks, a
portion of which was exhibited in the International Exhibition of 1871,
and the chimney-pieces manufactured for the board-room of the South
Kensington Museum, and the Museum of Science and Art, at Edinburgh.
Messrs. Maw were the first in this country to produce the transparent
celeste, or turquoise blue, employed in ancient Chinese enamels,
specimens of which were exhibited in the Paris Exhibition of 1867.

Among their more recent productions may be mentioned tesseræ for mosaic
work, decorated with rich enamels; embossed tiles; “_sgrafito_,” a ware
the decoration of which is produced by the cutting away of superimposed
layers of different coloured clays, after the fashion of cameo carving;
“_slip painting_,” the production of a pattern by the painting of
liquid clay on a ground of another colour, and the whole glazed over,
after the first burning, with transparent coloured enamels; “_pâte
sur pâte_,” tiles in which the design in high relief is superimposed
on a ground of a different colour; mixed coloured glasses and enamels
for the decoration of pottery, by which the most subtle and brilliant
effects are produced; _terra cotta and Parian plant-markers_, forming
an economical and indestructible substitute for the old wooden and iron
name tallies. On these the names of trees and shrubs are written in a
permanent black enamel and burnt in.

The special processes employed by Messrs. Maw have been made the
subject of a number of patents, among which may be mentioned their mill
machinery, used in the preparation of clay for the manufacture of tiles
by Prosser’s process; the _steam blunger_, by which the rough clay is
levigated, sifted, and refined ready for drying on the slip-kilns,
without the intervention of manual labour; the manufacture of encaustic
tiles out of pulverised nearly dry clay, and their patent press worked
by steam power for the pressing of tiles, which is the only successful
application of steam power to screw presses which has yet been attained.

The geometric and tesselated pavements produced by Messrs. Maw are
of the most elegant, elaborate, and beautiful character, and the
tesseræ and tiles of which they are composed are made with the utmost
mechanical accuracy, and of the finest quality both in body, in
colours, and in glaze. The patterns they have prepared are of exquisite
beauty and of endless variety, and suitable for every possible purpose
both for public and private buildings.

  [Illustration: Fig. 696 to 699.]

  [Illustration: Figs. 700 to 701.]

The encaustic, or figured tiles, for pavements, are also a great
speciality of Messrs. Maw’s works, and are, like those of other makers,
produced in immense variety and in large quantities. They are made in
two, three, four, or more colours combined, the colours used being
buff or yellow, red, black, blue, chocolate, white, cream, fawn,
green, &c., and of various sizes, the usual dimensions being 6 and 4¼
inches square. The patterns are, in many instances, taken from the
best remaining ancient examples, and in others have been specially
designed for Messrs. Maw by Sir Digby Wyatt, Owen Jones, and the
best authorities of the day; and many of the pavements thus produced
are matchless both in design, in general effect, and in beauty and
brilliancy of colour. Messrs. Maw are not content with producing simple
quarries, to be arranged in the usual varieties of ways, but they have
introduced entire pavements, over which is spread one grand design
covering its entire surface; many entire patterns occupying not the
usual old numbers of 4, 9, 12, 16, or 24 tiles, but 144 and other
numbers. These are peculiarly rich and effective, and particularly well
adapted for halls, vestibules, corridors, &c.

  [Illustration: Fig. 702.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 703.]

The marks used by Messrs. Maw are--

    MAW & CO     MAW & CO   MAW & CO     MAW & CO
    BENTHALL     BROSELEY   BENTHALL     BROSELEY
    WORKS                   BROSELEY      SALOP
    BROSELEY
    SALOP                                MAW & CO

The enamelled hearth-pavements and wall-tiles are another great
speciality of these works, and are of unsurpassable richness and
beauty, as are also their majolica tiles and fire-place linings.
These are produced in every possible variety, and are remarkable not
only for the richness and delicacy of the colours which are used,
and for their purely artistic and masterly combination, but for the
excellence of both body and glaze, and the scrupulous accuracy of forms
for fitting together. The same remark applies to the embossed and
indented tiles, and also to those which are partially pierced for open
work. They are all equally good, and bear evidence of that thorough
appreciation of art which pervades all the productions of the Benthall
works. The engravings (Figs. 702 and 703) show two of their majolica
chimney-pieces. The first is of the finest majolica, with a fire-place
lining of encaustic, or enamel, tiles, which would also be used for the
hearth. The decorations are in high and bold relief, and being coloured
with pure artistic taste, have a charming and very striking effect. It
is 4 feet 8 inches in height, and 7 feet in width, and is, of course,
furnished with a marble shelf at the top--which, however, is not shown
in the illustration.

  [Illustration: Fig. 704.]

The next shows another of these chimney-pieces entirely complete; it
is, like the other, of majolica. The ornaments are in bold relief, set
off with an excellent arrangement of groundwork and colour; the hearth
is formed of encaustic, or enamelled, or mosaic tiles; and the fender
is of majolica.

Another branch of ceramics--that of “Art Pottery”--has recently been
added to Messrs. Maw’s manufactory. This is the production of vases,
&c., in majolica, a branch which they are eminently qualified to bring
to perfection. In this branch vases, tazzas, and other articles, more
or less decorated with raised or surface ornamentation, are produced.
They are of excellent design, the body light but compact, and the
decorations of remarkably good and artistic character.


                               BROSELEY.

The _Broseley Tileries_, at Broseley, are said to be the oldest
brick and tile works in the district, and they have for more than a
century been in the hands of the family of the present proprietor, Mrs.
Penelope Jane Thorn. They are now under the management of Mr. H. M.
Bathurst. The goods produced are encaustic and geometrical glazed and
unglazed tiles, ornamental ridge tiles, roofing and pavement tiles of
various kinds, sanitary pipes, &c.

_Benthall Potteries._--These works, carried on by the “Benthall
Pottery Company,” under the management of Mr. Allen, produce the
ordinary yellow and other common wares.


                               COALMOOR.

At Coalmoor, near Horsehay, a pottery of common coarse ware formerly
existed. The hovels are still standing, but converted to other
purposes.




                              CHAPTER X.

   Plymouth--William Cookworthy--The Divining
   Rod--Discovery of Petuntse and Kaolin--Productions of
   the Plymouth Works--Patent--Specification--Marks--Sale
   to Champion--Transference to Bristol--Death of
   Cookworthy--Plymouth Earthenware Works--Watcombe--Terra-Cotta
   Works--Honiton--Exeter--Bovey Tracey Pottery--Indiho
   Pottery--Bovey Pottery--Folley Pottery--Bideford
   Pottery--Framington Pottery--Aller Pottery.


One of the names most intimately connected with the early history
of the porcelain manufactures of this kingdom is that of William
Cookworthy, to whom that art is indebted for the discovery of the two
most important of its ingredients, the native kaolin and the petuntse,
and to whose successful experiments and labours its excellence was and
is in a great measure to be attributed. At the time when he first made
his experiments--although Dwight had patented his invention for making
transparent porcelain, although Van Hamme and others had also secured
their rights for similar purposes, although Chelsea and other places
made their china (it is said) of Chinese materials, and although many
experiments had been made on the nature and properties of the earths
supposed to be employed for its manufacture--the art of china-making
from _native_ materials was unknown; and Cookworthy pursued his
course of study unaided by the experience of others, and, though beset
with difficulties at every turn, brought it to a perfectly successful
and satisfactory issue. The history of these experiments, and the life
of this man, are the _history_ of the Plymouth works. The one
is inseparable from the other. The history of the works is the story
of the life of Cookworthy, and the story of that life is the origin,
the success, and the close of those works. The narrative of William
Cookworthy, then, must be the thread of my present history.

William Cookworthy was born at Kingsbridge, not many miles from
Plymouth, on the 12th of April, 1705, his parents being William and
Edith Cookworthy, who were Quakers. His father was a weaver, and
died, leaving his family but ill provided for, in 1718. Thus young
Cookworthy, at the age of thirteen, and with six younger brothers
and sisters--for he was the eldest of the family of seven--was left
fatherless. His mother entered upon her heavy task of providing for
and maintaining her large family with true courage, and appears to
have succeeded in working out a good position for them all. She betook
herself to dressmaking, and as her little daughters grew old enough to
handle the needle, they were taught to aid her, and thus she maintained
them in comparative comfort. In the following spring, at the age of
fourteen, young Cookworthy was apprenticed to a chemist in London,
named Bevans; but his mother’s means being too scanty to admit of his
being sent to the metropolis in any other way, he was compelled to
walk there on foot. This task, no light one in those days, a hundred
and fifty years ago, or now, for a boy of fourteen, he successfully
accomplished.

  [Illustration: Fig. 705.--Portrait and Autograph of William
  Cookworthy.]

His apprenticeship he appears to have passed with extreme credit, and
on its termination returned into Devonshire, not only with the good
opinion, but with the co-operation of his late master, and commenced
business in Nutt Street, Plymouth, as wholesale chemist and druggist,
under the name of Bevans and Cookworthy. Here he gradually worked his
way forward, and became one of the little knot of intelligent men
who in those days met regularly together at each other’s houses, of
whom Cookworthy, Dr. Huxham, Dr. Mudge, and the elder Northcote, were
among the most celebrated. Here he brought his mother to live under
his roof, and she became by her excellent and charitable character a
general favourite among the leading people of the place, and was looked
up to with great respect by the lower classes whom she benefited. In
1735 Cookworthy married a young Quaker lady of Somersetshire, named
Berry. This lady, to whom he seems to have been most deeply attached,
lived only ten years after their marriage, and left him with five
little daughters; and Cookworthy remained a widower for the remaining
thirty-five years of his life.

In 1745 his attention seems first to have been seriously directed to
experimenting in the manufacture of porcelain--at all events, in this
year the first allusion to the matter which is made in his letters and
papers occurs, and this only casually. In the following letter, written
to his friend and customer, “Richard Hingston, Surgeon, in Penryn,” and
dated May 5th, 1745, this allusion will be found.

                                      “Plymouth, 30th, 5th mo., 1745.

    “DEAR RICHARD,

   “My Eastern and South-Ham journeys have kept me of late so much
   abroad that I have not had opportunities of writing to thee
   equal to my inclination.

   “Thy last order went a few days since by Wm. Johns’ barge for
   Falmouth, which is the first opportunity that hath offered since
   we received it. I am sorry for the damage which happened to the
   pill-boxes and party-gold, but am apt to believe it was taken in
   the passage, as we always keep the pill-boxes in a garrett where
   no moisture can affect them.

   “Amos hath, I understand, answered thy question about the beds,
   which I believe he was very capable of doing effectually, having
   been formerly concerned in filling them at brother Fox’s. I hope
   his answer is fully satisfactory.

   “We have of late been very barren in news. But, a few days
   since, we had certain advice that Admiral Martin’s squadron had
   taken a very rich ship from the Havannah, though the captain
   from whom Chas. de Voigne hath received a letter says she came
   from St. Domingo. ’Tis allowed, however, that she hath a good
   deal of money on board, and so ’tis likely she may have been at
   both places.

   “Chas. de Voigne tells me that Cape Breton is of such
   consequence to the French that they cannot do without it, and we
   may depend on their exerting their utmost endeavour to retake
   it; and if they should be unsuccessful, would never make peace
   without its reddition. We had lately a very considerable sale
   here for the cargoes of the prizes taken by Martin’s squadron
   some time since, and that of the _Elephant_. J. Colsworthy was
   at it, and bought a very large quantity of sugars on commission,
   as well as another Friend from London, whose name is Jonathan
   Gurnell. We must not be at all surprised at this, it being by
   what I can find grown a settled maxim that Friends may deal in
   prize goods. For on my attacking F. Jewel for being concerned
   in the purchase of the _Mentor_, which he bought in partnership
   with Dr. Dicker and Lancelot Robinson, he pleaded in his
   justification that Friends at London were clearly of opinion
   there is no harm in it; and that Jno. Hayward, a preacher, had
   given him a commission to buy prize Havannah snuffs. And brother
   Fox, who has done something in this way too for the good of his
   family, acquaints me that Friend Wilson, when here, seemed to
   be quite ignorant of anything wrong in the practice, and only
   advised in general that Friends should not act against their
   convictions. I am not at present disposed to make reflections,
   and therefore shall only say that I hope I shall be kept clear
   of it, as I believe it would bring a cloud over my mind.

   “I purpose next second day to set out for the west, and hope to
   be with thee about the 22nd proximo. But I shall not be able
   to stay as usual, as I must hasten to Looe, to ‘squire Sally
   to Redruth yearly meeting, from whence she purposes to go to
   Wadebridge, to pay a visit to her cousins. She talks as if she
   should not be able to spare time to see you at Penryn. But I
   believe she will be mistaken.

   “I had lately with me the person who hath discovered the
   china-earth. He had several samples of the chinaware of their
   making with him, which were, I think, equal to the Asiatic.
   ’Twas found in the back of Virginia, where he was in quest of
   mines; and having read Du Halde, discovered both the petunse
   and kaulin. ’Tis the latter earth, he says, is the essential
   thing towards the success of the manufacture. He is gone for
   a cargo of it, having bought the whole country of the Indians
   where it rises. They can import it for £13 per ton, and by that
   means afford their china as cheap as common stone ware. But they
   intend only to go about 30 per cent. under the company. The man
   is a Quaker by profession, but seems to be as thorough a Deist
   as I ever met with. He knows a good deal of mineral affairs, but
   not _funditùs_.

   “I have at last hearkened to thy advice, and begun to commit
   to black and white what I know in chemistry--I mean so far as
   I have not been obliged to other folks. Having finished my
   observations on furnaces, I intend to continue it as I have
   leisure, as it may be of use after my death.

   “Farewell, dear Richard, and if I am to have an answer, let it
   be by next post, or it will not come to hand before my leaving
   home.

                                          “Thine affectionately,

                                                           “W. C.

   “Maunds[88] are excessively dear, and I have none worse than
   what is sent that is fit for use.”

The letter is addressed “For Richard Hingston, Surgeon, in Penryn,” and
is followed by an invoice of goods sent by “Bevans and Cookworthy.”

At this time the business was still carried on under the style of
“Bevans and Cookworthy.” The death of his wife, which took place
within a few months of the writing of this letter, entirely took away
his attention from business, and his researches into china clays were
thrown aside. He retired into seclusion at Looe, in Cornwall, where he
remained for several months, and, on his return to business, took his
brother Philip, who, it appears, had lately returned from abroad, into
partnership, and carried it on, with him under the style of “William
Cookworthy & Co.” This arrangement enabled Cookworthy to devote his
time to the scientific part of the business, and to the prosecution of
his researches, while his brother took the commercial management of the
concern. Left thus more to the bent of his scientific inclinations,
he pursued his inquiries relative to the manufacture of porcelain,
and lost no opportunity of searching into and experimenting upon the
properties of the different natural productions of Cornwall; and it
is related of him that, in his journeys into that county, he has
passed many nights sitting up with the managers of mines, obtaining
information on matters connected with mines and their products. In the
course of these visits he first became acquainted with the supposed
wonderful properties of the “Divining Rod,” or “Dowsing Rod,” as it
was called by the Cornish miners, in the discovery of ore of various
kinds.

In the magic properties of this rod he was an ardent believer, and
he wrote an elaborate dissertation upon its uses, which has been
published. It is entitled “Observations on the Properties of the
Virgula Divina,” and contains, from beginning to end, such a series
of statements as would do well to go side by side with the tales of
spririt-rapping in our day, and which make one wonder at the amount
of credulity that a clever man may occasionally exhibit. So ardent a
believer was he in the value of this rod, that he did not hesitate to
uphold it in the presence of men of high scientific attainments, and
to carry on experiments occasionally to prove to them its correctness.
As might be expected, on most occasions these experiments failed,
but the operator had always some good reason ready to be assigned
for the mishap. On one occasion, after having warmly descanted on
its properties to Dr. Mudge and Dr. Johnson, he agreed to try in his
own garden the experiment as to whether any metal was to be found
beneath its surface, affirming that if metal, whether large or small
in quantity, and at whatever depth, existed, the rod would immediately
indicate its whereabouts. The doctors having previously taken the
precaution to have one of Cookworthy’s large iron mortars, used in his
laboratory, buried in one corner of the garden, unknown to him, the
examination with the rod was gravely made, and resulted in Cookworthy
triumphantly affirming that no metal existed on the spot. The learned
doctors then, in his presence, dug out the mortar to prove that he
was wrong, and had signally failed in his trial. Cookworthy, nothing
disconcerted, however, immediately exclaimed, “Ah, that’s an amalgam!
my rod has no sympathy with amalgams,” and thus spoiled their joke, and
kept his own position at the same time.

His journeys into Cornwall, however, were productive of much more
important results than the fabulous properties of the divining rod,
for it was in these journeys that he succeeded in discovering, after
much anxious inquiry and research, the materials for the manufacture of
genuine porcelain. The information given him by the “Quaker” in 1745
had never been lost sight of, and he prosecuted inquiries wherever he
went. After many searchings and experiments, he at length discovered
the two materials, first in Tregonnin Hill, in Germo parish; next in
the parish of St. Stephen’s; and again at Boconnoc, the family seat of
Thomas Pitt, Lord Camelford. There is a kind of traditionary belief
that he first found the stone he was anxious to discover in the tower
of St. Columb Church, which is built of stone from St. Stephen’s,
and which thus led him to the spot where it was to be procured. At
this time he lodged at Carlogges, in St. Stephen’s parish, with a Mr.
Yelland, and was in the habit of going about the neighbourhood with his
“dowsing rod,” in search of mineral treasures. This discovery would
probably be about 1754 or 1755.

Having made this important discovery, Cookworthy appears to have
determined at once to carry out his intention of making porcelain, and
to secure the material to himself. To this end he went to London to
see the proprietors of the land, and to arrange for the royalty of the
materials. In this he succeeded; and ultimately Lord Camelford joined
him in the manufacture of china, and, as appears from a letter of that
nobleman to Polwhele, the historian of Cornwall, the two expended about
three thousand pounds in prosecuting the work. The letter of Lord
Camelford, which is dated “Boconnoc, Nov. 30, 1790,” is as follows:--

   “With regard to the Porcelain Manufactory that was attempted
   to be established some years ago, and which was afterwards
   transferred to Bristol, where it failed, it was undertaken by
   Mr. Cookworthy, upon a friend of his having discovered on an
   estate of mine, in the parish of St. Stephen’s, a certain white
   saponaceous clay, and close by it a species of granite, or
   moor-stone, white, with greenish spots, which he immediately
   perceived to be the two materials described by the missionary
   Père D’Entrecolles, as the constituent parts of Chinese
   porcelain, the one giving whiteness and body to the paste, the
   other vitrification and transparency. The difficulties found in
   proportioning properly these materials, so as to give exactly
   the necessary degree of vitrification and no more, and other
   niceties with regard to the manipulation, discouraged us from
   proceeding in this concern, after we had procured a patent
   for the use of our materials, and expended on it between two
   and three thousand pounds. We then sold our interest to Mr.
   Champion, of Bristol.”

It will be seen that Lord Camelford in this letter says that the
discovery was made by a _friend_ of Cookworthy’s. Whether this
were so or not is matter of little consequence, but it is due to
Cookworthy, who was strictly conscientious and scrupulously honest and
straightforward in all his transactions, to say that he has left it
on record that he himself made the discovery, as will be seen by the
following highly interesting paper written by him, but unfortunately
without date:--

   “It is now near twenty years since I discovered that the
   ingredients used by the Chinese in the composition of their
   porcelain, were to be got, in immense quantities, in the county
   of Cornwall; and as I have since that time, by abundance of
   experiments, clearly proved this to the entire satisfaction
   of many ingenious men, I was willing this discovery might be
   preserved to posterity, if I should not live to carry it into a
   manufacture; and, with this view, I have thought proper to put
   in writing, in a summary way, all I have discovered about this
   matter.

   “The account of the materials used by the Chinese is very justly
   given by the Jesuit missionaries, as well as their manner of
   preparing and mixing them into the China-ware paste. They
   observe, the Chinese have two sorts of bodies for porcelain; one
   prepared with Petunse and Caulin, the other with Petunse and
   Wha She or Soapy Rock. The Petunse they describe to be prepared
   from a quarry stone of a particular kind, by beating it in
   stamping-mills, and washing off and settling the parts which
   are beaten fine. This ingredient gives the ware transparency
   and mellowness, and is used for glazing it. The stone of this
   Petunse is a species of the granite, or, as we in the west call
   it, the moor-stone.

   “I first discovered it in the parish of Germo, in a hill called
   Tregonnin Hill; the whole country in depth is of this stone.
   It reaches, east and west, from Breag to Germo, and north and
   south, from Tregonnin Hill to the sea. From the cliffs some
   of this stone hath been brought to Plymouth, where it was
   used in the casemates of the garrison; but I think the best
   quarries are in Tregonnin Hill. The stone is compounded of small
   pellucid gravel, and a whitish matter, which, indeed, is Caulin
   petrified; and as the Caulin of Tregonnin Hill hath abundance of
   mica in it, this stone hath them also. If the stone is taken a
   fathom or two from the surface, where the rock is quite solid,
   it is stained with abundance of greenish spots, which are very
   apparent when it is wetted. This is a circumstance noted by
   the Jesuits, who observe that the stones which have the most
   of this quality are the most proper for the preparation of the
   glaze; and I believe this remark is just, as I know that they
   are the most easily vitrifiable, and that a vein of this kind in
   Tregonnin Hill is so much so that it makes an excellent glaze
   without the addition of vitrescent ingredients. If a small
   crucible is filled up with this stone, or a piece of it put in
   it, and exposed to the most violent fire of a good wind furnace
   for an hour, the stone will be melted into a beautiful mass; all
   its impurities will be discharged, one part of it will be almost
   of a limpid transparency, and the other appear in spots as white
   as snow. The former is the gravel, the other the Caulin, reduced
   by fire to purity. If the fire is not continued long enough to
   effect this, the upper part and middle of the mass will be of a
   dirty colour, and the bottom and parts of the sides fine.


                               “CAULIN.

   “This material, in the Chinese way of speaking, constitutes the
   bones, as the Petunse does the flesh, of china ware. It is a
   white talcy earth, found in our granite countries, both in the
   counties of Devon and Cornwall. It lies in different depths
   beneath the surface. Sometimes there shall be a fathom or more
   of earth above it, and at other times two or three feet. It
   is found on the sides of hills, and in valleys; in the sides,
   where, following the course of the hills, the surface sinks, or
   is concave, and seldom, I believe, or never where it swells,
   or is convex. By what I have observed, it is by no means a
   regular stratum, but is rather in bunches or heaps, the regular
   continuance of which is frequently interrupted by gravel and
   other matters. At times there are veins of it among the solid
   rocks, when it is constantly very pure from gravel. I have a
   piece by me of this kind, very fine.

   “There are inexhaustible stores of this Caulin in the two
   western counties. The use it’s commonly put to is in mending the
   tin furnaces and the fire-places of the fire-engines, for which
   ’tis very proper. The sort I have chiefly tried is what is got
   from the side of Tregonnin Hill, where there are several pits of
   it. As the stone hath a pretty large quantity of Caulin in it,
   so the Caulin hath a large mixture of the same sort of gravel as
   enters into the composition of the stone. It contains, besides,
   mica in abundance.

   “In order to prepare the Caulin for porcelain, nothing more
   is necessary but pouring a large quantity of water on it, so
   that it may not, when dissolved, be of so thick a consistence
   as to suspend the mica. Let it settle about ten minutes, and
   pour off the dissolved clay into another vessel. Let it settle,
   pour off the water, and dry it. I will observe here, that care
   ought to be taken about the water used in washing off both the
   Petunse and Caulin. It ought to be pure, without any metallic
   or calcareous mixture. Our rivers in the west afford excellent
   water for this purpose, as they arise, the most of them, and run
   through a granite country. The Caulin of Tregonnin Hill is very
   unvitrifiable, and exceedingly apt to take stains from the fire.
   I know no way to burn it clean but the following:--Form it into
   cakes of the thickness of two or three crown pieces, and beat
   some of the stone to a very coarse powder; cover the bottom of
   the crucible with this powder; then put in a cake of the Caulin;
   cover this the thickness of one-third of an inch with the powder
   of stone; fill the crucible in this way, ending with a layer of
   the stone; cover the crucible, and treat it as in the process
   for melting the stone before described. If the stone is burned
   to purity, the Caulin will be as white as snow; if but partially
   calcined, so far as the stone is pure, the Caulin will be so;
   and when that is of a dirty colour, the Caulin will be of the
   same hue.

   “I have lately discovered that, in the neighbourhood of the
   parish of St. Stephen’s, in Cornwall, there are immense
   quantities both of the Petunse stone and the Caulin, and which,
   I believe, may be more commodiously and advantageously wrought
   than those of Tregonnin Hill, as, by the experiments I have made
   on them, they produce a much whiter body, and do not shrink
   so much, by far, in baking, nor take stains so readily from
   the fire. Tregonnin Hill is about a mile from Godolphin House,
   between Helston and Penzance. St. Stephen’s lies between Truro,
   St. Austel, and St. Columb; and the parish of Dennis, the next
   to St. Stephen’s, I believe, hath both the ingredients in plenty
   in it. I know of two quarries of the stone--one is just above
   St. Stephen’s, the other is called Caluggus, somewhat more than
   a mile from it, and appears to be the finer stone.

   “Having given this sketch of the natural history of the
   materials, ’tis needless to say much about the composition.
   Pottery being at present in great perfection in England, our
   potters’-mills prepare the Petunse much better than stamping
   mills, and excuse one from the trouble of washing it off, it
   being fit to be used as it comes from the mill. I would further
   observe that the mills should be made of the Petunse granite,
   it being obvious that, in grinding, some of the mill-stones
   must wear off and mix with the Petunse. If those stones should
   be of a nature disagreeable to the body, this mixture must,
   in some degree, be hurtful to it; whereas, whatever wears off
   from mill-stones of the same stone, cannot be so in the least
   degree. I have generally mixed about equal parts of the washed
   Caulin and Petunse for the composition of the body, which, when
   burnt, is very white, and sufficiently transparent. The Caulin
   of St. Stephen’s burns to a degree of transparency without the
   addition of Petunse. The materials from this place make a body
   much whiter than the Asiatic, and, I think, full as white as the
   ancient chinaware, or that of Dresden.

   “The stones I have hitherto used for glazing are those with the
   green spots of Tregonnin Hill. These, barely ground fine, make
   a good glaze. If ’tis wanted softer, vitrescent materials must
   be added. The best I have tried are those said to be used by the
   Chinese, viz., lime and fern-ashes, prepared as follows:--The
   lime is to be slacked by water, and sifted. One part of this, by
   measure, is to be mixed with twice its quantity of fern-ashes,
   and calcined together in an iron pot, the fire to be raised
   till the matter is red hot. It should not melt, and for that
   reason should be kept continually stirred. When it sinks in the
   pot, and grows of a light ash colour, ’tis done. It then must
   be levigated in the potter’s mill to perfect smoothness. It may
   be used in proportion of one part to ten, and so on to fifteen
   or twenty of the stone, as shall be found necessary. We found
   one to fifteen of the stone a very suitable proportion. Our
   manner of mixing was to dilute both the stones and the ashes to
   a proper degree for dipping, and then to mix them as above. On
   mixing, the whole grows thicker. If ’tis too thick for dipping,
   more water must be added. Our method of dipping was just the
   same as is used by the delft-ware people. We first baked our
   ware to a soft biscuit, which would suck, then painted it with
   blue, and dipped them with the same ease; and the glazing grows
   hard and dry, as soon as it does in the delft-ware. Large
   vessels may be dipped raw, as the Chinese are said to do it. But
   the proper thickness of the glaze is not so easily distinguished
   this way, as when the ware is biscuited; for, the raw body being
   of the same colour and consistence with the glaze, when the
   latter is dry, ’tis hardly possible to determine the limits of
   either; a thing very easy to be done when the body is hardened
   by biscuiting. Our chinaware makers in general deny it to be
   possible to glaze on a raw body or soft biscuit. And so it is
   with their glaze; which, abounding in lead and other fluxing
   materials, melts soon and runs thin, and, melting before the
   body closes, penetrates it, and is lost in the body, whereas
   our stone is almost as hard to melt as the body is to close;
   and, not melting thin, neither runs nor penetrates the body.
   I insist on the truth of this observation, and ’tis necessary
   to be insisted on, as scarcely any of our potters, misled by
   too slavish dependence on their own too partial experience,
   will allow it. I have said above that the Jesuits observe that
   the Chinese paint and glaze their ware on the raw body. I know
   this can be done, for I have done it; and so may anyone else
   who pleases to try it. I have now by me the bottom of a Chinese
   punch-bowl, which was plainly glazed, when it was raw, or a
   soft biscuit; for the ware wants a great deal of being burnt,
   it being of the colour of coarse whited-brown paper. But the
   same body, when exposed to a proper degree of fire, turns to
   a chinaware of a very good colour--a demonstration that it had
   not, as our ware in England hath, the great fire before the
   glaze was laid on. I don’t point out the advantages of painting
   and glazing on a soft biscuit, as they are very obvious to
   anyone, ever so little used to pottery.

   “In regard to burning, I have to remark, that by all the
   experiments we have made, the north of England kilns, where the
   fire is applied in mouths on the outside of the kilns, and the
   fuel is coal, will not do for our body, at least when it is
   composed of the materials of Tregonnin Hill.

   “In those kilns especially, when bags are used, there is no
   passage of air through the middle of the kiln; and a vapour, in
   spite of all the care that can be taken, will either transpire
   through the bags, or be reflected from the crown, which will
   smoke and spoil our ware, though it doth not appear to affect
   other compositions. How true this remark may be, with regard to
   the St. Stephen’s materials I cannot determine, as they have
   not yet been tried in a kiln. The only furnace or kiln which
   we have tried with any degree of success, is the kiln used by
   the potters who make brown stone. It is called the 36-hole
   kiln. Wood is the fuel used in it. They burn billets before and
   under it, where there is an oven or arch pierced by 36-holes,
   through which the flame ascends into the chamber which contains
   the ware, and goes out at as many holes of the same dimensions
   in the crown of the furnace. The safeguards at bottom stand on
   knobs of clay, which won’t melt, about two inches square, and
   two inches and a half or three inches high; by which means more
   of the holes are stopped by the bottoms of the safeguard, but
   the air and flame freely ascend, and play round every safeguard;
   by which means those tingeing vapours, which have given us so
   much trouble, are kept in continual motion upward, and hindered
   from penetrating and staining the ware.

   “Experience must determine the best form and way of using this
   kiln. ’Tis the only desideratum wanting to the bringing of
   the manufacture of porcelain, equal to any in the world, to
   perfection in England.

   “Caulin pipeclay and a coarse unvitrifiable sand make excellent
   safeguards.”

The experiments on the Cornish materials having been perfectly
successful, Cookworthy established himself as a china manufacturer
at Plymouth. The works were at Coxside, at the extreme angle which
juts into the water at Sutton Pool. Some parts of the buildings still
exist, and are used as a shipwright’s yard. They are still known by
the name of the “China House,” and it is really pleasant to find that
a memory of these once celebrated works is yet retained on the spot
where they were carried on. It is strange, however, to think that the
same building which was used for the fabricating of the finest and most
delicate and fragile articles, should now be used for the constructing
of huge seaworthy vessels, which can withstand the force of the waves,
and bear heavy burthens in safety across the seas, whether in calm or
storm.

In these works Cookworthy prosecuted his new art with great success,
and was soon enabled to enter the market with Englishmade hard-paste
china, composed of native materials alone. The early examples are,
as is natural to expect, very coarse, rough, and inferior, but they
evidence, nevertheless, considerable skill in mixing, though not so
much, perhaps, in firing. And they are also remarkable for their
clumsiness, as well as for their bad colour, their uneven glazing, and
their being almost invariably disfigured by fire cracks--if nowhere
else, almost invariably at the bottom. On many of the pieces the colour
(blue) on which the pattern was drawn, has “run” in the glazing, and
thus disfigured the pieces. As examples of the early make of Plymouth,
an inkstand belonging to Mrs. Lydia Prideaux, of Plymouth, is an
excellent specimen. It was for many years the office inkstand of her
father, who died in 1796, and was got by him from the son of a workman
in the china factory. It is very clumsy in make, of coarse body, rough
in the glaze, uneven in colour, and is, perhaps, one of the best and
most characteristic existing specimens of the _early_ make of
Plymouth. It is circular, nearly five and a half inches in diameter;
around the top is a border in blue, and round the hollowed sides
are octagonal spaces with Chinese figures and landscapes, connected
together by a diapered band, all in blue. The inkstand bears the usual
Plymouth mark on the bottom, in blue.

Another early example worthy of note is a pounce-pot, formerly in the
possession of the late Mr. James, of Bristol. Like the inkstand and
other early examples, it is coarse in texture, rough on the surface,
and imperfect in the glaze. It is painted with flowers in blue, and has
the mark also in blue on the bottom.

As on the earliest productions of all the old china works, the
decorations on the Plymouth examples are invariably blue; the blue at
first being of a heavy, dull, blackish shade, but gradually improving,
until, on some specimens which I have seen, it had attained a clear
brilliance. Cookworthy, being a good chemist, paid considerable
attention to the producing of a good blue, and was the first who
succeeded in this country in manufacturing cobalt blue direct from
the ore. Before this time the colour was prepared by grinding
foreign imported zaffres with slab and muller; but after a series
of experiments he succeeded in producing a fine and excellent blue
from the cobalt ore, and prepared it by a better process. It is said
that Cookworthy himself painted some of the earlier blue and white
productions of his manufactory, and this is not at all improbable.

Examples of the finer and more advanced class of blue and white are,
like the earlier and more primitive attempts, scarce.

  [Illustration: Fig. 706.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 707.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 708.]

The white porcelain of Plymouth is one of its notable features, for in
it some remarkably fine works exist in different collections. These
mostly consist of salt-cellars, pickle-cups, and toilet-pieces, formed
of shells and corals, beautifully, indeed exquisitely, modelled from
nature. The shells and corals, and other marine objects which compose
these pieces, are remarkably true to nature, and their arrangement
in groups is very artistic and good. As a rule these pieces are not
marked. Some of the forms of these shell groups are shown in the
accompanying engravings. The accidental arrangement of the small
shells, sea-weeds, and coral, are very characteristic of Plymouth
manufacture, and evince a high degree of artistic excellence. The
salt-cellars of this description, in the Museum of Practical Geology,
are good examples, and useful for reference. In white, too, Cookworthy
produced figures, birds, and animals, both singly and in groups, which
bore no mark. Amongst the most successful and important productions of
the Plymouth works, in white, are busts, of which one or two excellent
examples are in existence. The finest of these is a bust, of large
size, of King George II., in possession of the late Dr. Cookworthy,
of Plymouth, the great-nephew of William Cookworthy, the founder of
the works, from whom it has passed in succession to its present owner,
who is now the sole representative of the family. The bust, which is
remarkably fine, and exquisitely modelled, evidences a very advanced
state of Art, and shows great skill, both in modelling, in body, and in
firing. Its height is seventeen inches, and its extreme width thirteen
inches. Dr. Cookworthy also possessed some remarkably fine allegorical
figures, groups for candlesticks, &c., all, although unmarked, said
to be authenticated as Plymouth manufacture. An elephant said to be
probably of Plymouth manufacture is in the Museum of Practical Geology,
as are also Figs. 708 and 713.

  [Illustration: Fig. 709.]

The prosecution of the new works having progressed satisfactorily,
Cookworthy in 1768 took out a patent for the manufacture of “a kind
of porcelain newly invented by me, composed of moor-stone or growan,
and growan clay.” The patent was dated the 17th of March, 1768, and
contained the usual proviso that full specification should be lodged
and enrolled within four months of that date. This specification was
duly enrolled, and I am happy to be able to give it _in extenso_ to my
readers. It is a most interesting document, and contains a great deal
of valuable information; it is as follows:--

   “To all people to whom these presents shall come, I, William
   Cookworthy, of Plymouth, in the County of Devon, Chemist, send
   greeting.

   “Whereas His Most Gracious Majesty King George the Third, by
   Letters Patent bearing date at Westminster the Seventeenth
   day of March now last past, did give and grant unto me, the
   said William Cookworthy, my executors, administrators, and
   assigns, his especial license, full power, sole privilege and
   authority, that I, the said William Cookworthy, my executors,
   administrators, and assigns, and every of us, by myself and
   themselves, and by mine and their deputy or deputys, servants
   or agents, or such others as I, the said William Cookworthy,
   my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time
   agree with, and no others, from time to time, and at all times
   thereafter during the term of years therein expressed, should
   and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend ‘A KIND OF
   PORCELLAIN NEWLY INVENTED BY ME, COMPOS’D OF MOOR-STONE OR
   GROWAN, AND GROWAN CLAY,’ within that part of His Majesty’s
   kingdom of Great Britain called England, his dominion of
   Wales, and town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, in such manner as to
   me, the said William Cookworthy, my executors, administrators,
   and assigns, or any of us, should in our discretion seem
   meet, and that I, the said William Cookworthy, my executors,
   administrators, and assigns, should and lawfully might have and
   enjoy the whole profit, benefit, commodity, and advantage from
   time to time coming, growing, accruing, and arising by reason
   of the said invention, for and during the term of years therein
   mentioned, to have, hold, exercise, and enjoy the said license,
   powers, privileges, and advantages thereinbefore granted unto
   me, the said William Cookworthy, my executors, administrators,
   and assigns, for and during and unto the full end and term of
   fourteen years from the date of the said Letters Patent, next
   and immediately ensuing, and fully to be compleat and ended
   according to the statute in such case made and provided; in
   which said Letters Patent there is contained a provisoe as or
   to the effect following (viz.), that if I, the said William
   Cookworthy, should not particularly describe and ascertain the
   nature of my said invention, and in what manner the same was
   to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my hand
   and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty’s
   High Court of Chancery within four calendar months next and
   immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent; that
   then the said Letters Patent and all libertys and advantages
   whatsoever thereby granted should utterly cease, determine, and
   become void, as in and by the said Letters Patent (relation
   being thereunto had) more fully and at large it doth and may
   appear.

   “Now know ye that I, the said William Cookworthy, in pursuance
   of the said recited provisoe, do, by this my Deed in writing,
   declare and make known the nature of my said invention, and
   the quality of the materials, and manner in which the same is
   performed, which is as followeth (that is to say):--

   “The materials of which the body of the said porcellain is
   composed are a stone and earth, or clay. The stone is known in
   the countys of Devon and Cornwall by the names of Moor-stone and
   Growan, which stones are generally composed of grains of stone
   or gravel of a white or whitish colour, with a mixture of talky
   shining particles. This gravel and these talky particles are
   cemented together by a petrified clay into very solid rocks, and
   immense quantities of them are found in both the above-mentioned
   countys. All these stones, exposed to a violent fire, melt
   without the addition of fluxes into a semi-transparent glass,
   differing in clearness and beauty according to the purity of
   the stone. The earth, or clay, for the most part lies in the
   valleys where the stone forms the hills. This earth is very
   frequently very white, tho’ sometimes of a yellowish or cream
   colour. It generally arises with a large mixture of talky micæ,
   or spangles, and a semi-transparent or whitish gravel. Some
   sorts have little of the micæ, or spangles, but the best clay
   for making porcellain always abounds in micæ, or spangles. The
   stone is prepared by levigation in a potter’s mill, in water in
   the usual manner, to a very fine powder. The clay is prepared
   by diluting it with water untill the mixture is rendered
   sufficiently thin for the gravell and micæ to subside; the
   white water containing the clay is then poured, or left to run
   off from the subsided micæ and gravell into proper vessells or
   reservoirs; and after it has settled a day or two, the clear
   water above it is to be then poured or drawn off, and the clay,
   or earth, reduced to a proper consistence by the common methods
   of exposing it to the sun and air, or laying it on chalk. This
   earth, or clay, gives the ware its whiteness and infusibility,
   as the stone doth its transparency and mellowness: they are
   therefore to be mix’d in different proportions, as the ware is
   intended to be more or less transparent; and the mixture is
   to be performed in the method used by potters, and well known
   (viz., by diluting the materials in water, passing the mixture
   through a fine sieve, and reducing it to a paste of a proper
   consistence for working in the way directed for the preparation
   of the clay). This paste is to be form’d into vessells, and
   these vessells, when biscuited, are to be dipp’d in the glaze,
   which is prepared of the levigated stone, with the addition of
   lime and fern-ashes, or an earth called magnesia alba, in such
   quantity as may make it properly fusible and transparent when it
   has received a due degree of fire in the second baking.

   “In witness whereof I, the said William Cookworthy, have
   hereunto sett my hand and seal this Eleventh day of July, in the
   Eighth year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord George the Third,
   by the grace of God of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King,
   Defender of the Faith, and so forth, and in the year of our Lord
   One Thousand Seven Hundred and Sixty-eight.

                                        “WILLIAM (L. S.) COOKWORTHY.

   “Signed, sealed, and delivered by the within-named William
   Cookworthy, in the presence of

                                                 “GEORGE LEACH,
                                                 “J. STOVE.

   “And be it remembered that on aforesaid Eleventh day of July, in
   the year above-mentioned, the aforesaid William Cookworthy came
   before our said Lord the King in his Chancery, and acknowledged
   the Specification aforesaid, and all and everything therein
   contained and specified in form above written. And also the
   Specification aforesaid was stampt according to the tenor of the
   statute made in the sixth year of the reign of the late King and
   Queen William and Mary of England, and so forth.

   “Inrolled the Fourteenth day of July, in the year above written.

                          “SAMUEL CHAMPION, a Master Extraordinary.”

It is natural to suppose that the finest and best goods of the
Plymouth Works were produced in the six years which intervened between
the enrolling of this specification and the removal of the Works to
Bristol, previous to their sale to Champion. The progress of the
manufactory had hitherto been great and satisfactory, but continuing
at the same rate of improvement, the perfection to which the best
productions arrived could only have been attained a very short time
before its close.

Cookworthy determined to make his porcelain equal to that of Sèvres and
Dresden, both in body, which he himself mixed, and in ornamentation,
for which he procured the services of such artists as were available.
To this end he engaged a Mon. Saqui, or Soqui, from Sèvres, who was
a man of rare talent as a painter and enameller, and to whose hands,
and those of Henry Bone, a native of Plymouth, who there is reason
to suppose was apprenticed to Cookworthy, and afterwards became very
celebrated, the best painted specimens may be ascribed. Besides these
several other artists were employed, but they were principally engaged
in painting in blue, while Saqui and Bone painted the high-class birds
and flowers.

In a town like Plymouth, where Art has always found a home, and
whose sons have so greatly distinguished themselves, it is not to be
wondered that the paintings and decorations on china should assume
a high character for design and treatment. In a neighbourhood which
has the honour of having given birth to Sir Joshua Reynolds, to James
Northcote, to Haydon, to Sir Charles Eastlake, to Opie, to William
Cooke, and to a score others, it would be strange indeed if the Art
part of the manufacture had not been prominently good, and had not
produced artists, like Henry Bone, of more than local excellence.

The ware made at Plymouth consisted of dinner services, tea and coffee
services, mugs and jugs; vases, trinket and toilet stands, busts,
single figures and groups, animals, “Madonnas,” and other figures
after foreign models, candlesticks with birds, flowers, &c., &c. The
large mug (Fig. 712) is an excellent example of the higher, and,
of course, later, productions of Cookworthy’s manufactory. It is a
quart mug, remarkably well potted, clear in its colour and glaze, and
exquisitely painted by Saqui on the one side with peacock and pheasant
and landscapes, and on the other with a group of flowers. Mugs of this
form, and different sizes, painted with birds and flowers, are to be
found in different collections, and are usually marked in red or blue.
The peculiarity of the specimen here engraved is, that besides being
remarkably good in its painting, it is marked with the usual sign,
but instead of being in colour, is incised before glazing. The bottom
is also disfigured, as so frequently occurs, with a fire crack. The
incised mark on this mug is engraved (Fig. 710). Some very good mugs of
the form and style of this one were shown in the Exhibition of 1851, in
Mr. Phillips’s case, illustrating the raw material and productions of
the clay district. They were marked in red, and belonged to Mr. George
Pridham, of Plymouth. On the same engraving with the mug I have given a
representation of a teapot, which is beautifully painted with groups of
flowers in pink. That Cookworthy endeavoured to procure good artists is
evident by the following advertisement in 1770:--

  [Illustration: Fig. 710.]

  [Illustration: Figs. 711 to 713.]

  “China painters wanted, for the Plymouth new invented Patent
  Porcelain Manufactory.--A number of sober, ingenious artists,
  capable of painting in enamel or blue, may hear of constant
  employ by sending their proposals to Thomas Frank, in Castle
  Street, Bristol.”

Among the busts and statuettes are an admirable bust of George II.,
after the statue by Ruysbranch, in Queen’s Square, Bristol; Woodward,
the actor; Mrs. Clive; a shepherd; and shepherdess, &c., which show
that excellent modellers must have been employed.

One of the finest productions of the Plymouth Works, and evidently of
the latest, is a pair of splendid vases and covers, sixteen inches
high, in the possession of Mr. Francis Fry, of Bristol. One of these
is here engraved (Fig. 714). It is hexagonal, and is enriched with
festoons of beautifully-modelled raised flowers, and with painted
butterflies, leaves, borders, &c. These vases are of precisely the same
general form as some unique examples of Bristol make, which I shall
have to describe when writing on those works, from which, however, they
differ in ornament and detail, and they are evidently the production of
the same artists. They are marked with the usual sign in red.

  [Illustration: Fig. 714.]

In Lord Mount Edgcumbe’s possession, too, is a pair of vases of very
similar character (but more nearly resembling Mr. Fry’s specimens of
Bristol), on which the Plymouth mark has, at a later period, been
added. Many good examples of Plymouth still remain in the hands of
families resident in Plymouth and its neighbourhood, and in the
cabinets of most collectors.

In the Museum of Practical Geology some characteristic examples of
Plymouth ware may be seen. Among these are a pair of shell-salts (Fig.
708); a pair of figures, “Europe” and “Asia,” and some other figures;
some remarkably good mugs, jugs, and sauce boats; one or two cups and
saucers; and other pieces. There are also two plates (one of which is
shown on Fig. 715), described as “in earthenware, with thick white
enamel, painted,” the one with flowers, and the other “in green, with
flowers on the border and crest of the Parker family in the centre.
Unmarked.”

  [Illustration: Fig. 715.]

The mark of the Plymouth china is usually painted in red or blue on the
bottom of the pieces. No mark has yet, however, come under my notice
on the white examples. On the early blue and white the mark appears
invariably to be in blue, and somewhat thick and clumsy in its drawing.
On the later and more advanced goods it is more neatly drawn in red or
blue. It varies a little in form, according to the different “hand” by
which it was affixed. The mark is the chemical sign for tin or mercury,
ꝝ, and was doubtless chosen by Cookworthy, the chemist, to
denote that the materials from which it was made, and which he had
discovered, were procured from the stanniferous district of Cornwall.
The following are varieties of the mark selected from different
specimens:--

  [Illustration: Figs. 716 to 724.]

On some other examples the sign with the addition of the Bristol mark
of the cross beneath it occurs; and on others a number, as if to denote
the number of the pattern (or possibly of the workman), occurs. These
two marks, the simple sign and the sign with the number, occur on
pieces belonging to the same set.

  [Illustration:

         M^r
    W^m Cookworthy’s
    Factory Plym^o
        1770]

In Mr. Skardon’s possession is a pair of small sauce boats, embossed
and painted with birds and flowers in colours; they each bear the name,
painted on the bottom, as here shown. In Dr. Ashford’s possession is
an example bearing a very similar mark, but in writing letters, thus:--

  [Illustration:

         _M^r
    W. Cookworthy’s
    Factory Plymouth_
         1770]

Another curious example, formerly in the possession of Mr. C. W.
Reynolds, bears the word “Plymouth,” the arms of the borough, some
illegible letters, and the date “March 14 1768 C F.”

However beautiful and satisfactory the productions of the Plymouth
works might be as _china_, they were not, it would appear,
remunerative _commercially_. The clay and the stone Cookworthy
had within easy distance, but his material was difficult and expensive
to make, his experiments produced frequent failures and losses, and
therefore he was unable to keep pace with other manufactories, and
to compete with them. Add to this that he was far from being a young
man--being then in his seventieth year--it is not surprising that
he should determine on giving up the works, especially when Lord
Camelford, who was one of his partners, says between two and three
thousand pounds had been sunk in their prosecution.

On the 6th of May, 1774, therefore, William Cookworthy (who, it would
appear probable, had already removed the manufacture to Bristol), for
considerations set forth in the deed of assignment, sold the business
and patent-right to Richard Champion, merchant, of Bristol, who had
been connected pecuniarily with the works at Plymouth, and who had
previously, “under license from the patentee” (William Cookworthy),
commenced the manufacture of china in Bristol, under the style of “W.
Cookworthy & Co.,” and they were transferred to that city.[89] Champion
appears to have been a connection of Cookworthy’s--a cousin of the
latter, Phillip Debell Tuckett, marrying, in August, 1774, a sister
of the former (Esther Champion), about the time when the affairs for
the transfer of the works were finally completed; and the arrangements
appear to have been completed entirely to Cookworthy’s satisfaction.
The following letter, highly characteristic of Cookworthy’s style,
relates to the settlement of the transfer. Though without date, it
evidently was written only a short time prior to the 6th of May, 1774.
It is addressed to his cousin, Anna Cookworthy, of Plymouth:--

                                       “Bristol, 4th day, 10 o’clock.

    “MY DEAR COUSIN,

   “When I wrote my last to thy father, I hoped to have left this
   city, last second day; but such hath been the nature of the
   affair which detains me here, that though I have endeavoured,
   to the utmost of my power, to get it completed, I cannot yet
   succeed. The attorney assures me that we shall have everything
   ready by next fifth day; and, if he is as good as his word,
   we shall finish our matters that evening, or the next day at
   farthest. And then, if health permits, I shall set out in the
   machine second day morning, and reach Plymouth on fourth day.[90]

   “I am heartily disposed to show every mark of respect to a niece
   so sincerely and justly esteemed by me; and it hath been one
   source of anxiety and vexation to me that I have been so long
   detained here; but there is really a necessity for my closing
   our affair before I leave this city. When this is done, I shall
   set my face towards Plymouth with great pleasure. Not that I
   have any reason to complain of Bristol; for, though I have had
   the load of important and difficult affairs on my mind, and
   have gone through a real fit of the gout besides, I have been
   helped through all in the enjoyment of calm spirits and inward
   satisfaction.

   “I have a budget full of interesting matter for your
   entertainment at my return. I have not had the least reason to
   complain of R. Champion’s behaviour; and all my acquaintance
   at Bristol have shown me much kindness and respect; and, on
   the whole, my time hath been spent agreeably amongst them, all
   things considered. For, considering my attention to china-wares,
   the closing of my business with R. Champion, the settling the
   lovers’ matters, which were in a much worse situation than we
   imagined; all this, and the attending meetings, have made the
   last month the busiest one to me that I have known for many
   years. But quiet dependence is sufficient to carry us, safely
   and well, through all those things in which Providence engages
   us. Let this be an encouragement to my dear niece through every
   difficulty she may meet with. Let us but determine in all things
   to do our duty, depending only on Him who is mighty to help, and
   nothing that can befall us can be hurtful to us. Let us learn
   to despise the superficial judgment of a world that looks only
   at things that are seen; which renders all its spacious wisdom
   foolishness in reality. Let the attainment and possession of a
   conscience void of offence, regulate us in all our views and
   pursuits; and let us implore the help of the Great Father, and
   steadily wait for it, through the whole course of our conduct;
   and we shall know that blessing which maketh rich, and addeth no
   sorrow with it to rest on our hearts and houses.

   “Farewell, my dear cousin; and, farewell, all my dear friends. I
   am hastening to meeting.

                                                    “W. COOKWORTHY.”

The works having been transferred to Bristol, were carried on by
Richard Champion, who having incurred considerable expense without
a proportionate return, petitioned in the same year for a further
term of fourteen years patent-right to be extended to him, which was
accordingly done by Act of Parliament passed in the session which
commenced the 29th of November in the same year (1774). This Act and
others will be found noticed in my account of the Bristol china works.

Thus ended, after the brief period of nineteen or twenty years from
the first discovery of the material to its close, the manufacture
of porcelain in Plymouth--a manufacture which was an honour to the
locality, a credit to all concerned in it, and which has given it, and
Cookworthy its founder, an imperishable name in the ceramic annals of
this country.

Having passed through the history of the works, so far as scantiness
of material will allow, it only remains to turn back for a few minutes
to the thread of the life of Cookworthy with which I started, and to
follow it, so far as may be necessary, to its close.

During the time he was engaged on the manufacture of chinaware,
his ever-active mind seems to have been busied with other things
as well, and he appears to have been sought, and much esteemed, by
the _savans_ of the day. Smeaton, the builder of the Eddystone
Lighthouse, was an inmate of his house while the lighthouse was
in progress, and they were constant companions in examining the
dove-tailed blocks of stone as they were prepared on the Hoe for
shipping; Wolcot--“Peter Pindar”--was a frequent visitor for days
together at his house; Sir Joseph Banks, Captain Cook, and Dr.
Solander, were his guests just before the famous “Voyage Round the
World” and on their return, when their _protégé_, Omai the
Otaheitan, was also his guest; Earl St. Vincent, then Captain Jervis,
was his attached friend, and he was looked up to by all as a man of
such large understanding, such varied and extensive knowledge, and
such powers of intellectual conversation, that, as Lord St. Vincent is
said often to have remarked, “whoever was in Mr. Cookworthy’s company
was always wiser and better for having been in it.” He carried on
considerable experiments to discover a method by which sea-water might
be distilled for use on board ship. He was a disciple of Swedenborg,
some of whose works he translated, and was also an accomplished
astronomer, and an ardent disciple of “good old Izaac Walton.” As a
preacher among the Society of Friends he seems to have been most highly
esteemed, and to have been a man looked up to by the whole of that body.

In 1780, Cookworthy, then seventy-five, died in the same house in Nutt
Street, Plymouth, which he had occupied from the time of his first
starting in life, and a touching “testimony” to his character was
given by the “monthly meeting.” He was interred with every mark of
respect at Plymouth, and his memory is still warmly cherished in the
locality.

       *       *       *       *       *

_Plymouth Earthenware._--The manufacture of chinaware having ceased in
Plymouth in 1774 this useful and elegant art was lost to the town. Some
years later rough common brown and yellow earthenware was made here. In
addition to these, manufactories of fine “Queen’s Ware,” and painted,
printed, and enamelled ware, were established in 1810.

In 1815 there were three separate manufactories in Plymouth. The
proprietors of these various potteries were Mr. Fillis, Mr. Algar, and
Mr. Hellyer.

       *       *       *       *       *

_Plymouth Pottery Company._--Mr. Wm. Alsop (who made coarse ware near
the Gas Works) built a manufactory for fine earthenware of the ordinary
commoner quality, but afterwards removed to Swansea, his works passing
into the hands of Messrs. Bryant, Burnell, and James. Subsequently Mr.
Alsop returned from Swansea and formed a Limited Liability Company
for the carrying on of this concern, and produced large quantities of
the common classes of pottery and printed goods. On the death of Mr.
Alsop a Mr. Bishop, from the Staffordshire pottery district, took the
management of the works, but the manufacture gradually died out, and
about 1863 the plant was sold off and the place disposed of to the Gas
Company. The mark used by this company was the Queen’s Arms, with the
words “P.P. COY. L. (Plymouth Pottery Company Limited.) Stone China.”
The quality of the ware was of the commonest description of white
earthenware, blue printed in various patterns. There is at the present
time a manufactory of common brown ware, carried on by Mr. Hellyer.

  [Illustration: Fig. 725.]


                               WATCOMBE.

_Watcombe Pottery._--The works at Watcombe, St. Mary Church, about
two miles from Torquay, in Devonshire, were established in 1869, and
have made more rapid progress in the time than any other manufactory
on record. Their establishment owes its origin to the discovery a few
years ago, by G. T. Allen, Esq., of Watcombe House, of a bed of the
finest plastic clay, of considerable extent and depth.

This discovery was made while excavating behind his residence, and
Mr. Allen, who is a gentleman of great learning and of refined
taste, and who is son of Dr. Allen, Bishop of Ely, and was the last
Master of Dulwich College before the late changes made in that
institution, took immediate steps to have its qualities for ceramic
purposes tested. A company was immediately afterwards formed for the
getting and sale of the terra-cotta clay to various potters; but,
after experiments had been made, and its unique beauty, when worked,
discovered, it was wisely resolved to erect a pottery on the spot, and
to convert the clay immediately from the pits into Art-manufactures
and architectural enrichments. Shortly afterwards, the company were
fortunate enough to secure the services of Mr. Charles Brock, of
Hanley, in Staffordshire--a gentleman of the most enlightened taste,
and of the most extensive practical knowledge--to become the manager
and Art-director of the concern. Mr. Brock at once turned his attention
to the development of the resources of the clay thus fortunately
discovered; and having brought together a number of skilled workmen
and workwomen from the Staffordshire potteries, and procured the
best possible models and modellers, soon produced Art-works which
are quite unequalled in this country, in works of this character and
material. At the present time about one hundred persons are employed
at the Watcombe works, and there can be but little doubt that, as
they are yet quite in their infancy, that number will be considerably
increased as their resources become more developed. The Watcombe clay
is remarkably fine, clean, and pure; and, with skilful manipulation,
and the requisite degree of heat in firing, has a warmth, delicacy, and
pureness of colour, and an evenness of tint, that is very gratifying to
the eye; while the surface in the “turned” specimens is fine, smooth,
and almost velvety to the touch. It is capable of being modelled into
raised flowers and other ornaments, and is eminently adapted for most
decorative purposes. Many of the borders and pressed ornaments have
almost the sharpness, as they have quite the general effect, of those
made of jasper body; indeed, many of the productions bear a very strong
and marked general resemblance, in appearance, to those of jasper ware;
and they are superior in many respects to the much-vaunted terra cotta
of France and Germany.

  [Illustration: Fig. 726.]

  [Illustration: Figs. 727 to 733.--Watcombe Terra Cotta.]

The Art-productions of the Watcombe pottery are extremely varied, and
show how capable this local clay is of being turned to good account in
a variety of ways. Among the more notable productions are statuettes
and busts, for which the clay is peculiarly suitable. Of these, the
difficult figure of “The Disc Thrower” is one of the most successful,
both in modelling, in firing, and in all the other manipulative
processes. Another artistic statuette is a sweetly pretty figure of
a country girl, bare-footed and reclining. Her right hand holds up
her apron filled with flowers, while in her left she holds an open
book, which she is intently reading. The conception of the figure,
simple and graceful in the highest degree, is remarkably good, and
the execution is free and artistic. In others, a charming effect is
produced by leaving the figure itself of the natural red of the body,
and introducing a lighter tinted clay for the drapery in which they
are partly enveloped; this, again, being lighted up and relieved here
and there with a slight touch of colour. Among the busts are a pair
of Byron and Scott--two of the most popular subjects that could be
produced--and of full life-size, being about two feet six inches in
height, and two feet in width. In modelling, these busts are among
the most easy, graceful, and life-like we have ever seen, either in
marble, in parian, or in any other material, while as productions in
warm-tinted terra-cotta they surpass anything yet produced. They are
not only life-like portraits of these two great and widely-different
types of men, as regards features and figure and pose, but they
convey an actual reflex of the mind of each in the expression which
the modeller has caught and perpetuated. The tint of the Watcombe
terra-cotta is a delicate rich warm red, with what may be truly called
a “bloom” overspreading its surface. It is, therefore, on that account,
as well as for its matchless fineness and purity, eminently adapted
for busts and statuary; and, for such large size busts as the pair we
are writing about, it is infinitely superior to any other material.
The vases, which are made in endless variety, are characterized by
extreme chasteness and elegance of outline, and by excellent taste
in decoration, whether that decoration consists in festoons of
hand-modelled flowers, in pressed work, in milling, in printing, or
in painting. Many of them in form and in ornamentation, although
of so different a body, bear comparison with the better specimens
of Wedgewood-ware, and exhibit a purity of taste which is quite
refreshing. For tea or déjeuné services, the insides of the teapots and
cream-ewers are simply, but judiciously glazed; while the cups are, as
in some old oriental examples, lined with celeste, which colour is also
occasionally introduced with good taste, on the handles and mouldings.
Brackets, of charming design, candlesticks, jugs, medallions,
tobacco-jars, spill-cases, flower-stands--and, indeed, all the articles
produced--bear the same stamp of care and elegance. The turning is done
with admirable precision; the moulding with a refreshing delicacy of
finish; and the gilding and enamelling--only sparsely introduced, by
the way, and then only as an accessory to the general design--executed
with a pure taste and by a master mind. Besides these, it is necessary
to mention that architectural decorations and enrichments, statues,
garden and flower-vases, pedestals, and garden edgings, besides other
articles, are made; the commoner strata of clay being remarkably well
adapted, from its hardness and durability, for these purposes. Our
engravings convey but a very poor idea of the beauty and elegance of
form of the vases, &c., here produced; the purest taste characterizes
the various articles. The works are carried on by a company, under the
style of “The Watcombe Terra Cotta Clay Company,” consisting of seven
proprietors. They are situate about two miles from Torquay, on the
Teignmouth Road, near to the picturesque rocks and downs of Watcombe.
Large show-rooms have been erected, and everything done to make the
Watcombe works attractive and useful. They have been visited by, and
received the patronage of, many distinguished persons. The marks
used by the company are simply impressed in the body of the ware, or
printed on its surface. The usual mark is simply the words “Watcombe,
Torquay,” or “Watcombe;” but another, and very picturesque mark has
also been adopted--it is a woodpecker on a branch of a tree, with a
distant landscape and ship on the sea, within a garter, on which are
the words, WATCOMBE TORQUAY.

  [Illustration: WATCOMBE, TORQUAY.]


                               HONITON.

A manufactory of common brown and red ware existed here in the early
part of the present century, but has long been discontinued. Its
productions were for ordinary domestic use--the common “cloam” of the
country--and consisted of pans, pitchers, pancheons, porringers, &c.


                                EXETER.

In _Felix Farley’s Bristol Journal_ of December 29th, 1764, is the
following:--“We hear that a few gentlemen of fortune have undertaken to
set up a new manufactory of china at Exeter.” Probably rumour was all,
for as yet I have found nothing to lead to the inference that the works
were ever established.


                             BOVEY TRACEY.

The great source of Devonshire clay used in most of the potteries of
the kingdom is the district near the estuary of the river Teign. This
clay is known by various names--“Black clay,” “Ball clay,” “Devonshire
clay,” “Kingsteignton clay,” or “Potter’s clay;” and is sent off in
immense quantities to the various seats of earthenware manufacture. Yet
in the whole of this district where the clay is raised, and one would
expect to find earthenware extensively made, only one pottery exists,
and that one not on a large scale. Coal, which is such an important
item in the manufacture of earthenware, is wanting in the district;
and it is found more economical and advantageous to take the clay to
the coal, than to bring the coal to the clay. Although no true coal is
found in this district (that is, coal of the Carboniferous formation),
a lignite is found on Bovey Heath field. The beds of this lignite crop
out in a line running east and west for about the length of half a
mile in the vicinity of the present Bovey Tracey Pottery Works. In the
middle of the last century these beds had been but little worked, and
lignite could easily be obtained by open pits. In consequence of the
sandy and soft nature of the beds which alternate with the lignite,
it has been found impossible to work underground on the plan adopted
in ordinary coal-mines. The raising of Bovey lignite has, therefore,
been almost given up--all the coal near the surface having been worked
out. The existence of a cheap fuel in the proximity of the potters’
clay no doubt led to the establishment of potteries at Bovey Tracey.
This lignite is a light bituminous coal which occurs in the Miocene
formation, being the same geological formation in which the potters’
clay is found. This lignite is highly gaseous, but only possesses about
a third of the heat-giving power of average English coal. It is the
same as the Norwegian “Surturbrand,” and emits a disagreeable odour in
burning. Large pieces of fir-trees are occasionally found perfect in it.

       *       *       *       *       *

_Indiho Pottery._--About 1772 a pottery was established at Indiho, or
Indio, or Indeo, in the parish of Bovey Tracey, and continued to be
worked until 1841, when it was superseded by the Bovey Pottery, which
had been established a few years previously to that time. The Indiho
Pottery was a small manufactory, and is supposed to have been commenced
by one George Tufnell, and was afterwards in the hands of proprietors
of the names of Inglett and Steer. About the beginning of the present
century a really good earthenware was made at Indio; the printed ware
was of a superior class, and some tea and coffee cups of a brown body
with an interior enamelled with white slip and painted outside with
small sprigs are characteristic and pretty. Nothing remains of the
buildings of the manufactory at Indio--a modern house, the seat of
Charles Aldenburgh Bentinck, Esq., standing on its site.

       *       *       *       *       *

_Bovey Pottery._--The first pottery at Bovey Tracey was not on the
site of the present pottery known under this name, but was carried on
in some houses, which are parish property, near the modern railway
station. The house is at present a carpenter’s shop, and is at a corner
just where the road turns off to the Bovey Heathfield. Tradition states
that this pottery had mills to grind materials close to Bovey Bridge,
and the remains of a mill and water-wheel existed on the left bank
of the stream up to 1844. These works were carried on by a family of
the name of Ellis; they were probably commenced in the earlier half
of the eighteenth century and certainly were in work in 1755, and
lasted for thirty years after that period. Nothing certain is known
of the character of the ware of this first attempt at Bovey Tracey.
Clay pipes are said to have been made, and jugs of a yellow body
which are attributed to this period are to be found in houses in the
neighbourhood.

In 1842 the Bovey Pottery was purchased by two Devonshire gentlemen,
Captain Buller and Mr. J. Divett, who enlarged the works, and obtained
the lignite from underground workings. The supply of this substance,
however, proving insufficient for the increased requirements of the
manufacture, ordinary coal was substituted in its stead; and, after the
opening of a railway to the works, Somersetshire coal has been used to
the entire exclusion of the lignite. The works are still carried on by
Messrs. Buller and Divett, under the style of the “Bovey Tracey Pottery
Company.” In general character they are similar to those of the pottery
district, and on the average five glost-ovens are fired each week.
The quality of the ware is about equal to the ordinary and commoner
classes of Staffordshire goods. It consists of all the ordinary
services and articles in white, printed, and coloured wares, and is
principally supplied to the home markets in the West of England, and to
Mediterranean ports.

       *       *       *       *       *

_The Folly Pottery._--Another pottery in Bovey Tracey parish was
the “Folly Pottery.” This pottery may be looked upon as the origin
of the present Bovey Tracey Pottery. No doubt the site was chosen
for its proximity to the main outcrop of the lignite. Considerable
uncertainty exists as to the date of this manufacture. It was probably
commenced in the last years of the eighteenth or the first years of
the nineteenth century by a man of the name of Mead. It was then for
a considerable period contemporaneous with the Indio Pottery. The
earthenware, however, seems hardly, at any time, to have equalled in
quality that of the last-named pottery. In 1835 the works were carried
on by Messrs. John and Thomas Honeychurch. It is thus described in an
advertisement of sale:--“To be sold by public auction, as directed by
the assignees of John and Thomas Honeychurch, bankrupts, at the Union
Inn, Bovey Tracey, on the 2nd May, 1836, the Folly Pottery, situate
in the parish of Bovey Tracey, in the county of Devon. This may be
designated one of the largest and most complete potteries in the West
of England, 14 miles from Exeter and 28 from Plymouth; its situation
being in the land of clay, from which nearly all the potteries in
Staffordshire draw their supply, with coal-mine and railroad, &c.” The
advertisement, after giving particulars regarding the processes, &c.,
speaks of a glost-kiln, and a biscuit-kiln, capable of containing 1,600
saggers of ware; flint kilns; a quantity of Cornish clay and flints,
copper-plates, moulds, &c. No purchaser was found until 1842, when the
concern was bought by Captain Buller and Mr. J. Divett, and converted
into the “Bovey Tracey Pottery Company,” as last described.


                               BIDEFORD.

Pot works appear to have existed at Bideford ever since the fourteenth
century, but nothing beyond the ordinary coarse earthenware has been
produced. Nothing is known as to the early history of these works, but
fragments of ware of mediæval character have not unfrequently been dug
up. An interesting relic, a chimney-pot, is in the possession of Mr.
Crocker. It is of square form, and bears the name “Bideford,” and the
date “1668.”

       *       *       *       *       *

_The Bideford Old Pottery_, belonging to Mr. W. H. Crocker, has been in
the possession of himself and his ancestors for more than a century,
but of late years its productions, under the present proprietor, have
received a marked improvement. The works were almost entirely rebuilt,
and much extended, in 1870.

  [Illustration: Fig. 734.--Earthenware Ovens.]

Ornamental goods are to some extent made, and consist of garden vases,
edgings, jugs, and other articles. Flower-pots, sea-kale and rhubarb
pots, chimney tops, &c., are also largely made.

The great specialty, however, of the productions are the fire-clay
ovens, which are made in considerable numbers and of various sizes.
They are of peculiar shape, and so constructed as to retain the heat
for a considerable time. Their form may be said, in some measure,
to approximate to the old _couvre-feu_, as will be seen by the
engraving (Fig. 734). The bottom is flat, and the walls, which are of
great strength and thickness, are arched, so that the heat is thrown
upon the bread in every direction. In front is a loose fire-clay
door made to fit with exactness; or, occasionally, a cast-iron door
is fixed. These ovens are heated with gorse, or wood, and one bundle
of either is said to be sufficient to thoroughly bake three pecks of
dough. The ovens are, and for generations have been, in much repute
in Devonshire and Cornwall, and in the Welsh districts, and the bread
baked in them is said to have a sweeter and more wholesome flavour than
when baked in ordinary ovens. They are ornamented in a primitive manner
with impressed and incised lines, and the mark used is the proprietor’s
name

  [Illustration: W. H. CROCKER

  BIDEFORD]

       *       *       *       *       *

_North Devon Pottery._--This pottery was established in 1848 by a
company formed for the purpose. The productions are confined to
stoneware pipes, and sanitary appliances of various kinds. The goods
are made from the strong clay deposits of the northern side of
Dartmoor--a clay of peculiar hardness and tenacity--and the articles
are therefore what may be called “real vitrified stone ware,” as
distinguished from the pipes and sanitary goods made in other districts
from fire-clay. The works are under the management of Mr. Henry Jones.


                              FREMINGTON.

The manufacture of coarse brown ware has evidently been carried on
for many generations at Fremington, near Barnstaple, for fragments of
mediæval and later wares are constantly being turned up. About fifty
years ago the remains of five old potteries, which could not have been
worked for, at least, a century, existed near the present manufactory.

       *       *       *       *       *

_The Pottery_, at Fremington, was established in the early part of the
present century by Mr. George Fishley, who, in 1839, was succeeded by
his son Edmund Fishley, who continued it until his death in 1861, when
it passed into the hands of his son, Mr. Edwin B. Fishley, the present
proprietor.

The goods produced are of the ordinary glazed red ware, and consist
principally of pitchers and jars; scalding-pans for milk, for producing
the world-famed “Devonshire cream”; flower-pots and pans; washing pots,
cauldrons, and ewe pans; baking dishes and bread pans; salting vessels
and chimney pots, and many other articles. Some of the water pitchers
bear the peculiar names of “Long Toms,” “Thirty Tales,” “Gullymouths,”
&c. Yellow-ware jugs and other domestic vessels are also made.

In ornamental wares some good designs in jars, beer jugs, and vases
are produced. These are formed of a body of red clay, with figures and
flowers in white clay. They are sometimes coloured, with good effect.
The beer jugs, which are a speciality of the works, are generally white
with drawings in red, of the same colour as the body.

The great speciality of the Fremington Pottery, like that of Bideford,
is the manufacture of fire-clay ovens. These are made of various sizes
for baking from one peck up to twelve. Their general form will be best
understood from Fig. 734. The material of which they are composed
is remarkably firm, hard, and compact, and retains the heat for a
considerable time. These ovens, which are a peculiarity of the West
of England and of some of the Welsh districts, are simply enclosed
in raised brickwork, leaving the mouth open to the front. They are
heated in the inside with wood or gorse, and are remarkable for the
small quantity of fuel that is required--two pennyworth of wood being
said to be amply sufficient to bake seven or eight shillings’ worth of
flour. The bread is stated to be of a peculiarly wholesome and sweet
character. The mark used on the ovens, &c., is simply the proprietor’s
name impressed in the clay while moist. On the ornamental ware the name
is written on the bottom of the ware.

  [Illustration: E. B. FISHLEY,

  FREMINGTON.]


                                ALLER.

_The Aller Pottery._--These works, near Newton Abbot, were commenced
for the manufacture of common brown ware in 1865, and three years later
came into the hands of Messrs. John Phillips & Co., by whom they are
still carried on, for the production of architectural pottery. The
goods manufactured consist of flooring and roofing tiles, sanitary
and sewage ware, garden edgings, ornamental chimney pots, decorative
bricks, flower vases, &c., and various other kinds of fire-clay
goods. The markets principally supplied are those of Devonshire,
Somersetshire, and Cornwall.

The mark is a horse’s head, couped, with the Greek words ΦIΛΕΩ ΙΠΠΟΝ,
being a playful allusion to the name of the proprietor, “Phillips.”


                         PEDNANDREA, REDRUTH.

_Crucible Works._--These works at Pednandrea and at Fore Street,
Redruth, were established about 1760 by John Juleff, and carried on by
him until his decease, when he was succeeded by his son, John Juleff,
by whom they were continued until 1875. In that year he died and the
works passed into the hands of his two sons, by whom they are still
carried on under the style of “John and David Juleff.” The firm are the
only manufacturers of the original Cornish crucibles, which have always
had, and still maintain, the reputation of being the best articles
made for dry assaying and for standing intense heat. They are made to
a large extent and sent to most parts of the world. The firm also make
mufflers, scorifiers, special bricks and covers for assay furnaces,
plumbago crucibles for tin assaying, plumbago brass melting pots, &c.,
of various shapes and sizes. Mr. Juleff received honourable mention for
his goods at the 1861 Exhibition: there being no competition in these
specialities, no medal could be awarded. The goods are usually marked
with the name of the firm.




                              CHAPTER XI.

   Bristol--Delft Ware--Redcliffe Backs--Richard
   Frank--Ring--Flower--Bristol China--William
   Cookworthy--Richard Champion--Transference of
   Plymouth Works--Extension of Patent--Wedgwood’s
   Opposition--“Case” of the Manufacturers--Champion’s
   Specification--Champion’s Productions--Edmund Burke--Bristol
   Vases--Figures--Marks--Bristol Earthenware--Temple
   Backs--Potters’ Songs--Temple and St. Thomas’s
   Street Works--Temple Gate--Wilder Street--Bristol
   Glass--William Edkins--Salt Glaze--Brislington--Crews
   Hole--Westbury--Easton--Weston-super-Mare--Matthews’s Royal
   Pottery--Poole--Architectural Pottery Company--Bourne
   Valley--Branksea--Kinson.


                               BRISTOL.

The first record of pot-making in Bristol appears to have been in the
reign of Edward I., but it seems certain that vessels were made in the
neighbourhood in Saxon and Norman times, as well as in the earlier
Celtic and Romano-British periods. Mediæval earthenware vessels of
different periods, and probably made in the locality, have now and then
been found at Bristol, and during the reign of Elizabeth, there is no
doubt, a manufactory of fictile vessels was in operation.

“Six hundred years ago,” says Mr. Owen, “the art of pottery was
practised in Bristol, but in what form is beyond our speculation. The
record, though authentic, is too terse to give more than the bare
fact, and the imagination must be fertile indeed that can supply the
details. The Governor of Bristol Castle, under Edward I., in his
accounts, preserved in the Pipe Roll for the twelfth year of that
reign (1284), has an item--‘_pro terra fodienda ad vasa fictilia
facienda_’--which shows that this claim for high antiquity is
well founded.” Fragments of some curious pitchers and other mediæval
domestic vessels are engraved by Mr. Owen, and appear to be of about
the period alluded to.

       *       *       *       *       *

_The Delft Works._--At the close of the seventeenth century, Delft
ware was made here, and continued to be produced until about the
time when porcelain began to be produced in the city. Many specimens
of Bristol Delft ware have come under my notice, some of which are,
fortunately, dated. The earliest dated example I have seen is a plate
marked on the rim with the initials S · M · B,

                              B
    and the date 1703, thus--S M. The ware is of a very nice
                             1703

quality, with a good glaze, and the blue of good colour. The next dated
specimen, in chronological order, which has come under my notice is a
Delft high-heeled shoe, or choppine, which is dated on the sole 1722,
along with the initials M S--thus

    M S.
     1722

This very good example, which is said to be of Bristol make, was in
possession of the late Mr. James, of that city. It is beautifully
formed, has a buckle in front, and is flowered and bordered in blue.
Two of these Delft stands in the form of high-heeled shoes, formerly
belonging to Queen Charlotte, were sold at the Bernal sale. They were
of an earlier date, and marked M I 1705. Another example in the same
possession is a plate of the year 1740, bearing on its rim the initials
R · S · P, thus--

    17 P 40.
      R S

  [Illustration: Fig. 735.--Edkins’ Plate, belonging to Mr. Owen.]

One of the latest dated examples I have seen is the plate engraved on
Fig. 735, which forms part of a set belonging to a descendant of the
artist who painted it, and has remained in the family from the time of
its manufacture until it came into my hands. It is a plate painted in a
somewhat peculiar style, in blue, with a Chinese figure, trees, cattle,
and birds, and having on its under side the date 1760, and the initials
M · B · E, as shown on Fig. 736. These are the initials of Michael and
Betty Edkins, of Bristol, of whom I shall have more to say presently.

  [Illustration: E
               M➕B
               J760

  Fig. 736.]

It may be well to remark, _en passant_, that this mode of placing
initials, which is so usual on traders’ tokens, was the favourite
way of arranging the initials of husband and wife, and they were so
understood without using the short &. The upper letter was the initial
of the surname, and those below of the Christian names of the husband
and wife. Thus

     E
    M B

would read M & B E, and stand for Michael and Betty Edkins.

The Delft ware works were situated on “Redcliffe Backs,” near to the
glass works of Messrs. Little and Longman. The names of the first
potters are, as usual, lost, but in the early part of last century
the works belonged to a Mr. Richard Frank, who seems to have been
a man of standing in the place, and who employed, along with other
workmen, a Mr. Thomas Patience, and a family of the name of Hope.
Richard Frank, who had also works at Brislington, was the son of
Thomas Frank, “gallipot maker,” of Bristol, who was married in 1697;
he, the “gallipot maker,” is therefore the earliest recorded potter of
this place. The goods produced at Richard Frank’s manufactory--who,
as well as his father, is described as a “gallipot maker” in 1734–9
and 1754--were principally plates, dishes, and “Dutch tiles” for
fire-places, dairies, &c. In the Museum of Practical Geology is a slab
composed of twenty-four tiles, on which is painted in blue a view of
St. Mary Redcliffe Church, Bristol. These were made by Richard Frank,
about 1738–50, and the arms of Bishop Butler appear upon one of them.
The tiles were all, of course, painted by hand, and we have it on the
authority of Michael Edkins, himself the actual painter of the plate,
Fig. 735, that the brushes which he and the other workmen used were
made by themselves from the hairs pulled from the nostrils and eyelids
of cattle. Michael Edkins, the painter of Delft ware, was, it appears,
from Birmingham, where he was apprenticed to a house painter. His
master dying before his term expired, he was of course left to shift
for himself, and made his way to Bristol, where, becoming acquainted
with Patience and Hope, he got employed at Frank’s pottery, where he
became a “pot painter,” and continued in that employment till the Delft
pottery declined, “when (in 1761) he became a coach and general painter
and decorator, and quickly rose to eminence, was employed about most
public works in the city, assisted in painting the bas-reliefs to the
altar-piece of St. Mary Redcliffe, and also assisted Hogarth in fixing
his celebrated pictures in that altar-piece.” He was also a successful
actor at the theatre. One branch of his business that he now followed
was “enamelling glass ware,” which he did for Little and Longmans,
and their successors, Vigor and Stevens, whose glass house adjoined
the Delft pottery on Redcliffe Backs. The works stood on what is now,
at the time I write, Redcliffe Wharf, occupied by Mr. Cripps, general
wharfinger, on the river Avon.

  [Illustration: Fig. 737.--Election Plate, 1754.]

A plate bearing the words “Nugent only 1754,” was in all probability
made by Richard Frank, who was a supporter of Nugent at the general
election of that year. Another plate, commemorating the same year’s
election for Tewkesbury, is supposed to be from the same works; it
bears the words “Calvert and Martin For Tukesbury 1754 Sold by Webb.”
Among other dated examples of Bristol Delft are the following, which
may be from Frank’s pottery. A piece bearing the words “Ye 1^{st}
Sept^r 1761 Bowen · fecit;” a pair of plates made for a member of the
family of Davis, with the letters

      D
    T x H
     1716

, and others with the following


      H      U ➕ D   ELIZABETH   IOHN
    S x H    1760     BARNESS   SAUNDERS
    1751               1738      1754

“Hannah Hopkins Born Sep 17 New Style 1752,” occurs on a christening
bowl in the Edkins collection.

A fine plate, painted by Bowen, engraved on Fig. 738, is in possession
of Mr. Willet, of Brighton, who also possesses a grand tile picture,
consisting of seventy-two tiles, painted with Hogarth’s “March to
Finchley.” Mr. Fry has two clever tile pictures of nine tiles each,
one representing a cat and the other a dog. On the collar of the latter
are the words “_Bristol_, 1752.”

Later on Richard Frank took his son Thomas into partnership, and in
1777 the works were removed to Water Lane, to the manufactory which,
in 1775, had been carried on by James Alsop, a brown stoneware potter.
The following advertisement, of the year 1777, refers to this change:
“Richard Frank & Son, Earthen and Stone Pot Works, are removed from
Redcliffe Backs to Water Lane, where they continue the same business in
all its branches.”

  [Illustration: Fig. 738.]

In 1784, Joseph Ring, rectifier and vinegar maker, who had married
Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Frank (and was father of Sarah, the
wife of Frederick Cookworthy, nephew of William Cookworthy), purchased
the business of Frank and Son for £669 1_s._ 3½_d._ Mr. Owen prints
the following extracts from the valuation for this sale. It shows that
Richard Frank and Son were general dealers in all kinds of ware, as
well as Delft and stone ware makers. The inventory is headed, “The
Stock & Utensils in Trade At the Pot House in Water Lane, Bristol, as
Appraised as following.” The following are some of the items; the whole
of the plant being valued at only ten pounds:--

                                                           £ _s._ _d._
   “Black Ware                                            27   6   2½
    Red China Ware                                         3  16   2
    Tortoishell Ware                                       0  18   0
    Blue and White Sprig’d Ware                           14  15   6
    Blue and White Stone Staffordshire Ware                2  18   9½
    Dutch Ware, 18 Jugs, one to y^e Warp                   0  18   0
    Delph Ware                                             7   5   0
    21 Doz. and ½ Copperplate tiles                        4   4   0
    Best Nottingham Ware                                  25  16   8½
    Blue China Glaz’d Ware                                11   3   2½
    Enamelled China Glaze Ware                            14   8  11½
    Common Enamelled Ware                                  3  13   3
    Copperplate Ware                                       2   0   0
    Cream Colour Ware                                     90  13   4½
    White Stone Ware                                      52   0   9
    Brown Stone Ware                                     159  16  11½
    Materials, 27 tons Clay, 2/6                          29   0   6
               80 bags Sand, 1/2                           4  13   4
               11 Cut Salt,  5/6                           3   0   6
    Tools, 324 Pot Boards, 3 Benches, 1 Pounding
      Trough, 1 Mixing Trough, 1 Clay Chest, 3
      Compleat Wheel and Wheel Frames, with Working
      Benches, &c., Moulds and Drums for making            10   0   0
      Slugs, Kiln Ladder, Salting Boxes, Lignum
       Vitæ blocks and Hand Mill
    Old Iron Pot, in the Yard                               0   4   6

Richard Frank died in 1785, aged about 73, and was buried in the
Quaker’s ground at Redcliffe Pit. “Joseph Ring, successor to Richard
Frank in the Pottery Business,” in his address stated that he
“continues the manufactory of the Bristol Stone Ware, and sells all
other sorts of Queen’s and other Ware wholesale and retail.” This last
branch of his business he cultivated considerably, and appears to have
traded with most of the manufacturers of the day. In 1786 Mr. Ring
determined upon manufacturing Queen’s ware, and to that end engaged
Anthony Hassel (or Hassells), a potter of Shelton, in Staffordshire,
buying from him his stock and moulds, and removing them to Bristol.

  [Illustration: Fig. 739.]

In 1788 Mr. Ring took two partners, Mr. Taylor and Mr. Carter, he
bringing in a capital of £3,000, and Messrs. Taylor and Carter £1,500
jointly. “The Stock and Utensils in Trade at the Pot House in Water
Lane, as per Inventory taken this day,” January 9th, 1788, were sold by
Mr. Ring to himself and partners, “under the firm of Ring and Taylor,”
for £2038 1_s._ 10_d._ The manufacture of Delft ware then came to a
close.

Another Delft ware potter was Joseph Flower, who, in 1775 lived
at No. 2 on the Quay, and in 1777 removed to 3 Corn Street, where
he put a sign-board, painted black, with “Flower, Potter,” in gold
letters, for the painting of which he paid Michael Edkins 10_s._ 6_d._
Flower’s ware, says Mr. Owen, is thinner and neater in make than most
British Delft; the glaze good, and the colour clear and brilliant in
tone--indeed, in no respect inferior to Dutch. Fig. 739 is a plate
belonging to a dinner service made by Joseph Flower, and now in the
possession of his descendant Mr. J. Flower Fussel. It is painted with
a Chinese pattern, and bears initial and dates varying from 1742 to
1750. The plate here engraved bears the initials (Fig. 740). In the
same hands is a plate dated 1741–2, painted with a view of the river
Avon and the old Hotwells House; and two dishes bearing the plan of
a battle, and the words “The taking of Chagre in the West Indies by
Admiral Vernon.”

  [Illustration: Fig 740.]


                            BRISTOL CHINA.

The first mention of the making of china in Bristol occurs in a letter
of Richard Champion, dated February 26, 1766. In July, 1765, a box of
“porcelain earth” “from the internal part of the Cherokee nations, 400
miles from hence (Charles Town), on mountains scarcely accessible,”
was consigned to him, by his brother-in-law, to be forwarded to the
Worcester china works to be used there in experiments. The letter of
advice was dated Charles Town, 1765. At the same time another box of
this earth was sent to Champion for the Earl of Hyndford, who desired
Champion to open it and try experiments, or give it to Thomas Goldney
“who is a very curious gentleman.” In the letter of February 28th
Champion, writing to Lloyd, by whom it was consigned, says Mr. Goldney
has declined the clay. “I therefore,” he adds, “had it tried at a
manufactory set up here some time ago on the principle of the Chinese
porcelain; but not being successful is given up.” “The proprietors of
the work in Bristol imagined they had discovered in Cornwall all the
materials similar to the Chinese; but though they burnt the body part
tolerably well, yet there were impurities in the glaze or stone, which
were insurmountable even in the greatest fire they could give it, and
which was equal to a glass-house heat.” These works he had personally,
in November, 1765, spoken of as “a new work just established,” and
says, “this new work is from a clay and stone discovered in Cornwall,
which answers the description of the Chinese; but in burning there is a
deficiency, though the body is perfectly white within but not without,
which is always smoaky. This clay is very much like, but not quite so
fine as the Cherokee; however there can be no chance of introducing
the latter as a manufacture when it can be so easily procured from
Cornwall.”[91] This “new work” which had been tried and failed was
doubtless connected with Cookworthy of Plymouth. In 1764 he is spoken
of as “the first inventor of the Bristol china works.” Champion, at
all events, it is clear from the letters, had nothing to do with it,
and probably his first idea of making china was got from the fact of
the box of porcelain earth being consigned to him for the Worcester
works. In March, 1768, Cookworthy, the discoverer of the material,
the mainspring in all those matters, and the first to try experiments
and bring to a successful issue the manufacture of porcelain from
the Cornish materials he had found, took out his patent.[92] Soon
after this the manufacture of china was again commenced in Bristol by
Richard Champion. In 1771 a china manufactory, carried on by “William
Cookworthy & Co.,” appears to have been in operation in Castle
Green--the “Co.,” there can be no reasonable doubt, being Richard
Champion and others. In May, 1774, William Cookworthy assigned his
patent right, &c., to Champion, and the Plymouth manufactory, which had
probably been previously removed to Bristol, was finally closed; in the
rate-books the firm being, from 1773 to 1780, “Richard Champion & Co.,”
in 1781 “Richard Champion” only; and in the following year the premises
are stated to have been occupied by a pipe-maker named J. Carey.

   “Every circumstance investigated,” says Mr. Owen, in his
   valuable work “Ceramic Art in Bristol,” “proves that Champion
   first commenced china-making under licence from the patentee
   (Cookworthy). Mr. Edward Brice advanced £1,000 in aid of the
   work in February, 1768; the partnership in 1768 consisted of
   Richard Champion, Joseph Harford, and Thomas Winwood”--Harford
   contributing £3,000 to the capital. On the 1st February, 1769,
   the partnership was dissolved. Mr. Joseph Fry, without being
   a partner, is also stated to have contributed £1,500 to the
   scheme. In 1771 an advertisement of “Some beautiful dessert
   services, ornamental figures, candlesticks, and many other
   valuable articles of the Bristol manufactory,” were advertised
   to be on sale “on retail at Taylor’s Hall” in that city.

In 1772, as Mr. Owen incontestably shows, the china works were in
full operation in Bristol. On August 15th of that year the following
advertisement appeared:--

   “China. For Sale by Auction at the Taylors-Hall in Broad Street,
   on Tuesday the 1st of September and the following days, Useful
   and Ornamental China, The produce of the Bristol Manufactory,
   consisting of very elegant Figures, beautiful Vases, Jars, and
   beakers, with all kinds of useful China, blue and white and
   enamel’d. To be sold without Reserve. J. Stephens, auctioneer.
   The whole to be Viewed the Saturday and Monday preceding the
   Sale, from Ten in the morning till Two, and from Three till
   Six in the Afternoon. The Manufactory is still carried on in
   Castle Green, where all persons may be supplied with useful or
   ornamental China, Wholesale or Retail.”

In November, 1772, the following still more illustrative advertisement
appeared:--

   “China. At the Manufactory in Castle Green, Bristol, are sold
   various kinds of The True Porcelain, Both Useful and Ornamental,
   consisting of a new assortment. The Figures, Vases, Jars, and
   Beakers are very elegant, and the useful ware exceedingly good.
   As this Manufactory is not at present sufficiently known, it
   may not be improper to remark that this Porcelain is wholly
   free from the Imperfections in Wearing which the English China
   usually has, and that its Composition is equal in fineness to
   the East Indian, and will wear as well. The enamell’d Ware,
   which is rendered nearly as cheap as the English blue and white,
   comes very near and in some Pieces equal to Dresden, which this
   work more Particularly imitates. N.B. There is some of the old
   Stock, which will be sold very cheap.--Two or three careful Boys
   wanted. ☞ Also at CADELL’S Tea and China Shop,
   No. 20, in WINE STREET, is to be sold Retail, on the same Terms
   as at the Manufactory, a new and elegant Assortment of the above
   Porcelain.”

In January, 1773, as again shown by Mr. Owen, to whom the world is much
indebted for many years’ laborious searchings into every available
source of knowledge, and whom I have to thank for much information,
another advertisement appeared as follows:--

   “The True Porcelain, both useful and ornamental, Consisting of
   a large and elegant assortment (Particularly some beautiful
   Imitations of the Dresden) on any low Terms, to induce the
   Public to encourage a Manufactory the first of the kind
   introduced into England, and now brought to Great Perfection.
   Its texture not to be distinguished from East India China, and
   will wear equally well. Some of the old Stock selling remarkably
   cheap.”

From these it is evident the Bristol works were carried on
simultaneously with those of Plymouth in the last few years of those
later works, and that, like Plymouth, “vases, jars, and beakers, very
elegant,” were produced, as well as the ordinary classes of useful
goods. In June, 1773, his prices are advertised as “Complete Tea Sets
in the Dresden taste highly ornamented £7 0_s._ 0_d._ to £12 12_s._
0_d._ and upwards. Tea Sets, 43 pieces, of various prices as low as
£2 2_s._ 0_d._ Cups and Saucers from 3_s._ 6_d._ to 5_s._ 6_d._ per
half-dozen, and all other sorts of useful Ware proportionately cheap.”

Whatever may have been the position of the manufactory at Bristol, and
by whomever--whether “W. Cookworthy & Co.,” “R. Champion & Co.,” or “R.
Champion” alone--it was carried on previous to that date, certain it is
that (as I have stated) in 1774 Cookworthy sold his patent right, &c.,
to Champion, closed his Plymouth works, and from that time forth ceased
to have any connection with china making.

In 1774, then, “Richard Champion, of Bristol, merchant,” became
possessed of Cookworthy’s patent. The deed of assignment of the patent
rights, &c., from Cookworthy to Champion, is dated May 6th, 1774,
and among other “considerations” it was covenanted that whatever
the amount of value of the raw material (the Cornish clay and stone
which Cookworthy had discovered and brought into use) Champion used
in the course of a year, an equal amount of money should be paid to
Cookworthy. For example, if, in the course of a year, Champion paid
£1000 for material in Cornwall, he would also have to pay another £1000
to Cookworthy for the privilege of using it, thus doubling the price of
the material from that at which Cookworthy had himself worked it. Of
this, however, more presently.

  [Illustration: Figs. 741 and 742.--Portraits of Richard
  Champion and Judith his wife.]

Champion was, evidently, a man before his time in Bristol, enthusiastic
in everything which could tend to improve that city commercially or
otherwise, and ever ready to expend his energies and his money in
furtherance of useful schemes and beneficial manufactures. He was, it
will have been seen, just the kind of man to enter earnestly, and even
enthusiastically, into the scheme of making porcelain on a principle
that should employ native materials only, and which bid fair to be a
great and lasting benefit, not only to his city, but to the community
at large.

I have shown, then, that Richard Champion, in 1774, by deed of
assignment from Cookworthy, dated May 6th in that year, became the
sole proprietor of the patent right, and everything connected with the
china works, for which he covenanted, among other things, to pay to
Cookworthy, his heirs, executors, &c., a profit equal to the first cost
of the raw material used in his manufactory. The first arrangement was
that this royalty was to be perpetual, but it was afterwards restricted
to ninety-nine years--the time of the lease for the raw materials.
Having thus become proprietor of the concern which had at one time
been carried on jointly by Cookworthy, Lord Camelford, and himself
(and probably others), he, on the 22nd of the following February,
1775, presented a petition to the House of Commons, praying for the
term of patent right to be enlarged for a further period of fourteen
years to himself. His petition was referred to a committee, which began
its sittings on the 28th of April. The following is the report of the
committee of the House of Commons upon the petition:--

   “To prove the Allegations of the said petition, His present
   Majesty’s Letters Patent, dated 17th March, 1768, granted to
   WILLIAM COOKWORTHY, of Plymouth, Chymist, for the sole use and
   Exercise of a Discovery of Materials, of the same Nature as
   those of which the _Asiatic_ and _Dresden_ Porcelain are made,
   were produced to your Committee and read.

   “That an Assignment of the said Letters Patent from the said
   WILLIAM COOKWORTHY to the petitioner, dated 6th May, 1774, were
   also Produced and read; and

   “Mr. _John Britain_ being examined, said That he has great
   Experience in several China Manufactures, and has made several
   Trials upon all those which had been manufactured in _England_,
   and finds that all of them, except that of _Bristol_, were
   destroyed in the same fire which brings the same Bristol to
   Perfection.

   “And he produced to your committee several samples of the said
   kinds of China, which shewd the effect upon china severally, and
   said that they had not been able to bring the _Bristol_ China to
   a marketable commodity so as to furnish an order until within
   the last Six Months, but that sometimes they succeeded and at
   other times not; but that now they can execute any order.

   “That they have lately made considerable Improvements in the
   said manufacture, and particularly are endeavouring to perfect
   the Blue, in which as yet they have not entirely succeeded,
   though they have now a Gentleman who has succeeded in a small
   way, in which they have been at a considerable expence; that
   the witness thinks the manufacture is capable of further
   improvements; that they can afford it at a price equal to
   Foreign China of equal goodness; and that they have made some
   Specimens equal to good _Dresden_; that he had not seen any
   _Dresden_ ornamental China equal to the Vases produced to your
   committee, nor anything equal to the Biscuit in those Vases
   and other Ornaments; that the Gilding stands well; that _Seve_
   China differs from this--the Ornamental is more of a cream
   colour, but the glaze is so soft that it will not bear using;
   that he believes the Enamell of the _Bristol_ China is as hard
   as the Dresden and harder than the _Chinese_; that they can
   make it of any degree of thickness required; that there is
   the difference between the _Bristol_ China and the _Seve_ and
   several other kinds, that when they are broke they seem as dry
   as a Tobacco Pipe; that this is the case of all the _English_
   China; but the _Dresden_, the _Bristol_, and the _Asiatic_
   China have when broke a moist and Lucid appearance, in proof
   of which he produced Fragments of the several kinds. That the
   _Bristol_ China will stand hot water without splitting; that
   he has never known an instance of it splitting, though he has
   known several pieces of the _Asiatic_ split; that the gold does
   not come off the _Bristol_; that there are some china which
   frequent use turns brown and cracks, which the Witness thinks
   arises from there not being a proper Union between the Body and
   the glaze; that the Manufacturers have their Glaze made into a
   glass previous to its being applied to the Body, but that that
   is not the case with the _Bristol_. That they can make plates,
   but have had great Difficulties. That they have not hitherto
   much attended to that object, but have applied themselves to
   perfecting the body as a Body and the Glaze as a glaze; that
   they can render this China in most Articles as cheap as the
   _Asiatic_, and much cheaper than the _Dresden_.

   “Then the Witness produced to your committee Specimens of
   the _Asiatic_ and Chinese materials, and said he found no
   difference except that the materials of the _Asiatic_ shrunk in
   the Burning One 42d Part more than those of Bristol, and judges
   the _Bristol_ materials to be better. Then,

   “Mr. _Samuel Hardensydes_ Produced to your committee several
   pieces of China which he had lately tried Experiments on in
   London; and being examined, said that he had put _India_,
   _Dresden_, _Bristol_, and other _English_ China into the fire in
   the same Crucible; that the _India_, _Dresden_, and _Bristol_
   came out in the same state they were put in; the Bristol was
   tried three times and stood it; the Fire moved the Gilding into
   Grains, but had no other Effect upon it; in other respects it
   was rather better for the Fire.

   “_Ordered_, That leave be given to bring in a Bill for enlarging
   the Letters patent.

   “And that Mr. _Frederick Montagu_, Mr. _Cruger_, Mr. _Harris_,
   Mr. _Cooper_, the _Lord Clare_, and Mr. _Eden_, do appear and
   bring in the same.”

By this time he had prepared and produced some remarkably fine
specimens of china made at his works, for examination by the committee,
and it is not too much to say that at this period his productions were
of the highest rank. The result of his application was the ultimate
passing of an Act of Parliament, by which the patent was accordingly
enlarged. This Act, which contains a vast deal of valuable and
interesting information, I give _in extenso_, for the benefit of my
readers.[93] It was passed in 1775 (15 Geo. III., cap. 52), and is
entitled, “An Act for enlarging the term of Letters Patent granted
by his present Majesty to William Cookworthy, of Plymouth, Chymist,
for the sole use and exercise of a discovery of certain materials for
making Porcelain, in order to enable Richard Champion, of Bristol,
merchant (to whom the said Letters Patent have been assigned), to carry
the said discovery into effectual execution for the benefit of the
public.” It is as follows:--

   “Whereas his present Majesty King George the Third has been
   graciously pleased to grant his Royal Letters Patent under the
   Great Seal of Great Britain unto William Cookworthy, Chymist,
   in the words, or to the effect, following; that is to say:
   George the Third by the grace of God of Great Britain, France,
   and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, and so forth, to all
   to whom these presents shall come, greeting: Whereas, William
   Cookworthy, of Plymouth, in the County of Devon, Chymist, has
   by his petition humbly represented unto us that he hath by a
   series of experiments discovered that materials of the same
   nature as those of which the Asiatic porcelain is made are to
   be found in immense quantities in our island of Great Britain,
   which ingredients are distinguished in our two counties of
   Devon and Cornwall by the names of _moor stone_, and _growan_,
   and _growan clay_; that the ware which he hath prepared from
   these materials hath all the character of the true porcelain in
   regard to grain, transparency, colour, and infusibility, in a
   degree equal to the Chinese or Dresden ware: whereas, all the
   manufactures of porcelain hitherto carried on in Great Britain
   have been only imitations of the genuine kind, wanting the
   beauty of colour, and the smoothness and lustre of grain, and
   the great characteristic of genuine porcelain sustaining the
   most extreme degree of fire without melting; that this discovery
   hath been attended with great labour and expense, and, to the
   best of his knowledge and belief in regard to this kingdom, is
   new and his own, the materials being, even at this time, applied
   to none of the uses of pottery but by him and those under his
   direction; and that he verily believes this invention will be of
   great advantage to the public. He, therefore, most humbly prayed
   us that we should be pleased to grant him our Royal Letters
   Patent for the sole making and vending of this new invented
   porcelain, composed of moor stone or growan, and growan clay,
   within that part of our kingdom of Great Britain called England,
   our dominion of Wales, and the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, for
   the space of fourteen years, according to the statute in that
   case made and provided: we, being willing to give encouragement
   to all arts and inventions which may be for the public good, are
   graciously pleased to condescend to the petitioner’s request.
   Know ye, therefore, that we, of our especial grace, certain
   knowledge, and meet motion, have given and granted, and for
   these presents our heirs and successors do give and grant unto
   the said William Cookworthy, his executors, administrators, and
   assigns, our special licence, full power, sole privilege and
   authority, that he, the said William Cookworthy, his executors,
   administrators, and assigns, and every of them, by himself and
   themselves, or by his or their deputy or deputies, servants,
   or agents, or such others as the said William Cookworthy,
   his executors, administrators, and assigns shall at any time
   agree with, and no others, from time to time, and at all
   times hereafter during the term of years herein expressed,
   shall, and lawfully may make, use, exercise, and vend his said
   invention within that part of Great Britain called England,
   our dominion of Wales, and the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed,
   and in such a manner as he, the said William Cookworthy, his
   executors, administrators, and assigns, or any of them, in their
   discretions seem meet; and that the said William Cookworthy, his
   executors, administrators, and assigns shall, and lawfully may,
   enjoy the whole profit, benefit, commodity, and advantage from
   time to time coming, growing, accruing, and arising by reason
   of the said invention for and during the term of years herein
   mentioned, to have, hold, exercise, and enjoy the said licence,
   privileges, and advantages hereinbefore granted, or mentioned
   to be granted, to the said William Cookworthy, his executors,
   administrators, and assigns, for and during and to the full end
   of the term of fourteen years from the date of these presents
   next and immediately ensuing, and fully to be completed and
   ended according to the statute in such case made and provided,
   and to the end that he, the said William Cookworthy, his
   executors, administrators, and assigns, and every of them, may
   have and enjoy the full benefit and the sole use and exercise
   of the said invention, according to our gracious intention
   hereinbefore declared; we do by these presents, for us, our
   heirs and successors, require and strictly command all and every
   person and persons, bodies politic and corporate, and all other
   our subjects whatsoever, of what estate, quality, degree, name,
   or condition soever they be, within that said part of Great
   Britain called England, our dominion of Wales, and our town
   of Berwick-upon-Tweed aforesaid, that neither they nor any of
   them, at any time during the continuance of the said term of
   fourteen years hereby granted, either directly or indirectly,
   do make, use, or practise the said invention or any part of
   the same so attained unto by the said William Cookworthy as
   aforesaid, nor in anywise counterfeit, imitate, or resemble
   the same, nor shall make, or cause to be made, any addition
   thereunto, or substraction from the same, whereby to pretend
   himself or themselves to be the inventor or inventors, deviser
   or devisers thereof, without the licence, consent, or agreement
   of the said William Cookworthy, his executors, administrators,
   or assigns, in writing under his or their hands and seals,
   first had and obtained in that behalf, upon such pains and
   penalties as can or may be justly inflicted on such offenders
   for their contempt of this our Royal command; and further, to
   be answerable to the said William Cookworthy, his executors,
   administrators, and assigns according to law for his and their
   damages thereby occasioned; and moreover, we do by these
   presents, for us, our heirs, and successors, will and command
   all and singular the justices of the peace, mayors, sheriffs,
   bailiffs, constables, head boroughs, and all other officers
   and ministers whatsoever, of us, our heirs, and successors for
   the time being, that they, or any of them, do not, nor shall
   at any time hereafter during the said term hereby granted the
   said William Cookworthy, his executors, administrators, or
   assigns, or any of them, or his or their deputies, servants, or
   agents, in anywise molest, trouble, or hinder the said William
   Cookworthy, his executors, administrators, and assigns, or any
   of them, or his or their deputies, servants, or agents, in
   or about the due and lawful use or exercise of the aforesaid
   invention or anything relating thereto: Provided always, and
   these our Letters Patent are and shall be upon this condition,
   that if at any time during the said term here granted, it shall
   be made to appear to us, our heirs, or successors, or any six
   or more of our or their Privy Council, that this our grant is
   contrary to law, or prejudicial or inconvenient to our subjects
   in general, or that if the said invention is not a new invention
   as to the public use and exercise thereof, in that part of our
   kingdom of Great Britain called England, our dominion of Wales,
   and town of Berwick-upon-Tweed aforesaid, or not invented or
   found out by the said William Cookworthy as aforesaid, then,
   upon signification or declaration thereof, to be made by us,
   our heirs and successors, under our or their signet or Privy
   Seal, or by the lords of our or their Privy Council, or any
   six or more of them under their hand, these our Letters Patent
   shall forthwith cease, determine, and be utterly void to all
   intents and purposes, anything hereinbefore contained in
   anywise notwithstanding. Provided also, that these our Letters
   Patent, or anything herein contained, shall not extend to or
   be construed to extend to the privileges of the said William
   Cookworthy, his executors, administrators, or assigns, or any of
   them, to use or imitate any invention or work whatsoever which
   has heretofore been found out or invented by any other of our
   subjects whatsoever, or publicly used or exercised in that part
   of our kingdom of Great Britain called England, our dominion of
   Wales, and town of Berwick-upon-Tweed aforesaid, unto whom, the
   like Letters Patent or privileges have already been granted for
   the sole use, exercise, and benefit thereof, it being our will
   and pleasure that the said William Cookworthy, his executors,
   administrators, and assigns, and all and every person or persons
   to whom the like Letters Patent or privileges have already been
   granted as aforesaid, shall distinctly use and practice their
   several inventions by them invented and found out, according
   to the true intent and meaning of the said Letters Patent and
   of these presents. Provided, likewise, nevertheless, and these
   our Letters Patent are upon this express condition, that the
   said William Cookworthy, his executors, administrators, or
   assigns, or any person or persons which shall or may be at any
   time or times hereafter, during the continuance of this grant,
   have or claim any right, title, or intent, in law or equity,
   or of, in, or to the power, privilege, and authority of the
   sole use of the said benefit hereby granted, shall make any
   transfer or assignment, or pretended transfer or assignment,
   of the said liberty and privilege, or any share or shares for
   the benefit or profit thereof, or shall declare any trust
   thereof to or for any number of persons exceeding the number of
   five, or shall open, or cause to be opened, any book or books
   for public subscriptions to be made by any number of persons
   exceeding the number of five for such or the like intents or
   purposes, or shall presume to act as a corporate body, or
   shall divide the benefit of these our Letters Patent, or the
   liberty and privileges hereby by us granted, into any number
   of shares exceeding the number of five, or shall commit or do,
   or shall procure to be committed or done, any act, matter, or
   thing whatsoever, during the time such person or persons shall
   have any right or title, either in law or equity, in or to the
   said premises which shall be contrary to the true intent and
   meaning of a certain Act of Parliament, made in the sixth year
   of the reign of our late royal greatgrandfather King George
   the First, entituled, ‘An Act for the better securing certain
   powers and privileges, intended to be granted by his Majesty
   by two charters, for the Insurance of Ships and Merchandize
   by Sea, and for laying money out upon bottoming, and for
   restraining several extravagant and unwarrantable practices
   therein mentioned,’ or in case the said privilege or authority
   shall at any time hereafter become vested in, or in trust for,
   any number of more than five persons or their representatives
   (reckoning executors or administrators as for the single person
   whom they represent, as to such interest as they are or shall be
   entitled to in right of such testator or intestate), that then,
   and in any of the said cases, these our Letters Patent, and
   all liberties and advantages whatsoever hereby granted, shall
   utterly cease and become void, anything hereinbefore contained
   to the contrary thereof, anywise, notwithstanding. Provided
   also, if the said William Cookworthy shall not particularly
   describe and ascertain the nature of his invention, and in
   what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in
   writing, under his hand and seal, and cause the same to be
   enrolled in our High Court of Chancery within four calendar
   months next and immediately after the date of these our Letters
   Patent, that then these our Letters Patent, and all liberties
   and advantages whatsoever hereby granted, shall utterly cease,
   determine, and become void, anything hereinbefore contained to
   the contrary thereof in anywise notwithstanding. And, lastly we
   do by these presents, for us, our heirs and successors, grant
   unto the said William Cookworthy, his executors, administrators,
   and assigns, that these, our Letters Patent, or the enrollment
   of the exemplification thereof, shall be in and by all things
   good, firm, valid, sufficient, and effectual in the law,
   according to the true intent and meaning thereof, and shall
   be taken, construed, and adjudged in the most favourable and
   beneficial sense for the best advantage of the said William
   Cookworthy, his executors, administrators, and assigns, as
   well in all our Courts of Record as elsewhere, and by all
   and singular the officers and ministers whatsoever of us,
   our heirs, and successors in that part of the said kingdom
   of Great Britain called England, our dominion of Wales, and
   town of Berwick-upon-Tweed aforesaid, and amongst all and
   every the subjects of us, our heirs, and successors whatsoever
   and wheresoever, notwithstanding the not full and certain
   describing the nature or quality of the said invention, or
   of the materials thereto conducing and belonging, in witness
   whereof we have caused these our Letters to be made patent:
   witness ourself, at Westminster, the seventeenth day of March,
   in the eighth year of our reign.

   “And whereas the said William Cookworthy hath by an instrument
   in writing, under his hand and seal, described and ascertained
   the nature of the said invention,[94] and the manner in which
   the same is to be performed, and hath caused the same to be
   enrolled in His Majesty’s High Court of Chancery within the
   time and in the manner directed by the said Letters Patent; and
   whereas by a deed of assignment, bearing date the sixth day
   of May, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Seventy-four, the said
   William Cookworthy (for the consideration therein mentioned)
   hath assigned all his interest, benefit, and property, in the
   said Letters Patent and invention, unto RICHARD CHAMPION, of
   Bristol, merchant, his executors, administrators, and assigns;
   and whereas the said Richard Champion hath been at very
   considerable expense and great pains and labour in prosecuting
   the said invention, and by reason of the great difficulty
   attending the manufacture upon a new principle, hath not been
   able to bring the same to perfection until within the last
   year, and it will require further pains, labour, and expense,
   to render the said invention of public utility, for all which
   trouble and expense the said Richard Champion will not be able
   to receive an adequate compensation unless the term granted by
   the said royal Letters Patent be prolonged. To the end therefore
   that the said Richard Champion may be encouraged to prosecute
   and complete the said invention, may it please your Majesty (at
   the humble petition of the said Richard Champion) that it may be
   enacted, and be it enacted by the King’s most excellent Majesty,
   by and with the consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal,
   and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the
   authority of the same, that all and every the powers, liberties,
   privileges, authorities, rights, benefits, and advantages,
   which in and by the said Letters Patent were originally given
   and granted to him the said William Cookworthy, his executors,
   administrators, and assigns, and no further or greater than he
   or the said Richard Champion would have been entitled to if
   this Act had not been made, shall be, and the same are hereby
   given and granted, to the said Richard Champion, his executors,
   administrators, and assigns, and shall be held, exercised,
   and enjoyed by him the said Richard Champion, his executors,
   administrators, and assigns, for and during the present term of
   fourteen years granted by the said Letters Patent; and from and
   after the end and expiration of the said term of fourteen years
   thereby granted, for and during the further or additional term
   of fourteen years, in as full, ample, and beneficial manner, in
   all respects, and to all intents and purposes whatsoever, as
   he the said Richard Champion, his executors, administrators,
   and assigns, could have held and enjoyed the same under and by
   virtue of the said Letters Patent for the term thereby granted,
   in case the said Letters Patent had been originally granted by
   his Majesty to him the said Richard Champion, his executors,
   administrators, and assigns.

   “Provided always, and be it further granted and declared by
   the authority aforesaid, that if the said Richard Champion
   shall not cause to be enrolled in the High Court of Chancery,
   within four months after passing this Act, a specification
   of the mixture and proportions of the raw materials of which
   his porcelain is composed, and likewise of the mixture and
   proportions of the raw materials which compose the glaze of the
   same (which specification is now in the hands of the Lord High
   Chancellor of Great Britain); or if the same shall not be a true
   and just specification of the mixture and proportions of the
   said materials, then this Act shall cease, determine, and be
   absolutely void, anything hereinbefore contained to the contrary
   notwithstanding.

   “Provided also that nothing in this Act contained shall be
   construed to hinder or prevent any Potter or Potters, or any
   other person or persons, from making use of any such raw
   materials, or any mixture or mixtures thereof (except such
   mixture of raw materials, and in such proportions, as are
   described in the specification hereinbefore directed to be
   enrolled), anything in this Act to the contrary notwithstanding.

   “And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that this
   Act shall be adjudged, deemed, and taken to be a public Act,
   and shall be judicially taken notice of as such by all judges,
   justices, and other persons whomsoever, without specially
   pleading the same.”

Between the time, however, of the committee’s sitting and the passing
of the Act, Josiah Wedgwood, whose name is always received with
reverence by all who study the history of Ceramic Art, ostensibly as
the spokesman of the Staffordshire potters, but really at first alone,
opposed the grant, on the ground, among others, that the use of the
natural productions of the soil ought to be the right of all, and that
the restrictions would be detrimental to trade and injurious to the
public. In Wedgwood’s “memorial” against the petition of Champion,
which he presented to parliament, “Josiah Wedgwood on behalf of himself
and the manufacturers of earthenware in Staffordshire,” urges “that
the manufacture of earthenware in that county has of late received
many essential improvements, and is continually advancing to higher
degrees of perfection; that the further improvement of the manufactory
must depend upon the application and the _free use_ of the various
raw materials that are the natural products of this country; that
the raw materials, now secured for a limited time to the petitioner
(Champion) may, at the expiration of the patent assigned to him, be of
great use to enable the potters throughout Great Britain to improve
their manufactures into the finest porcelain, and thereby produce a
branch of commerce of more national importance than any of this kind
hitherto established;” that Mr. Champion “was not the inventor, but
the _purchaser_ only of the unexpired patent granted to another man,
who does not appear to have any interest in this application; that
the petitioner, therefore, _not being the original discoverer_, and
having purchased the remaining term of the patent at a _proportionate
price_, can have no right to expect a further extension of a monopoly
injurious to the community at large, which neither the ingenious
discoverer nor the purchaser, for want perhaps of skill and experience
in this particular business, have been able, during the space of seven
years already elapsed, to bring to any useful degree of perfection;”
and that, if he has brought his discovery to perfection, as alleged,
the unexpired term of seven years ought to be enough to enable him to
reimburse himself. To this memorial of Josiah Wedgwood’s, Champion
presented the following honourable reply:--

   “When Mr. Champion presented a petition to the Honourable House
   of Commons, praying the aid of parliament for a prolongation
   of the term granted by the Patent for making porcelain, he
   built his hopes of success on two circumstances: the first,
   the apparent utility resulting from such a manufacture carried
   to a perfection equal to that of the Dresden and Asiatic. The
   second circumstance on which he grounded his expectation was
   the sense which he hoped the House would entertain of the
   justice of compensating, by some reasonable privilege, the great
   labour, expense, and risque which had been incurred, not only
   in the invention of the material and composition, but in the
   improvement of this important manufacture. He was also almost
   certain that no person whatsoever in this kingdom could, on
   a supposition of their being prejudiced in their rights in a
   similar property, have had any cause of complaint, or pretence
   to interfere with him, or to oppose the prayer of his petition.

   “Mr. Champion however finds, with some surprise, that Mr.
   Wedgwood, who has never hitherto undertaken any similar
   manufacture, conceives himself likely to be injured by the
   indulgence which Mr. Champion has solicited. He has accordingly
   printed a memorial containing his reasons against the granting
   the prayer of Mr. Champion’s petition, and is now actually gone
   in person into Staffordshire in order to solicit others to
   prefer a petition to Parliament against Mr. Champion’s bill.

   “Before Mr. Champion replies to Mr. Wedgwood’s observations
   or complaints, he begs leave to remark on the time when Mr.
   Wedgwood introduces them. Mr. Champion presented his petition
   to the Honourable House of Commons on the twenty-second day of
   February. The committee to which that petition was referred
   did not sit until the twenty-eighth day of April, during which
   time Mr. Wedgwood neither made any public application against
   Mr. Champion, or gave him any sort of private information
   of intended opposition. Neither did any manufacturers in
   Staffordshire or elsewhere express any uneasiness or make any
   complaint of Mr. Champion’s application, though it is not
   improbable that Mr. Wedgwood’s journey thither may be productive
   of both.

   “Mr. Champion forbore to bring forward his petition before
   the committee until he had prepared such specimens of his
   manufacture as might give the committee the most striking proofs
   of the truths of his allegations, and this could not be done
   sooner in a manufacture so very lately, and with such incredible
   difficulty, brought to its present perfection. He trusts that
   the specimens which he has produced in various kinds will show
   that he has been usefully employed, and merits the public
   protection.

   “Mr. Wedgwood is pleased to represent his memorial on behalf of
   himself and the manufacturers of earthenware in Staffordshire.
   Mr. Champion says, as has been already hinted, that Mr. Wedgwood
   had not any authority from such manufacturers, or any others, to
   make any representations in their behalf.

   “Mr. Champion most cheerfully joins in the general praise which
   is given to Mr. Wedgwood for the many improvements which he has
   made in the Staffordshire earthenware, and the great pains and
   assiduity with which he has pursued them. He richly deserves the
   large fortune he has made from these improvements. But should he
   not be content with the rewards he has met with, and not have
   the avidity to grasp at a manufacture which another has been
   at as great pains as Mr. Wedgwood has employed in his own to
   establish?--a manufacture entirely original in this kingdom, and
   which all nations in Europe have been desirous to obtain?

   “Mr. Wedgwood says the application and free use of the various
   raw materials of this country will make a great improvement in
   the manufacture of Staffordshire earthenware. Mr. Champion has
   no objection to the use which the potters of Staffordshire may
   make of his or any other raw materials, provided earthenware
   only, as distinguished by that title, is made from it. He wants
   to interfere with no manufacture whatever, and is content to
   insert any clause to confine him to the invention which he
   possesses, and which he has improved. He is contented that Mr.
   Wedgwood, and every manufacturer, should reap the fruit of their
   labour; all he asks is, such a protection for his own as the
   legislature in its wisdom shall think merits.

   “Mr. Wedgwood’s remark on the difference of merit betwixt Mr.
   Watt and Mr. Champion is ungenerous and unjust: ungenerous, as
   Mr. Champion has not, or does not, compare himself to Mr. Watt;
   he has not even mentioned his name in any of his applications.
   His business is not with comparative or similar merits; it is
   his duty to prove the merit of his own manufacture, for which
   he solicits the encouragement of the legislature. He hopes that
   the specimens which he has produced before the committee are
   incontrovertible evidences of it. The remark is unjust, because
   he has been many years concerned in this undertaking; nearly
   from the time the patent was granted to Mr. Cookworthy, in whose
   name it continued till assigned over to Mr. Champion. To deny
   the advantage of any part of Mr. Cookworthy’s merits to his
   assignee is to deny that advantage to Mr. Cookworthy himself.
   One part of the benefit of every work, from whence profit
   may be derived, is the power of assignment; and if, in fact,
   the manufacture could not be completed, nor the inventor, of
   course, derive any profit from it, without the expense, care,
   and perseverance of the assignee and once partner, the merit of
   that assignee, who both completes the manufacture and rewards
   the discoverer, is equal in equity to that of the discoverer
   himself--equal in every respect, except the honour that attends
   original genius and power of invention.

   “Mr. Champion can assert with truth that his hazard and expense
   was many times greater than those of the original inventor. Mr.
   Champion mentions this without the least disparagement to the
   worthy gentleman, who is his particular friend; he gives him all
   the merit which was due to so great a discovery; he deserved it
   for finding out the means of a manufacture which will, in all
   probability, be a very great advantage to this country; but yet
   Mr. Champion claims the merit of supporting the work, and, when
   the inventor declined the undertaking himself, with his time,
   his labour, and his fortune, improved it from a very imperfect
   to an almost perfect manufacture; and he hopes soon, with proper
   encouragement, to one altogether perfect.

   “What regards the original discoverer is, in some measure,
   answered in the foregoing paragraph, but the original discoverer
   is not without a reward. Mr. Champion at this moment allows him,
   and is bound to his heirs, &c., in a profit equal to the first
   cost of the raw material, and, as Mr. Champion’s manufactory is
   encouraged, must increase to a very great degree.

   “Nor is Mr. Wedgwood more excusable for his implication that
   a want of skill prevented the work being brought earlier to
   perfection; undoubtedly the difficulty arose from a want of
   skill in working these new materials. This is a profound as
   well as civil remark of Mr. Wedgwood’s; but that skill was to
   be acquired only by care and expense, and that care and expense
   are Mr. Champion’s merits. Mr. Champion pretends to no other
   knowledge as a potter than what he has acquired in the progress
   of this manufacture, his profession of a merchant not putting
   more in his power; but he had the experience of Mr. Cookworthy,
   the inventor, one of the most able chemists in this kingdom, to
   whom the public is indebted for many useful discoveries; he had
   the experience of the manager of his works, a person bred in the
   potteries, and thoroughly conversant in manufactures of this
   kind; the workmen he employed were brought up to the branch, and
   he has spared no expense in encouraging foreign artificers.

   “But Mr. Champion, as a further answer to Mr. Wedgwood’s
   implication of want of skill, begs leave to observe that the
   _Dresden_ manufacture (like this, a native clay), which has
   been established so great a number of years, was long before
   it attained perfection, and even now it has not that exact
   proportion of shape which the Chinese manufacture possesses.
   The _Austrian_ manufacture (also a native clay) was twenty-five
   years before it attained any degree of perfection, and then only
   by accidental aid of the Dresden workmen who were dispersed
   during the late war. The work in _Brandenburgh_ is nothing more
   than the Dresden materials, wrought by workmen removed hither
   from that city, the Brandenburgh work having no clay of its
   own territory. Mr. Champion is surprised that Mr. Wedgwood can
   find no cause but one, which he chooses to blame, why a new
   manufacture, upon a principle never before tried in England,
   should not have attained perfection in a shorter space than the
   very short space of seven years.

   “As to Mr. Wedgwood’s calculation of the profits sufficient to
   recompense the ingenuity, and repay the trouble and expense of
   others, Mr. Champion submits it to a discerning and encouraging
   legislature, whether a seven years’ sale is likely to repay a
   seven years’ unproductive, experimental, and chargeable labour,
   as well as the future improvement to grow from new endeavours?
   Until Mr. Champion was able to make this porcelain in quantities
   to supply a market, it was rather an object of curiosity than a
   manufacture for national benefit.

   “There is one branch of the manufacture, the _blue and white_,
   upon which he has just entered--this branch is likely to be the
   most generally useful of any: but the giving a blue colour under
   the glaze, on so hard a material as he uses, has been found full
   of difficulty. This object he has pursued at a great expense by
   means of a foreign artificer; and he can now venture to assert
   that he shall bring that to perfection which has been found so
   difficult in Europe in native clay.

   “If the various difficulties which have attended his work from
   its beginning could have been foreseen, this patent ought not to
   have been applied for at so early a period. The time in which
   profit was to be expected has necessarily been laid out in
   experiment. It was thought that when the principle was found,
   the work was done; but the perfecting a chemical discovery into
   a merchantable commodity has been found a troublesome and a
   tedious work. It is therefore presumed that the legislature
   will distinguish between the over-sanguine hopes, in point of
   time, of an invention which, however, has at length succeeded,
   and those visionary projects which deceive for ever. Upon
   the whole, Mr. Champion humbly rests his pretensions to the
   protection of the legislature upon three grounds--that he has
   been almost from the beginning concerned in the work which has
   cost so much labour and expense; that he now allows the inventor
   a certain and increasing recompense, though the carrying that
   invention to an actual merchantable manufacture was entirely
   his own work; that the potteries of chinaware in most other
   countries in Europe have been at the charge of sovereign
   princes. It has been immediately so in France, Austria, Dresden,
   and Brandenburgh; in Italy they have been under the care of
   great noblemen. In this original work Mr. Champion claims the
   principal share of supporting, improving, and carrying into
   execution a manufacture so much admired in China and Japan, and
   now first attempted in Britain, in capacity of resisting the
   greatest heat, equal to the Asiatic and Dresden.”

Wedgwood answered this “Reply” of Champion’s by some “Remarks,” which
he issued to the members of the legislature, wherein he reminds them
that he “has all his life been concerned in the manufacture and
improvement of various branches of pottery and porcelain; that he
has long had an ambition to carry these manufactures to the highest
pitch of perfection they will admit of; and that so far from having
any personal interest in opposing Mr. Champion, it would evidently
have been his interest to have accepted of some of the obliging
proposals that have been made to him by Mr. Champion and his friends,
and to have said nothing more upon the subject; but Mr. Wedgwood is
so fully convinced of the great injury that would be done to the
landed, manufacturing, and commercial interests of this nation, by
extending the term of Mr. Champion’s monopoly of raw materials, of
which there are immense quantities in the kingdom, and confining the
use of them to one or a few hands, that he thought it a duty of moral
obligation to take the sense of his neighbours upon this subject, and
to give up to the manufactory at large all advantages he might have
secured to himself. It is upon these principles, and these alone,
that he has acted in this business, and therefore he humbly presumes
he does not merit the censure of _avidity_ in grasping at other men’s
manufactures, though he thinks that himself and all manufacturers
should be protected in the _free use_ of all raw materials that are
not invented by men, but are the natural productions of the earth.
When Mr. Wedgwood discovered the art of making _Queen’s Ware_,
which employs ten times more people than all the china works in the
kingdom, he did not ask for a patent for this important discovery. A
patent would greatly have limited its public utility. Instead of _one
hundred manufactories_ of Queen’s Ware, there would have been _one_;
and instead of an exportation to all quarters of the world, a few
pretty things would have been made for the amusement of the people of
fashion in England. It would be the same with the use of the materials
in question: if they are not only confined to the use of one person
or manufactory, by patent, for fourteen years, but that patent be
extended for twenty or thirty years longer, so long they may be the
means of supporting _one_ trifling manufactory; but if the materials
are left free for general use, and Mr. Champion is in possession of
the result of all his experiments and real discoveries with respect
to the art of manufacturing these raw materials into porcelain, no
essential part of which has been revealed by him to the public, either
in his specifications or otherwise, then there is reason to expect a
very large and extensive manufactory of porcelain will be established
in various parts of this kingdom, to the great benefit of the public,
without any injury to Mr. Champion.”

Wedgwood continued his “remarks” by replying that Mr. Champion’s offer
of inserting a clause to allow the potters the free use of the raw
material in all kinds of earthenware, restricting its use in porcelain
only to himself, was a useless concession, because Champion had failed
to define the difference between earthenware and porcelain, and had
failed to impart the secret of his manufacture to the public, either
by his specifications or otherwise. “How then,” he asked, “are the
Staffordshire potters to use the growan stone and growan clay for the
improvement of their finer stone and earthenwares, without producing
such a manufacture as may in Westminster Hall be deemed porcelain?” He
also said that, judging from Mr. Champion’s own words, Cookworthy’s
patent “ought not to have been applied for at so early a period,” it
was evident that the “patent was taken out for a discovery of the
art of making true porcelain before it _was_ made; and if the
discovery has been since made, there can have been no specification of
it; it has not been revealed to the public, it is in Mr. Champion’s
own possession, and being _unknown_, it is presumed the right to
practise it cannot be confirmed or extended by Act of Parliament, which
ought to have some clear ground to go upon.” The patent, he says, has
evidently been considered as a privilege to the patentee, “for the sole
right of _making experiments_ upon materials which many persons
have thought would make good porcelain, and on which experiments have
been prosecuted by several successive sets of operators many years
before the date of the patent.” He contended that it would have been
an “egregious injury to the public” to continue the patent to one
person who was no original discoverer, who was only just commencing
the commonest and most useful part of his business with the aid of a
foreign artificer, in the hope that a discovery might at some future
time be made. He considered that if the raw materials were thrown open
to all, “a variety of experienced hands would probably produce more
advantage to the nation in a few years than they would ever do when
confined to one manufactory, however skilful the director might be,”
and that the extension of the patent securing the monopoly “would be
a precedent of the most dangerous nature, contrary to policy, and of
general inconvenience,” and therefore he “humbly hopes the legislature
will not grant the prayer of Mr. Champion’s petition,”--a hope which,
however earnestly expressed, and however tenaciously followed, was
eventually of no avail. To this opposition, however, is doubtless to be
traced the ultimate abandonment of the patent, and the manufacture of
the less difficult soft paste to so great an extent in Staffordshire.

The term of the original patent, it will be remembered, was for
fourteen years, of which nearly eight years remained unexpired at the
time when it was assigned over by Cookworthy to Champion. The extension
petitioned for would thus have given Champion nearly twenty-two
years’ exclusive right to the raw materials, and it was this extended
monopoly which aroused the watchfulness of Wedgwood, and made him
determined to use his utmost efforts to prevent its being enacted.
In this opposition--which was determined and energetic, though only
partially successful--Wedgwood, besides memorialising the legislature
against granting the prayer of the petition, issued a number of
“Reasons why the extension of the term of Mr. Cookworthy’s patent, by
authority of parliament, would be injurious to many landowners, to the
manufacturers of earthenware, and to the public.” In addition to this,
he made out and presented a “Case of the manufacturers of earthenware
in Staffordshire,” setting forth the advantages that would be derived
from throwing open the use of the raw materials, and the disadvantages
which an extension of the monopoly would entail, not only on the
manufacturers, but on the public at large.

These “reasons” why the extension of the term of Mr. Cookworthy’s
patent, by authority of parliament, would be injurious to landowners,
to the manufacturers of earthenware, and to the public are so
ingenious, and the “case” so carefully made out, that I here give them
entire.[95]

   “It would be injurious to the _landowners_, because by means
   of this monopoly materials of great value would be locked up
   within the bowels of the earth, and the owners be deprived of
   the power of disposing of them; for the present patentee and his
   assigns have contracted with _one gentleman_ that he shall sell
   these materials only to _them_, and that they shall purchase
   such materials only from _him_, during the term of _ninety-nine_
   years.

   “It would be injurious to the _manufacturers_ of earthenware;
   because, notwithstanding the mechanical part of their
   manufactory, their execution, their forms, their painting, &c.,
   are equal, if not superior, to those of any other country, yet
   the _body_ of their ware stands in great need of improvement,
   both in colour and texture; because the public begin to require
   and expect such improvement; because without such improvement
   the sale of their manufactures will probably decline in favour
   of foreign manufacturers, who may not be deprived of the
   use of the materials that their countries produce. For the
   consideration in this case is not whether one manufacturer or
   manufactory shall be supported against another, but whether the
   earthenware manufactories of _Great Britain_ shall be supported
   in their improvements against those of every other country in
   the world; because the materials in question are the most proper
   of any that have been found in this island for the improvement
   of the manufactures of earthenware; and because _no line has
   been drawn_, or _can be drawn_, with sufficient distinctness,
   between earthenware and porcelain, and especially between
   earthenware and the various kinds of this patent porcelain, to
   render it safe for any potter to make use of these materials in
   his works.

   “The extension of this monopoly would be injurious to the
   _public_, by preventing the employment of a great number of
   vessels in the coasting trade in bringing the raw materials
   from the places where they would be dug out of the earth to the
   different parts of this island where they would be manufactured.

   “This extension would also be injurious to the public because
   it would prevent our manufacturers of earthenware from being
   _improved in their quality_ and _increased in their quantity and
   value_ to the amount of many hundred thousand pounds _per annum_.

   “And lastly, it would be injurious to the public by preventing
   a very great increase of our exports, _which must infallibly
   take place_ when the body of our earthenwares shall come to be
   improved so as to bear a proportion to the beauty of their forms
   and the excellence of their workmanship.

   “Upon the whole, would it not be unreasonable to extend the term
   of a monopoly in favour of an individual to the prejudice of ten
   thousand industrious manufacturers, when the individual can have
   no merit with the public, as he has made no discovery to them?”

The following is the “case” of the manufacturers of earthenware in
Staffordshire, as drawn up by Wedgwood:--

   “The potters, and other persons depending upon the pottery in
   _Staffordshire_, beg leave humbly to represent that Nature has
   provided this island with immense quantities of materials proper
   for the improvement of their manufactures; that such materials
   have been known and used twenty or thirty years ago, and that
   many experiments were made upon them by various operators with
   various degrees of success.

   “That porcelain was made of these materials, and publicly sold
   before the year 1768.

   “That in March, 1768, _Mr. Cookworthy_, of _Plymouth_, took out
   a patent for the sole use of the materials in question, called
   in the patent moor-stone or growan, and growan clay, for the
   making of porcelain, which is defined to have a fine colour and
   a lucid grain, and likewise to be as infusible as the Asiatic.

   “That _Mr. Cookworthy_ contracted, as the condition upon which
   he held the privilege of his monopoly, that he would make a
   full and true specification of the art by which he converted
   these materials into porcelain, and that he entirely failed in
   fulfilling this obligation.

   “For in the pretended specification which he made, he omitted
   to describe the _principal operations_ in which his art or
   discovery consisted, having neither exhibited the proportions in
   which the materials were to be mixed to produce the _body_ or
   the _glaze_, nor the art of _burning_ the _ware_, which he knew
   to be the _most difficult_ and important part of the discovery.

   “That the company concerned in the porcelain manufactory at
   _Plymouth_, established under the authority of this patent,
   contracted with one gentleman, in whose lands these materials
   are found, that he should sell the materials only to them, and
   that they should purchase materials from no other person, during
   the term of ninety-nine years.

   “That nevertheless there are great quantities of such materials
   in other estates in _Cornwall_ and _Devonshire_, and probably in
   many other parts of this island.

   “That in the year 1774 _Mr. Cookworthy_ assigned over his patent
   right to _Mr. Champion_, of _Bristol_, who now applies to
   parliament for an extension of this monopoly, seven years before
   the expiration of the patent; which assignment was made upon
   condition that _Mr. Cookworthy_ should receive for ninety-nine
   years from _Mr. Champion_ as large a sum every year as should be
   paid to the proprietor for the raw materials, hereby laying a
   tax of 100 per cent. upon them.

   “That _Mr. Champion_ in his petition sets forth that he has
   brought this discovery to perfection; and that in a paper he
   has published, entitled _A Reply, &c._, he says that if the
   various difficulties which have attended this work from the
   beginning could have been foreseen, _this patent ought not to
   have been applied for at so early a period_; that is, in plain
   English, the patent was taken out for the discovery of an art
   before the discovery was made by the patentee. And if the
   discovery has been made since, there has been no specification
   of it; it has not been recorded for the public benefit; it is
   in _Mr. Champion’s_ own possession; it is kept from the public
   for his own private emolument: and the _nature_ of it being
   _unknown_, it is humbly presumed such a pretended discovery can
   neither entitle the patentee nor the petitioner to the extension
   of a monopoly injurious to many thousands of industrious
   manufacturers in various parts of the kingdom.

   “And in the same paper in which we find the above curious
   confession, _Mr. Champion_ acknowledges that even at _this time_
   he has just entered upon the commonest and most useful branch
   of his manufactory, which he has pursued at a great expense,
   by means of a _foreign artificer_, and can _now_ venture to
   assert that he _shall_ bring it to perfection. And in the space
   of seven years yet to come of his patent, and fourteen years’
   further indulgence which he expects from parliament, one would
   hope some discovery might be made; but would it not be an
   egregious injury to the public, an unheard of and unprecedented
   discouragement to many manufacturers who have great and
   acknowledged merit with the public, to continue to _one person_
   who, in _this instance_, has no _public merit_, the monopoly of
   earth and stones that nature has furnished this country with
   in immense quantities, which are necessary to the support and
   improvement of one of the most valuable manufactures in the
   kingdom?

   “_Mr. Champion_ says, in the Reply referred to above, he ‘has no
   objection to the use which the potters of _Staffordshire_ may
   make of his or any other raw materials, provided earthenware
   only, as distinguished by that title, is made from them. He
   wants to interfere with no manufactory whatsoever, and is
   content to insert any clause to _confine_ him to the invention
   which he possesses, and which he has improved,’ &c.

   “If _Mr. Champion_ had accurately defined the _nature_ of his
   own invention; if he had described the proportions of his
   materials necessary to make the body of his ware; if he had
   also specified the proportions of his materials necessary to
   produce his glaze, as every mechanical inventor who takes out
   a patent is obliged to specify the nature of the machine by
   which he produces his effect; if _Mr. Champion_ could have drawn
   a _distinct line_ between the _various kinds of earthenware
   and porcelain_ that have been made, and are now made in this
   kingdom, and _his porcelain_, a clause might have been formed to
   have confined him to the invention which he says he possesses,
   and to have prevented him from _interrupting the progress of_
   other _men’s improvements_, which he may think proper to call
   imitations of his porcelain; but as he has not chosen to do
   the former, nor been able to do the latter, no manufacturer of
   stoneware, Queen’s ware, or porcelain, can with safety improve
   the present state of his manufacture.

   “It is well known that manufactures of this kind can only
   support their credit by continual improvements. It is also
   well known that there is a _competition_ in these improvements
   through all _parts of Europe_. In the last century _Burslem_,
   and some other villages in _Staffordshire_, were famous for
   making _milk pans_ and _butter pots_, and by a succession
   of improvements, the manufactory in that neighbourhood has
   gradually increased in the variety, the quality, and the
   quantity of its productions, so as to furnish, besides the
   home consumption, an annual export of useful and ornamental
   wares, nearly to the amount of _two hundred thousand_ pounds;
   but during all this progress it has had the free range of the
   country for materials to work upon, to the great advantage of
   many landowners and of navigation.

   “_Queen’s_ ware has already several of the properties of
   porcelain, but is yet capable of receiving many essential
   improvements. The public have for some time _required_ and
   expected them. Innumerable experiments have been made for
   this purpose. There are immense quantities of materials in
   the kingdom that would answer this end; but they are locked
   up by a monopoly in the bowels of the earth, useless to the
   _landowners_, useless to the _manufacturers_, useless to
   the public; and one person is petitioning the legislature,
   in effect, to stop all the improvements in earthenware and
   porcelain in this kingdom but his own.

   “For the next step, and the only step the manufacturers can
   take to improve their wares, will be deemed an invasion of this
   _vague_ and _incomprehensible_ patent.

   “The manufacturers of earthenware are justly alarmed at the
   prospect of extending the term of the patent, because, without
   improvements, the sale of their manufactures _must certainly
   decline_ in favour of _foreign manufacturers_, who may not be
   deprived of the _free use of the materials their countries
   produce_; for the consideration in this case is not whether one
   manufacturer or manufactory shall be supported against another,
   but whether the earthenware and porcelain manufactories of
   _Great Britain_ shall be supported in their improvements against
   those of every other country in the world. Upon the whole, the
   petitioners against the bill humbly presume this monopoly will
   appear to be _contrary to good policy_, highly _injurious_ to
   the public, and _generally inconvenient_; that the extension of
   the monopoly, supposing any patent to be valid, would be greater
   _increasing the injury_; that the bill now depending is not only
   calculated to _extend_, but to _confirm_ it, and therefore they
   humbly hope it will not be suffered to pass into a law.”

Despite all this factious opposition--for it was factious in the
extreme--to his petition by Wedgwood, as the representative of the
potters, and by the members of parliament for the county of Stafford,
and others who had been moved by the exertions of Wedgwood and his
friends, the bill passed the House of Commons, and was sent up to the
lords without amendment. The “case” just given, along with extracts
from the bill, with comments, showing, among other things, that the
passing of the Act, as originally framed, conferred the full benefits
of Cookworthy’s patent on Champion, without compelling him to enrol
anew any specification of his process of manufacture, was printed for
circulation among the members of the Upper House. With reference to
this important point, it was shown that Cookworthy, having enrolled
his specification, and having afterwards assigned the patent right to
Champion, the bill enacted that all and every the powers, liberties,
privileges, authorities, and advantages which in and by the said
letters patent were originally granted to the said William Cookworthy,
shall be held, exercised, and enjoyed by the said Richard Champion
for the present term of fourteen years, granted by the said letters
patent, and after the expiration thereof, for the further term of
fourteen years, in as full, ample, and beneficial a manner as the
said Richard Champion could have held the same in case the said
letters patent had originally been granted to him. The view of the
bill is manifestly to confirm to Mr. Champion the letters patent for
the present term of fourteen years, as well as to grant him fourteen
years more. Had it been intended only to _enlarge_ the term,
and that the letters patent should have stood upon their own ground,
such words of confirmation would not have been necessary; or if they
had been thought so, they should have been succeeded by words to the
effect following:--“_Subject, nevertheless, to the same provisoes,
conditions, limitations, and agreements, as the said William Cookworthy
held and enjoyed the same before the date of the said assignment._”
But these being omitted, and the bill having stated that the “said
William Cookworthy had described the nature of his said invention
and the manner in which the same is to be performed,” it is evident
that the design of the bill is not only to confirm absolutely the
letters patent, and consequently the monopoly of these materials for
the present term of fourteen years, but also to grant it to him for
fourteen years more; and the Act is to have this operation, even
though the letters patent may be void by the discovery not being a new
invention, according to the statute of James I., or by Mr. Cookworthy’s
not having conformed to the terms and conditions of the letters patent,
by having described and ascertained the nature of the said invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed. That the making of
porcelain is not a new invention is too evident to need any proof; that
the letters patent are not within the intent of the statute is manifest
by a cursory perusal of it. That Mr. Cookworthy has not described
and ascertained the nature of this invention and the manner in which
the same is to be performed (unless the discovery of the materials
can alone be deemed so), will appear by what he has been pleased to
call his specification. But it will appear in evidence that even the
discovery of the materials was not, at the time of granting the letters
patent to Mr. Cookworthy, “new and his own,” but that they were at that
time, and had been long before, applied to the uses of pottery.

   “Is it therefore reasonable that Parliament should confirm to
   Mr. Champion the present term of fourteen years, and also grant
   him fourteen years more, in the monopoly of an immense quantity
   of materials, the natural products of the earth, for the making
   of porcelain, which no person is to _imitate or resemble_; but
   also virtually the sole privilege of vending and disposing of
   these materials at what price and in what manner he thinks
   proper? For no person can use them in any respect but they will
   produce (if not the same effect) an effect that will _resemble_
   what he may call his patent porcelain; and it is not to conceive
   how he can be deprived of the exclusive right of selling as well
   as using these materials if the bill now depending should pass
   into a law.”

The presenting these papers to the Lords produced more effect, it would
seem, than the efforts in a similar direction had apparently done in
the Commons. The consequence was, that “Lord Gower and some other noble
lords, having fully informed themselves of the facts upon which the
merits of the case depended, and having considered the subject with a
degree of attention proportioned to its importance, saw clearly the
injurious nature of the bill, and were determined to oppose it.” This
determination brought on a conference between the two noble lords who
took the most active part for and against the bill, and the result was
the introduction of two clauses, the first making it imperative on
Champion to enrol anew his specification of both body and glaze within
the usual period of four months; the second throwing open the use of
the raw materials to potters for any purpose except the manufacture of
porcelain, was as follows:--

   “Provided, also, that nothing in this Act contained shall
   be construed to hinder or prevent any potter or potters, or
   any other person or persons, from making use of any such raw
   materials, or any mixture or mixtures thereof (except such
   mixture of raw materials, and in such proportions, as are
   described in the specification hereinbefore directed to be
   enrolled), anything in this Act to the contrary notwithstanding.”

The Act being obtained (specimens of his skill in making porcelain
having been submitted to the Committee by Champion), the specification
was duly prepared and enrolled according to the provisions of the Act.
It is dated the 12th of September, 1775, and was duly enrolled on the
15th of the same month. The following is the specification, which will
be found to contain much matter of interest; and, taken in conjunction
with that of Cookworthy, given in my account of the Plymouth works,
completes the important series of papers in connection with this
manufactory:--

   “TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD CHAMPION,
   of Bristol, Merchant, send greeting, and so forth.

   “WHEREAS his present Majesty, King George the Third, in the
   eighth year of his reign, did grant his Royal Letters Patent
   to William Cookworthy, of Plymouth, chymist, for the sole use
   and exercise of ‘A DISCOVERY OF CERTAIN MATERIALS FOR MAKING
   OF PORCELAIN,’ which Letters Patent have been duly assigned to
   me the said Richard Champion; and whereas by a certain Act of
   Parliament (intitled an Act for enlarging the Term of Letters
   Patent granted by his present Majesty to William Cookworthy, of
   Plymouth, chymist, for the sole Use and Exercise of a Discovery
   of certain Materials for making Porcelain, in order to enable
   Richard Champion, of Bristol, Merchant--to whom the said Letters
   Patent have been assigned--to carry the said Discovery into
   execution for the Benefit of the Public), all and every the
   powers, liberties, rights, and advantages by the said Letters
   Patent granted to the said William Cookworthy are granted to me,
   the said Richard Champion, my executors, administrators, and
   assigns, during the remainder of the term of the said Letters
   Patent, and from the expiration thereof for a further term
   therein mentioned, provided I, the said Richard Champion, should
   cause to be inrolled in the High Court of Chancery, within
   four months after passing the said Act, a specification of the
   mixture of the raw materials of which my porcelain is composed,
   and likewise of the mixture and proportions of the raw materials
   which compose the glaze of the same, which specification was in
   the hands of the Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain:

   “NOW KNOW YE THEREFORE, that I, the said Richard Champion, do
   hereby testify and declare that the specification hereinafter
   contained is the true and just specification of the mixture
   and proportions of the raw materials of which my porcelain is
   composed, and likewise of the mixture and proportions of the raw
   materials which compose the glaze of the same, and which, at the
   time of passing the before-mentioned Act, was in the hands of
   the Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain (that is to say):--

   “The raw materials of the above porcelain are plastic clay,
   generally found mixed with mica and a coarse gravelly matter.
   It is known in the counties of Devon and Cornwall by the name
   of growan clay. The other raw material is a mixed micarious
   earth or stone called in the aforesaid countries moor-stone
   and growan. The gravel found in the growan clay is of the same
   nature, and is used for the same purpose in making the body
   of my porcelain as the moor-stone and growan. The mixture of
   these materials to make the body of the porcelain is according
   to the common potter’s method, and has no peculiar art in it.
   The proportions are as follow:--The largest proportion of the
   stone or gravel aforesaid to the clay aforesaid is four parts of
   stone to one of clay. The largest proportion of clay to stone
   is sixteen parts of clay to one part of stone mixed together.
   I use these and every proportion intermediate, between the
   foregoing proportions of the stone to the clay and the clay to
   the stone, and all this variation I make without taking away
   from the ware the distinguishing appearance and properties of
   Dresden and Oriental porcelains, which is the appearance and are
   the properties of mine. The raw materials of which the glaze
   is composed are, the stone or gravel aforesaid, and the clay
   aforesaid, magnesia, nitre, lime, gypsum, fusible spar, arsenic,
   lead, and tin ashes.

   “The proportions of our common glaze are as follows, together
   with every intermediate proportion, videlicet:--

    Growan gravel                          128 parts }
    Growan or moor-stone                   112   „   }  The materials
                  and I vary it from 96 to 144   „   } ground and mixed
    Magnesia                                16   „   }  together with
                  and I vary it from 14 to  18   „   }      water.
    Gypsum                                   3   „   }
    Lime                                     8   „   }

  “But I also use the following materials for glaze:--

    Growan clay                            128 parts }
    Growan or moor-stone                   112   „   }
                  and I vary it from 84 to 140   „   }
    Magnesia                                20   „   }
                  and I vary it from 16 to  24   „   }  The materials
    Lime                                     8   „   } ground and mixed
                  and I vary it from  6 to  10   „   }  together with
    Nitre                                    1   „   }      water.
                          and I vary it to   2   „   }
    Fusible spar                            20   „   }
    Arsenic                                 20   „   }
    Lead and tin ashes                      20   „   }
                  and I vary it from 16 to  24   „   }

   “I have described truly and justly the raw materials, the
   mixture and proportions of them which are used in making my
   porcelain, which has the appearance and properties of Dresden
   or Oriental porcelain, and which porcelain may be distinguished
   from the frit or false porcelain, and from the pottery, or
   earthen or stone wares, as follows:--

   “The frit or false porcelain will all melt into a vitreous
   substance, and lose their form and original appearance in a
   degree of heat which my porcelain, agreeing in all properties
   with Asiatic and Dresden, will not only bear, but which is
   necessary for its perfection. My porcelain may be distinguished
   from all other wares which are vulgarly called earthen or
   stone wares, which can sustain an equal degree of heat, by the
   grain, the colour of the grain, and by its semi-transparency;
   whereas the earthenwares, such as Staffordshire white and yellow
   earthenwares and all other earthenwares which sustain a strong
   heat without being fused, are found, when subjected to the most
   intense heat, to appear cellular or otherwise, easily by the eye
   to be distinguished from the true porcelain.

   “In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Champion, have hereunto
   set my hand and seal this twelfth day of September, in the year
   of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-five, and in
   the fifteenth year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord, George
   the Third, by the grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and
   Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, and so forth.

                                         “RICH. (S. S.) CHAMPION.

                    “Sealed and delivered in the presence of us,
                                    “HENRY SHERWOOD,
                                        “Of Wood Street, London.
                                    “ROBERT REYNOLDS,
                                        “Of Coventry.

   “AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that the twelfth day of September, in
   the year above written, the said Richard Champion came before
   our said Lord the King in his Chancery, and acknowledged the
   writing aforesaid, and all and everything therein contained and
   specified, as form above written. And also the writing aforesaid
   was stampt according to the tenor of the statute made in the
   sixth year of the reign of the King and Queen William and Mary
   of England, and so forth.

   “Enrolled the fifteenth day of September, in the year above
   written.”

The works of Richard Champion were in Castle Green, Bristol, and I was
enabled, in 1863, assisted by the researches of Mr. Edkins, kindly
undertaken at my request, to fix the exact locality both of the works
and of Champion’s residence. This he determined by the singularly
fortuitous circumstance of a Directory for the city of Bristol having
been published--and for that one year only--in the year in which
Champion obtained his Act of Parliament, 1775. In this Directory, which
is of extreme rarity, occurs the following entry:--

   “Champion, Richard, _China Manufactory_, 15, and his house, 17,
   Castle Green.”

This occurs in the alphabetical list of “Merchants, Tradesmen,
&c.,” and in another list of the “Merchants and Bankers and their
residences,” is the following:--

  “Champion, Richard, 17, Castle Green.”

It is perhaps worth just mentioning that this Directory, so opportunely
made, is an admirable illustration of the difficulties under which
compilers of those useful publications had to labour in the olden
times. It was compiled by a person of the name of Sketchley, and, most
of the houses not being in those days numbered, he carried with him a
lot of metal figures, and nailed them on to the doors as he went on,
charging a shilling at each house for doing so; and it is related of
him that, with a strict eye to business, he excluded the names of some
persons from his list who refused to pay the impost! Fortunately for
my purpose, Richard Champion had evidently paid a couple of shillings,
and so ensured not only his residence at No. 17, but his works at No.
15 being duly entered. The site of the china works is now covered with
small houses.

Armed with his new Act of Parliament, by which he was empowered to
enjoy nearly twenty-two years’ patent right, Champion spared no
pains and no expense to make the productions of his works as good as
possible; and that he continued to produce a magnificent body and a
remarkably fine glaze, and turned out some truly exquisite specimens of
fictile art, both in design, in potting, in modelling, and in painting,
is fully evident by examples still remaining in the hands of collectors.

The commoner description of goods, the blue and white ware, seems to
have been, very naturally, considered by Champion to be the branch most
likely to pay him, commercially, and this he at one time cultivated
to a greater extent than any other branch. His acknowledged and
advertised model was the Dresden, and his best efforts were turned in
this direction. The patterns which he adopted, being, naturally, in
many cases almost identical with those produced at Worcester and other
places--which, of course, arose from the fact of the different works
copying from the same models--the ware made by Champion is sometimes
apt to be appropriated by collectors to that manufactory. It may,
however, easily be distinguished by those who are conversant with the
peculiarities of its make.

In blue and white, Champion produced dinner, tea, and coffee services,
toilet pieces, jugs, mugs, and all the varieties of goods usually made
at that period. The blue is usually of good colour, and the painting
quite equal to that of other manufactories. Some of these pieces are
embossed, and of really excellent workmanship. A good deal of the blue
and white ware was marked with the usual cross, but it appears more
than probable that the greatest part of this kind of goods passed out
of the works unmarked.

Another characteristic class of goods made by Champion was the
imitation of the most common Chinese patterns, examples of which are
shown in the next engraving of a saucer and a teapot.

There is a thorough Chinese style in the decoration of these pieces,
and the colouring is also remarkably well reproduced. The saucer bears
the usual mark of the cross, but very many examples of this class which
have come under my notice are not marked at all, and pass as foreign
pieces. In the same group I have given a cup of elegant form, but of
different style, to show the beauty of its outline. Transfer printing
was not, it would appear, practised by Champion, but some examples,
Mr. Owen informs me, are known, which, although made at Bristol, were
evidently printed at Worcester.

  [Illustration: Figs. 743 to 745.]

The expenses attendant on this unwarrantable opposition in Parliament
drained Champion’s exchequer, and despite the energy of himself, the
skill of his workmen, and the beauty of the ware produced at his
manufactory, Richard Champion’s hopes of permanently establishing an
art in Bristol, which should not only be an honourable and useful, but
a remunerative one, proved fallacious, and in little more than five
years from his obtaining of the Act of Parliament, the works which he
had laboured so hard to establish, and on which he had expended so much
time, money, and skill, were lost to the city of Bristol, and removed
for ever from its walls, but not, fortunately, until he had proved
incontestably his ability to produce a genuine porcelain of the finest
texture, and of the most artistic and finished style.

In 1775 Champion advertised his works as “Patent China, at the
Manufactory in Castle Green.” In 1776 he advertised it thus:--

   “Established by Act of Parliament, The Bristol China Manufactory
   in Castle Green. This China is greatly superior to every other
   English Manufactory (_sic_). Its texture is fine, exceeding the
   East India and its strength so great that water may be boiled
   in it. It is a true Porcelain composed of a native clay and is
   thus distinguished from every other English China which being
   composed of a Number of Ingredients mix’d together the principal
   part being Glass occasions it soon to get dirty in the wear
   renders it continually liable to Accidents and in every respect
   only an Imitation and therefore stiled by Chemists, a false
   Porcelain.”

  [Illustration: Fig. 746.--Joseph Fry.]

In 1778, Josiah Wedgwood, in a letter, dated August 24th in that
year, says, “Poor Champion, you may have heard is quite demolished;
it was never likely to be otherwise, as he had neither professional
knowledge, sufficient capital, nor scarcely any real acquaintance
with the materials he was working upon. I suppose we might buy some
_growan stone_ and _growan clay_ now upon easy terms, for
they have prepared a large quantity this last year.” This curious
letter, whose sympathy was certainly left-handed, did but little credit
to Wedgwood--the man who of all others had worked hard to crush him,
and had succeeded in so doing. His hope now that Champion was “quite
demolished” was that he might be able to gain his point and get the
growan stone and clay on easy terms! It is lamentable to feel that
a great name could sink so low. It does not appear, however, that
Champion ever became bankrupt, or even appealed to his creditors.

  [Illustration: Fig. 747.--Book Plate, with Arms of Champion.]

In his Bristol works, although only his own name appears in the various
documents to which I have alluded, Champion had friends who assisted
pecuniarily in his undertaking. One of these friends was Joseph Fry,
the grandfather of the present Mr. Francis Fry, F.S.A., of Bristol,
whose name is as well known among biblists and connoisseurs in china
for his fine collection of old bibles and choice porcelain as the firm
to which he belongs is to the general public for the “Fry’s Chocolate”
which they manufacture to so large an extent. Mr. Joseph Fry, the
friend of Champion, died in 1786, about nine years after the works had
been closed on their removal into Staffordshire; and it appears that
the only return he got for the capital he had sunk in the concern, was
the beautiful set of vases now in the possession of his grandson.

The patent right was sold by Champion, in 1781--not 1777, as stated
by Shaw--to a company of Staffordshire potters, who continued the
manufacture at New Hall (which see for a continuation of this
narrative) for some time, when the ordinary soft-paste china was
allowed to supersede it. Thus the works at Bristol were brought to
a close, and the manufacture of porcelain was lost to the locality.
Champion himself with his family removed for a time into Staffordshire,
fixing themselves at Newcastle-under-Lyne, in November, 1781, and
there remained until April, 1782, when, having been appointed a Deputy
Paymaster-General of the Forces, by Edmund Burke, he left Staffordshire
“at a day’s notice,” and removed to London, having apartments at
Chelsea Hospital. This appointment he only held till 1784. In October
of that year he sailed for Charleston, in South Carolina, and there he
died, in 1791.

  [Illustration: Fig. 748.--Venus and Adonis, belonging to Lady
  Charlotte Schreiber.]

Bristol china (marked), every description of which, owing to the
short time the works were in operation, and other causes, is scarce,
is particularly rare in the finer and more highly finished varieties.
Fortunately, however, examples of these different varieties, of the
very finest kind, are still preserved, and attest most strongly to
the extreme perfection to which Champion succeeded in bringing his
works. Much discrimination is, nevertheless, required in appropriating
examples, and it is well to caution collectors against placing too much
reliance on the sweeping way in which, by some writers, all examples
are hauled into the Bristol net; and by others into those of Lowestoft
and other places.

  [Illustration: Fig. 749.]

One of the choicest examples of the highest class of art in Bristol
porcelain existing at the present day, is the tea-service of which
the cup and saucer engraved on Fig. 749 forms a part. This splendid
service, of which, through the courtesy of Miss Smith, this cup and
saucer passed into my hands, possesses a double interest, first from
its being made “the best that the manufactory could produce;” and,
second, from the historical associations which are connected with
it. This example is also highly important as showing the perfection
to which the manufacture of porcelain had been brought by Champion
in 1774–5. It seems that in 1774 Edmund Burke, while the contested
election for Bristol was going on, remained in that city, and for a
month was the guest of Mr. and Mrs. Smith, who were his warm friends
and zealous supporters, and he presented this splendid set of china,
made expressly, by his own order, by Mr. Champion, to Mrs. Smith, and
the remains of the set are now the property of that lady’s daughter,
Miss Smith, of Berkeley Crescent. This set, it is fair to presume,
was ordered by Burke while remaining in Bristol, or at all events
about that time, which would be the very year in which the transfer of
the Plymouth works to Champion of Bristol was completed. As a service
of such exquisite beauty and such minute detail in painting would
necessarily be a work of time, the absolute date of its completion
may be set down to the beginning of the year 1775. The decorations
of Burke’s service are of chaste and elaborate design and delicate
workmanship. It is profusely and massively gilt in both dead and
burnished gold, the wreaths of laurel, &c., being in green, which was
Burke’s electioneering colour. Each piece bears the monogram of Mrs.
Smith, S S conjoined, formed of wreaths of roses in pink and gold, and
also the arms of Smith, _sable_, a fesse between three saltiers _or_;
on an escutcheon of pretence the arms of Pope, _or_, two chevronels
and a canton _gules_, the latter charged with a mullet of the first;
and the crest of Smith, a saltier _or_. The pieces of this service
are marked with the usual cross. In the Museum of Practical Geology
is a cup and saucer of the same form, presented by the Duchess of
Northumberland, in which the festoons and borders are of similar
character, but of very inferior workmanship to those just described.
Another remarkably fine and, of course, unique service was brought
under the hammer in 1871, and deserves more than a passing notice. This
service had been made by Champion and presented by him and his wife
to Mrs. Burke. On the larger pieces were the arms of Burke impaling
Nugent on a pedestal, supported, dexter, by a figure of Liberty; and,
sinister, by a figure of Plenty. On the top of the pedestal is Cupid
with a flaming torch, and at the base the inscription, “I. BVRKE, OPT.
B. M. R. ET. I. CHAMPION. D. D.D. PIGNVS. AMICITÆ. III. NON. NOV.
MDCCLXXIV.” Other decorations also are introduced. Portions of this
service (which it is a pity was ever dispersed) are in possession of
Mr. Callender, of Mr. Edkins, of Mr. Fry, and others. I am indebted
to Mr. Owen for permission to reproduce from his admirable volume the
engraving of a portion of this service (Fig. 750), and for the use of
several other woodcuts.

  [Illustration: Fig. 750.--Part of the Service presented to
  Edmund Burke by Mr. and Mrs. Champion.]

  [Illustration: Figs. 751 to 753.--Bristol Vases, belonging to
  Mr. Fry, Mr. Nightingale, and Mr. Callender.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 754.--Bristol Vase, belonging to Mr.
  Francis Fry.]

Amongst the finest known productions of the Bristol works are the
series of splendid vases in the possession of Mr. Francis Fry, F.S.A.,
to which I alluded in my account of Plymouth china. One of these is
engraved on Fig. 754; it is 12¼ inches in height, and of hexangular
form. The landscapes are exquisitely painted, and it has well modelled
female busts on two of its sides, from which hang festoons of
raised coloured flowers. The other vases in Mr. Fry’s possession, one
of which has a perforated neck, though differing in form, style, and
ornamentation, exhibit the same excellence and skill in workmanship
and in decoration which are so remarkable on this specimen. That these
vases were painted by the same artists as the highest class of Plymouth
china is very apparent to those who are conversant with their works.
The birds are clearly “of the same family,” and the general style of
decoration bears evident mark of coming from the same hands. They
are _not marked_, and therefore a doubt very naturally arises as to
whether they were made before the works were removed from Plymouth,
and so brought as part of the “stock” to Bristol, or whether they were
really made after their establishment in that city. They are, however,
of a finer and higher quality than the marked Plymouth example, and
therefore there can be no reasonable doubt that they are Champion’s
production. Vases are distinctly spoken of in the evidence of John
Britain before the House of Commons in 1774. He said “that he has great
experience in several China manufactories, and has made several Trials
upon all those which had been manufactured in _England_, and finds
that all of them, except that of _Bristol_, were destroyed in the same
Fire that brings the Bristol to Perfection. And he produced to your
Committee several Samples of the said kinds of China, which shewed the
effects upon china severally; and said, that they have not been able to
bring the _Bristol_ China to a marketable commodity, so as to furnish
an Order, until within the last Six Months, but that sometimes they
succeeded, and at other Times not, but that now they can execute any
order. That they have lately made considerable improvements in the said
Manufacture, and particularly are endeavouring to perfect the Blue,
in which they have not as yet entirely succeeded, though they have now
a Gentleman who has succeeded in a small Way, in which they have been
at a considerable Expense; that the witness thinks the Manufacture is
capable of further improvements; that they can afford it at a price
equal to Foreign China of equal Goodness, and that they have made some
Specimens equal to good _Dresden_; that he has not seen any _Dresden_
ornamental China equal to the Vases produced to your Committee, nor
any Thing in Biscuit equal to the Biscuit in those Vases, and other
Ornaments; that the Gilding stands well; that the Seve China differs
from this; the Ornamental is more of a Cream colour, but the Glaze
is so soft that it will not bear using; that he believed the enamel
of the _Bristol_ China is as hard as the _Dresden_, and harder than
the Chinese,” &c. Mr. Champion also spoke very markedly upon this
improvement when he wrote these words; “Mr. Champion can assert, with
truth, that his hazard and expense were many times greater than those
of the original inventor. Mr. Champion mentions this without the least
disparagement to the worthy gentleman, Mr. Cookworthy, who is his
particular friend; he gives him all the merit which is due to so great
a discovery; he deserves it for finding out the means of a manufacture,
which will, in all probability, be a very great advantage to this
country; but yet Mr. Champion claims the merit of supporting the work,
and, when the inventor declined the undertaking himself, with his
time, his labour, and his fortune, improved it from a very imperfect
to an almost perfect manufacture; and he hopes, soon, with proper
encouragement, to one altogether perfect.”

The vases under notice fell to the lot of Mr. Fry’s grandfather at
the time of the close of the works, and have never been out of the
possession of the family. They are therefore attested as coming from
Champion’s establishment. In Mr. Fry’s possession is also a remarkably
interesting “waster” vase of the same general form and character, which
has apparently been spoiled by smoke in the kiln. This vase, I believe,
was purchased by its present possessor from a family in Bristol, in
whose possession it was stated to have been for seventy years. Other
vases of equal merit, all said to be Bristol, are in the possession of
Mr. Edkins, Mr. Nightingale, and Mr. Walker. Of services, and portions
of services, many fine examples exist in various private as well as in
the national collections. Many of these are of extreme beauty in design
and of remarkably good workmanship.

Of these marvels of ceramic beauty Mr. Owen thus speaks:--

   “Some of these are painted with exotic birds of brilliant colour
   and landscape backgrounds, delicately panelled. The design
   of others exhibits considerable ingenuity. One painted with
   Chinese figures in medallions has a pencilled ground selected
   with good taste from a natural object--shagreen, or dressed
   shark-skin--often chosen by the Chinese for a similar purpose;
   the hexagonal pattern of which has been felicitously used as a
   ground with singular success. There is such a similarity in the
   colour and handling when compared with similar pieces of ware
   bearing the Plymouth mark, that some of them must have been from
   the same pencil. One of these vases is of special character,
   with perforated neck. It is hexagonal, with landscapes
   exquisitely painted in monochrome,--two in lake, two in blue,
   and two in green on several sides with good effect. Besides
   these, Mr. Fry has another series that cannot be doubted are
   CHAMPION’S, although they want the same undeniable evidence of
   having passed directly from the factory into the possession of
   his family. We engrave one of them that has a cover, Fig. 751;
   it is so artistically identical in paste and glaze, touch and
   colour, with those preserved by _Mr. Joseph Fry_ as to need no
   other voucher for its paternity. The same opinion may be given
   of a fine vase, Fig. 752, the property of Mr. J. E. Nightingale,
   The Mount, Wilton, with a strong additional argument in support
   of it--one side bears the same design enamelled in blue--the
   draw-well--that is painted on Mr. Fry’s vase, Fig. 754. Mr.
   Edkins also has a Bristol vase, similar to some in Mr. Fry’s
   collection, though somewhat different in decoration. It is
   identical in form with Fig. 752, but without the modelled sprays
   and leaves. Four of the sides are painted with landscapes
   in colour, two others in blue monochrome, all exquisitely
   pencilled. The gilded border round the upper portion beneath the
   neck is a rich arabesque of elegant design. This is a charming
   example, in perfect condition. The vase engraved (Fig. 753),
   is one of a pair, exquisitely decorated with birds and insects
   in panels on a blue salmon-scale ground. They are similar in
   character to Mr. Fry’s example, with a shagreen ground, already
   described. Some former proprietor has had them mounted in
   ormolu. The design of the metal work is rich and graceful, and
   in perfect harmony with the gilded arabesque borders, framing
   with panels. The height of all these vases is about twelve
   inches, and, with cover, sixteen inches.”

  [Illustration: Figs. 755 and 756.--Bristol Bisque Plaques.]

  [Illustration: Figs. 757 and 758.--Bristol Bisque Plaques.]

Another notable and beautiful feature of the Bristol works was the
production of plaques, bouquets of flowers, wreaths, and armorial
bearings, in biscuit. Of these examples are given in Figs. 755 to
758. One of these (Fig. 757), lately in the possession of Mr. Baller,
but now of Mr. Nightingale, bears the arms and crest of the Eltons
(who were connected with Bristol for the last two centuries as
bankers, members of parliament, and mayors, and of which the present
representative is Sir Arthur Hallam Elton, Bart.) impaling Tierney.
The arms are paly of six, _or_ and _gules_, on a bend _sable_, three
mullets of the first, for Elton; impaling _azure_, between two lions
combatant a sword _argent_, for Tierney. The shield is surrounded by a
wreath of exquisitely and delicately modelled leaves and flowers. The
plaque is oval, 5¼ inches in height by 4¼ inches in breadth. Another
heraldic plaque is in the possession of Miss Smith, of Bristol. It is
of about the same size as the one just described, and bears the arms
of Smith, with escutcheon of Pope, as described as appearing on the
tea-service engraved (Fig. 749). It is surrounded with a wreath of
raised flowers of surpassing beauty.

This interesting and valuable piece was some years ago stolen from
the late Mr. Smith, but, after about thirty years, was purchased by
its former owner at a sale along with some other examples of Bristol
make. In the possession of the late Mr. Edwin James, of Bristol, and
in other hands, are circular and oval plaques with wreaths or bouquets
of raised flowers, modelled in the same delicate and masterly manner,
and undoubtedly by the same artist. Another (Fig. 755), in Mr. Fry’s
collection, has the arms of France beautifully surrounded by a crowned
wreath of elaborately modelled flowers--the crown, wreath, and border
of which are of dead and burnished gold. Fig. 756, also in Mr. Fry’s
possession, is an exquisite heraldic plaque, having the arms of
Harford impaling Lloyd, surrounded by a finely modelled wreath of
flowers. In the Edkins collection was also a plaque with a delicate
border of flowers enclosing a medallion profile of Franklin; and
another, a simple group of flowers, and other examples, belong to Mr.
Owen, Mr. Rawlins, Mr. Gwyn, and others. In her Majesty’s possession
are two remarkably fine examples with medallion profiles of George
III. and Queen Charlotte, presented to that queen by Champion himself
in 1775, together with a pair of smaller flower plaques of exquisite
finish and delicacy.

Figures were, to some extent, as is shown by the advertisements already
quoted, made at Bristol, and in Mr. James’s possession were a pair--a
man with a bird, and a woman with a barrel and a pig--bearing an
incised cross on the bottom. Other figures are in the possession of Mr.
Fry, Mr. Edkins, Lady Charlotte Schreiber, Mr. Castle, and others. (See
Figs. 759 to 770).

Mr. Owen gives in his admirable work a fac-simile of a letter, in
Champion’s own handwriting, addressed to the same modeller (whose name
unfortunately does not appear) who produced the “Four Elements” for the
Derby works, ordering from him a set of the same subjects, and also
the “Four Seasons,” treated in a way which he fully describes. The
letter is so interesting, and bears so strongly on the point of figure
producing at Bristol, that I here reprint it.

    “To                                                 27 Feb. 1772.

   “M^r. Brillait shew’d me your Letter of y_{e} 18 Ins, which I
   chose to answer myself as a few thoughts had struck me which
   pleas’d me, & which will with your Execution have a very good
   Effect.

   “As I have an Inclination to fancys of this kind, I chose to
   write you as wish to have some elegant Designs. I have seen the
   four Elements which are made at Derby they are very Beautifull
   the dress easy, the forms fine, two in particular Air and Water
   are the charming figures. I apprehend that you made y^e models
   & therefore hope that from your Execution the following fancies
   will not look amiss.


                             “The Elements

   “Fire. A Vulcan forging a Thunderbolt in the attitude of
   striking with his anvil & Hammer, some pieces of Iron or coals
   or anything peculiar to a Blackmith’s Shop to be scatter’d about.

   “Water. A Naiad crown’d with rushes, leaning with her arm on an
   urn from whence gushes out Water. In the other hand she holds a
   fishing Net, with Fishes enclos’d in it, the ground ornamented
   with rushes, shells, Fish or the Fancies peculiar to Water.

   “Earth. An Husbandman digging with a spade a Baskett fill’d with
   Implements of Husbandry on y^e Ground. The ground ornamented,
   with corn, acorns or Fruits.

   “Air. A Winged Zephyr crown’d with Flowr’s treding on clouds,
   which rise naturally about him, his robes flowing & flying
   behind him he holds in one Hand a Branch of a Tree, if any
   ornaments behind are wanting, some Cherubim’s heads blowing
   would not be amiss.


                             “The Seasons

   “Spring. A Nymph with a Coronet of Flow’rs on her head in
   Flowing Robes rather flying behind her, approaching with a
   smiling countenance as she advances the flow’rs appear to start
   up before her those at her feet higher those at a distance,
   which seems to be just Budding out, on the side after a Plough
   or Harrow, which she points to with one Hand, and with the other
   holds a small open Baskett fill’d with Seeds which she offers,
   from the Baskett falls a kind of Zone or Belt, on which are
   represented, the sign of the Zodiac Aries Taurus Germinæ.

   “Summer. A man in the Prime of Life, loosely dress’d with a Bakt
   round his Body, on which are represented the Signs of the Zodiac
   Cancer Leo Virgo APs a shear (made use of in shearing Sheep) in
   one hand, and with the other Supports a Baskett of wool on his
   shoulders--on the Ground a scythe with Trusses of Hay schatter’d
   about.

   “Autumn. A Matron with a kind of Coronet on her head, from
   whence spring Ears of Corn. Her robes not so flow as spring
   being of a graver Cast, in one Hand a Sickle, she leans on a
   Thyrsis round which are twin’d Baskett of grapes,[96] & a Zone
   or Belt falling from it, on which are represented the three
   signs of y^e Zodiac, Libra, Scorpia, Sagittarius, the grounds
   she treads on full of Corn, & on a side of her a Baskett of
   fruit overturn’d.

   “Winter. A Descriped old man his head bald and a Long Beard
   leaning a Staff under one arm a Bundle of Sticks, his robe
   schatter’d and clasp’d with a Belt, on which are represented
   The three signs of the Zodiac, Capricorn, Aquarius, Pisces,
   the ground cover’d with bare branches of Trees, Frost & Snow &
   icicles hanging down in different Places.

   “All these figures to be about 10 Inches high. After having
   seen the Derby Figures I did not recommend Ease & Elegance in
   the Shape & dress, but the latter I shall just mention as the
   antique Robes, are very easy and have a Propriety which is not
   to be met with in foreign Dresses, & as these figures are of a
   serious cast I think such dresses will carry woth them a greater
   Elegance, I shall be oblig’d to you to carry the designs into
   Execution as soon as possible, &c.”

  [Illustration: Fig. 759.--Champion’s Memorial to his daughter
  Eliza, belonging to Mr. Desaussure, of South Carolina.]

  [Illustration: Figs. 760 to 763.--The Four Seasons, from the
  Edkins Collection.]

  [Illustration: Figs. 764 to 767.--The Four Elements, belonging
  to Mr. Boddam Castle.]

These series were accordingly executed, and all bear, in the examples
now remaining, the mark T o[sideways ‘o’ symbol];. It would thus
appear to be the modeller’s own mark, or contraction of his name.

The most authentic and interesting figure is a memorial to Richard
Champion’s daughter Eliza, who died Oct. 13, 1779, aged fourteen.
The figure is a monumental statuette of a mourning female figure,
leaning on an urn, holding in her right hand a votive wreath and her
left closed on the drapery. The urn and pedestal bear a long and very
touching inscription. This interesting relic stands thirteen inches in
height; it is in the possession of Mr. J. M. Desaussure, of Camden,
South Carolina, who married a granddaughter of Champion. It is engraved
on Fig. 759, through the courtesy of Mr. Owen. Two admirable figures
(Figs. 768 and 769) of a shepherd and milkmaid, marked with the T^o
marks, are in the possession of Mr. Francis Fry, and a set of the
four seasons in rustic juvenile figures, bearing the same mark, were
in the Edkins collection (Figs. 760 to 763). Another fine group is
“Love subdued by Time,” in the Edkins collection (Fig. 770). Busts
were also made; but as these and the examples made at Plymouth are not
marked, and are made of the same body, and by the same workmen, it is
manifestly impossible to correctly appropriate them.

  [Illustration: Figs. 768 and 769.--Belonging to Mr. Francis
  Fry, F.S.A.]

A cup, part of the Harford service, bears in the bottom in the inside
the +, the initials J H (of Joseph Harford), and the date 1774, and is
the earliest known dated example of Bristol china. Another excellent
dated example, bearing the repeated monogram W C on the inside, has on
the bottom the +, 1776, and figure 1. The pounce-box (Fig. 772) bears
the × and figure 3.

  [Illustration: Fig. 770.]

The mark which usually denotes Bristol porcelain is a plain saltire,
or cross, in blue, neutral tint, or red, sometimes with the addition
of figures or other marks, but more commonly by itself. The figures
probably denoted the workman, not the pattern, as on the same sets
different numbers appear, which would not be the case if the design
was denoted. The following are varieties of the mark, the cross being
sometimes in one colour, and the figure or character in another. One,
it will be seen, bears, besides the saltire, the sign for a drachm (or
perhaps figure 3), and another the Greek character epsilon (ε). These
marks occur the one on a teapot, the other on a saucer lately in the
possession of Mr. Norman. The letter B also sometimes occurs painted
in the same manner as the cross, and also in combination with figures,
&c. (Figs. 783 to 786.) Other marks have been ascribed to Bristol,
but many of them, I believe, wrongly. In Mr. James’s collection was a
small fluted cream-boat, blue and white, with an unusual mark, the blue
cross, above which is an embossed letter T, as shown on Fig. 789. The
same mark occurs on a specimen in the Nightingale collection. Another
mark variously ascribed to Bristol and Bow is To (Fig. 790), and one
very early trial piece in the Edkins collection bears the unique mark
of the word B r i s t o l l in relief. The Dresden mark of crossed
daggers occasionally occurs in connection with the cross or the letter
B; the latter marks being in some instance painted _over_ the former,
and in others close by (Figs. 791 to 796). Other marks said to be
Bristol are shown on Figs. 799 and 800.

  [Illustration: Fig. 771.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 772.]

The ꝝ mark of Plymouth and the + of Bristol are on one or two known
pieces, found in combination thus (Fig. 798), from the Schreiber
collection.

  [Illustration: Figs. 773 to 800.]

Mr. Owen, to whom I have had occasion many times to refer in the
course of this chapter on Bristol china, and to whom I must offer my
congratulations on the successful issue of his labours and on the boon
he has conferred on the literature of ceramics by his researches and by
the elegant volume in which those researches are recorded, gives many
interesting particulars regarding Champion’s workmen and apprentices.
The following notes upon workmen may be useful for reference:--

   Anthony Amatt; a thrower and meritorious painter, who died
   in 1851, aged 92. He is said to have been born at Derby in
   1759, and to have been apprenticed to a thrower who worked at
   Champions, and to have worked there till their close.

   Moses Hill; a china maker, 1775–6 (probably from Derby).

   John Britain; foreman, whose initials =I·B= appear on some
   pieces.

   Thomas Briand (probably Bryan); a flower modeller in 1777, who
   came from Derby.

   B. Proeffell; a German, supposed to be engaged on the “blue and
   white ware.”

   M. Saqui (not Le Quoi, as Mr. Owen supposes); a clever painter
   and modeller.

   William Fifield; a painter. He worked as an enameller at the
   Water Lane Pottery, and died in 1857, aged 80. Mr. Owen,
   carefully correcting Marryatt, says: “He is said to have worked
   for Champion, but this is simply impossible, as he was not born
   till 1777, and Champion’s labours concluded in 1781,” when he
   was only four years old.

   Philip James; a china painter in 1775.

   Mrs. James; modeller, mother of the late well-known and
   respected collector, Mr. Edwin James, of Bristol.

   Henry Bone (the celebrated enameller). He is shown, by Mr.
   Owen, to have been apprenticed on the 20th of January, 1772,
   to “Richard Champion, China Manufacturer, & Judith his wife,
   for seven years.” He was born at Truro, in February, 1755, so
   that at the date of his apprenticeship to Champion he would
   be seventeen years old. The presumption is that young Bone,
   whose father was a cabinet-maker at _Plymouth_, was originally
   apprenticed to Cookworthy at Plymouth, and became a “turn-over,”
   with re-apprenticeship, to Champion. He became an R.A. in 1811,
   and died full of honours in 1834.

   William Stephens; son of William Stephens, of Plymouth, and, in
   1771, of Bristol. Apprenticed to Champion on the same day as
   Bone, and probably also a “turn-over” from Cookworthy. He was a
   china painter.

   John Hayden; china painter, of the same family as Benjamin
   Hayden, R.A. He was the son of John Hayden, of Plymouth,
   shoemaker, and was apprenticed to Champion on the same day
   as Bone and Stephens, and the probability certainly is that
   these three Plymouth youths, all apprenticed on the same day
   to Richard Champion, who succeeded to the Plymouth works, were
   transferred to him by Cookworthy and re-apprenticed.

   Samuel Daw, apprenticed January 23rd, 1772.

   Samuel Andrews Lloyd, apprenticed December 31st, 1772. He was
   son of Edward Lloyd, merchant, of Bristol, and nephew of Mrs.
   Champion.

   Jacob Alsop, apprenticed as a china painter June 18th, 1773. Son
   of Uriah Alsop, coalminer, of Stapleton.

   Samuel Banford, apprenticed as a china painter same day. Son of
   Thomas Banford, of Berkeley.

   John Garland, apprenticed as a china painter same day. Son of
   Richard Garland, of Bristol, labourer.

   William Wright, apprenticed as a china painter April 8th, 1775.
   Son of Wm. Wright, of Wotton-under-Edge.

   John Parrot, apprenticed as a “burner of china” November 22nd,
   1775. Son of John Parrot, of Bristol, house painter.

   Benjamin Lewis, apprenticed as a china painter December 5th,
   1775. Son of John Lewis, of Llandoger.

   Samuel Begnon, apprenticed January 29th, 1776. Son of John
   Begnon, late of Bristol, joiner.

   Thomas Williams, apprenticed September 19th, 1776. Son of Thos.
   Williams, of Bristol, labourer.

   John Jones, apprenticed same day. Son of Samuel Jones, of
   Bristol, carpenter.

   Samuel Fiander Pagler, apprenticed as a china painter October
   24th, 1776. Son of Thos. Paglar, of Bristol, mason.

   John Webb, apprenticed as a china painter July 26th, 1777. Son
   of John Webb, of Bristol, shoemaker.

   William Webb, apprenticed as a china painter same day. Son of
   Isaac Webb, of Bristol, stocking-maker.

   James Saunders, apprenticed as a china painter same day. Son of
   James Saunders, of Bristol, potter.

   Edward Stephens, apprenticed July 17, 1776, to John Britain,
   foreman to Champion. Son of William Stephens, and brother to
   William Stephens already apprenticed to Champion.

   William Lyne, apprenticed July, 1778. The last apprentice to the
   works.


                         BRISTOL EARTHENWARE.

_Temple Backs._--In 1786 the pottery for fine earthenware was
established at No. 9, Water Lane, Temple Street, called “Temple Back,”
by Joseph Ring, as I have shown in my notice of that potter and his
delft-ware productions on page 354. In January, 1787, the following
highly interesting advertisement appeared in the _Bristol Gazette and
Public Advertiser_:--

   “Bristol Pottery, Temple Back.--Joseph Ring[97] takes this
   opportunity to inform merchants and others that he has
   established a manufactory of the Queen’s and other earthenware,
   which he will sell on as low terms, wholesale and retail, as any
   of the best manufacturers in Staffordshire can render the same
   to Bristol.”

  [Illustration: Fig. 801.--Bristol Pottery in 1869.]

In December of the same year, as is shown by an invoice of goods, the
following goodly variety of articles was made: “oval dishes,” 10, 11,
12, 13, and 14 inches respectively; “table plates;” “soups;” “suppers;”
“twifflers;” “tureens;” “quart jugs;” “pint jugs;” “sallad dishes;”
“coffee-pots;” “sugar dishes with covers;” “coffee cups;” “bowles;”
“coffee cups and saucers, paynted;” “table plates, paynted;” “twifflers
paynted;” “quart mugs variagated;” and “pint mugs variagated.”
Mr. Ring’s friend and assistant, John Bettington, commemorated the
establishment of this new manufacture by writing some songs for the
Martinmas hiring festivities of the workmen. Two of these are printed
by Mr. Owen. The first is entitled “The Bristol Pottery, by J.
Bettington,” and is as follows:--

    “Ye Gentleman all, I beg your attention,
    Unto a few lines which now I shall mention,
    A comical ditty of Bristol you’l hear,
    And I hope that each man in chorus will bear.
                  Derry Down, &c.

    Its of the new Pottery I mean now to sing,
    And I hope to this city great wealth it will bring.
    For we are deserving, of many things clever,
    Our names are immortal, and shall be for ever.
                  Derry Down, &c.

    Then let me explain a little of our merit,
    Which now I will do with a generous spirit,
    Great troble we have had to bring it to bear,
    But now, my dear Boys, we make cream colour ware.
                  Derry Down, &c.

    It’s true our noble Queen has patron’d this trade,
    And many by it great fortunes has made;
    Then let us all hope that it may flourish here
    As well as it has in famed Staffordshire.
                  Derry Down, &c.

    I now can inform you a trial is made
    Which gives us great hope of a flurishing trade;
    This being the Case then, let us jovially sing
    Success to the pottery and health to Joseph Ring.
                  Derry Down, &c.”

The second song, called “Bristol Pottery Martinmas Ditty” concludes
thus:--

    “Then fill up your glasses, let mirth now abound,
    And Joy in each Countenance appear all around,
    Here’s a Health to His Majesty George our King,
    And riches in store to our friend Joseph Ring.

                    Huzza for this Pottery!
                    Huzza! my boys, I call,
                    Each striving to merrit
                    Will animate your spirit.
                    So long life to its Founder
                    And family all.”

On the 5th of April, 1788, “Mr. Joseph Ring, potter, in Temple Street
was unfortunately killed by the falling in of a warehouse. He has
left a widow and nine children to lament his loss.”[98] He was
superintending some alterations at the time, when the roof fell in, and
he was killed in the presence of his wife. The business was carried
on as usual “by the widow of the late Joseph Ring, and late partners,
under the firm of Ring, Taylor, and Carter.” The commemorative song of
this year is curious. It is as follows:--

    “Come cheer up my lads & let us all be gay,
    For now we are meet & it’s Martlemas Day,
    Of this Bristol Pottery I mean for to sing,
    For wealth to our masters I hope it will bring.

            Huza for this Pottery!--Huza! my Boys, I call,
            Each striving to merit--Will animate your spirit,
            So long live our masters--Their family’s all.

    I need not inform you good ware we have made,
    And that we have now got a flurishing Trade,
    Great Wealth to the City I am sure it will Bring,
    So join My Brave Boys & let all of us Sing
            Huza, &c.

    Then Let us all Strive My Brave Lads to Excell,
    that when we are Gone our Children may Tell
    What Labour We had for to Bring it to Bare
    before that we Could make good Cream Colour ware.
            Huza, &c.

    Now fill up your Glasses, and let Mirth abound,
    and Joy in our faces appear to all Round,
    hears a health to hise Majesty Grate George our King,
    To our Worthy Masters, & Mistress Ring.
            Huza, &c.”

In 1797 these works are described as “a large pottery,” so they
must at that time have been very extensive. In that year a curious
reference to “two gentlemen of the name of Ring,” sons, no doubt, to
Joseph Ring, occurs in the account of the death of James Doe, a potter
who worked there under them, which I have given under the head of
Lambeth (see page 137, _ante_). A mug bearing his name, “J. Doe, Sept.
1797,” is engraved in Mr. Owen’s book. In 1813 a deed of partnership
between Joseph Ring (son of the late owner), Henry Carter, and John D.
Pountney was drawn up, but through the death of the first-named was not
executed. The business was therefore carried on by Pountney and Carter,
under the style of Elizabeth Ring & Co., until 1816, when Carter
retired and was succeeded by Edward Allies, the style being Pountney
and Allies. In 1825–6 it was, according to Chilcott’s and Matthews’
Guides, worked by the firm of Pountney and Allies, and at that time
gave employment to about two hundred persons. Mr. Allies retired in
1835, and in the following year Mr. Pountney took into partnership
Mr. Gabriel Goldney, who retired in 1850. Mr. Pountney died in 1852,
and the works were then carried on by his widow under the style of
“Pountney & Co.,” under the management of Mr. Clowes. In 1872, in
which year Mrs. Pountney died, the works were purchased by Mr. Halsted
Sayer Cobden, who also owns the Victoria Pottery, in Bristol, and by
whom they have been much extended, and give employment to about four
hundred hands. The goods produced are the ordinary classes of white and
printed earthenware, principally for exportation. During Mr. Pountney’s
lifetime, some parian figures, &c., were made at these works; and
some exquisite examples, made by one of the workmen named Raby, who
removed into Staffordshire, were in the possession of the late Mrs.
Pountney, as were also some excellent imitations of the Etruscan and
other styles. Examples of the early productions of these works are
scarce, and it is interesting to state that the good old Bristol mark
of the cross was used on some of the pieces of earthenware here made.
The mark is sometimes in blue, and sometimes impressed. A name well
known in connection with these works is that of William Fifield (and
his son John), who was a painter of some merit. One of his plaques--a
sportsman with dog, gun, and glass--is, with other examples, in my own
possession. It bears on the back his initials, “W. F.,” and the words,
“Here’s to my Dog and my Gun, 1855.” The view of the works, painted
on four large tiles, and dated May 15th, 1820, now on the wall of the
office of the Water Lane Pottery (Fig. 802), was also painted by him.

  [Illustration: Fig. 802.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 803.]

       *       *       *       *       *

_The Temple and St. Thomas’s Street Works._--The oldest stoneware
pottery in Bristol is that of Mr. J. and C. Price and Brothers, in St.
Thomas’s Street and Temple Street, where their famous glazed stoneware
is made. It was established about 1735 or 1740, and has been continued
in work by three generations of the same family until the present day.
The old “Salt Glaze” was used till 1842, when great improvements having
been made through the long-continued and successful experiments of
Mr. Powell (as named in the notice of his works), it was at that time
found practicable to _dip_ the stoneware into liquid glaze in its
green state, instead of first burning and then “smearing,” as formerly
practised. Messrs. Price, having adopted the new method, continued
to improve their works, and built much larger kilns than usual in
potteries of the kind. The superiority of “Bristol stoneware” over
others became so well established, that the metropolitan makers bought
their glaze from that city until very recently, and, indeed, I believe
some of them do so at the present day. The stoneware goods produced by
Messrs. Price are of the highest quality, and, besides the more homely
and useful articles, they have succeeded in making some excellent
imitations of the antique, of very fine body, faultless glaze, and
elegant form. Many of these are admirable copies from the antique, and
are perfect in shape and in firing. Among the goods produced by this
firm are filters of a remarkably simple but excellent construction and
of elegant form; feet and carriage warmers; barrels and churns; bread,
cheese, and other pans, and every other kind of domestic vessel, as
well as every possible size and variety of bottles, jugs, &c. They
do an immense export trade for bottles for ale, stout, &c., these
being found for the purpose far superior to glass. Messrs. Price also
make all the other usual varieties of stoneware goods, and all are of
faultless quality both in body and glaze.

Other stoneware potters besides those already named were, in former
times, John Hope,[99] in Temple Street; Thomas Patience,[100] in the
same district; James Alsop, first at 9, Water Lane, and afterwards at
Temple Street, and others, as well as at Baptist Mills, Easton, and
Westbury.

       *       *       *       *       *

_Temple Gate Pottery._--At Temple Gate a stoneware pottery has long
been established, and is still successfully carried on by Messrs.
William and Septimus Powell, the sons of its founder. The goods
manufactured at this establishment are what are generally termed
“Bristol ware” or “Improved stone,” which was invented and perfected
some forty years ago by the late Mr. Powell. “Its peculiarity consists
in its being coated with a glaze which is produced simultaneously
with the ware itself, so that one firing only is needed.” So great
was Mr. Powell’s success in his discovery, that “shortly after its
introduction at the Temple Gate Pottery almost every other manufacturer
of stoneware adopted it, and it has now, in a large measure, superseded
the old salt-glazed ware.” The goods principally made by the present
proprietors, Messrs. W. & S. Powell, are bread-pans, filters,
foot-warmers, and other domestic vessels, as well as bottles and
jars of every size, shape, and use. Messrs. Powell have a registered
arrangement for fitting, fastening, and keeping air-tight, by means
of a three-pronged, or tripod, iron clamp furnished with an elastic
washer, the lids of preserve and other jars--thus doing away with the
necessity of any other covering. At these works, too, vases and bottles
of classic shape are occasionally made, as are also enormous jugs--one
of which, capable of holding twenty-five gallons, has been exhibited by
the firm.

       *       *       *       *       *

_Wilder Street Pottery._--About 1820 a pottery on a small scale was
worked in Wilder Street by a family named Macken, a descendant of
the owner of the old pottery at St. Ann’s, at Brislington, where
flower-pots and other coarse brown ware was made. Macken afterwards
went to America.


                            BRISTOL GLASS.

As the manufacture of enamelled glass in Bristol is so intimately mixed
up with that of pottery and china, it may be interesting to add a few
words concerning it. In 1761 there appears to have been, according
to Evans, “fifteen large houses employed in that manufacture.” The
main source of information concerning the manufacture is gained from
the books and papers of Michael Edkins, to whom I have referred in my
notice of the delft-ware pottery. For the particulars gleaned from
these papers I am indebted to his descendant, Mr. William Edkins. The
ledger commences in May, 1761.

The glass made at Bristol appears to have been principally white,
of different shades, and was made in a great variety of articles,
including teapots, jugs, cream ewers, beakers, &c. The commoner
varieties of decorative glass were painted in a rapid style with
varnish colour, and submitted to a gentle heat, just sufficient to fix
it on the surface. This, of course, soon rubbed off in use, and on the
examples which are still remaining the patterns have almost disappeared.

The highest class of goods produced by Mr. Edkins was beautifully and
perfectly enamelled, the colours were remarkably good, and thoroughly
incorporated into the glass. Examples of this kind are very rare, but
one or two specimens still remain in the family and are highly prized.

As the prices charged by Michael Edkins for painting on glass, and
for enamelling, naturally become a guide to the prices he had been
paid as a painter on delft-ware, and further as a guide to the prices
of painting on china at that time, I append a few extracts from his
ledger, which will be read with interest by collectors. For these
extracts I am indebted to Mr. William Edkins, of Bristol, grandson of
the painter, who has the original book in his possession. The accounts
for painting and enamelling on glass extend from April, 1762, to
December, 1787. The following are a few of the items:--

      1762.                                                 £ _s._ _d._
    April 26.  To 5 long dozn. Aml.[101] Beakers            0  10   0
    May    3.  To 3 do. basons, cans, & cream jugs          0   6   0
     „     5.  To 3 Do. sorted blue ware                    0  12   0
     „    10.  To 2 Lg. dzn. Amell ware                     0   4   0
     „    12.  To 1 Lg. dzn. Aml. Beakers                   0   2   0
     „    14.  To 20 Sugar dishes & covers                  0   2   6
    June  12.  To 5 Lg. dzn. Aml. ware                      0  10   0
     „    17.  To 1 Dn. blue pint bowls                     0   8   0
     „    19.  To 1 sett Jar & Beakers 5 in a Sett          0   2   6
    July  15.  To 8½ Long dzn. Amell sorted                 0  17   0
     „    19.  To 4 blue jars & Beakers with Mosaick border,
                 to match a large sett for Mr. Wilson       0   2   0
     „    20.  To 1 do do Amell cans                        0   2   0
     „    26.  To 1 pint blue can ornamented with gold and
                 letters                                    0   0   8
     „    30.  To Amell 12 pint cans                        0   2   0
    Sept.  4.  To 6 setts blue jars and Beakers with mosaick
                  borders 1_s._ 6_d._ sett                  0   9   0
     „    13.  To 12 blue quart canns 6_d._ each            0   6   0
    Dec.   3.  To 3 long Dozen cream Bucketts 2_s._         0   6   0
     „     3.  To 12 sett large blue Jars & Beakers         0  18   0

     1763.
    Feb.  11.  To 15 long dozn. sorted Blue ware            1   0   0
    April 13.  To 10   „    „     Do.     Do.               2   0   0
    May   31.  To 12 small blue jars & covers 4_d._         0   4   0
    June  24.  To 1 pint Blue Can with name John Vowell     0   0   6
    Aug.  18.  To 6 Enamell pint Cans--wrote “Liberty &
                 no Excise” 4_d._                           0   2   0
     „     „   To 6 Cannisterrs blue 6_d._                  0   3   0
    Oct.  18.  To 1 dozn. Canns & Milk jugs                 0   1   1
    Nov.  12.  To 12 Wash hand Tumblers 4_d._               0   4   0
     „     „   To 12 Saucers 4_d._                          0   4   0
     „     „   To 6 Flower bottles                          0   1   0

     1765.
    May   28.  To 2 blue pints “Mary & John Vowell”         0   1   0

     1766.
    Aug.  20.  To 12 long Dozen fine Wine--wrote “Pitt &
                 Liberty” 3_s._ Dozen                       1  16   0

     1767.
    Dec.   4.  To 3 large setts Enamell richly ornamented
                 with Gold and Flowers 5_s._ sett           0  15   0

     1769.
    Sept. 22.  To 3 pair blue Cornucopias ornamented with
                 gold 1_s._ pair                            0   3   0

     1773.
    Aug.  25.  To 84 blue wash hand basons & Plates         0  14   0

     1775.
    Aug.  23.  To 24 large Shades, with a large gold border
                 at top and the bottom rim gilded           3   0   0

     1787.
    Dec. 10.   To Ornamenting 1 Enamell Jar with Gold
                 [last Entry in Ledger]                     0   1   0


                              SALT GLAZE.

It is said that the delft-ware potteries were preceded by a maker of
salt-glazed stoneware--a German named Wrede or Read--and a curious
story is told in connection with him and the difficulty he had in
establishing his works. It appears that the people being surprised at
the glaze he produced on his ware, and at the secrecy he endeavoured to
preserve regarding his pottery, and noticing the dense clouds of vapour
which every now and then arose from his kiln (caused, of course, by
the throwing in of the salt through the fire holes when the ware had
arrived at a certain degree of heat), believed that he had called in
supernatural aid, and that the fumes which ascended were caused by the
visits of the devil. He was “mobbed” by the people, his place injured,
and he was forced to fly the town.


                             BRISLINGTON.

About a century ago, I am informed, there was a pottery at St.
Ann’s, in this parish, conducted by a family named Macken. The older
productions are described as “a drab-coloured ware with a plum-coloured
glaze; the more modern were the same ware covered with a layer
resembling porcelain; white, and apparently of felspar, this kind has
almost invariably a rough blue pattern.” One of the Macken family had a
pottery in Bristol.

A manufactory formerly existed at this place, and the ware produced
may be described as very closely approaching, in general appearance
and effect, the common descriptions of Turkish pottery. The patterns
were produced, in coarse and rude designs, in a kind of copper or red
lustre, on the plain buff clay ground. Examples are somewhat rare. The
works were carried on by Richard Frank, of Bristol, and his family,
but were closed in the latter part of last century. The works, which
were of course but small, still stand, but are converted into cottages.
“They are situated at the bottom of St. Ann’s Wood, between St. Ann’s
Vale and the river, on a line about half a mile beyond Netham Dam,”
and opposite to Crewshole. Some good examples of this ware, which is
remarkably clumsy and coarse, but very curious, are preserved in the
Bristol Museum (Fig. 804). The circular dish is fourteen inches in
diameter with a small centre of nine inches. On its back is the rude
monogram (Fig. 805) of Richard Frank, its maker.

  [Illustration: Figs. 804 and 805.]


                              CREWS-HOLE.

A small stoneware pottery was established here by a clever but somewhat
peripatetic potter, Anthony Amatt, originally of Derby, who was one
of the workmen employed by Richard Champion at the famous Bristol
china works. His works were merely a wooden shed or two, and the
bulk of his productions were flower-pots. He afterwards, I believe,
had a small pottery at Temple Gate, which came into the hands of Mr.
Powell when Mr. Amatt entered into his employ. Previous to this it is
believed a small pottery for producing the same kind of ware as that
of Brislington had existed at Crewshole. In 1794–5 Amatt was living at
Twerton, in Somersetshire; in those years he was extensively engaged in
painting on earthenware and china for Mr. Egan, of Bath, brother-in-law
of the second William Duesbury, of the Derby China Works. The original
bills are in my own possession. He was afterwards a stocking weaver.


                               WESTBURY.

The _Sugar House Pottery_ at Westbury, which had been for many
years carried on by George Hart, passed, on the 8th of December, 1775,
into the hands of Stephen Fricker, potter and publican, who was host
of the Fountain tavern in High Street, Bristol. Besides sugar bakers’
moulds, which gave the name of “Sugar-house Pottery” to the works, the
usual classes of flower-pots, chimney-tops, puncheons, pitchers, and
other domestic coarse brown ware articles were made.


                                EASTON.

A small manufactory was established here for the manufacture of various
articles by a process for using the magnesian limestone of the district
in its body. Many very creditable and artistic articles were produced,
but the whole affair proved a failure, and the works were closed. The
spill case (Fig. 806) is said to have been made here.

  [Illustration: Fig. 806.]


                          WESTON-SUPER-MARE.

The _Royal Pottery_ was established in 1836 by Mr. Charles
Phillips as a brick and tile manufactory. In the following year glazed
ware, for domestic vessels, was introduced, as was also, to a small
extent, the manufacture of flower-pots, &c. In 1840 the production of
glazed ware was discontinued; and, the clay of the locality being found
to be admirably adapted for horticultural vessels, vases, statuary,
&c., special attention was directed to them, and with such marked
effect that, at the Great Exhibition of 1851, medals and certificates
of merit were awarded for them. In 1870 Mr. Phillips retired from the
business, which was at that time purchased from him by the present
proprietor, Mr. John Matthews, by whom it has been very considerably
extended. By Mr. Matthews, too, several new branches have been
added to the business, and a new and better taste has been infused
into the art decorations. Notably among the new introductions are
rustic-work, baskets of artificial flowers, busts, vases, suspenders,
&c. Flower-pots, of which from 20,000 to 30,000 are made weekly, and
of all sizes, from 1¾ inches to 30 inches in diameter, are a staple
production of the “Royal Pottery,” and are supplied to her Majesty’s
garden at Windsor Castle, H.M. Commissioners of Works at Kew, Hampton
Court, the Parks, &c., the Royal Horticultural Society, Chiswick,
&c., and to most of the principal gardens in this country, as well
as being exported in large quantities to New Zealand, Port Natal,
and Chili. They have the reputation of being the best, most compact,
and most durable of any manufacture; and, although of such enormous
size, are turned with marvellous precision, and fired without running
or casting. Two great, and registered, specialities] are the “Oxford
Pot” with perforated rim for training pelargoniums, azaleas, roses,
&c., without the aid of sticks, and the “Alpine-plant pot”--a kind of
double pot so arranged that the space between the outer one and the
inner one (in which, of course, the plant is set) can be filled with
water or moist moss. The more notable ornamental productions of the
“Royal Pottery” are figure, shell, and other fountains, of various
tiers in height; life-size figures and groups of figures; statuettes
and busts; reproductions of ancient statuary; eagles, lions, and other
gigantic figures on artificial rocks and pedestals; flower and other
brackets in considerable variety; vases and tazzas of every conceivable
form, many of which, peculiar to these works, are of remarkable
elegance; pedestals and garden-seats; flower-vases and flower-stands,
elaborately and elegantly decorated in relief; fern-stands and flower
and fern-baskets, with and without handles, charmingly decorated in
relief with wicker-work, fern-leaves, and other ornamentation; cut
flower-baskets and vases; crocus pots; elegant suspenders for flowers,
for use in conservatories, entrance-halls, archways, &c.; orchid pots,
of greatly improved form and construction; window-boxes for flowers;
stump or rustic arborettes, of various sizes, for lawns, rockeries,
parterres, &c., of the most striking and novel character; rockery
arborettes for ferns, lychopods, &c., of various sizes, either for
out or in-door use; and architectural decorations, &c. The general
colour of these productions is a delicate red, which is calculated to
harmonize well with surrounding foliage. The designs of the vases,
&c., are remarkably good, bold, and effective; the body durable and
hard; the colour pleasing, and the workmanship faultless. The greatest
achievement of Art in terra-cotta which has ever been gained is the
production of baskets of flowers, each individual leaf or flower
modelled from nature; and vases decorated in the same manner. Those who
are acquainted with the exquisite beauty of the groups of porcelain
bisque flowers produced at the old Bristol and Derby works, will
scarcely be prepared to believe that they are successfully vied in the
coarser material by Mr. Matthews. But such is the case, and hence it is
that I call attention to these new and beautiful ceramic productions.
So true to nature are many of the flowers, and so delicately modelled
in all their minutest details, that the most skilful botanist can
scarce find a deviation from nature in leaf or flower. The basket
engraved on Fig. 807 is a fair specimen of the Matthews’ reproduction
of flowers; but the most exquisitely beautiful group yet produced is an
example in my own possession--the _chef-d’œuvre_ of the works. It
is unsurpassed by any production in terra-cotta. These floral baskets
are a speciality of the Royal Pottery, and are among the most beautiful
of art productions.

  [Illustration: Fig. 807.--Group of Flowers in Weston-super-Mare
  Terra-Cotta.]

The clay from which the various terra-cotta and other objects are
made is the native clay of the place, and is produced in the field
in which the works are situated. It is a fine plastic clay, of light
colour, and admirably adapted for the various purposes to which it
is being applied. The first six or eight feet in depth is this fine
plastic clay, from which the vases, statuary, busts, fern-stands,
flower-baskets, and other finer goods are made. Below this are several
feet in depth of blue clay, from which bricks, drain-pipes, &c.,
are made, and which lies in a bed of peat about fifteen inches in
depth. Below this peat is a considerable depth of soft clay, from
which the ordinary bricks are made. Roofing and flooring tiles, and
garden-edgings, are also made in large quantities. The following is an
analysis of the plastic clay made for the purpose of this account.

“Before analyzing, the clay was dried at the temperature of boiling
water.

    “Silica                            57·29
     Alumina                           13·55
     Ferric Oxide                       4·90
     Manganese Oxide                    0·46
     Lime                               8·84
     Magnesia                           2·27
     Potash                             3·62
     Loss on calculation (Water and
       Carbonic Acid)                  10·06
                                      ------
                                      100·99

“The greater part of the lime shown above exists in the raw clay as
carbonate. The high character which the clay bears as regards its
suitability for ‘Terra-Cotta’ work is fully borne out by the analysis.
(Signed), Edward G. Tosh, F.C.S., Chemical Laboratory, Whitehaven.”

They possess the advantage of not turning green while in use.

  [Illustration: JOHN MATTHEWS, LATE PHILLIPS, ROYAL POTTERY,
  WESTON-SUPER-MARE.]

The mark of the Royal Pottery is sometimes the Royal Arms alone, and
at others the Royal Arms surmounting a tablet with the name. There are
also other potteries, where coarse common ware is produced, in the same
neighbourhood.


                            POOLE, DORSET.

_The Architectural Pottery Company’s_ works were established in
1854 by Messrs. Thomas Sanders Ball, John Ridgway (china manufacturer,
of Cauldon Place, Hanley), Thomas Richard Sanders, and Frederick
George Sanders. In 1857, Mr. Ridgway retired from the concern and it
was carried on by the remaining partners until 1861, when Mr. Thomas
Sanders Ball also retired. Since then the works have been continued
by Messrs. T. R. and F. G. Sanders alone. The Company produce patent
coloured and glazed bricks and mouldings, semi-perforated and pressed;
patent mosaic, tessellated, encaustic, vitreous, and white, blue, and
other glazed wall tiles; embossed and perforated tiles; quarries and
fire-clay goods, and other articles--the clays used being Purbeck clay,
Cornish china clay, and Fareham clay, while those for plain quarries
are from the Canford estate.

  [Illustration: Figs. 808 to 811.]

The encaustic paving tiles are of good design, many being carefully
copied from mediæval examples, while others are new and of extremely
good character--some being classic and others gothic. The colours
used in the encaustic tiles are very varied and, in some instances,
rich; red, buff, blue, chocolate, black, white, brown, green, &c., of
different shades and of harmonious combinations. A speciality of these
works are the tessellated tiles, under Bale’s patent process. These
are literally formed of thin tesseræ of various colours, laid on and
forming a part of the quarry itself. By this means all the richness
and intricacy of the geometrical designs of tessellated pavements is
produced, and at small trouble in laying down. Their character, as a
rule, is better than the Italian tiles produced on the same general
principle. These “tessellated tiles” possess every quality for general
adoption, and no doubt will, in time, become, so to speak, acclimatised
to this country. In quality the Architectural Pottery Company’s
decorated tiles are not so hard and compact in body as some others are,
but doubtless this can be improved upon.

The marks used by the company are:--

     ARCHITECTURAL
    POTTERY COMPANY
     POOLE DORSET
      REGISTERED

    ARCHITECTURAL
     POTTERY CO
    POOLE : DORSET

    ARCHITECTURAL
     POTTERY CO.
    POOLE DORSET
    PATENT · INLAID
       MOSAIC

       PATENT
    ARCHITECTURAL
    POTTERY . CO
    POOLE · DORSET

       PATENT
    ARCHITECTURAL
     POTTERY . CO
    POOLE,--DORSET
     BALE’S PATENT
     INLAID MOSAIC

    A P · CO
     POOLE
     PATENT

    A. P. CO.

    A. P · CO
      POOLE

       *       *       *       *       *

_Bourne Valley Pottery._--At this pottery, worked by Messrs.
Standing and Marten, who have an establishment at Bourne Valley Wharf,
Nine Elms, London, glazed stoneware sewage and sanitary pipes, on
Creshes’ patent, and terra-cotta vases, figures, chimney-tops, garden
edgings, and architectural enrichments are made.

       *       *       *       *       *

_Branksea Pottery._--These potteries were built by Col. Waugh for
the manufacture of stoneware sanitary goods and terra-cotta, in 1855,
who also established alum works here. Fire-clay goods of the usual
quality of the district are made, and the sanitary pipes are of a hard
and durable nature. The works have the advantage of a large bed of
excellent clay close at hand.


                                KINSON.

The works at Kinson, near Poole (with a wharf at the Albert Embankment,
Lambeth), were established in the middle of the present century, and
consisted of twelve kilns with boiler, engine-house, drying-sheds,
stables, offices, &c. After a few years they were closed, and so
remained until 1867, when the property was purchased and came into the
hands of the present “Kinson Pottery Company,” who commenced making
stoneware drain-pipes. Shortly afterwards the company introduced the
making of terra-cotta goods, in which they have been very successful,
and fire-bricks, which they manufacture to a very considerable extent.
The estate consists of about twenty-seven acres of freehold land, which
is underlaid through its whole area with a thick compact bed of clay,
in layers of various descriptions. It is (roughly speaking) of three
qualities, about 40 feet thick, lying in nearly equal beds of each
description. The quality is shown in the following copy of Herapath’s
analysis, taken some years ago, for the original company:--

  +------------------------+------+------+------+------+------+-------+
  |                        |No. 1,|No. 2,|No. 3,|No. 4,|No. 1,|  L.   |
  |                        | Dark.| Grey.|White.| Grey.|White.|White. |
  +------------------------+------+------+------+------+------+-------+
  | Silica                 | 51·40| 59·10| 66·20| 54·40| 58·70| 65·40 |
  | Alumina, total         | 30·00| 35·16| 28·00| 37·00| 34·80| 25·40 |
  | Magnesia               |   ·60|  --  |  --  |  --  |   ·50|  --   |
  | Carbon                 |  2·10|  --  |  --  |   ·20|   ·30|  --   |
  | Protoxide of iron      | 12·60|  4·60|  1·60|  5·40|  3·50|  5·00 |
  | Sulphate of lime       |  3·40|  1·24|  4·40|  3·00|  2·00|  4·00 |
  |                        +------+------+------+------+------+-------+
  |                        |100·10|100·10|100·20|100·00| 99·30| 99·80 |
  |                        +======+======+======+======+======+=======+
  | Alumina out of the   } |      |      |      |      |      |       |
  |   above soluble in   } | 12·75| 12·50|  8·70| 13·20| 12·10|  4·46 |
  |   acid               } |      |      |      |      |      |       |
  +------------------------+------+------+------+------+------+-------+

  The above alumina is that portion which is soluble in boiling
  nitro-caloric acid, and therefore considered as not in
  combination with the silica.

                  (Signed)              WILLIAM HERAPATH, F.C.S.

The clays lie in the mine as follows:--

    No.  1.  Stock-brick Clay.
         2.  Top White Loam.
         3.  Top Black Loam.
         4.  Top Blue White Vein.
         5.  Top Blue Red Vein.
         6.  White Loamy Pottery Clay, Red Vein.
         7.  White Loamy         ditto.
         8.  Best London, for bottle ware.
         9.} Best Blue Vein.
        10.} Best Bottom Black.

The productions of the Kinson Pottery, in stoneware, are sanitary
and drain-pipes of every description, traps, syphons, and pans, and
other articles; they are highly vitrified, strong, and durable, and
of excellent quality. In terra-cotta, vases, rustic seats, brackets,
garden edgings, chimney-pots, architectural enrichments, and other
goods are produced, as are also fire-bricks, arch and wedge bricks, &c.
The quality of the terra-cotta is extremely good and durable.




                             CHAPTER XII.

   Nottingham Ware--List of Potters--Nottingham Mugs--Bears--Lowesby
   --Coalville--Ibstock--Tamworth--Wilnecote--Coventry--Nuneaton--
   Broxburne--Stamford--Roman Kiln--Blasfield’s Terra-Cotta--
   Bolingbroke--Wisbech--Lowestoft and Gunton--Delft Ware--Lowestoft
   China--Stowmarket--Ipswich--Ebbisham--Wrotham--Yarmouth--Cossey--
   Cadborough--Rye--Gestingthorpe--Holkham--Nuneham Courtney--Marsh
   Balden--Horspath--Shotover.


                              NOTTINGHAM.

That pottery and encaustic paving-tiles were made at Nottingham during
mediæval times is abundantly proved by the discovery, in April, 1874
(when digging the foundations for the Methodist New Connection chapel),
of kilns and examples of tiles and domestic vessels. Of this discovery
Mr. A. J. Sully gives me the following account:--

   “As the men were excavating on the site of the old Parliament
   Street Chapel at the lower corner of George Street, they came
   on an old kiln, in and near which they found jars, jugs, and
   flat-bottomed pots of mediæval manufacture, varying from six
   to sixteen inches in height and from two to nine inches in
   diameter; they are all of a red clay body, with the upper
   portion of the outside covered with green salt glaze. They
   afterwards found three other kilns and more pieces of the same
   description, and a number of fragments of encaustic tiles with
   coats of arms on, and one or two with inscriptions. In the same
   place, they also found a number of silver pennies of Edward I.,
   II., and III., a few Irish types of Edward I., and pennies of
   Alexander of Scotland. But what proves most conclusively that
   there was a pottery there, is the fact that nearly all the
   pieces found are faulty, having been either broken, or fallen in
   shape in the oven, and therefore thrown aside; and the coins,
   tiles, and pottery being all of the same period, prove that the
   works must have been in existence as early as the latter part of
   the fourteenth century. One of the vessels is probably unique;
   it is of the shape of an inverted water-bottle, and has a face
   in relief on each side--though for what use it was intended I
   am unable to conjecture, as it has an opening at the bottom
   as well as at the top. They were all found within four feet
   of the surface, the walls of the chapel having been built all
   round the place; but there being no internal walls of any kind,
   the enclosed land had not been disturbed before. Some kilns
   and fragments of a similar kind were discovered about fifty
   years ago, when excavations were being made on the site of St.
   Paul’s church, which is also situated in Broad Street, but at
   a distance of about three hundred yards from where this last
   find took place; so that the works would seem to have been of a
   very extensive character, and to have covered a large space of
   ground.”

The vessels seem to be of very much the same general character and
period as those found at Burley Hill, described on pages 78 and 79.
They consist principally of pitchers of almost identical form with
those engraved on Figs. 266 to 269 and 272 and 274. The most remarkable
is the one described by Mr. Sully as bearing a mask on either side.

In 1641 there appears, from a list of trades compiled in that year and
given by Dering, to have been only one master-potter at Nottingham.
In 1693 “glass-pots”--_i.e._ crucibles for glass makers--were made of
Derbyshire crouch clay. This is thus alluded to by Houghton in that
year, “_clay with flat or thin sand glittering with mica_. Crouch white
clay, Derbyshire, of which the glass pots are made at Nottingham.”

In the beginning of last century Mr. Charles Morley was a manufacturer
of brown glazed earthenware in Nottingham. His works were in the
lower part of Beck Street, on the way to St. Ann’s Well. Mr. Morley,
who amassed a very considerable fortune by his pottery, built for
himself the large house in Beck Lane, which was afterwards occupied
by his son, the late Mr. Charles Lomas Morley, and still later used
as the Government School of Design. In 1737 Mr. Charles Morley, the
potter, was one of the Sheriffs of Nottingham. One of his principal
branches of manufacture was in brown ware ale-mugs, for the ale-houses
of the district, and in pitchers, and other domestic utensils. In
1739, according to a list of trades in that year, there were two
master-potters in Nottingham.

Dering, who wrote his “Nottingamia vetus et nova” in 1751, says that at
that time Nottingham sends down the river Trent “coals, lead, timber,
corn, wool, and potter’s ware.”

In 1772–4 it is stated, in a curious and scarce little work, “A Short
Tour in the Midland Counties of England,” that at Nottingham “the
making of glass wares is laid aside, and that of pots become very
trifling; but here are some small silk mills and also a few on the same
principle for cotton, lately erected.”

In 1774 the names of thirteen “pot-makers,” one “mug maker,” and four
“pipe makers” occur in “An exact List of the Burgesses and Freeholders
of the town and county of Nottingham,” who voted at the election of
Members of Parliament in that year, but of course these would mainly be
journeymen. The names, which I here extract from a copy of this scarce
book in my own possession, are as follows:--

    John Ash, pot maker, Bottle Lane.
    William Barns, pot maker, Barkergate.
    John Clayton, pipe maker, Bridge Foot.
    Moses Colclough, pot maker, Beck Barn.
    John Coppock, pot maker, Marsdens Court.
    Thomas Ellnor, pot maker, St. James’s Lane.
    Thomas Glover, pot maker, Warser Gate.
    John Handley, mug maker, Coalpit Lane.
    John Hazeley, pot maker, Bridlesmith Gate.
    Thomas Hough, pot maker, Beck Lane.
    William Lockett, pot maker, New Buildings.
    Benjamin Marshall, pipe maker, Parliament Street.
    James Sefton, pipe maker, Mary Gate.
    George Sefton, pipe maker, Mary Gate.
    Isaac Selby, pot maker, New Buildings.
    Leonard Twells, pot maker, Beck Lane.
    Samuel Wyer, pot maker, Boot Lane.
    John Wyer, sen., pot maker, Boot Lane.

In 1780, in “An exact list of the Burgesses of the town and county of
the town of Nottingham, who polled in the election of two Burgesses to
represent the said town in the Council Chamber,” the following fourteen
pot and mug-makers and one pipe-maker occur:--

    John Coppock, pot maker, Narrow Marsh.
    Isaac Dance, pot maker, Coalpit Lane.
    John Clayton, pipe maker, Water Lane.
    Thomas Hough, pot maker, New Buildings.
    John Handley, mug maker, Coalpit Lane.
    Isaac Selby, pot maker, York Road.
    Thomas Wyer, pot maker, Boot Lane.
    Richard Reeves, pot maker, New Buildings.
    William Barnes, pot maker, Barker Gate.
    Moses Coleclough, pot maker, Beckbarn Yard.
    Leonard Twells, pot maker, Beck Lane.
    Richard Wyer, pot-maker, Boot Lane.
    Thomas Glover, pot maker, Warsergate.
    William Lockett, pot maker, St. Ann’s Street.
    Thomas Ellnor, pot maker, St. James’s Lane.

In 1802, in a List of the Burgesses in the Free Library[102] the
following four names occur;--

    Moses Colclough, potter, Beck Court.
    John Key, pot maker, Coalpit Lane.
    John Reynolds, potter, Barker Gate.
    Samuel Woodhouse, pot maker, Sandy Lane.

In the list of those who voted at the contested election of 1803, only
one pot-maker appears. In the same list the “Old Pottery” is mentioned
as a place of residence of several persons, thus showing that the
manufacture had then ceased at that place.

In 1815, Blackner in his history of Nottingham says, “there were
likewise two potteries within the last thirty years,” “but the clay was
principally brought from a considerable distance, which added so much
to the cost of the pots as to prevent the proprietors maintaining a
competition with the Staffordshire dealers.”

The names of “Mug-House Yard” and “Mug-House Lane” in Beck Street,
take their origin from the old pot works of Mr. Morley, and show,
incontestably, that those works, where “mugs” were the staple
production, were known as the “Mug-house.”

The greater part of the clay was brought from out of Derbyshire, but
some is said also to have been procured from Hucknall Torkard.

The earliest known dated example of Nottingham ware is the remarkably
fine posset-pot (Fig. 812), in the possession of my friend, the Rev. J.
S. Doxey, by whom it was thus described for my “Reliquary”:--[103]

   “It is a Posset-pot of the general form (Jewitt’s “Life of
   Wedgwood,” pp. 64–65), fashioned with more than ordinary care
   and lightness. It is made of very hard and durable ware, and
   has, as usual, a light brown lustrous glaze. It stands 10½
   inches, and at the top is 9½ inches in diameter. It is of a
   very unusual mode of construction, the ‘belly’ part having
   double sides, the outer of which is ornamented with foliage
   and flowers, the stalks being incised and the flowers and
   leaves being perforations. There is, moreover, the following
   remarkable peculiarity, which may be partially seen in the
   engraving. A tube commencing about an inch from the top, is
   passed down the exterior side as far as the top of the ‘belly,’
   where it passes through and is continued to the bottom of the
   interior. This tube, I imagine, had originally a mouth-piece,
   which is unfortunately broken off, and was so constructed that
   a draught of the posset liquor could by suction be taken apart
   from the bread, spices, &c. Between the handles, on the upper
   part, on the tube side, is inscribed in cursive characters the
   following:--

    _Samuel Watkinson_        _Major_    }
                                         } _of Nottingham._
    _& Sarah his Wife_      _& Majoress_ }
         1     7             0      0

  [Illustration: Fig. 812.]

  “Occupying a space 5 inches broad and 5½ in height, on the
  other side, in a similar position are to be seen the Royal
  arms of the period (William III.) with crest, supporters, and
  garter, with motto. Though this cup is of the same general form
  as the Posset-pot, and may have been used as such, it may also
  have been used on occasions of mayoral and other hospitality as
  a ‘loving-cup,’ or as some would prefer to call it, from its
  having only two handles, a ‘parting-cup.’ Samuel Watkinson, the
  owner of the Posset-pot, or in whose honour it was made, was no
  mean person. From Throsby’s Thoroton’s ‘History of Nottingham,’
  I learn he was elected on three several occasions (1700, 1708,
  1715) Mayor, or as it is more correctly put on the Posset-pot,
  Major of Nottingham.”

In Mr. Briscoe’s possession is a good specimen of the brown mugs so
characteristic of Nottingham ware. It is 5½ inches in height, 2⅞ inches
in diameter at the bottom, and wider at the top, and will hold about
half a pint. It was discovered during excavations in Victoria Street,
Nottingham, close to the site of the Old Ship inn, of “Gideon Giles”
notoriety.

  [Illustration: Figs. 813 and 814.]

One of the finest mugs which has come under my notice--and indeed, I
believe, the finest known example--is in the possession of Mr. E. M.
Kidd, of Nottingham, who is also the fortunate possessor of a fine
collection of English china. It is engraved on Figs. 813 and 814. In
front is a full-blown rose on a stem, surmounted by a crown, and there
are two other crowns, one on either side, a little lower down, between
what are evidently intended for thistles; there is also a terminal rose
at each end, and the remainder of the body is ornamented with their
stems and foliage. At the back, by the handle, are the words

        _John_              _Nottingham_
      _Johnson_             _Sept. ye_ 3
    _Schoolmaster_              1762

This inscription is, as usual, in ordinary writing letters, incised,
or scratched, into the soft clay. On the bottom, in the same kind of
incised writing letters, is the maker’s name, _W^m Lockett_. This
is highly interesting, as he, William Lockett, is one of the makers
included in the foregoing lists of voters in 1774 and 1780. The name
stands thus in the 1774 list:--“Lockett William, pot-maker, _New
buildings_” (in 1780 he was of _St. Ann’s Street_), and he appears to
have given a plumper for the Hon. William Howe, of Epperstone. In the
same list is a Henry Lockett, saddler, Smithy row, who voted in the
same manner. In the same list the name of the school-master, for whom
this special mug was made also occurs, but he voted for Lord Edward
Bentinck, and Sir Charles Sedley, of Nutthall, Bart. The name stands
thus:--“Johnson John, school-master, _St. Mary’s Church side_.”

Thus a record occurs both of the maker and the owner of this curious
mug, of which Mr. Kidd is the fortunate possessor.

A jug formerly belonging to Mr. Norman has the inscription, incised in
writing letters, as follows:--

                  “_John Smith junr of Bassford near
                           Nottingham 1712_”

In the Museum of Practical Geology is a “christening bowl,” thirteen
inches in diameter bearing the incised words, in writing letters,
“_Nouember_ 20 1726;” a punch-bowl, twenty-two inches in diameter,
with the words “Old England for Ever, 1750;” and a highly interesting
mug “in brown earthenware with glaze of metallic lustre, ornamented
with stamped flowers laid on in relief, and incised inscription in
cursive characters, round the rim, ‘_Made at Nottingham ye 17th Day
of August A.D. 1771._’”

  [Illustration: Fig. 815.]

Another good, dated example, brought under my notice by Mr. Briscoe,
bears the names of “_Thos. and Mary Brammer, May ye 21 1753._”
In the collection formerly belonging to Mr. Hawkins was “a neatly
formed puzzle jug, of lustrous glaze, ornamented with a vase of pinks
[these flowers being most generally used in the ornamentation of the
Nottingham Pottery] and scrolls around the lower part, the flowers
being a dark red colour; on the front is the date 1755, underneath the
bottom, the initials, ‘G. B.’” In the same collection was “a tobacco
jar, in form of a bear, of bright lustrous glaze, his head being the
cover, a collar round his neck, and a chain, to which is attached a
large hollow ball, containing stones and holes, used as a rattle; on
the ball is impressed the name “Elizabeth Clark, Dec^r ye 25^{th}
1769.”

One of the favourite productions of the Nottingham “Mug-house” and its
predecessors, was drinking jugs in form of a bear, which were also
made at Brampton in the same kind of ware, and at Fulham and other
places in other wares. A strikingly good example (Fig. 815) is in my
own possession. It is 9½ inches in height, and formed of the usual hard
brown glazed ware of this pottery. The whole, with the exception of the
neck, is powdered with small fragments of dry clay (not “potsherds” as
usually, but erroneously, stated) which have been sprinkled over its
surface before firing and burnt in with it. This, it may be remarked,
is the usual characteristic of these vessels whenever made. The one
under notice has the eyes, outlines of the ears, teeth, and claws,
laid on in white “slip.” It, like many other “bears,” is made to rest
as in the engraving, or to stand upright when placed on its hams;
the body contains the liquor, and the head lifts off to be used as a
drinking-cup, holding it by the muzzle.


                               LOWESBY.

In 1835 Sir Frederick Gustavus Fowke, Bart., commenced some Terra Cotta
Works at Lowesby, in Leicestershire, and produced vases of very good
character and of remarkably hard and fine body from the clays of the
neighbourhood. He had previously, about 1833, made some garden-pots
for his own use, and finding the clay remarkably good and tenacious,
determined upon utilising it. In colour the terra cotta was a full
rich red, and in some cases the articles were decorated with Etruscan
figures and ornaments in black enamel. Vases, ornamented flower-pots,
butter-pots, and other articles of domestic use, were produced, and
these were mostly decorated with patterns in black, or occasionally in
colours, and gilt.

A shop for the sale of the Lowesby ware was opened in King William
Street, London, under the management of a Mr. Purden. The ornamental
vases, made of different sizes, were sent up to London as they came
from the kiln, and many of the antique shapes were beautifully painted
and enamelled in London under Mr. Purden’s superintendence. The
manufacture was only continued for a few years and then, not being
found to answer, died out. The place is now used as a brick and tile
works, and flower-pots are also made.

The mark is impressed on the bottom of the ware. It is a fleur-de-lis,
beneath the name “LOWESBY” in a curved line (Fig. 816). Occasionally
the name LOWESBY without the fleur-de-lis occurs. The arms of Sir
Frederick G. Fowke, Bart., the founder of the works, are, _vert_, a
fleur-de-lis, _argent_, and the seat is Lowesby Hall, so that the mark
represented time armorial bearing of the family, and the name of the
estate.

  [Illustration: Fig. 816.]


                              COALVILLE.

In 1859 the attention of Mr. George Smith (who has made himself a name,
and earned the thanks of his country for his philanthropic exertions
in improving the condition of the brick-yard children and those of
the canal population) was accidentally drawn to the clays of the
neighbourhood of Coalville and Whitwick, and he procured some for the
purpose of experiments. These trials proving eminently satisfactory,
Mr. Smith entered into an arrangement with Mr. Joseph Whetstone and
others by which he undertook to establish the manufacture of terra
cotta on the spot and to develop the clay resources of the place.
The works were therefore established in connection with the Whitwick
Colliery Company, at Coalville and Ibstock; they are now worked by
the Midland Brick and Terra Cotta Company. Three kinds of terra cotta
are here produced, viz., red, white or light buff, and yellow or
cream colour. These varieties, each distinct from the other, are thus
described for me by Mr. Smith:--

“First, the red. This is made out of the surface clay, of a greyish
tint, and varies in thickness from four to thirty feet, and does not
shrink much in burning; it burns a beautiful bright red colour and
will stand the severest weather and keep its colour. Occasionally a
little white scum may be seen on the surface: this is the result of
making, drying, and burning too quickly; but this will disappear after
it has been in use a winter or so. Second, the light buff or glypto
terra cotta. The clay out of which this is made underlies the red terra
cotta clay and varies in thickness from six to twenty feet; it is very
hard and difficult to be ground to a proper fineness. This terra cotta
when burnt resembles very much Bath stone in colour, and may, if it
be kept dry from the time it is burnt to the time it is used, be cut
and carved with much ease, and it is very suitable for head-stones,
&c. But this peculiar speciality disappears after it has been exposed
to the weather for a little time, when it gets hard, and turns the
edge of the tools. Third, the yellow or cream-coloured terra cotta.
The clay for this kind of terra cotta is got out of the coal-pits in
the neighbourhood, and lies at a depth of about a hundred and twenty
yards from the surface. It averages about five feet in thickness, and
is a kind of clay between a pot-clay and a fire-clay. It is very fine,
strong, free from iron, and will stand a great heat, but shrinks a
deal in burning--about one-eighth. The kind of goods this clay is most
suitable for are the following:--Sewage-pipes, chimney-pots, vases,
flower-boxes, tiles, and pottery. The goods produced in architectural
enrichments are bases and capitals; cornices, corbels, and brackets;
arch moulds, vaulting-ribs, and balustrades; diapers, finials, and
ridge-tiles, and other articles. Garden and conservatory, as well as
table vases--some of which, especially a tripod vase, are of excellent
design--are also made of various sizes.”


                               IBSTOCK.

The history of these works is that of Coalville; which see.


                              POLESWORTH.

_Terra Cotta Works._--One of the manufactures of terra cotta carried
on by the “Midland Brick and Terra Cotta Company” is situated at
Polesworth. It was established in 1875, and the directorship placed
in the hands of Mr. J. Joiner, for many years principal manager at
the Stamford Terra Cotta Works. The productions consist of fountains;
garden, conservatory, and other vases of various designs; architectural
details and enrichments; chimney tops, chimney pieces, capitals and
columns, crestings and finials, and other articles, including an
admirable feature, that of tomb-stones, monuments, memorial tablets,
urns, &c. Blue and brown bricks, both moulded and plain; coping, arch,
and stable bricks; roofing tiles, garden edgings, drain pipes, and
other useful goods are also extensively made. The terra cotta is both
red and buff, and is of fine hard and durable quality, and, with a
clean, good surface, unites a pleasant shade of colour.


                           MARKET BOSWORTH.

_Terra Cotta Works_, belonging to the “Midland” Company, before
spoken of, have been established for the production of bricks, tiles,
fire-clay, and the more ordinary terra cotta goods.


                               TAMWORTH.

The _Terra Cotta Works_ at Tamworth were established in 1847, by the
present owners, Messrs. Gibbs and Canning, and are now very extensive
and important, and produce a large variety of goods of the highest
class and character. The principal productions are terra-cotta for
architectural, horticultural, and other useful and ornamental purposes;
Della Robbia ware; sanitary and other goods; tiles, and bricks, &c. In
terra cotta, for architectural purposes, trusses and cornices, bosses
and pateræ, brackets and corbels, capitals and bases, balustrades and
parapets, keystones and quoins, strings and mouldings, window and door
heads, terminals and finials, friezes, diaper work, ashlar, and every
other detail, are produced, and of a quality for sharpness, hardness,
and durability scarcely to be surpassed. Among the buildings where this
Tamworth terra cotta has been well introduced are the Roman Catholic
church of the Holy Name at Manchester; the Royal Albert Hall, South
Kensington; the Royal Horticultural Gardens; the Colston Hall, Bristol;
the Natural History Museum, South Kensington; and the corridor of
the New Town Hall, Manchester, &c. For ornamental purposes this firm
produces fountains, vases, tazzas, pedestals, garden-seats, brackets,
suspenders, figures and groups, garden-edging, and every variety of
articles for the lawn, the garden, or the conservatory. Many of these
are of excellent design, and the material being durable they are well
suited for out-door purposes. The “Della Robbia ware”--a fine terra
cotta beautifully and effectively enamelled in brilliant and flat
colours on the surface--is produced in endless variety in plaques, &c.,
for ceilings and walls, where it takes the place of plaster or other
surface-covering. Its great beauty is, however, especially apparent in
the garden and flower-vases, jardinières, mignonette-boxes, tree-pots,
and an endless variety of other useful articles which the firm produce.
The designs are chaste and elegant, especially those in which the
convolvulus is introduced, and the colouring rich and effective in the
extreme. They are among the best productions of this class of goods.
Another excellent production of the firm is a grey terra-cotta, which
has a pleasing effect for architectural enrichments.


                              WILNECOTE.

The _Wilnecote Works_, near Tamworth, which rank among the more
important in the kingdom, were established in 1860, when Mr. George
Skey purchased the coal mines at this place, with the intention
of working them. On sinking shafts for the purpose he fortunately
discovered several important and valuable beds of fire-clay, and other
clays well adapted for pottery purposes, and he wisely determined to
at once erect suitable kilns and buildings for their full development.
At great cost and under considerable disadvantages suitable workrooms
were erected and fitted up with suitable machinery, steam presses,
lathes, &c. Competent workmen were engaged, and the manufactory was
opened in 1862. The goods produced were so well received and their
quality so good, both as regard material and workmanship, as well as
design, that the works had very shortly to be considerably enlarged and
fresh workrooms, kilns, &c., erected. This was done, and at the present
time the entire produce of the coal and clay pits (about 300 tons of
coal and 300 tons of clay per week) is used up at the works, which
give employment to several hundred persons. In 1864 Mr. Skey having
found the concern grown to more than his own personal care could,
single handed, control, formed it into a limited liability company,
with a capital of £60,000, under the style of the “Wilnecote Company,
Limited,” afterwards altered to the “George Skey and Company, Limited,”
Mr. Skey being the managing director, and Mr. Thos. Creswell, secretary.

The goods produced are:--in terra-cotta, which is of fine and
durable quality, and of excellent workmanship, fountains, vases,
tazzas, brackets, pedestals, suspenders, terminals, flower-vases,
mignonette-boxes, fern-stands, garden-seats, balustrades, cornices,
chimney tops, and every description of architectural enrichment.
Game-pie dishes, of admirable design and of perfect modelling, and
other articles, are also produced in this material. The colour is
a beautiful light cream colour, and the body being very fine the
relief patterns “come out” very sharply and effectively. In “Rustic
ware,” vases, garden-seats, flower-pots, brackets, fern-stands, and
an infinite variety of beautiful articles are made. This “Rustic
ware” is a fine buff coloured terra-cotta, glazed with a rich brown
glaze, and sometimes heightened with a green tinge, just sufficient
to give it a remarkably pleasing effect. The modelling of some of
these goods is highly artistic. In stoneware, or Bristol ware, all the
usual articles as made at Lambeth, at Bristol, and other places, are
produced. In sanitary ware, all the usual and many additional articles
are made; these are of remarkably fine and good quality and excellent
both in body and glaze, and in firing. In ridging and roofing-tiles,
sewerage-pipes, and garden-edgings, and in moulded bricks for cornices,
string courses, &c., an endless variety; and in paving-tiles, and
facing-bricks of various colours, as well as fire-bricks, all the usual
kinds.

Terra-cotta gas-stoves are extensively made in various designs, some of
which are registered. They are chaste and even elegant in design, and
admirable in construction. Some of the patterns are in high relief, and
others, in addition to the relief, are perforated, and have a striking
and pleasing effect. Two of the designs are shown on Figs. 817 and 818.

  [Illustration: Figs. 817 and 818.]

   The following is an analysis of Mr. George Skey’s Fire Clay,
   made by Mr. A. Winkler Willis’ of Wolverhampton:--Silica,
   hydrated, 71·41; detrydrated, 75·99. Alumina, hydrated,
   21·17; detrydrated, 22·53. Protoxide of Iron, hydrated,
   ·91; detrydrated, ·97. Lime, hydrated, ·04; detrydrated,
   ·05. Magnesia, hydrated, a trace. Alkalies, hydrated, ·82;
   detrydrated, ·87. Manganese, Organic Matter, Sulphuric Acid,
   Chlorine, traces. Water, hydrated, 2·57. Water combined,
   hydrated, 3·49. Total, hydrated, 100·41; detrydrated, 100·41.
   Total Impurities, 1·89.

The mark used is the words GEORGE SKEY WILNECOTE WORKS NR TAMWORTH, in
an oval, impressed in the ware.


                               COVENTRY.

At Stoke, near Coventry, and other places in the district, are old
established coarse brown ware works. Mr. Robt. Wakefield is a maker of
flower-pots, seakale-pots, &c., of good quality.


                               NUNEATON.

The works were established about 1830, by Mr. Peter Wager Williams,
upon the site of what evidently had been very old pot works, but of
which no record appears to exist. At first there were during Mr. P.
W. Williams’s lifetime two distinct manufactories. One of these was
next worked by his eldest son, Mr. John Williams, who sold it to his
three brothers, Peter, Charles, and James, by whom it was carried on
under the style of “Caroline Williams.” It passed by purchase into
the hands of Mr. J. Rawlins, and was taken by “Messrs. Broadbent and
Stanley Brothers,” by whom it was considerably extended. The other
manufactory was carried on by Mr. Walter Handley, at whose death it
passed to his son-in-law, Mr. David Wheway, at whose decease it was
incorporated with the former one, and carried on jointly with it, by
Messrs. Broadbent and Stanley Brothers. In 1871 Mr. Broadbent retired
from the concern, and it is now carried on by Messrs. Stanley Brothers.
The goods produced are terra-cotta vases, chimney-tops, &c.; coloured
paving-tiles for geometric designs; garden-edging, ornamental ridging
and all kinds of plain building and ornamental bricks; glazed sanitary
and other pipes, &c. The firm has recently patented a process for
the manufacture of malt kiln tiles, for which they have invented new
machinery. They are made of the finest fire-clay, and are of very
superior character to any others. The marls in this neighbourhood,
from which these various goods are made, are varied, and on the ground
worked by this firm alone about twenty different measures occur, and
these are of divers colours and qualities. The works occupy nearly ten
acres of ground.


                              BROXBOURNE.

In 1843, when terra-cotta was but little known, Mr. Pulham turned his
attention to it, made numerous experiments in order to bring about
its revival, and succeeded in making it both of a good hard stone
colour and of a rich pale red. Having done this, he began to produce
various small objects for architectural purposes--bosses, angle quoins,
brackets, balustrades, small flower-pots, and vases--which remain at
the present day as sharp and good as when they left the kiln. He also,
about this time, introduced what is termed granulated terra-cotta,
having the appearance of stone. Latterly this imitation has fallen into
disrepute, and wisely so, for although where terra-cotta is now used
it is adopted instead of stone, yet it is not used to _imitate_
stone, but passes for what it is,--_bona fide_ terra-cotta. For
architectural purposes, it is still, in some instances, granulated.

  [Illustration: Fig. 819.]

Mr. Pulham exhibited specimens of his work at the Exhibition of
1851. Notably amongst them was a handsome Gothic vase in rich pale
red, highly enriched; this was placed upon a suitable pedestal of
cream-colour terra-cotta. From that time down to the next Exhibition,
in 1862, improvements were constantly being made, both in the
manipulation, production, and style of the manufacture. Mr. Pulham
aimed more at the quality than quantity made; and it is said that he
still carries out the rule he laid down, not to extend his business,
but to keep it so that it is not too large to be under his own personal
supervision. Mr. Pulham exhibited in 1862, among other things, a large
Fountain for a gentleman’s grounds near Tunbridge Wells, many features
of which, particularly the life-size figure of Hebe which surmounts it,
and which is a perfection in burning, were very successful.

  [Illustration: Fig. 820.]

  [Illustration: Figs. 821 to 824.--Broxbourne Terra Cotta.]

In 1871, besides other of his productions, Mr. Pulham exhibited a small
fountain, which was at play during the whole time of the Exhibition;
and also several new vases. The fountains (for which a prize medal was
awarded) and principal exhibits were very favourably noticed. Some
of these I give on Figs. 819 to 824. At the Paris Exhibition in 1867
fountains, vases, and architectural embellishments, amongst which may
be named the Preston vase (a number of which were made for the People’s
Park, Preston), with medallions representing the staple commerce
of the place; some rich columns, novel window jambs and dressings;
and notably amongst the rest was the Mulready Monument, erected
for the Science and Art Department, South Kensington, and at whose
instigation it was sent to Paris. The design of this is a pedestal 15
ft. by 10 ft., round the sides of which are sketched in outline some
of Mulready’s principal pictures. This pedestal supports a large-size
effigy, 7 ft. long, on a raised bier, the whole of this bier and effigy
being fired successfully, just as it left the sculptor’s and modeller’s
hands, and which was highly commended and spoken of as quite a _chef
d’œuvre_ in the terra-cotta art, and obtained the silver medal. It
is now in Kensal Green cemetery, where it was fixed on its return from
Paris. Mr. Pulham also executed a portion of ornamental terra-cotta
used in the New Science Schools at South Kensington. The quality of
the terra-cotta produced at Broxbourne is very high; it is hard, firm,
compact, and durable, and of a soft and pleasing colour. Besides the
articles already named, Mr. Pulham produces a goodly variety of vases,
tazzas, pedestals, flower-baskets, and architectural enrichments of
every kind.


                               STAMFORD.

That pottery was in mediæval times made in Stamford was incontestably
proved in the latter end of 1874 by the discovery of a kiln during the
course of excavations in the rear of a house occupied by the Rev. E. F.
Gretton, formerly Master of the Grammar School there. The kiln was thus
described in “The Reliquary,”[104] by Mr. G. H. Burton:--

   “On visiting the spot after a clearance had been effected, I
   found an opening sunk in the ground, 7 feet wide, and as far as
   excavated, 8 feet 6 inches long. The end that was bared (north)
   was semicircular; the form of the other could not be seen,
   though from certain indications I think it would correspond. The
   bottom was floored with clay, and the lining or ‘bratticing’
   of the sides was composed of stones, of irregular shapes and
   sizes, set in and entirely faced with clay. The layer forming
   the floor was about three inches thick, and had been burnt to
   a rather deep red; the coating of the sides was not so highly
   burnt, indeed; the clay at one part, only a few inches from the
   face, became perfectly plastic by exposure during a few days’
   rain. In this opening, in the direction of its length, was a
   row of four piers of an extreme height of 3 ft. 8 inches, and
   about 12 inches or 14 inches thick; their section was something
   like a square or oblong, slightly rounded at the angles--in some
   parts resembling a rough circle. These columns were at somewhat
   irregular distances. That at the north end supported a short,
   thick lintel, which was connected with the enclosure, and was
   in a line with the series of piers. The three other columns
   carried at their heads a slighter lintel. These piers supported
   four horizontal beams 1 foot wide and 9 inches thick, of an
   extreme length of 4 feet 6 inches, which spanned the space
   between the piers and the east side of the opening. Thus the
   internal arrangement, to use a homely illustration, was pretty
   much that of a gridiron bent in the middle to the shape of the
   letter L inverted. [inverted L symbol] The part enclosed by the
   piers and beams was of the clear width of 3 feet 6 inches; the
   space from the piers to the other side was 2 feet 6 inches.
   This latter is believed to represent the ‘stoke-hole,’ and
   the unbarred opening, between the two northernmost piers, was
   perhaps a ‘man-hole.’ I have been told that the four transverse
   beams had been continued right across the opening, and that on
   one side they had been accidentally destroyed; but one who was
   very early on the spot assures me that the piers did not then
   present the appearance of anything having been broken from them.
   The columns, the beams, and the lintels were all of clay, burnt
   in some portions to a light brick red. Their construction seems
   to have been a rude and simple affair. Sticks or branches of no
   great thickness were placed in position, and then soft clay was
   clapped round them until the required massiveness was obtained,
   when drying and baking would finish the operation, if indeed
   drying and baking were necessary. Of what the superstructure
   was composed, and what form it took, I could find nothing to
   indicate. The floor of the kiln was seven or eight feet from
   the present surface, and the sides at the highest remaining
   part rose to a level with the horizontal beams. I should state
   that in two parallel cuttings, made for the foundations of
   new buildings, I observed a very thin layer of burnt earth
   of a light colour, extending nearly to the south end of the
   excavated remains of the kiln, and at about the same level as
   the horizontal beams. This would seem to show that when the
   kiln was in operation the tops of the pillars were on a level
   with the then surrounding surface. One remarkable circumstance
   ought, perhaps, to be mentioned. It was found necessary to make
   a cutting through this kiln, and the excavation revealed the
   fact, that for at least ten feet beneath the kiln floor there
   was nothing but ‘made ground,’ as the workmen called it. Other
   cuttings near disclosed a similar substructure, the loose ground
   being 20 feet deep.”

The very large and important works of this place owed their origin
to Mr. J. M. Blashfield, by whom they were established in 1858.
Previous to that time, Mr. Blashfield had been, until 1851, engaged,
in Southwark Bridge Road, Albion Place, Blackfriars, and Mill Wall, in
the Italian marble trade, and the manufacture of cements and scagliola,
and the making and laying down of tessellated pavements, &c. In that
year he commenced the manufacture of terra-cotta at Mill Wall, London,
having a few years previously purchased a number of the moulds,
models, &c., from Coades when that manufactory was closed. In 1858 Mr.
Blashfield removed his moulds, models, plant, &c., to Stamford, where
a splendid clay for his purpose exists, and where he soon became as
successful as such enterprise and ability as his deserved, and where he
did more for the development and improvement of the beautiful in art
than could otherwise have been accomplished. In 1874 the works merged
into a limited liability company, under the style of the “Stamford
Terra-Cotta Company,” which failed and was wound up in 1875, when the
plant and stock were sold by auction.

Mr. Blashfield’s name is very intimately connected with the subject
of encaustic paving-tiles, having been associated with the late Mr.
Herbert Minton in their revival. In reference to this the following
extract from a paper read by him is interesting:--

   “One of the greatest revivals in pottery, connected with
   architecture, took place about 1833. Mr. Wright, of Shelton,
   obtained a patent for making inlaid tiles. This patent was
   bought by the late Mr. Herbert Minton, who improved upon it, and
   produced the tiles now so commonly used in churches.

   “In 1840, Richard Prosser, of Birmingham, took a patent for
   making buttons in china. In 1841, buttons made from the body of
   which porcelain is constituted were very largely manufactured
   by the late Mr. Herbert Minton, under this patent of Prosser’s;
   and having, myself, for several years, made inlaid pavements
   and imitations of old mosaic and tesselated work, I conceived
   that Prosser’s invention would make _tesseræ_ and tiles, and I
   suggested to Minton and Prosser the enlargement of the patent
   for this purpose. I then made arrangements to carry out this
   invention, and laid the first designs and specimens I made
   before the then President of the Royal Society (the Marquis of
   Northampton), who kindly permitted me to exhibit them at one of
   his soirées, at his house in Piccadilly, about the commencement
   of the year 1843. He then introduced the subject to a great
   number of noblemen, and especially to his Royal Highness the
   Prince Consort, who requested an especial account of the process
   to be written for him, and which was done, and forms now the
   appendix to the second edition of a work I first published in
   1842, through Mr. Owen Jones, on _Tesselated Pavements_. In
   1843, I published a work upon _Encaustic Tiles_, with ninety-six
   copies of ancient tiles drawn half the full size, and also
   designs of pavements. The drawings were arranged and copied on
   stone by Mr. Owen Jones. I also employed Mr. Lewis, Mr. Kendall,
   and other architects on the same subject, and especially Mr.
   Digby Wyatt, who copied for me in Italy the remains of the
   mosaic works of the Middle Ages, from San Lorenzo, St. Mark’s,
   and other places; and which has since been drawn on stone, and
   published by him, under the title of ‘The Geometrical Mosaics
   of the Middle Ages.’ The Society of Arts, London, also kindly
   permitted me to lecture on the subject, and constantly to bring
   it forward--so that, by the end of the year 1845, the trade in
   tesselated pavements, inlaid tiles, and Venetian floors, had
   gained a firm footing; but, from various circumstances, and
   after spending many thousand pounds in bringing the subject
   fully into notice, I was obliged to surrender all interest in it
   to the manufacturer, Herbert Minton. Since this date, Minton and
   Hollins have revived the art of majolica and Palissy ware, and
   produced the most magnificent specimens, both in point of size
   and color, ever attained in this description of pottery.”

  [Illustration: Fig. 825.]

  [Illustration: Figs. 826 to 831.--Blashfield’s Stamford Terra
  Cotta.]

Mr. Blashfield further wrote to me:--

   “I suggested to Herbert Minton the making of mosaic pavements,
   and found some of the money and designs for the early
   development of the pavement business. It was the connection with
   the pavement business that led me to a knowledge of pottery; and
   made me turn the moulds and models which I had used for plastic
   scagliola and cement castings into use for terra-cotta in 1851.
   I began to form my collection of models in 1831 in the Southwark
   Bridge Road.”

The productions of this manufactory were terra-cotta as applied to
every purpose, glazed or enamelled tiles and bricks for wall-facings,
hard ordinary paving tiles, enamelled architectural enrichments for
internal use, and red and buff moulded bricks.

In this material, statues, both single figures and groups, busts,
vases, tazzas, fountains, pedestals, suspenders, chimney shafts,
cornices, consoles, string courses, pateræ, medallions, panels,
friezes, capitals and bases, tracery, window and door heads and
jambs, balustrades, and every species of architectural decoration
were produced in almost endless--and, certainly, as to design,
matchless--variety. The vases and tazzæ were most carefully modelled
from ancient examples taken from the British and other Museums, and
from the standard works of Montfaucon, Winckelmann, Millengen, Raoul
Rochette, Dubois-Maisonneuve, Baptista Passerio, D’Hancarville,
Piranesi, Tatham, Moses, Sir William Hamilton, Englefield, and
others; and many original designs by Mr. Blashfield and other artists
were added. These were produced of various sizes, but all of equal
excellence. The statues and busts, &c., are clever reproductions of
ancient examples, and special works modelled for the purpose by or from
Bell, Woodington, Roubilliac, Weigall, Chantrey, and other renowned
modern artists.

Among the public buildings which have been enriched by the art works of
Mr. Blashfield’s manufactory are the urns, antifixa, and pavements in
the Royal Mausoleums, Windsor; vases and terminals, &c., at Buckingham
Palace; vases, tazzas, borders, &c., at Kew and Hampton Court Gardens
and Dairy Farm, Windsor; colossal statues, fountains, vases, &c., and
roofs and other decorations, at the Crystal Palace; chimney shafts,
&c., Sandringham; vases and pedestals, Marlborough House; the entire
red, buff, grey, and black terra-cotta details and enrichments for
Dulwich College; Lady Alford’s mansion, and many other places; and,
indeed, for most of the public buildings and private mansions of this
country and abroad. Of these, perhaps one of the most important, and
which will ever remain a lasting monument of Stamford ceramic art, is
the new Dulwich College, erected from designs by Mr. Charles Barry,
and entirely composed of terra-cotta. It is the most complete specimen
of terra-cotta building in England--no stone whatever being used; the
value of the material alone being, in the gross, calculated at £28,000.
The whole of this was made at these works.

  [Illustration: Figs. 832 to 834.--Blashfield’s Terra Cotta.]

In colour and quality the Stamford terra-cotta is of faultless
excellence. The details are sharp, and in many cases exquisitely
moulded; and, the body being much finer and harder than usual, they
have a finish and a “touch” about them that cannot easily be surpassed.

One of the most striking series of subjects produced in terra-cotta
was the manufacturing “process panels” on the exterior of the Wedgwood
Memorial Institute at Burslem. Three of these are engraved on Figs.
832 to 834. The whole series, modelled by Mr. Walter J. Morris,
illustrate the various processes of the plastic art; those selected
for engraving represent “Turning,” “Painting,” and “Firing.” The
history of these panels is a somewhat interesting feature as connected
with Stamford terra-cotta works, and is worth briefly recording. The
whole of the clay for these large panels was prepared at the Stamford
works by Mr. Blashfield. A large case, lined with plaster of Paris,
was made for each panel; the clay was firmly and evenly pressed into
it, and thus each of the twelve was transmitted to South Kensington.
Mr. Morris wrought his modelling on the faces of these cases of clay,
and they were returned to Stamford when ready for the later process
to be accomplished. At Stamford they were cut up in suitable pieces
for “firing;” made true (for they had got considerably twisted and
warped during the time they were in the modeller’s hands), carefully
dried, and burned; the whole series coming out from the kiln in the
admirable and perfect state in which they now stand, as monuments of
Mr. Blashfield’s ceramic skill, in the Wedgwood Institute. The whole of
the operations in producing these panels occupied about twelve months
in time, and their cost, of course, was something considerable. They
were marked with Mr. Blashfield’s name.

Among the most successful vases was the “Shakspeare vase.” It is of
the Medici form, but the general allegorical design and details are
Mr. Blashfield’s own. The figures of the allegory, which run round the
body of the vase, were modelled by the late Mr. Nixon, who executed the
statue of William IV. for the City of London, in conjunction with his
father, also a sculptor of eminence. It represents a masque scene from
Shakspeare’s _Tempest_--Prospero, Ferdinand and Miranda, with Juno
and Ceres, in front of the vase; Iris at the back, with the reapers,
dancers, &c. Caliban forms the part of one handle and Sycorax the
other. The whole are moulded in a masterly manner, and the rest of the
details of the vase are eminently in keeping with them.

Engravings of some of Mr. Blashfield’s vases are given on Figs. 826 to
835. Of these, Fig. 827, of novel design, bears powerful medallions of
Dante and Petrarch; and Fig. 828 (a flower-pot), those of the Queen and
the Prince Consort, and the Emperor and Empress of the French.

  [Illustration: Fig. 835.]

The marks used were the name, impressed, “J. M. BLASHFIELD,” or
“BLASHFIELD, STAMFORD,” or “STAMFORD TERRA COTTA CO. LIMITED.”


                             BOLINGBROKE.

In the seventeenth century a pottery existed at Bolingbroke, in
Lincolnshire. Houghton, writing in 1693, speaks of “the blue clay of
Bolingbroke pottery, in Lincolnshire.” Nothing, however, is now known
as to this manufactory.


                               WISBECH.

Terra-cotta of a remarkably good character, made from the clay of
the district, was made here in 1859; but the works were not of long
continuance.


                         LOWESTOFT AND GUNTON.

Lowestoft, on the very easternmost point of England, on the coast of
Suffolk, is a pleasant town, with delightful sea views, a fine coast,
and a picturesque neighbourhood. It is an ancient borough; is divided
into three parts, respectively known as the “Old Town,” the “New Town,”
and the “Lower Town;” and its principal street, from which branch
off other streets to the left, and numberless “scores,” or narrow
ways, leading to the Dene and the sea, is about a mile in length,
and contains the principal residences, shops, and public buildings.
Its chief trade, like that of Yarmouth, is the herring fishery; and
many curious traditions of conflicts between the men of the two rival
“bloater towns” are still extant among the inhabitants. The principal
interest of the place, however, centres in the fact, that here, on one
of the easternmost points of the East Angles, a manufactory of fine
porcelain existed in the latter half of last century, and that genuine
productions of those works are now much sought for by collectors. In
1863 I visited Lowestoft for the special purpose of seeking information
regarding the works, about which at that time literally nothing was
known, and after a vast deal of research, both in the town and out of
it, I succeeded in obtaining the information which is embodied in this
chapter, and which, with the exception of its being now revised and
here and there amended, I contributed to the _Art-Journal_ of July
in that year.

It seems somewhat strange that the absolute “land’s end” on the eastern
coast of England should have been chosen as the spot on which porcelain
should be made, when the clay for the purpose had to be procured from
the western “Land’s End,” Cornwall, and the coal from the extreme
northern coast of Northumberland and Durham. It is not improbable,
however, that the same cause which conduced to the establishment of the
Chelsea works had much to do with the formation of those at Lowestoft.
Certain it is that an extensive trade was in the early and middle
part of last century carried on, as it is at the present day, with
Holland; and certain it is, that at that time, as now, the town was the
constant resort of Dutch fishermen and others; and as the _first_
productions of the Ceramic Art in this neighbourhood appear, so far
as I have been able to ascertain, to have been delft-ware, it is not
too much to suppose that the first potters were from Holland, and made
the ware from clay found in the neighbourhood. Specimens of this fine
delft-ware, inscribed with names of people in the neighbourhood, and
with dates, still exist, and attest pretty strongly to the correctness
of this opinion.

Gillingwater, in his “History of Lowestoft,” written in 1790, says at
p. 112:--

   “The only manufactory carried on at Lowestoft is that of making
   _porcelain, or china ware_; where the proprietors have brought
   this ingenious art to a great degree of perfection; and, from
   the prospect it affords, promises to be attended with much
   success. The origin of this manufactory is as follows:--In the
   year 1756, Hewlin Luson, Esq., of Gunton Hall, near Lowestoft,
   having discovered some fine clay, or earth, on his estate in
   that parish, sent a small quantity of it to one of the china
   manufactories near London, in view of discovering what kind of
   ware it was capable of producing, which, upon trial, proved to
   be somewhat finer than that called the delft-ware. Mr. Luson
   was so far encouraged by this success as to resolve upon making
   another experiment of the goodness of its quality upon his own
   premises; accordingly he immediately procured some workmen from
   London, and erected upon his estate at Gunton a temporary kiln
   and furnace, and all the other apparatus necessary for the
   undertaking; but the manufacturers in London being apprised
   of his intentions, and of the excellent quality of the earth,
   and apprehending also that if Mr. Luson succeeded he might
   rival them in their manufacture, it induced them to exercise
   every art in their power to render his scheme abortive; and
   so far tampered with the workmen he had procured, that they
   spoiled the ware, and thereby frustrated Mr. Luson’s design.
   But notwithstanding this unhandsome treatment, the resolution
   of establishing a _china manufactory at Lowestoft_ was not
   relinquished, but was revived again in the succeeding year
   (1757), by Messrs. Walker, Brown, Aldred, and Rickman. This
   second attempt experienced the same misfortune as the former
   one, and very nearly ruined their designs; but the proprietors
   happening to discover these practices of the workmen before it
   was too late, they took such precautions as to render every
   future attempt of this nature wholly ineffectual, and have now
   established the factory upon such a permanent foundation as
   promises great success. They have now enlarged their original
   plan, and by purchasing several adjoining houses, and erecting
   additional buildings, have made every necessary alteration
   requisite for the various purposes of the manufactory. They
   employ a considerable number of workmen, and supply with ware
   many of the principal towns in the adjacent counties, and keep
   a warehouse in London to execute the orders they receive both
   from the city and the adjoining towns, and have brought the
   manufactory to such a degree of perfection as promises to be a
   credit to the town, useful to the inhabitants, and beneficial to
   themselves.”

It appears from this account that the first pottery was established
at Gunton, near Lowestoft, in 1756; but I am inclined to think that
pot making had been carried on some years before this date. Marryat
describes two plates in his possession, of coarse paste, with blue
borders, which bear, respectively, the words--

    QUINTON
    BENJAMIN
    YARMOUTH
      1752.

    QUINTON
      MARY
    YARMOUTH
      1752.

which he considers may have been ante-dated; but the probability is
that they are not, but that they were painted at Gunton or Lowestoft
at the period whose date they bear. A remarkably fine blue and white
delft plate, or dish, which belonged to the late Mr. James Mills,
of Norwich, and traditionally said to be painted at Lowestoft, has
a bold border of blue colour round the rim, and the centre bears a
heart-shaped tablet (Fig. 836) with a Cupid at either side bearing a
pendent bunch of flowers. Above the tablet is a coronet, and below it
a knot and tassel. The tablet bears the words--_Robart & Ann Parrish
in Norwich 1756._ Other examples of this kind of ware, bearing names
of individuals and places in the neighbourhood, have also come under my
notice, and tend to strengthen my opinion that they must have been made
somewhat prior to the year 1756.

  [Illustration: Fig. 836.]

It is a matter of extreme importance, and very noteworthy, that of
the _dated_ examples of wares known or recorded, those of 1752, 1756,
1759, and 1760, are not china but delft ware; and that those from 1762
forward to 1789 are china. The inference is that the manufacture of
delft ware at Gunton or Lowestoft continued till about 1760, and that
about that time the manufacture of porcelain was gradually making its
way.

The proprietors of the porcelain works in 1757 are stated by
Gillingwater to be Messrs. Walker, Brown, Aldred, and Rickman. Of
some of these proprietors particulars will be found interwoven in
my present article, but of the others very little is known. By 1770
the manufacture had advanced very considerably, so much so that in
that year, as appears by the following advertisement, a warehouse
for its sale was established in London:--“Clark Durnford, Lowestoft
China Warehouse, No. 4, Great St. Thomas the Apostle, Queen Street,
Cheapside, London, where merchants and shopkeepers may be supplied with
any quantity of the said ware at the usual prices. N.B. Allowance of
Twenty per cent. for Ready Money.”

The firm was carried on (as is proved by the address furnished
to Mr. Duesbury, of the Derby China factory) under the style of
“Robert Browne & Co.”; the address is “Mr. Robt. Browne & Co., China
Manufactory, Lowestoff, Suffolk.”

  [Illustration: Fig. 837.]

One of the partners of the early firm, and the manager of the works,
was Robert Browne, who died in 1771, when the management fell to his
son, also Robert Browne, who, being an excellent practical chemist,
made great improvements in the ware. He was constantly experimenting on
“bodies,” and succeeded in bringing the art of making porcelain nearer
to the Oriental original than had been at that time attained by any
other individual. Of the first of these Robert Brownes an interesting
relic remains in the possession of his great-grandson at the present
day. It is a small inkstand, white, with blue ornaments. It is of
nine-sided form, and has Chinese figures on seven of its sides, the
other two being taken up with the pattern here engraved, the initials
“R. B., 1762,” being those of Robert Browne just alluded to.

The manufacture of porcelain under the management of the second Robert
Browne must have attained some great degree of excellence in 1775, for
in that year I find that a man named David Rhodes, who was apparently
employed by his master, Josiah Wedgwood, to collect together for him
examples of the productions of the different manufactories of this
country, enters in his account of expenses the purchase of a Lowestoft
slop basin, for which he gave ninepence. The account, which is in the
possession of Mr. Mayer, of Liverpool, is curious, as the following
items will show:--

     1775.                                                 _s._  _d._
    May 10.  A Flawed Chelsea Leaf, a Plymouth Teapot,
               and 2 Liverpool Coffee Cups                   0    6
    May 12.  A set of Bristol China                          6    0
       „     A ½-pint Worcester Basin and broken ware        0    6
       „     2 Slop Basins, Derby and _Leastoff_             1    6
       „     1 Quart Bristol Mug and Teapot Stand            2    6
       „     A Broken Quart Mug, Bristol                     0    6

Prices at which collectors nowadays would be only too glad to purchase
specimens. Fancy a quart Bristol mug, and a teapot-stand of the same,
for half-a-crown! and a Chelsea leaf, a Plymouth teapot, and two
Liverpool coffee-cups for sixpence!

The works must at this time have become noted, or they would not have
attracted the attention of Josiah Wedgwood, and made him desirous of
examining the “body,” and comparing it with other wares made in this
country. That the china produced at and before this time was good
there can be no doubt, and the purchase of a “slop-basin” shows that
tea-services must, prior to that time, have been made. It would be
interesting to find that this identical slop-basin was still preserved
at Etruria, as, possibly, it may be, although I have failed to
recognise it.

A curious circumstance connected with the first Robert Browne, the
memory of which has been preserved in his family, is worth relating, as
showing the schemes and the underhand practices which were resorted to
by manufacturers in those days (as, alas! now), to worm out and steal
the secrets of others. The workmen who had been engaged from London
having been, as alluded to by Gillingwater, shamefully tampered with,
and bribed to injure the work at Lowestoft, probably induced Mr. Browne
to retaliate in the manner I am about to describe. Being desirous, soon
after the commencement of the works, to ascertain how the glaze was
prepared, some of the colours mixed, and other particulars concerning
the ingredients used, he went to London, and under the disguise of
a workman, engaged himself at one of the china manufactories--of
course either Chelsea or Bow. Here, after a short time, he bribed the
warehouseman to assist him in his design, and soon accomplished his
purpose. The warehouseman locked him up secretly in that part of the
factory where the principal was in the habit of mixing the ingredients
after the workmen had left the premises. Browne was placed under an
empty hogshead close to the counter or table on which the principal
operated, and could thus see through an opening all that was going on.
From his hiding-place he watched all the processes, saw the proportions
of the different ingredients used, and gained the secret he had so
long coveted. Having thus remained a willing prisoner for some hours,
he was at last released when the principal left the place, and shortly
afterwards returned to Lowestoft, after an absence of only two or
three weeks, in full possession of the, till then, secret information
possessed by the famed works of Chelsea or Bow.

It may be well to note that the Brownes, I am informed, were engaged
in the staple trade of the place--that of the herring fishery as
well as in that of the manufacture of porcelain. The firm also were
shipowners, and kept vessels constantly running “to the Isle of Wight
for a peculiar sand, which, with pulverised glass and pipeclay, formed
principally the ingredients of the groundwork of the ware,” and to
Newcastle for coals.

Lowestoft is, fortunately, particularly rich in dated examples of
its productions; but it is worthy of remark, that the whole of these
examples, with names and dates, which have come under my notice, are
_white and blue_; showing that, during the period through which
these dates run, that was the character of the china made at these
works, and that the finer body and the elaborate colouring which
distinguish so much of the Lowestoft porcelain, were of later date. But
of this presently.

The earliest dated example of Lowestoft china ware I have yet seen is
the inkstand just described, which bears the initials “R. B.,” and
the date “1762.” In Mr. Norman’s collection was a bowl with the name
“ABRM. MOORE, 1765,” and a basin, said to have been made for
Sarah Crisp, has her initials “S. C., 1765.” The next is a fine bowl,
with a large group of Chinese figures--emperor, mandarins, &c.--painted
in blue, and inscribed on the bottom with the name of an eccentric
old maid, well known in the town, and whose gravestone lies in the
churchyard:--

                           ELIZA^{TH} BUCKLE
                                 1768.

This bowl and other pieces of a service (notably a basin and cream
jug, painted with shepherd and shepherdess) made for her, were painted
by her nephew, a man named Robert Allen, who, as a boy, was one of
the first employed when the manufactory was established and remained
there until its close. The bowl is in the possession of his aged
daughter, Mrs. Johnson. This Robert Allen may well be classed amongst
the “worthies” of Lowestoft. Working at the china manufactory from the
first, he became foreman, and was entrusted with the mixing of the
colours and the ingredients of the material itself, and remained so
till the close of the factory in 1803. As a painter he appears to have
been chiefly employed on blue; at all events the only authenticated
specimens of his work which I have seen are of that colour. He also
employed himself in staining glass, and numerous pieces of his work are
still preserved by families in the town. His principal work was the
painting in the east window of the parish church, which he completed
in the year 1819, being then in his seventy-fourth year, and presented
it to the town. In acknowledgment of this service a silver cup, now in
possession of his daughter, and bearing the following inscription,
was presented to him:--“A token of respect to Mr. Robert Allen, from
his fellow-townsmen at Lowestoft, for having, at the advanced age of
Seventy-four, gratuitously and elegantly ornamented the East Window of
their Parish Church Anno. Dom. 1819.”

After the closing of the Lowestoft works, Allen, who dealt in china,
&c., put up a small kiln at his own house, where he carried on
operations on a limited scale, buying the unfinished ware from the
Rockingham works and painting and finishing it himself for sale. Mr.
Brameld, of the Rockingham works, who was an excellent painter on
china, occasionally visited Lowestoft, and became attached to Allen, to
whom he presented a set of five vases, beautifully painted from nature
with flowers copied from specimens he had gathered on the Dene. He also
presented him with a snuff-box, painted by himself.

Of the same year as the bowl above described (1768) a dated example in
the possession of Mr. Seago, the town clerk of Lowestoft, is a bowl,
with the words--

                             EDWARD MORLEY
                                 1768

Another bears the date--

                              RICD. MASON
                               JANY. 1TH
                                 1771

Of this latter year another dated example is shown on the engraving
(Fig. 838); it has the words--“James & Mary Curtis, Lowestoft, 1771.”
This mug was painted by Thomas Curtis, son of the pair named in the
inscription. He was for some time, it is said, employed at Dresden, and
became a “silent partner” in the Lowestoft works, and in his will is
described as a “porcelain painter.” Part of a set of china, painted by
this same Thomas Curtis on Oriental body, in 1775, and intended as a
wedding present for his son James, is still preserved in the family.

  [Illustration: Fig. 838.]

The next dated example of blue and white was in the museum of
the late Mr. Mills, of Norwich. It is a mug, and bears the
inscription--“ROBT. HAWARD 1781.” The same gentleman had also
other initialed specimens, made originally for members of his family.
In Mr. Seago’s collection is an inkstand marked _S. A. Sept. 26
1782_, being the initials of Samuel Aldred; and Mr. Norman possessed
a similar inkstand inscribed “_A present from Lowestoft_,” but not
dated. In Norwich a later example, with the initials and date--

                                   W
                                J     S
                                 1784

is also preserved. A beautiful example, the _latest_ known dated
specimen of Lowestoft china, is in the possession of Mr. J. Williams,
of Islington. It is a mug, three and a half inches high, painted in
blue with borders and flowers, and has on the front the initials and
name[105]

                                 G  C
                               LOWESTOFT
                                 1789

These will be sufficient to show the range of years over which the
Lowestoft blue and white porcelain was manufactured. That it was made
to the close of the works there is every probability; but that it
gradually gave way to a finer and higher class of goods is certain.
Earthenware, too, of a fine kind, appears to have been made at
Lowestoft, of which I have seen some interesting examples, so called,
in various collections.

In the possession of Mr. Andreas A. Cockayne is a pair of remarkably
good salt-cellars of undoubted Lowestoft make. The inside is painted
with roses and other flowers, and the outside has festoons of roses and
foliage, and on either side of each is a shield bearing _gules_, on a
bend, _argent_, three leopards’ heads, caboshed, of the field; over all
an escutcheon of pretence with the arms of Cockayne, _argent_, three
cocks, _gules_. Crest, a leopard’s head, caboshed, _gules_.

Before speaking of the later and higher class of goods made, or
painted, at Lowestoft, it is quite necessary to put collectors on
their guard against giving implicit credence to all they hear in the
locality as to the kinds of ware made at these works. I have seen
undoubted specimens of early Worcester, of Caughley, of Bristol, and
of several other localities, gravely asserted to be Lowestoft, and
even attempted to be proved to be such by the very marks they bear.
As a proof of this I may just mention that it is said the company did
a large trade with Turkey, and the ware prepared for that market “had
on it no representation of man or beast (so as not to offend Mahometan
law), and at the bottom of each piece the Crescent was painted!”
It is perhaps unnecessary to say that the pieces marked with the
“Turkish Crescent” are the ordinary blue and white with the Worcester
and Caughley marks, and that some of the pieces are the well-known
“cabbage-leaf” and other forms of those makes.

  [Illustration: Figs. 839, 840.]

The great characteristic of the latter and more advanced porcelain
made at Lowestoft, is its extreme minuteness and intricacy of pattern
and beauty of finish. Indeed the decorations on many of the specimens
which I have examined, are of a character far superior, both in design
and in the exquisite and almost microscopic nicety of the pencilling
and finish, to those mostly produced at other English manufactories.
The borders are frequently very minute and elaborate, and the wreaths,
festoons, or groups of flowers, are equally delicate in their
proportions.

Some of the productions of the Lowestoft works are apparently painted
on Oriental body, but there are many good examples in existence where
the body is of Lowestoft make which are of very fine quality. The
collector will be able to distinguish immediately between the examples
painted at Lowestoft on Oriental body and those which were potted and
painted there. Punch-bowls and tea and coffee services appear to have
been the staple productions of these works, and, fortunately, many
of the former, and several almost complete sets of the latter, are
remaining in the hands of families in the neighbourhood, and in those
of local collectors, who seem imbued with a truly laudable desire
to keep alive the memory of what has been done for the Ceramic Art
in their town. The bowls are usually of remarkably good form, and
highly ornamented. They are mostly painted at Lowestoft, on Oriental
body. Some of these, though not dated, nevertheless give collateral
evidence of the period at which they were made, and become, therefore,
historically valuable; as do also, indeed, some of the services bearing
the initials, heraldic bearings, and monograms of families in the
neighbourhood. A punch-bowl in the possession of the town clerk of
Lowestoft, which is elaborately ornamented inside and out, bears inside
a well-painted representation of a fishing lugger at full sail, within
a circle, beneath which is the name of the vessel, _The Judas_.
This bowl was made for the boat _Judas_, and was filled with punch
and drank to its success before each fishing voyage, and at carousals
at their end. In the same collection is another beautiful bowl, bearing
on either side, within ovals, and surrounded by ornamental ovals, &c.,
portraits of the notorious John Wilkes, and another, with the words
“Wilkes and Liberty.” The painting of these, as of all the higher class
of wares, is very beautiful and, indeed, in some parts exquisite.

When writing in 1863 upon these works (and it must be borne in mind
that I was the first to write upon them) I expressed myself as above.
My opinion that some of the Lowestoft productions were painted there on
Oriental body,--an opinion based upon thoroughly good foundation--has
been taken exception to by a later writer (who has been indebted for
nearly every scrap of information he has embodied in his work to what
I then wrote), in no measured terms. I was fortified in that opinion
by the judgment of the late Mr. Rose, of Coalport, than whom no man
living had a more thorough practical knowledge of bodies and of all
the different processes and phases of Ceramic Art, and whose opinion
in all technical matters was sought and relied upon by all scientific
men of real intelligence; and I am far from feeling disposed to give
up that opinion at the mere dictum of a dealer. I have hesitation in
saying that if a tithe of the pieces exhibited as Lowestoft _were_
painted there (which I very much doubt), they assuredly were painted
on Oriental body, for much of the ware now vaunted as Lowestoft is
certainly not English.[106]

  [Illustration: Fig. 841.]

The coffee-pot (Fig. 841) formerly belonging to Mr. Norman is a good
specimen of Lowestoft painting. It forms part of a service, evidently
a marriage-service, originally made for Captain Walsh. The initials it
bears are probably those of himself and his bride. They are enclosed
in an oval within a wreath of roses and palm branches, tied with a
true lover’s knot. On either side is a Cupid, who supports a human
heart pierced with two arrows, and this is surmounted by a coronet. On
reference to the delft plate just described and engraved (Robert and
Ann Parrish), it will be seen how strongly the design of that early
example of Lowestoft earthenware accords with this, perhaps one of the
most highly finished of its productions in porcelain.

It is unnecessary to describe other services, although many of them are
of the highest beauty. One tea service, with the crest (an owl) and
the monogram of W. W. conjoined, is especially deserving of notice,
however, as being one of the choicest examples of porcelain painting of
its kind which have come under my notice. This service, until lately
intact, has unfortunately been dispersed, and portions of it passed
into the collections of Sir Henry Tyrwhit, Mr. Norman, Mr. Seago, and
others.

It is worthy of remark that on much of the Lowestoft china the rose
is plentifully introduced. The reason for this is probably two-fold:
first, the arms of the borough is the Tudor (or full-blown) rose,
crowned with an open arched crown; and this may probably have been the
principal incentive in giving the rose so constant and so prominent
a place in the ornamentation of the china. Second, during the period
of the great Revolution, a French refugee of the name of Rose, one
of the cleverest of the French porcelain painters, found his way to
Lowestoft, and was engaged by the company. He became the principal,
and by far the best, of the artists employed, and probably introduced
the rose more generally, in allusion to his name, than would otherwise
have been done. To him may probably be ascribed the finest and most
minutely finished specimens of painting which the works produced, and
it was his taste which gave that French character to the general style
of ornamentation which is so discoverable on many of the services. It
is well to remark that on some of the pieces painted by him he is said
to have introduced a small rose under the handle as a special mark of
his work. Like that of many another man of genius, the lot of this
clever refugee artist was a sad one. He was an aged man when he came to
Lowestoft, and he remained at the works till his eyesight failed him,
and he became very poor. A subscription was entered into, and a couple
of donkeys to help him to carry water in the town purchased, and thus
he passed his last few years.

  [Illustration: Fig. 842.]

In the group (Fig. 842), I have shown some very characteristic examples
of the higher class make of the Lowestoft works. The saucer is an
excellent specimen of floral decoration, and shows better than many the
rose which was so plentifully introduced in decoration. The painting,
however, of these bolder groups of flowers is not so good as in the
more minute ones--the artists, as I have before said, excelling in
minute, careful, and elaborate pencilling rather than in breadth of
style and colour. The coffee-cup is a simple but very good specimen
of heraldic decoration. It is part of a set made for the celebrated
writer, the Rev. Robert Potter, Prebendary of Norwich and Vicar of
Lowestoft, one of the most distinguished classical scholars of his
time, and chiefly known for his excellent translations of Æschylus,
Euripides, and Sophocles, and for other equally learned works. The
cup bears the arms _or_, a chevron, _sable_, between three mullets,
_gules_, pierced of the first; with crest, and motto, “IN DEO POTERO.”
The tea-cup in the same group is a good example of the not unusual
French style of ornamentation, in wreaths, monograms, and initials. The
shield bears the initials “M.S.J.,” and is surrounded by a remarkably
elegant wreath of flowers, and surmounted by a crest. The engraving
(Fig. 843) is a simple _sketch_ from the saucer belonging to the cup
just described, and is therefore not filled in with the elaborate
detail of the original. The mug engraved in the group is of a form very
usual in Lowestoft specimens. It is well decorated with groups and
sprays of flowers, among which the rose is predominant. The borders on
all these pieces are of elaborate and minutely pencilled character.

  [Illustration: Fig. 843.]

Transfer printing on china does not seem to have been practised to
any extent at Lowestoft. One jug, however, which has been handed down
from father to son in the family of the most active proprietor, is
preserved, with a memorandum that the copper-plate from which it was
printed was given to Mr. Browne by a Mr. Gamble, of Bungay, who, with
his family, was in the habit of visiting Lowestoft. Probably the plate
was given that the family might be supplied with ware printed from it.
The design is a sportsman with dog and gun, and on the spout of the jug
are the letters ‘S. A.’ the initials of Samuel Aldred. I have also seen
a set of beakers, &c., printed in blue, which are said to have been
bought at the factory, and to be attested as Lowestoft make.

The Lowestoft works did not excel in figures, which were usually
simple in design, and of small size. They are usually single rustic
figures, and possess no notable features; four examples, purchased
at the factory just before its close, are in the possession of Lady
Smith, and are highly interesting as being well authenticated. Among
the principal artists employed at the works were Rose, the refugee of
whom I have just spoken, whose beautiful floral patterns decorate most
of the best specimens of the ware of these works; Powles, a very clever
artist, whose name is well known as the draughtsman of the plates
illustrating Gillingwater’s “History of Lowestoft;” Allen, of whom I
have spoken, who painted the east window of the parish church, and was
the mixer of the colours at the factory; Redgate, who also was a good
flower-painter; Curtis, of whose productions I have already spoken;
Abel, John, and Joseph Bly; James, John, and Margaret Redgrave; and
others named Stevenson, Balls, Mottershed, and Simpson. Besides these,
several women were employed in painting and gilding.

The works were brought to a close in the year 1803 or 1804, and the
materials and finished goods were sold by auction. The causes which led
to their discontinuance were many, but principally the losses sustained
by the company, and the successful competition of the Staffordshire
manufacturers. One great loss was caused by the failure of their London
agents; another and more serious one by the destruction of a very large
quantity of Lowestoft china in Holland, with which country an extensive
trade was carried on, as thus stated:--“When Napoleon crossed the river
during a hard frost and captured Holland, amongst the British property
destroyed was a quantity of Lowestoft china at Rotterdam, in value
several thousand pounds.” The trade with Rotterdam was very large, and
the ware was sent weekly in hogsheads by way of Yarmouth. These two
losses, coming closely together, crippled the company; and the cost of
manufacture, through having no coal nor any other requisite material in
the neighbourhood, preventing them from producing ware so cheaply as
could be done in Staffordshire and at Derby and Worcester, the works
were closed, after the proprietors had realised considerable sums; and
the town thus lost a branch of manufacture which was an honour to it,
and which has given it a name in the annals of the Ceramic Art of this
country.

And here, before proceeding further, let me again utter a word or two
of caution to collectors, against placing too implicit a reliance
upon what has been written concerning Lowestoft china, and against
taking for granted that all which is nowadays called Lowestoft china
is really the production of that manufactory. If all that is ascribed
to Lowestoft was ever made there, the works must have been about the
most extensive, and--if all the varieties of wares that are now said to
have been there produced were made, as is asserted, simultaneously--the
most extraordinary on record. The great bulk of the specimens now
unblushingly ascribed to Lowestoft I believe never were in that town,
much less were ever made there. Mr. Owen, in his excellent work on
Bristol china, says truly:--

   “The fashion has become general to attribute all such (Oriental)
   china to Lowestoft, in spite of the evidence afforded by its
   make, texture, and glaze. It is painful to see, in public and
   private collections, examples of Oriental ware so labelled,
   simply because, though hard porcelain, they bear English
   armorial coats and initials. Mrs. Wilton, of Twigworth Villa,
   Gloucester, has a set of Oriental china mugs--with the initials
   of her grandfather and grandmother--which were made for her
   ancestor in China, and brought thence by himself. According to
   the new fashion, these relics would be attributed to Lowestoft.
   Many porcelain punch-bowls are to be found in seaport towns with
   names and portraits of ships and very early dates; these bowls
   are often attributed to the works at Liverpool and Lowestoft.
   The officers of the East India Co.’s ships were accustomed to
   take out English delft bowls, and get them reproduced in common
   porcelain in China for their merchant friends; and many a relic
   now prized as of home manufacture was procured in this manner.”

And again:--

   “If one hundredth portion only of the Oriental porcelain which,
   on the slight evidence of having a certain red trellis-work in
   the borders, or coarsely-painted roses, or English armorial
   bearings, is erroneously attributed to _Lowestoft_, had really
   been made there, that factory must have been the most prolific
   and wonderful in the kingdom. A higher critical appreciation of
   the peculiarities of Oriental ware would prevent such an error.”

The mill for grinding the materials for the manufactory “was in a
ravine by the Warren House on Gunton Denes, where a fine stream of
water constantly flows. This was dammed up, and when it had arrived at
a certain height, was set to flow over a very large wheel (the largest
of the kind at that time in the kingdom), for the purpose of grinding
the materials for the china.” This water wheel is, I am informed, still
in existence. The factory was situated in the town, and the premises
are now occupied as a brewery. The street is still called Factory Lane.
It is worthy of note that no mark was used upon Lowestoft china.
Marryat mentions a mark of three parallel straight blue lines; but this
is evidently an error, as no such examples appear to be known.


                              STOWMARKET.

The Tile Works at this place are of old establishment, and have always
been noted for the production of celebrated “white bricks,” spoken of
in the seventeenth century. They are worked by Mr. C. O. Fison, who, in
addition, manufactures an improved malt-kiln tile, both square-cluster
and round-cluster, for which honourable mention was made at the 1862
Exhibition. They are largely exported to various foreign countries, as
well as being extensively used in this kingdom.


                               IPSWICH.

_Ransome’s Patent Stone._--The first manufacture of this important
material was commenced at Ipswich in 1844; the inventor being Mr.
Frederick Ransome, of the firm of Ransomes and Sims of this town. The
works were removed in 1866 to East Greenwich, which see (page 162) for
a farther account.


                               EBBISHAM.

A large brick manufactory existed at Ebbisham, in Surrey, in the
seventeenth century, and a long and most interesting account of it,
and of the clays, as well as all the processes of manufacture, will be
found in Houghton’s “Husbandry and Trade Improved,” 1693.


                               WROTHAM.

  [Illustration: Fig. 844.]

A pottery was in existence here, in Kent, in the middle of the
seventeenth century, but nothing is known as to its history. The ware
was the usual coarse brown ware, of much the same character as the Toft
dishes. An example, formerly belonging to Mr. C. W. Reynolds, decorated
with an incised pattern and bearing the date 1668, and the initials H.
I. and I. A., is traditionally said to be of this make. In the British
Museum is a large brown dish with the words E. W. E., WROTHAM, 1669,
and in the Museum of Practical Geology is a two-handled posset-pot
with raised ornaments and inscription laid on, in yellow slip, before
glazing, T. E., WROTHAM, 1703. Another good example, belonging to Mr.
Baldwin, is a four-handled tyg ornamented with fleur-de-lis, &c., and
bearing the words

                                   W
                         WROTHAM      C R 1659.
                                  R·S

An interesting example, considered by Marryat to belong to Wrotham, is
given on Fig. 844.


                               YARMOUTH.

Although the name “Absolon, Yarmouth,” may occur on various pieces of
ware in different collections, it must not, for one moment, be taken
for granted that the pottery was produced there. The Absolons were
china and glass dealers in Yarmouth, and one of the family appears
to have erected a kiln, called the Ovens, and there to have burnt in
the flowers and other designs which he employed himself in painting
upon ware produced from other places. His plan appears to have been
to procure the ordinary cream-coloured ware in plates, &c., and paint
upon them flowers in the manner of those of Swinton, Don, &c.; and in
the same manner to write their names on the back; and then to burn them
in in his own “oven.” Mr. Norman possessed some plates of Absolon’s
painting, which bore on the back the usual mark of his name, pencilled
on and burnt in, and the name “TURNER” impressed in the ware.
These pieces, there can be no reasonable doubt, were made by John
Turner, of Lane End. Mr. Chaffers says that having the name of “Turner”
stamped upon them, “proves that they were actually made at Caughley,
and decorated at Yarmouth;” but this carries its own condemnation on
the face of it, for Turner of Caughley is not known to have stamped his
_name_ on his ware, and beyond this he did not produce cream ware
at his works. There is reason to believe that Absolon bought his ware
from Staffordshire and Leeds. He put his name in colour on the bottom
of the pieces he decorated.

  [Illustration: Fig. 845.]


                                COSSEY.

The works at Cossey, near Norwich, which now produce many art-works
of merit in the form of decorated bricks and other architectural
enrichments, were established about 1800, as a brick-yard, and so
continued of small size, until about 1827, when Cossey, or Costessy
Hall, the seat of its noble owner, Lord Stafford, was rebuilt, when
they were enlarged, so as to enable a full supply for the purpose to
be made. The foreman of these works was Mr. Gunton, and under his care
the manufacture of ornamental bricks, for the new hall, was tried, and
with marked success. On this hall,--one of the best of brick buildings,
and one which may be looked upon as a gigantic example of Cossey
ceramic art--are some remarkably fine Tudoresque chimney shafts, as
well as excellently designed and well-executed cusped window-heads,
transoms, mullions, &c.; and finials, door-jambs, cornices, panelling,
and string-courses, all of equal excellence. These are all formed
of moulded brick made at Cossey from native clays, and are still in
remarkably good preservation. After the completion of the building of
the Hall the brickworks were closed for about four years, when Mr.
Gunton succeeded in renting them in the hope of fully carrying out his
idea of manufacturing decorated brickwork. Unfortunately, however,
he was not permitted to have the use of the moulds from which the
Hall bricks had been made; but, nevertheless, he from time to time
prepared new moulds for chimney shafts, window-heads, mouldings, &c.,
and gradually got them into notice, and architects and builders soon
began to see their advantage. The works are now carried on by his
son, Mr. George Gunton, whose productions are of the highest possible
class of merit. Among the architectural enrichments produced at these
works,--the designs being entirely supplied by architects, and of the
purest style and finish--are chimney shafts, many of which are of the
most elaborate style of ornamentation; window-heads, &c.; balustrades;
cornices; medallions; crest-ridging; string-courses; plinths; arches
and keys; pateræ; architraves; finials; capitals, bases, and shafts;
and many other matters. These are produced of remarkable sharpness and
of great beauty of finish--the tooth, nail-head, and other ornaments,
being very pure in character. They are produced in two colours--a fine,
rich, deep red, and a stone; the latter being the nearest approach of
any to artificial stone, and both being extremely hard and durable.


                              CADBOROUGH.

The _Cadborough Pottery_, near Rye, in Sussex, was first built about
1807, and carried on by Mr. James Smith, and afterwards by his son,
Mr. Jeremiah Smith. In 1840, the business passed into the hands of the
late Mr. William Mitchell (who had had the management of it, under Mr.
Smith, since 1827), who carried it on in his own name until 1859, when
he took one of his sons, Mr. Frederick Mitchell, into partnership, and
the firm became “Wm. Mitchell & Son,” and so continued until 1869, when
the partnership was dissolved, under mutual arrangement, Mr. Mitchell,
sen., continuing the Cadborough business for common earthenware, and
his son, Mr. Frederick Mitchell, taking the fancy department, which was
his own creation, to new premises, the Bellevue Pottery (which see).
In 1870, Mr. Mitchell, sen., died, and the business at Cadborough was
then taken by Mr. Henry Mitchell, who still carries it on. The goods
produced are the ordinary common brown wares, glazed and unglazed, and
consist of flower-pots; chimney-pots; pitchers and crocks of various
kinds; tongue, ham, beef, biscuit, milk, and other pans; bottles, jugs,
bowls, and other domestic vessels; sewer and drain pipes; butter-pots;
and all the other usual articles made in this ware. The clay is dug on
the farm of Cadborough, as is also the loam with which it is mixed, and
it is of peculiarly hard and durable texture, and capable of taking
a good glaze. Many of the domestic vessels are mottled or “splashed”
under the glaze.


                                 RYE.

The “_Bellevue Pottery_” in the Ferry Road, Rye, Sussex, was
established in 1869, by its present proprietor, Mr. Frederick Mitchell,
son and partner of the late Mr. William Mitchell of the Cadborough
Pottery (which see). It was established entirely for the manufacture
of “Sussex Rustic Ware”--an ornamental branch of the brown-ware goods
invented by Mr. Frederick Mitchell while at those works. This ware is
of peculiar, but highly pleasing character, and in it a large variety
of fancy articles, flower-baskets, candlesticks, jugs, vases, pilgrims’
bottles, &c., are made. The clay is peculiarly light, and of tolerably
close texture, and it is capable of working into any form. The glaze,
which is of equal richness with that of “Rockingham” ware, is of
exceedingly good quality, and it has a rich effect over the mottling or
“splashing” which characterizes this ware. Many of the productions are
very artistic, and evince much taste and skill in manipulation. Some of
the vessels are decorated with the leaf and head of the staple product
of the county --the hop--or with other excellent copies of leaves
and flowers, &c. The peculiarity of this “Sussex Rustic Ware” is its
extreme lightness, and the richness of its mottling and glaze.

One article, worthy of especial notice, as made at these works (and
formerly at Cadborough), is the “Sussex Pig” here engraved. This is a
drinking vessel of the same general character as the “Bears,” which
will be found described under the heads of Brampton, Nottingham,
&c. The body, when filled with ale, stands on end, on its tail, and
the head lifts off to be used as a drinking cup, precisely in the
same manner as with the “bears.” In Sussex these “pigs” are used at
weddings, when each guest is invited to “drink a _hogshead_ of
beer to the health of the bride;” and at other social and convivial
meetings. On these occasions each person is expected to drink this
cup--or “hog’s head”--full of liquor.

  [Illustration: Fig. 846.]


                            GESTINGTHORPE.

Pavement tiles and other articles were made at Gestingthorpe, in Essex,
in the seventeenth century. Houghton, writing in 1693, says:--

   “From my ingenious good friend, _Mr. Samuel Dale_, of
   _Braintree_, in _Essex_, I am informed, that at _Gestingthorpe_,
   in that county, are made a sort of hard yellowish bricks and
   pavements, called _white brick_, and _Walpet brick_, from a town
   in _Suffolk_ of that name, where they were first made; they are
   harder and more durable than common red brick, and therefore
   much used for pavement of floors in lower rooms, and also for
   fire-hearths, except just where they make their fires.”


                               HOLKHAM.

In 1849, the Earl of Leicester, anxious to turn the clays of his
estate in Norfolk to good account, commenced the manufacture of red
terra-cotta at Holkham, and produced some good Tudor chimney-tops and
moulded bricks.


                           NUNEHAM COURTNEY.

Potworks existed here in the beginning of the seventeenth century, and
are spoken of by Plot, in 1677 as being “now deserted; nor, indeed, was
there, as I ever heard of, anything extraordinary performed during the
working these earths.”


                             MARSH BALDEN.

The pottery at this place, existing in the beginning of the seventeenth
century, is included in the above remark by Dr. Plot.


                               HORSPATH.

Tobacco pipes were made here in the latter end of the seventeenth
century.


                               SHOTOVER.

At Shotover, in the parish of Headington, tobacco-pipes were made prior
to 1677, at which time the “place was deserted.”




                             CHAPTER XIII.

   York--Place’s Ware--Hirstwood’s China--Layerthorpe--Osmotherley--
   Hull--Belle Vue Pottery--Stepney Lane Pottery--Leeds--Hartley,
   Greens, & Co.--Britton and Sons--Leathley Lane Pottery--
   Castleford Pottery--Eagle Pottery--Pontefract--Ferrybridge--
   Knottingley--Ralph Wedgwood--Swinton Pottery--Rockingham Ware--
   Cadogan Pots--Rockingham China--Brameld & Co.--Dale’s Patent--
   Baguley’s Productions--Mexborough--Rock Pottery--Mexborough
   Pottery--Mexborough Old Pottery--Rawmarsh--Rotherham--North
   Field Pottery--Holmes’s Pottery--Don Pottery--Denaby--Kilnhurst--
   Wath-upon-Dearne--Newhill Pottery--Wakefield--Potovens--
   Yearsley--Wortley--Healey--Colsterdale.


                                 YORK.

“_Place’s Ware._”--Francis Place, who may be looked upon as one of
the pioneers of modern pottery, commenced the manufacture of what, at
the time, was considered “equal to true china ware,” about 1665. But
little, however, is known either of the manufactory, or of the ware he
produced. Francis Place was, according to Walpole, a younger son of Mr.
Rowland Place, of Dimsdale, in the county of Durham, and was placed as
clerk to an attorney in London until 1665. Walpole’s notice of him runs
thus:

   “Mr. Francis Place, a gentleman of Yorkshire, had a turn to most
   of the beautiful arts. He painted, designed, and etched. Mr.
   Scots of Crown Court, Westminster, had a picture of gooseberries
   painted in oil on a black ground (a common method with him, as
   Mr. Scots was told by Mrs. Wyndham, Place’s daughter, who was
   living in 1764), and a jug of his Earthenware. Mr. Place was
   placed as clerk to an attorney in London, where he continued
   till 1665, in which year going into a shop the officers came
   to shut up the house, on its having the Plague in it. This
   occasioned his leaving London, and gave him an opportunity of
   quitting a profession that was contrary to his inclination, and
   of following the roving life he loved and the arts for which he
   had talents. Ralph Thoresby often mentions Mr. Place with great
   encomiums and specifies various presents that he made to his
   Museum. He tells us too that Mr. Place discovered an earth for,
   and a method of making Porcelain, which he put in practice at
   the Manor house at York, of which manufacture he gave Thoresby
   a fine Mug. His pottery cost him much money; he attempted it
   solely from a turn for experiments, but one Clifton took the
   hint from him, and made a fortune by it.”

Thoresby, in his “Ducatus Leodiensis” (1714), mentions Place and his
wares several times. The principal notice, when speaking of the vein of
white clay in the hundred of Wortley, is as follows:--

   “Here is a good vein of fine clay that will retain its whiteness
   after it is burnt (when others turn red), and therefore used for
   the making of tobacco pipes, a manufacture but lately begun at
   Leeds. Of the several sorts of clay, their nature and colours,
   and how to manage such as are stubborn, my honoured friend, John
   Evelyn, Esq., has writ incomparably in his Sylva and Pomona;
   and there is a very curious table of clay exhibited by another
   celebrated naturalist of this age. As to the sort and manner
   of making Pipes, I can add nothing to what my late friend, M^r
   Houghton, has writ in his useful collections, where he tells
   us also that the finest mugs, and even China ware, are made of
   this sort of Earth, of which, saith he, we may make as good in
   England as any in the world, and this I am fully convinced of,
   having a specimen in this Museum made of English materials in
   the Manor house at York by the very ingenious M^r Francis Place,
   who presented it to me with one of the outer covers purposely
   made to secure them from the violence of the fire in baking.”

From the examples at present in existence--and there are only two or
three known--it appears that the ware was simply a tolerably fine kind
of earthenware, of a greyish colour streaked with black and brown; and
this is the way in which Horace Walpole describes his specimen: “I have
a coffee cup of his ware; it is of grey earth, with streaks of black,
and not superior to common earthenware.” This example was sold at the
Strawberry Hill sale, and passed into the hands of Mr. Franks, who
generously presented it to the Museum of Practical Geology. It is a cup
about 2½ inches in height, and 2⅛ inches in diameter at the top. It is
of thin glazed greyish ware, streaked with black and brown, and has a
narrow rib, or raised band, running round it at about two-thirds of its
height from the top. An old pasteboard label attached to the handle of
this cup bears the words “Mr. Francis Place’s china,” probably in the
handwriting of Horace Walpole.

Examples are also in the hands of some of the descendants of Mr. Place.
They are of precisely the same character as the one just described.
In the same hands is “a small portrait of Place, by himself, in
which he has introduced one of his cups, the original of which his
descendant possesses, and which is traditionally said to be one which
he considered to be his masterpiece.” Mr. Place, in 1712, visited
Thoresby, and in 1728 he died, leaving a widow and an only child, a
daughter, married to Wadham Wyndham, Esq.

       *       *       *       *       *

_York China Manufactory._--In 1838 Mr. Haigh Hirstwood, formerly of
the Rockingham china works, established a china manufactory in York,
and by the succeeding spring had so far progressed that the following
paragraph appeared in one of the York papers:--

   “YORK CHINA MANUFACTORY.--Mr. Hirstwood, of Stonegate, is
   erecting a kiln, extensive warehouses, &c., in the Groves, for
   manufacturing, gilding, and burnishing china, which has not
   previously been attempted in this city.”

The works were established in Lowther Street, Groves, and were
continued until about 1850, when the concern was wound up. Mr. Haigh
Hirstwood was born at Royd’s Hall, near Huddersfield, in 1778; and
learnt the art of china making and decorating under the Bramelds at
the Rockingham works, as did also afterwards his sons and son-in-law.
He continued at the Rockingham works upwards of forty years, leaving
them only towards their close, when he removed to York and commenced
business as a china dealer. In 1839, as I have stated, he erected
kilns, &c., at York, and commenced business in the decorating and
finishing departments, buying his china in the white from Sampson
Bridgwood & Co. of Longton, and from others. In this business he
was assisted by his son-in-law, Mr. William Leyland also from the
Rockingham works, who became his managing partner. Disagreements having
arisen, however, the business was broken up, Mr. Hirstwood remaining
in York, where he died in 1854, and Mr. Leyland removing to London,
when he took to painting and decorating lamps, where he died in 1853,
leaving a widow (who soon afterwards died) and a family of two sons and
four daughters, who are now of Lawrence, near Boston, Massachusetts,
North America. Mr. Leyland was a clever painter, gilder, and enameller,
and understood well all the practical details of the potter’s art. Mr.
Hirstwood was a clever painter of flowers, &c., and was considered the
best fly painter at the Rockingham works. In 1826 he copied, for use
in the decoration of the Rockingham china, upwards of five hundred
insects at Wentworth House, which had been arranged by Lady Milton, the
daughter-in-law of Earl Fitzwilliam. He and his sons Joseph and William
(who were brought up at the Rockingham works) were engaged upon the
_chef-d’œuvres_ of that manufactory, the services for King William IV.
and for the Duchess of Cumberland. He was succeeded in his business in
Coney Street by his son, Mr. William Hirstwood, father of the present
proprietor, but the manufactory has been entirely discontinued since
1850. No mark was used.

The goods principally produced were dinner, tea, dessert, and other
services, vases, figures, &c. The style of decoration was, as is
natural to expect, closely assimilated to that of Rockingham china;
indeed, so closely as in some instances scarcely to be distinguished
from them. Some of the flowers are beautifully painted, as are also the
butterflies and other natural objects, and the gilding is remarkably
good. The figures are usually of good character.


                         LAYERTHORPE POTTERY.

This manufactory of coarse ware--flower-pots, chimney pipes, bowls,
socket pipes, &c.--was established in 1846 by its present proprietor,
Mr. John Webster, who produces considerable quantities of ware.


                             OSMOTHERLEY.

A pottery, discontinued many years back, existed at this place.
Its productions were the ordinary brown ware, in which jugs, mugs,
pitchers, tobacco-boxes, &c., were produced.


                                 HULL.

There can be no doubt but that common earthenware was made at Hull, if
not earlier, at all events in the middle of the seventeenth century;
but no record of such works has at present been brought to light. In
June, 1875, however, some property at Sculcoates, formerly an outskirt
of Hull, was brought to the hammer by Mr. Charles Johnson. It was in
extent about one-third of an acre, and has always been known by the
name “Pot House Yard.” Inquiries have resulted in ascertaining that
this pottery at Sculcoates had not been worked in the memory of those
living, but that there were pottery works there. There are still
remaining three cottages fronting into the ground, of a date certainly
a hundred and fifty years back, but more probably two hundred years.
Part of the site has been occupied in recent years by Messrs. Stewart
and Gregson, oil refiners, who have now become the purchasers of the
whole of the property. Very early in the eighteenth century pipe-making
was carried on here; and Gent, in his curious history, published in
1735, records, among the epitaphs in the churchyard, one to “Thomas
Cook, Pipe-maker, who died the 7th of February, 1720, aged 64.” The
first distinct information I have been able to gather regarding pot
works at this place is that in 1802 (eighteen years earlier than the
first date given by Chaffers), by a deed, dated August 10 in that
year, Thomas English, of Hull, merchant, sold a plot of land on what
is called the Humber Bank, in a part of what was then the outskirts of
the town, and known as “Myton.” The piece of land consisted of 3,718
square yards, and was conveyed to James Smith and Jeremiah Smith, both
of Hull, potters; Job Ridgway, of Shelton, Staffordshire, potter; and
Josiah Hipwood, of Hull, blockmaker. That part of the town has for
fifty years, to the writer’s knowledge, been known as the “Pottery,”
a name doubtless derived from these works. The deed of partnership
between these parties was dated 23rd November, 1802.

From the fact of two of the parties, James Smith and Jeremiah Smith,
being described as “of Hull, potters,” while Job Ridgway was of
“Shelton, Staffordshire, potter,” the probability is that the Smiths
were already in business there as pot-makers, and that Ridgway joined
them for the purpose of increasing and improving their manufacture.
The partnership, however, was but of short duration, for in 1804
Mr. Ridgway, being desirous of retiring, agreed to sell to the
remaining partners all his _fourth_ part of the lands, works,
stock-in-trade, debts, &c., for the sum of £1,000. Hipwood left the
concern in the same year, when a Mr. James Rose became a partner with
the Smiths. In 1806 the proprietors assigned all their interest in the
works to Messrs. Job and George Ridgway, who carried them on for some
years. In 1826 they were succeeded by Mr. William Bell, who became
the proprietor in that year, by deed of conveyance from the brothers
Ridgway. By Mr. Bell the manufactory was very much extended, and the
operations were carried on on a large scale, chiefly for export, the
principal part of the trade being with Hamburg, where his brother, Mr.
Edward Bell, was in business, and a large German and Dutch trade was
done through his means. The works were closed in 1841, when the plant
and stock were disposed of by auction, as here shown:--

   “To Potters, &c. To be Sold by Auction, by Mr. Stamp, at the
   Belle Vue Pottery, Humber Bank, Hull, on Thursday, July 29th,
   1841, at Eleven o’Clock, without Reserve, the Remainder of
   the Utensils and Stock, consisting of four Printing Presses,
   60 large Copper Plates, large Iron Mortar and Pestle, large
   Scale Beam, Boards, and Weights; several small Lots of Tincal,
   Borax, Colours, &c.; sundry Boards, Planks, Tubs, Shovels,
   Whirlers, Rakes, Lumber, &c. A Kiln of Unfinished Pots; a great
   Quantity of Moulds, Saggars, &c.; three good Counting-house
   Desks, Writing Table, Nest of Drawers, Shelves, and other Office
   Furniture. The above may be seen one Day previous to the Sale,
   on application to the Auctioneer.”

At this sale Mr. Charles Johnson, of Hull, to whom I am indebted for
much of this information, acted as auctioneer for Mr. Stamp, and I am
informed by him that the copper-plates, the stock of which weighed
about three hundredweight, and amongst which were some of the “Willow
pattern,” “were sold to a pottery works at or near Rotherham,” which I
presume to be either the Swinton or the Don works.

The wares produced were cream-coloured ware, green-glazed ware, the
ordinary white ware, and blue printed wares; and in them the usual
classes of useful goods, consisting of services of various kinds and
miscellaneous articles, were made. One notable dinner-service was made
to commemorate an exploit in connection with the noted pirate Paul
Jones, and was, it would appear, made for the owner, or family of the
owner of the “Crow Isle.” Only one plate of this service is now known
to be in existence, and this is preserved at the Hull Museum, to which
it was presented by the late Mr. Charles Hassell, grandson to the late
Francis Hall, Esq., of Hull, who was owner of the “Crow Isle,” Baltic
trader. In the centre is represented the “Crow Isle” successfully
beating off Paul Jones on its homeward voyage when off the Yorkshire
coast in 1779. Another example of the Belle Vue pottery is a butter-pot
in form of a cow, with movable lid, in yellow ware. Mr. Johnson has
also in his possession a portion of a remarkably fine green-glazed
dessert service, of very artistic design, in embossed leaves, with
basket-work centres to the plates, which was bought at the Hull works
from Mr. Bell in 1838. It is marked with the impressed mark (Fig. 845).

  [Illustration: Fig. 847.]

The mark is the one here engraved. It is two bells, surrounded by the
words “BELLE VUE POTTERY, HULL;” but sometimes the bells
alone appear, without the lettering. In the possession of the late Mr.
Bagshawe were some of the later accounts of these works, from which a
good idea of the extent to which the operations were carried on may
be gleaned. For instance, in 1837, four years before the close of the
works, the expenses were as under:--

    Slip Men                 £96   19    0
    Flat Men                 144    4    9
    Pressers                  47    1   10
    Throwers and Turners     376    5    6
    Saggar Making             33   15   11
    Cock Spurs                26   18   10
    Modelling                 21    0    0
    Printing                 164    0   11
    Biscuit Firemen           59   16   11
    Biscuit Painting          89   18    8
    Gloss Firemen            113    9    4
    Packing, &c.             104   19    8
    Engineer                  79   10    5
    Enamel Painting           76   17    9
                          ----------------
                          £1,434   19    6

The works have been entirely discontinued since 1841, and the site
included in the extensive engineering works of Messrs. C. D. Holmes &
Co.

In 1804, Mr. William Clowes (also from the Staffordshire pottery
district), one of the founders of Primitive Methodism, worked at the
Hull pottery. Mr. Clowes was born at Burslem in 1780; he “came from
Nottingham to Hull to establish a missionary centre, on the 15th of
January, 1819;” the day after his arrival “he informs us that he
visited the Pottery by the Humber Bankside, where he had worked as a
potter fifteen years before, but he found the working of the pottery
had been discontinued;” _i.e._, I presume it was then in a
transition state before being transferred to Mr. Bell by the brothers
Ridgway.

       *       *       *       *       *

_Stepney Lane._--At the present time a small pottery for the
manufacture of the common brown ware pancheons, flower-pots, &c., is
still carried on by the successors of Mr. Mayfield, of the Stepney
Paper Mills, Hull.


                                LEEDS.

There is no doubt that pottery has been made at Leeds, or in its
immediate neighbourhood, from the earliest times of our British
history. Celtic and Romano-British relics have, from time to time,
been found in the neighbourhood, which were, without doubt, made at
the place; and the village of Potters Newton evidently takes its name
from a colony of potters having settled there in early times. That it
_was_ so in days of yore is evidenced by the fact of the name
appearing in deeds of the thirteenth century. In later times coarse
brown earthenware was made in Leeds, as were also tobacco-pipes in the
reign of Charles II. These were made from clays found at Wortley--the
same bed of clay which was worked for the old Leeds pottery, and is
still used for making yellow ware and saggars at the present day.
The manufacture of tobacco-pipes at Leeds was established in the
latter part of the seventeenth century, and was carried on somewhat
extensively for several years. Ralph Thoresby, in his “Ducatus
Leodiensis,” published in 1714, in his account of Wortley Hundred says:
“Here is a good vein of fine clay, that will retain its whiteness after
it is burnt (when others turn red), and therefore used for the making
of tobacco-pipes, a manufacture but lately begun at Leeds.” Probably
to the existence of this bed of fine clay is to be attributed the
establishment of the pot works at Leeds, to which I am now about to
direct attention.

Of the date of the first establishment of the Leeds pot works nothing
definite is known. It is, however, certain that they were in existence
about the middle of last century, and that they were then producing
wares of no ordinary degree of excellence. Before this time a kind
of delft-ware was made, and I have seen some very creditable copies
of Oriental patterns, with salt glaze, also produced at these works.
Delft-ware, however, was only made to a small extent, and was soon
succeeded by the manufacture of that fine cream-coloured earthenware
which made the works so famous, and enabled them in that particular
branch to compete successfully with Wedgwood and other makers. As
early as 1770 considerable progress had been made in the ornamental
productions, and I have seen dated examples of open and embossed
basket-work ware of a few years later (1777 and 1779), which are as
fine as anything produced at the time.

The first proprietors of whom there appears to be any record were
two brothers named Green, in 1760; and it is believed their earliest
productions were in black ware, in which the firm afterwards excelled.
It was then carried on by Humble, Green, & Co. “Mr. Wilson has found
the draft of an agreement, dated November 11, 1775, whereby ‘Joshua
Green, of Middleton, gent., John Green, of Hunslet, potter, with divers
others, under the firm of Humble, Green & Co.,’ agree with Messrs.
Hutchinson and Evers to erect and maintain in repair at their mill a
water-wheel, with all necessary machinery for grinding flints. For
thirteen years the wheel was to be used exclusively by the Greens, who
were to supply burnt flints and to pay 10s. for every 100 pecks of well
ground and levigated flints, the workmen’s wages being first deducted.”
In 1783 the firm was Hartley, Greens, & Company, and they had so far
advanced in their work, and were so firmly established and well known
by that year as to justify them in issuing a book of “designs” of
some of the articles they were then producing. A copy of this rare
volume, in my own possession, contains all three of the lists--English,
French, and German. The English title is “Designs of sundry Articles
of Queen’s, or Cream-colour’d Earthen-Ware, manufactured by Hartley,
Greens, & Co., at Leeds-Pottery: with A Great Variety of other
Articles. The same Enamel’d, Printed or Ornamented with Gold to any
Pattern; also with Coats of Arms, Cyphers, Landscapes, &c., &c. Leeds,
1783.” The list and title-page occupy eight pages, as do also each of
the two others--translated into German and French--which accompany
it, and which bear the following titles:--“Abrisse von verschiedenen
Artickeln vom Königinnen oder gelben Stein-Gute, welches Hartley,
Greens, & Comp. In ihrer Fabrick in Leeds verfertigen; Nebst vielen
andern Artickeln; Auch dieselben gemahlt, gedruckt oder mit Gold
gezieret zu jedem Muster, ebenfalls mit Wapen, eingegrabene Namen,
Landschaften, &c., &c., &c. Leeds, 1783.” “Desseins de divers Articles
de Poteries de la Reine en Couleur de Creme, Fabriqués à la Poterie de
Hartley, Greens, & Co. à Leeds: Avec une Quantité d’autres Articles;
Les mêmes émaillés, imprimés ou ornés d’Or à chaque Patron, aussi avec
des Armes, des Chiffres, des Paisages, &c. &c. Leeds, 1783.”[107]
This catalogue, with some variations, continued to be issued till a
much later period. A copy presented by myself in 1865 to the Jermyn
Street Museum supplies the plates missing in the former copy. It has
no title-page, but is printed on paper bearing a water-mark of 1814.
The words “Leeds Pottery” are engraved on each plate of the book. The
plates, forty-four in number, are very effectively engraved on copper,
and exhibit a wonderful, and certainly exquisite, variety of designs
for almost all articles in use, both plain, ornamented, perforated, and
basket-work, including services, vases, candlesticks, flower-stands,
inkstands, baskets, spoons, &c., &c.[108]

The partners at this time (1783–4) composing the firm of Hartley,
Greens, & Co. were William Hartley, Joshua Green, John Green, Henry
Ackroyd,[109] John Barwick, Samuel Wainwright, Thomas Wainwright,
George Hanson, and Saville Green. The business was, it appears, divided
into six shares, of which William Hartley, Joshua and John Green, and
Henry Ackroyd, had each one; John Barwick and the two Wainwrights half
of one each; and George Hanson and Saville Green a quarter share each,
the latter acting as “bookkeeper” to the firm. The proprietors were
extremely systematic and particular in their mode of keeping accounts
and in their dealings with each other. They held regular meetings, and
appointed independent and disinterested persons as valuers in each
department; for instance, one to value the stock of finished goods in
the ware rooms, another the unfinished ware, another the copper plates,
another the buildings, others the moulds and models, the windmill,
the horses, the waggons and carts, the raw materials, the woodwork,
and every imaginable thing. The reports of these various valuers,
whose names and awards for many years I have carefully examined, were
submitted to a meeting of the partners, when a balance was struck, to
which the names of each one were attached.

In 1785, and again in 1786, fresh editions of the catalogue and book
of plates were issued, without change either in the number of articles
enumerated or in their variety or form. The works at this time had
been considerably increased in size, and the wares made were exported
in large quantities to Germany, Holland, France, Spain, and Russia.
So great had the concern become five years later (1791), that the
yearly balance then struck amounted to over £51,500; and it is worth
recording that in that year the value of the copper-plates from which
the transfer printing was effected was £204, while at the present time
they represent about £1,000. These copper-plates consisted of teapot
borders, landscapes, Nankin borders, and others. The general stock in
this year (1791) was valued at about £6,000, and the windmill at about
£1,200. The house of the partners, entered as “Hartley, Green, & Co.’s
House,” was at Thorpe Arch, near Tadcaster and Wetherby.[110] At Thorpe
Arch, too, were the grinding mills. These mills were ten miles from
the works at Leeds, and a team of four horses was kept constantly at
work carrying the ground flint and stone. They, with the men who worked
them, stayed six days, going and coming, between the two places, and
then six at Thorpe Arch, alternately. The raw material was taken from
Leeds to the mills at Thorpe Arch, when the horses who had brought it
worked the mill to grind it, and returned with it, when prepared, to
Leeds for use. This continued until 1814, when the windmill on the
Leeds premises, which had been used as a corn mill, was converted
into a flint mill, and an engine, made by the builders of the first
successful locomotive, Fenton, Murray, & Co., put up. This mill is
still used for the same purpose.

In 1794 another edition of the catalogue and pattern-book was issued.
It was precisely the same in contents as the previous editions, both
in the plates and letter-press; and contained the catalogue, or list,
in English, French, and German. Fresh designs appear to have been
continually added, and, the connections of the company increasing,
a translation of the catalogue into the Spanish language was in a
few years issued. This interesting work, of which a copy is in the
possession of Mr. E. Hailstone, F.S.A., and which also contains the
English catalogue, without date, bears the following title:--“Dibuxos
de varios Renglones de Loza Inglesa de Regna, de Color de Crema,
Fabricados en la Manufactura y Lozeria Hartley, Greens, y Comp^a. en
Leeds: en este mismo ramo fabriam de dicha loza, hay piezas esmaltadas,
impresas y adornadas con oro; como tambien hermoseadas con escudos,
armas, cifras, payses, &c. &c. Leeds.” Instead of 152 general articles,
as enumerated in the previous editions, 221 appear in this; and instead
of 32 in tea-ware, 48 appear. In 1814, too, another edition was issued,
a copy of which is in my own possession; it contains 71 plates of
patterns, exhibiting 221 general articles, and 48 patterns of tea,
coffee, and chocolate services. In this edition the whole of the
plates, both those from the other copies and those newly engraved, have
the words “Leeds Pottery” engraved upon them.

In the middle of the last century an important event in connection
with the Leeds pottery took place. This was the establishment of the
tramway from the collieries of Mr. Charles Brandling, at Middleton, to
the town of Leeds. This tramway passed through the Leeds pot works, to
the proprietors of which a nominal rental of £7 a year was paid, and to
whom, as a further consideration for the right of passage, an advantage
in the price of coals was allowed.[111] While speaking of the formation
of this early line, it is interesting to note that upon it was set to
work the first locomotive commercially successful on any railway. Mr.
John Blenkinsop, who was manager of the Middleton Collieries, took
out a patent, in 1811, for a locomotive steam engine, and placed his
designs for execution in the hands of Messrs. Fenton, Murray & Co., at
that time eminent engineers of Leeds. This was the first locomotive
engine in which _two cylinders_ were employed, and in that
respect was a great improvement upon those of Trevithick and others.
The cylinders were placed vertically, and were immersed for more than
half their length in the steam space of the boiler. The progress was
effected by a cog wheel working into a rack on the side of one of the
rails. Mr. Blenkinsop’s engine began running on the railway extending
from the Middleton Collieries to the town of Leeds, a distance of about
three miles and a half, on the 12th of August, 1812, two years before
George Stephenson started his first locomotive. Mr. Blenkinsop was for
many years principal agent to the Brandling family, and his invention
was, as is seen, first brought to bear in bringing coals from those
pits to Leeds--a matter of immense importance to the town and its
manufactures.

In 1796, as named in Hutchins’ “History of Dorset,” much of the Poole
clay in that county was sent “to Selby for the use of the Leeds
potteries.”

In the year 1800 two fresh partners, Ebenezer Green and E. Parsons,
had joined the concern, the firm at this time consisting of William
Hartley, Joshua Green, John Green, Ebenezer Green, E. Parsons, Mrs.
Ackroyd and her daughter Mary (widow and daughter of Henry Ackroyd,
deceased), John Barwick, Thomas Wainwright, George Hanson, Saville
Green, and Samuel Wainwright. On the death of Mr. Hartley the business
was carried on--still under the title of Hartley, Greens & Co.--by the
remaining partners; and a Mr. Ruperti, a Russian, became, I believe,
a partner in the firm. The trade at this time was, as I have already
stated, principally with Russia, and with Norway, Spain and Portugal,
and hence, I presume, Mr. Ruperti’s connection with it. The agent in
Russia at one time was Mr. Barwick, and afterwards his nephew, Mr.
Jubb. Other changes in the proprietary followed in succession, one of
which was that a minister, the Rev. W. Parsons, married Miss Ackroyd,
and thus became a partner; and for a time the style of the firm was
changed from “Hartley, Greens, & Co.,” to “Greens, Hartley, & Co.”
These repeated changes, and the unpleasantness and disputes that
arose in consequence appear to have been detrimental to the concern,
which was ultimately thrown into Chancery, and a large portion of the
stock sold off. Some idea of the extent of the business done about
this time may be formed from the fact, which I have gathered from a
personal reference to the accounts, that the annual sales amounted, in
round numbers, to about £30,000; that about £8,000 was paid in wages,
and more than £2,000 for coals, even with the decided advantage of
reduction in price by the arrangement spoken of.

In 1825, by an advantageous arrangement effected through the good
offices of his friend Mr. Hardy, the then Recorder of Leeds, I am
informed, the affair was got out of Chancery, and passed, by purchase,
into the hands of Mr. Samuel Wainwright, one of the partners. The
concern was at this time, I believe, carried on in the name of “Samuel
Wainwright and Company,” and was conducted with great spirit. Mr.
Wainwright engaged as his confidential cashier Stephen Chappell, who
up to that time was employed as a bookkeeper in one of the Leeds
cloth manufactories.[112] At Wainwright’s death (of cholera) in
1832, the trustees carried on the business under the style of the
“Leeds Pottery Company,” and employed Stephen Chappell as their sole
manager. This arrangement continued until the year 1840, when the
trustees transferred the whole concern to Chappell, who took it at
his own valuation. Shortly after this time his brother James became a
partner in the concern, the firm then consisting simply of “Stephen and
James Chappell,” who continued the works until 1847, when they became
bankrupt. The pottery was then carried on for about three years, for
the benefit of the creditors, by the assignees, under the management of
Mr. Richard Britton, who had for some time held a confidential position
with Mr. Chappell. In 1850 the concern passed, by purchase, into the
hands of Mr. Samuel Warburton and this same Mr. Richard Britton, and
was by them carried on under the style of “Warburton and Britton,”
until 1863, when, on the death of Mr. Warburton, Mr. Richard Britton
became sole proprietor of the works. On July 1st, 1872, he was joined
in partnership by his two eldest sons, John Broadbent Britton and
Alfred Britton, the firm at the present time being “Richard Britton &
Sons.”

The Leeds Pot Works are situated in Jack Lane, and occupy an area of
considerably more than seven acres of ground, and at the present time
give employment to about two hundred and fifty persons. The premises
are intersected for a considerable portion of their length by the
Brandling’s Railway, and are also crossed in a cutting by the main
line of the Midland Railway. The works are very extensive, and, with
but some trifling alterations, now stand as they did in the time of
Hartley, Greens, & Co. Closely adjoining them is the Leathley Lane
Pottery.

The wares manufactured at different periods at these interesting
works consist of the coarse brown earthenwares, made on its first
establishment; delft-ware, produced only in small quantities, and for a
short period; hard and highly vitrified stone ware, with a strong salt
glaze; cream-coloured, or Queen’s ware; Egyptian black ware; Rockingham
ware; white earthenware; yellow ware, &c., &c. The great speciality of
the works was the perforated “Queen’s or cream-coloured earthenware,”
for which they became universally famed, and successfully competed with
Wedgwood. It is this kind of ware which among collectors has acquired
the name of “Leeds Ware.” To this it will be necessary to direct
careful attention, and to point out both the peculiarities of pattern
and of ornamentation which they exhibit.

  [Illustration: Figs. 848 and 849.]

In colour the old Leeds ware--_i.e._, the cream-coloured
earthenware--is of a particularly clear rich tint, usually rather
deeper in tone than Wedgwood’s Queen’s ware, and of a slightly
yellowish cast. The body is particularly fine and hard, and the glaze
of extremely good quality. This glaze was produced with arsenic, and
its use was so deleterious to the workmen, that they usually became
hopelessly crippled after four or five years’ exposure to its effects.
It is not now used.

The perforated pieces, as well as those of open basket-work, exhibit
an unusual degree of skill and an elaborateness of design that is quite
unequalled. The example (Fig. 848), is a chestnut basket and stand, of
the finest and most elaborate description. In form it is faultless,
as it is also in moulding, and there is considerable elegance in the
general outline. The upper part of the cover, and the lower portion
of the bowl are fluted, and the handles, which are double twisted,
terminate in flowers and foliage. Both bowl and cover are elaborately
perforated; and here it may be well to note, for the information of
collectors, that the perforations of this description were produced
by punches, by which the soft clay was pierced by hand. I name this
more particularly because I have heard an opinion expressed, by those
not conversant with the matter, that this description of open-work
was produced in the mould. The fact of each of the perforations being
produced separately by the hands of the workman, adds materially to
the interest attached to the piece, and to its value. It may also be
remarked that the wholesale price of this piece (eleven inches in
diameter), the pattern for which was probably produced about 1782–83,
was, in 1794, 8_s._ 6_d._--a price which collectors at the
present time would gladly triple and even quadruple.

  [Illustration: Figs. 850 to 852.]

Fig. 849 is an oval butter-tub and stand, of peculiarly elegant design,
belonging to Mr. Manning. It is well covered with embossed work, and
has both cover and stand very nicely perforated, the perforations being
produced in the same manner as the one just described, by punches. The
handles are ribbed and double twisted, with foliated terminations. The
next illustration shows one of the “pierced fruit baskets” for which
these works were very famous, and I have chosen it because it shows the
combination of the pierced work with painting. These, and the asparagus
shell (Fig. 850), engraved to show how the peculiar art of these works
was applied to the simplest things, will be sufficient to illustrate
this variety of pottery.

The next variety is that of twig baskets, of which Fig. 852 is a good
and characteristic example. In these pieces, which were produced
in different varieties of wicker-work, the “twigs,” or “withies,”
are really composed of clay in long or short “strips,” as occasion
required, and then twisted and formed into shape. The process was one
which required considerable care and nicety in manipulation, and was
well calculated to exhibit the skill of the workman. Baskets of this
kind were made by various makers, as well as at Leeds, and all on much
the same model, so that without an intimate knowledge of the body and
glaze of the Leeds ware, it is difficult to distinguish them from
others. One of these baskets on its oval stand or dish (the wholesale
price in 1794 ranging from 1_s._ 4_d._ to 3_s._ 6_d._, according to
size) is engraved in the book of patterns of which I have spoken, and
those who are fortunate enough to possess, or to be able to refer to
that extremely scarce work, “Wedgwood’s Engraved Pattern Book” (18
plates, 4to.), will there find one engraved on Plate 13, Fig. 851. The
same baskets were produced at Castleford and Don, and by Staffordshire
houses.

  [Illustration: Fig. 853.]

Another characteristic variety of Leeds work was the combination in
basket-work, &c., of embossed patterns with perforations. Of these I
give an excellent example on the accompanying engraving, in which the
rim of the dish is embossed and pierced in basket-work. The way in
which this was produced was this. The plate, dish, basket, or other
piece, was formed in the mould so that the pattern stood out in relief
above the parts intended to be incised. These were then cut out by
hand, with a penknife, leaving the pattern entirely in open-work. The
dish here engraved is one of the simplest kind, but is an extremely
early specimen, having probably been made about 1779, and is therefore
a good illustration of this class of work. It is marked in small
capital letters LEEDS POTTERY.

In this same ware--the Queen’s or cream-coloured earthenware--the
Leeds works produced services of various kinds, as well as the usual
vessels for domestic use, and works of Art in the shape of vases,
candelabra, centres, &c. &c. Of the services, which, as a rule, were
of remarkably elegant forms, and produced with extreme skill in
workmanship, it will not be necessary to give illustrations. Of the
more decorative pieces, however, I give Figs. 854 to 856, engravings,
because it is well to show collectors to what degree of perfection in
design these almost forgotten works had arrived. The first example
which I engrave is a magnificent centre, or “grand platt menage,” of
four tiers. It is composed of five separate pieces. The base is rock,
and each tier is composed of shells after the fashion of the Plymouth
designs. The shells are supported on elegant brackets, and the whole
piece is surmounted by a well-modelled female figure.

  [Illustration: Figs. 854 and 855.]

Fig. 855 shows a _jardinière_ of very elegant and effective design, of
cornucopia form, with a head of Flora, crowned with flowers, in front,
and festoons above held by a ram’s and an eagle’s head; and Fig. 856
exhibits a “grand platt menage,” similar to that engraved on Plate 26
(Fig. 106) of the “Book of Patterns.”

In the plate to which I have referred this elegant piece has a base for
cruets added, and is somewhat different in some of its details, but
it is much the same in general design. Around the centre of the base,
it will be noticed, is a series of rams’ heads with large bent horns,
hooked at the end, and the foliage beneath the pine-apple at the top
is also deeply bent downwards, and the point of each leaf hooked up
at the end. On these--the horns and leaves--it was intended to hang
small earthenware wicker-work baskets, and on the engraving to which
I have alluded, these are all shown _in situ_. It is interesting
to note that in Mr. Hailstone’s collection is a precisely similar
piece, but with the addition of a circular base, which is of Wedgwood’s
Queen’s ware, and is marked WEDGWOOD in the usual manner. This
circumstance shows that the design was common to both manufactories,
and the natural inference to be drawn is that Messrs. Hartley, Greens,
& Co., in this instance, as in others, copied and reproduced Wedgwood’s
designs; while in other instances it is equally possible Wedgwood
copied from them. It is curious in going through the pattern-books of
Hartley, Greens, & Co. of 1783, and downwards to 1814, Wedgwood’s of
1815, and the “Don,” to note the similarity of designs exhibited, some
of which are so nearly identical, as to appear almost to have been
produced from the same moulds.

  [Illustration: Fig. 856.]

A teapot, dated 1777, has been ascribed to the Leeds works; but I am
doubtful as to the correctness of the appropriation. It bears on one
side the words:--

    “May all loving Friends
      Be happy and free
    In drinking a Cup
      Of harmless tea.”

And on the other side:--

    “Mary Green
    in the Parish
    of Souze 1777.”

The vases, scent jars, cockle pots, and _potpourri_ produced at
Leeds, were many of them of very elaborate and elegant designs, and
of large size, and were decorated with raised figures, medallions,
flowers, festoons, shells, &c., and with perforated work. They were
also frequently painted, or enamelled, in various colours, blue,
green, and red being the prevailing ones. One “cockle pot,” 22 inches
in height, has a square stand, highly decorated with shells, &c., in
relief, and with perforations, standing on four feet. At each corner
is a raised seated figure. From the centre rises the stem, supporting
a solid globe, on which rests the bowl, supported by mermaids. The
bowl is decorated with festoons of shells, flowers, and sea-weeds in
high relief. The cover is also ornamented with raised groups of shells
and seaweed, and is perforated in an elaborate and somewhat intricate
pattern. It is surmounted by a spirited figure of Neptune with his
trident and horses.

Candlesticks were made in great variety, and were highly decorated.
Some were in the form of vases, and in this variety vases were produced
in the same manner as Wedgwood’s jasper ware, with reversible tops,
so as to serve either as ornaments only, or as candlesticks. Others
have dolphins; others again Corinthian and other pillars; others have
massive bases perforated and embossed, while the candlestick itself
rose from griffins; and others again are vases with branches for two
or more candles springing out from their tops. These are now of great
rarity, as, indeed, are many of the productions of the Leeds works.

Single figures, and groups of figures, were also produced, principally
in the plain cream-coloured ware, but sometimes painted. It is also
said that some minute works of Art, small cameos, were made at Leeds.
A pair of these, said to be authenticated as Leeds manufacture, are in
the possession of Mr. Ferns, who is also the owner of many excellent
specimens of perforated ware.

In Mr. Hailstone’s possession is a remarkably fine fountain of large
size. It has a dolphin spout, shell terminations, mermaids and shells
for handles, and has figures and ornaments in relief in front.

In tea, coffee, and chocolate services, a large variety of patterns
were produced; both plain, engined, fluted, pierced, and otherwise
decorated. Many of these are of similar form to Wedgwood’s, to whom
their manipulation would, indeed, have been no discredit. The great
peculiarity of the tea and coffee pots, &c., is their double twisted
handles, with flowers and leaves for terminations. Many of these are
extremely beautiful, both in design and in execution. These services
were made either in plain cream-colour, or painted with borders and
sprigs of flowers in various colours. The chocolate cups are usually
two-handled, or without handles. The stands are, in many instances,
highly ornamented with perforations, or take the form of melon or other
leaves, and have ornamental sockets for the cups attached. Several
patterns appear in the engravings of which I have spoken. Tea-kettles
and milk-pails with covers were also made, and in the possession of the
late Mr. Lucas was a fine example of a tea-kettle with double twisted
handle, with foliated terminations.

In the early part of the present century, white earthenware was made
at these works. It was a fine, hard, compact body, and had, like
the cream-coloured, a remarkably good glaze. In this ware services,
especially dinner and tea, were produced, and were decorated with
transfer printing, painting, lustre, and tinsel. “Tinselling,” it must
be understood, is the peculiar process by which a part of the pattern
is made to assume a metallic appearance by being washed here and there
over the transfer or drawing. Examples of these, consisting of plates,
and a cup and saucer, belonging to Mr. Manning and Mr. Davis, are
marked with the curved mark to be hereafter described.

  [Illustration: Fig. 857.]

The plates also bear a small blue-pencilled letter C, and impressed
flower of seven lobes, and kind of cross pattée; these are, of course,
workmen’s marks. The cup and saucer in Mr. Davis’s possession have
flowers and rude landscape in colours and copper-coloured “tinsel.”

An excellent example of the white earthenware of Leeds is the puzzle
jug in the possession of Mr. Alfred Britton, here engraved (Fig. 857).
This is one of the most elaborate in design, and careful in execution,
which has come under my notice. The upper part is ornamented with
“punched” perforations, and the centre of the jug is open throughout,
having an open flower on either side, between which is a swan standing
clear in the inside. The jug is painted with borders and sprigs of
flowers, and is marked with the usual impressed mark of LEEDS
POTTERY. A curious example of the white earthenware is in the
possession of Mr. Hailstone. It is a large jug, having on one side a
spirited engraving of “the Vicar and Moses” in black transfer printing,
and coloured, and on the other side the old ballad of “the Vicar and
Moses,” engraved in two columns, and surrounded by a border. In front
of the jug, pendent from the spout, is painted the arms of the borough
of Leeds, the golden fleece, commonly called the “tup in trouble.” On
each side of this are the initials J. B. and S. B., and beneath are the
words--“Success to Leeds Manufactory.”

Transfer printing was introduced at Leeds, probably, about 1780, but
this is very uncertain. In the title-page of the “Book of Patterns in
1783,” it is said, “the same enamel’d, _Printed_ or Ornamented
with Gold to any pattern; also with Coats of Arms, Cyphers, Landscapes,
&c.;” and in 1791, the copper-plates then in use were valued at £204.
The patterns were principally willow pattern, Nankin pattern, borders,
groups of flowers, landscapes, and ruins. I may mention that several of
the original pattern-books of drawings of the articles themselves, and
of borders and other decorations, of the early Leeds productions are in
my own possession.

Lustre, both gold and silver, was used occasionally in the decorations
at Leeds, and excellent examples of “lustre ware” were also produced.
These, like the other early productions of the works, are scarce.

About the year 1800, black ware was introduced at Leeds. This was of
the same character as the Egyptian black, then so largely made in
Staffordshire by Wedgwood, by Mayer, by Neale, and others. The body
is extremely compact, firm, and hard, but had a more decided bluish
cast than is usual in other makes. In this ware, tea and coffee pots,
the latter both with spouts and with snips, cream ewers, and other
articles were made. I believe there are but few collectors cognizant
of the fact that this Egyptian black ware was made at Leeds at all;
but I have been fortunate enough, by careful examination, to ascertain
that up to 1812–13, probably from ninety to a hundred distinct patterns
and sizes of teapots alone were produced in black at these works. This
is an interesting fact to note, and is one which will call attention
for the first time to this particular branch of Leeds manufacture.
The patterns of the teapots were very varied, both in form, in style
of ornamentation, and in size. In form were round, oval, octagonal,
and other shapes, including some of twelve sides. In ornamentation
some were engine-turned in a variety of patterns, while others were
chequered or fluted. Others again were formed in moulds elaborately
ornamented in relief with flowers, fruits, borders, festoons, &c., &c.;
while others still had groups of figures, trophies, and medallions in
relief on their sides. The “knobs” of the lids were seated figures,
lions, swans, flowers, &c., &c. The lids were made of every variety,
both inward and outward fitting, sliding, and attached with hinges. In
speaking of engine-turning, it may be well to note that “engined” mugs,
jugs, &c., were made at these works as early as 1782, if not at an
earlier date. And here, in connection with the black ware, let me note
too, that pot-works were established at Swinton, by some of the family
of the Greens, of Leeds (see Swinton); and that here, too, black ware
teapots were made, which were known as “Swinton pattern.” Of these I
shall have more to say in my account of the Swinton works.

The marks used at Leeds are not numerous, and are easily distinguished.
Collectors, however, need to be told that very few indeed of the
productions of this manufactory were marked. The great bulk of the
pottery, whether in Queen’s ware or otherwise, was made for foreign
markets--Russia, Holland, Spain, Germany, Portugal, France, &c.--and
as a rule the goods were sent off unmarked. It is worthy of note, too,
that the finest examples of Leeds make, both in the perforated and
other varieties, now known, have been recovered from the Continent.
To illustrate this remark, it will be only necessary to point to the
chestnut basket just described and engraved, which was purchased and
brought from Holland a few years ago. The marks, so far as I have been
able to ascertain, which were used at the Leeds works, and of each of
which examples are in my own collection, are the following--

    LEEDS · POTTERY*

in large capitals, with a terminal asterisk impressed. This mark
occurs on a large-sized “Melon Terine” same as the one engraved in the
pattern-book of 1783, figure 68, plate 16. On the same piece are a
large capital letter S impressed, and the number 12 incised. These are
of course workmen’s or pattern marks.

    LEEDS * POTTERY

in small capital letters.

  [Illustration:

    HARTLEY GREENS & CO
      LEEDS * POTTERY

  Fig. 858.]

in small capital letters.

  [Illustration:

    HARTLEY GREENS & CO
      LEEDS POTTERY

  Fig. 859.]

  [Illustration:

    LEEDS * POTTERY
    LEEDS * POTTERY

  Fig. 860.]

in small capital letters, in two curved or horse-shoe lines.

Many good examples of Leeds wares are preserved in the Museum of
Practical Geology. Among these one is marked with the impressed Leeds
mark twice in form of a saltire (Fig. 860).

The marks usually ascribed to Leeds are the following:--but there is
no proof that any of these were ever used at the works. In my own
possession is a dessert service with CG [arrow symbol pointing south
west] the “sponged” border (which was used at Leeds), and a series of
extremely fine and thoroughly artistic figures, cupids, &c., engraved
in stipple, and printed in a warm pinkish brown colour, which bears the
first of these three marks; but although it is ascribed to Leeds, I
have grave doubts as to the correctness of the appropriation.

Mr. Chaffers, in his first edition, says: “The mark of C. G. has been
attributed to Charles Green, of Leeds; that in the margin is on a cup
and saucer of white English china, with paintings of landscapes and
the raised wicker border, C. G. W.[image] common to this manufactory.”
I quote this for the purpose of showing how little reliance can be
placed on the information hitherto given with respect to these works.
So far as my researches go, I do not find there was a _Charles_ Green
connected with the Leeds works; and that _china_ was never made there
I am fully convinced. This mark of C. G. W.[image] does occur upon a
china cup and saucer which has come under my notice: but it has not any
connection with the Leeds works.

The Leeds Pottery at the present time produces the ordinary
descriptions of earthenware for domestic use, consisting of dinner ware
in great variety, tea and coffee, toilet, and other services, jugs
and mugs, screw jugs, bowls and basins, and, indeed, all articles in
general use. In dinner ware upwards of ten standard patterns are made
for the London market, which market takes nearly one-half of the whole
productions of the works in general goods. The white earthenware is of
the same quality as the ordinary run of Staffordshire ware, and has
a good glaze. It is produced in the usual styles of blue printing,
painting and edging. Pearl white of good quality, both plain and
decorated, is also manufactured. This pearl body is got up in toilet
ware, varying in patterns, printed lines, and fancy stamped; jugs
embossed and plain; tea and breakfast services, &c. It is also being
introduced for washing-machines, substituting earthenware bottoms for
wood; also for patented machines for cloth manufacturers. These were
first shown at the Leeds Exhibition of 1875. Scent-jars, leech-jars,
&c., &c., are also largely made.

In Rockingham ware, tea and coffee pots and other articles are
still made in considerable quantities; as are also Egyptian black
glazed wares and yellow earthenware, which is made from native clays
procured from Wortley. Thus it will be seen that the Leeds potteries
of the present day--of the very existence of which but few persons
are aware--are of considerable size and importance, and are doing a
large business--a business which, unlike that of the olden times, is
principally confined to the supplying of the home markets, where, not
being marked, the ware usually passes for that of Staffordshire.

The marks used at the present day are, an old English letter L[Gothic
L] within a gothic quatrefoil in a circle, impressed in the body of
the ware; or the name of the pattern within an ornamental circle, and,
below it, the initials of the firm, R. B. & S., printed on the surface.


                        LEATHLEY LANE POTTERY.

Closely adjoining the works I have been noticing is another small
pottery, of whose history a few words may be said. They were
established in the early part of the present century, by, I believe, a
Mr. North, for the manufacture of black ware, but were afterwards used
by the same person for the making of the ordinary white earthenware.
From Mr. North the works passed into the hands of a Mr. Hepworth,
who made the ordinary brown salt-glazed ware. It was next worked by
Mr. Dawson, one of the trustees of the Leeds pottery, who took into
partnership Mr. Chappell, of whom I have spoken as, for a period,
proprietor of the Leeds pottery; and it was for some time carried on
by Dawson and Chappell, afterwards by Chappell alone, and then by
Shackleton, Taylor and Co. This partnership was dissolved in 1851,
and the works were then continued by two of the former proprietors,
Messrs. Taylor and Gibson. Since 1859, the factory has been continued
to the present time by Messrs. Gibson & Co. The premises are small,
and produce only the commoner and inferior kinds of earthenware for
domestic purposes. These are white ware of the commonest kind, yellow
ware made from the Wortley clays, and Rockingham ware.


                              CASTLEFORD.

Castleford, which has its stations on the “North-Eastern” and on the
“Lancashire and Yorkshire,” and is in direct communication with the
Midland and Great Northern Railways, lies about twelve miles from
Leeds. It is, in great measure, supported by its glasshouses, its
chemical works, and its potteries, which are still in full operation.
Common brown ware had, I believe, been made for a considerable
period, on the spot, the goods produced, of course, being pancheons
and the ordinary classes of coarse vessels. The Castleford Pottery
was established, towards the close of the last century, by David
Dunderdale, for the manufacture of the finer kinds of earthenware, more
especially Queen’s or cream-coloured ware, which was then being made
so largely at Leeds and other places, as well as in Staffordshire. Mr.
Dunderdale took into partnership a Mr. Plowes, and in 1803, the firm
of D. Dunderdale & Co., which appears stamped on the goods, consisted
of these two persons. The partnership was not of long duration, and
after considerable dissension, was dissolved, Mr. Plowes removing
to Ferrybridge, where he joined the proprietors of the pot-works
there, his son removing to London, and Mr. Dunderdale continuing the
Castleford Works alone. The next partner was Mr. Thomas Edward Upton,
a relative of Mr. Dunderdale’s, and these two shortly afterwards took
into partnership John Bramley (or Bramler) and Thomas Russell, who was
not a practical potter, but was an hotel proprietor at Harrogate. At
this time the proprietary was thus divided:--Dunderdale one half of
the concern, Russell a fourth, and Upton and Bramley an eighth each.
Considerable additions were made to the works at this time, and the
change in the proprietary was commemorated by a grand feast, and by
bonfires, and all kinds of extravagant rejoicings.

In 1820 the manufactory was closed, and in 1821 a part of the works
was taken by some of the workmen--George Asquith, William and
Daniel Byford, Richard Gill, James Sharp, and David Hingham. They
were succeeded by Taylor, Harrison, & Co., Harrison having been an
apprentice of David Dunderdale’s; and the place was for several years
carried on by the latter and the son of the former, under the style of
Taylor and Harrison. It is now closed as an earthenware manufactory
(Messrs. Taylor and Harrison having given up the trade), and is carried
on for stoneware alone. At these works, an offshoot, as I have shown,
of the old pottery, the commoner descriptions of goods only are made.

At the close of the year 1825, I believe, the old works were taken
by Asquith, Wood, & Co. They were joined in partnership by Thomas
Nicholson, who had served his apprenticeship with Hartley, Greens, &
Co., of the Leeds Pottery, and carried on the business as Asquith,
Wood, and Nicholson, and afterwards as Wood and Nicholson alone. In
1854 another change took place, by which Mr. Nicholson, one of the old
firm, retained the works, and took into partnership Thomas Hartley,
the style of the firm being Thomas Nicholson & Co. A few years ago
Mr. Nicholson retired from the concern, and it was then carried on
by Thomas Hartley alone, and afterwards with partners, under the old
name of Nicholson & Co. In December, 1871, Mr. Hartley died, and
the Castleford Pottery was then, and still is, carried on by his
co-partners, Hugh McDowall Clokie, and John Masterman, under the style
of “Clokie and Masterman.”

The Castleford Works, under David Dunderdale & Co., did a large trade
with Spain, the Baltic, and other “foreign parts,” principally in
cream-coloured ware, and it is said that during the war the losses
were so great, both in earthenware and in specie, as to cripple the
works, and lead to their being closed. So great was the export trade
of the firm, that they owned vessels of heavy burthen, which were kept
trading with the Spanish and other ports. It is related that just
before the peace of Amiens, one of Dunderdale’s ships was closely and
hotly chased, but succeeded in outstripping her would-be captors. This
was celebrated at Castleford, and the circumstance was remembered as
“Dunkirk Races,” and is still talked of with pride by one or two of the
old people with whom I have conversed.

  [Illustration: Figs. 861 to 863.]

  [Illustration: Figs. 864 and 865.]

As I have said, the staple production of the Castleford Pottery in
Dunderdale’s time was the “Queen’s” or “cream-coloured ware,” which was
made of an excellent quality, and of a good colour. In appearance it
assimilated pretty closely to the cream ware made at the Herculaneum
Works, and was not so fine or so perfect in glaze as that made at
Leeds. In this ware dinner, dessert, and other services, as well
as open-work baskets, vases, candlesticks, and a large variety of
other articles, were made, both plain and painted, or enamelled, and
decorated with transfer printing. In the accompanying engraving are
shown some examples. Fig. 862 is one of a set of four central covered
dishes painted in sepia with a border of vine leaves, grapes, and
tendrils, of precisely the same design as appears on examples of
Wedgwood’s make, and of Herculaneum, and other places. This set of
dishes, when placed together for use, forms a circle of twenty-two
inches in diameter. The sauce-boat (Fig. 863) is a part of the same
service. The small oval sauce tureen (Fig. 861) and ladle show that
double-twisted handles were made at Castleford as well as at Leeds, at
Swinton, and other places. Open-work baskets, stands, plates, dishes,
&c., were produced in great variety, and of designs in many instances
closely resembling those of Leeds and other places. The accompanying
engraving (Fig. 864) exhibits one of these. In what would now be
called Parian, the Castleford Works in their early days produced some
remarkably good and effective pieces. One of these, a hot-milk jug with
its cover, shown on Fig. 865 is beautifully decorated with foliated and
other borders, and with groups of figures in relief. Mugs, and other
articles of the same material, were also produced. Examples of this
kind of ware may be seen in the Museum of Practical Geology, Jermyn
Street, and in many private collections.

Black or Egyptian ware of fine quality was made at Castleford in its
palmy days, and is now of some degree of rarity. In my friend C. Roach
Smith’s possession is a part of a service of this material, in which
the hot-milk jug is of precisely the same pattern as the one engraved
above. In fine white earthenware a large variety of goods was made by
Dunderdale & Co., who produced a remarkably hard and compact body, and
a glaze of considerable merit. In the late Mr. Pulleine’s possession,
among other examples, was an oval fruit-dish, painted inside with a
broad, bold, but not elegant border in red, and in the centre, in an
oval, a landscape, with water, buildings, trees, figures, &c., in the
same colour on a red tinted ground.

The marks used at these works appear to have been very few, and are
easily recognised. They are--

    D D & C^o*
    CASTLEFORD

       or

    D·D & C^o
    CASTLEFORD
    POTTERY

impressed in the ware. The mark of the later proprietors when trading
as “T. Nicholson & Co.,” was a circular garter, surmounted by a crown,
and on the ribbon the initials of the firm--“T. N. & Co.”; in the
centre the name of the pattern. The mark of the present firm is their
initials within a border.

At the present day the Castleford Pottery, as carried on by Clokie
and Masterman, manufactures all the ordinary kinds of earthenware,
including white, printed, sponged, and the very commonest kinds of
painted varieties; the principal patterns of services being “Willow,”
“Wild Rose,” “Albion,” “Gem,” “Eton College,” “Verona,” etc., which are
produced in blue, green, brown, and other colours. The body is firm and
good, and the glaze of the usual quality. The old glory of the works
has, however, long departed, and nothing artistic or beautiful is now
to be seen in the place where once so many choice articles might be
found. There is in connection with the pottery a flint mill, where
flint, stone, glaze and colour are ground, and the clay is prepared by
hydraulic pressure.

       *       *       *       *       *

The _Eagle Pottery_ was established in 1854 by a company of workmen,
under the style of “John Roberts & Co.,” and afterwards taken by
Messrs. Pratt & Co., who sold the concern to Mr. H. McDowall, who
continued to trade under the original style. Since the death of
Mr. McDowall the buildings have been converted into a glass bottle
manufactory. Only the most common classes of earthenware were produced.


                              PONTEFRACT.

Thoresby records that Francis Place, of the Manor House at York, spent
much money upon his manufacture of “fine muggs,” and that he attempted
it solely from a turn for experiments; but one Clifton, of Pontefract,
took the hint from him, and made a fortune by it. The works of Mr.
Clifton would probably be the forerunners of those of Ferrybridge, near
the “town of liquorice.”

The FERRYBRIDGE POTTERY is situated at Ferrybridge, by Knottingley, and
only a short distance from that famous seat of the growth of liquorice,
Pontefract, whose “Pomfret cakes” are so well and, indeed, universally
known. The pot-works at Ferrybridge are among the largest, if they are
not the very largest, in Yorkshire, and have the reputation of being
well arranged and convenient. They were established in 1792, by Mr.
William Tomlinson, who had for partners Mr. Seaton, an eminent banker
of Pontefract; Mr. Foster, a wealthy shipowner, of Selby; Mr. Timothy
Smith, a coal proprietor; and Mr. Thompson, an independent gentleman,
residing at Selby. The firm was styled “William Tomlinson & Co.,” until
about the year 1796, when the proprietors took into partnership Ralph
Wedgwood, of Burslem, when the style was changed to that of “Tomlinson,
Foster, Wedgwood, & Co.”

Ralph Wedgwood was the eldest son of Thomas Wedgwood, of Etruria
(the cousin and partner of Josiah Wedgwood), and was brought up at
that place under his uncle and father. He was brother to John Taylor
Wedgwood, the eminent line engraver, whose works are so justly in
repute.

In my “Life of Josiah Wedgwood,” I gave, for the first time, as the
result of considerable research, a notice of this remarkable man, Ralph
Wedgwood, and of his inventions, and his family[113] and connections.

Ralph Wedgwood, who was a man of extraordinary and varied ability, the
originator of many important scientific inventions, and the author of
the “Book of Remembrance,” published in 1814, in which the invention
of the electric telegraph, under the name of the “fulguripolygraph,”
is made known, and its benefits--precisely such as are now reaped
by the public--are described, was born in 1766, and was brought up
with his father at Etruria, where he received much valuable aid in
chemistry, &c., from Josiah Wedgwood. He afterwards carried on business
as a potter, under the style of “Wedgwood & Co.,” at the Hill Works,
Burslem; but was ruined through losses during the war. While at the
Hill, he prepared and presented to Queen Charlotte some fine examples
of his manufacture, on the occasion of the restoration of health to
the king, which were graciously accepted through the hands of Lord
Cremorne. He then removed into Yorkshire, where, as I have stated, he
entered into partnership with Messrs. Tomlinson & Co., of Ferrybridge,
and thus again commenced business. This engagement, however, was not
of long duration, his partners being dissatisfied at the large amount
of breakage caused by his experiments and peculiar mode of firing,
and the partnership being dissolved he retired from the concern,
having succeeded in getting a thousand pounds awarded to him as his
share of the business. He next removed to Bransford, near Worcester,
where he issued prospectuses for teaching chemistry at schools,
and thence to London, in 1803, travelling in a carriage of his own
constructing, which he describes as “a long coach to get out behind,
and on grasshopper springs, now used by all the mails.” This carriage
was so extraordinary in its appearance as to be taken for a travelling
show. While at Bransford he had been perfecting his inventions, among
which was his celebrated manifold writer, which still maintains its
high repute “against all comers.” One of his copying schemes, which
he called a “Penna-polygraph,” that of writing with a number of pens
attached to one handle, he found, on his arrival in London, had
already been made by another person. His other plan, proving to be
new, he called the “Pocket Secretary,” and afterwards the “Manifold
Writer;” and on the 7th of October, 1806, after much discouragement
and opposition, he took out a patent for this as “an apparatus for
producing duplicates of writing.” In 1808 he took out a second patent
for “an apparatus for producing several original writings or drawings
one and at the same time, which I shall call a Pennæpolygraph, or pen
and stylographic manifold writer.” An “ærial zone” was also proposed by
him, and his invention was laid before the Admiralty, but judging from
the following extract from a letter now lying before me, the invention
was not considered to be a very feasible one. “The ærial zone is in
proper hands if it is laid before the Admiralty, for there does not
seem to be any greater likelihood of its becoming an article of general
use than there is of the ladies leaving off muslin because some lose
their lives every year by its use.”[114]

In 1806, Ralph Wedgwood established himself at Charing Cross, and soon
afterwards his whole attention began to be engrossed with his scheme of
the electric telegraph, first invented by his father, Thomas Wedgwood,
which, in the then unsettled state of the kingdom--in midst of war, it
must be remembered--he considered would be of the utmost importance to
the government. In 1814, having perfected his scheme, he submitted his
proposal to Lord Castlereagh, and most anxiously awaited the result.
His son Ralph having waited on his lordship for a decision as to
whether government would accept the plan or not, was informed that “the
war being at an end, the old system was sufficient for the country!”
The plan, therefore, fell to the ground, until Professor Wheatstone, in
happier and more enlightened times, again brought the subject forward
with such eminent success. The plan, thus brought forward by Ralph
Wedgwood in 1814 (and, as I have stated, he received the first idea
from his father), was thus described by him in a pamphlet entitled, “An
Address to the Public, on the advantages of a proposed introduction of
the Stylographic Principle of writing into general use; and also of an
improved species of Telegraphy, calculated for the use of the Public as
well as for the Government.” The pamphlet is dated May 29, 1815.

Ralph Wedgwood from Charing Cross removed successively to Piccadilly,
and Southampton Street, Strand, where he continued producing his
“Pocket Secretary” in large numbers, and did a profitable business. The
advantages he gained were, however, lost by his researches concerning
the electric telegraph, and in the end his business gradually decayed.
He was a man of too eccentric and visionary nature for the ordinary
pursuits of life, and was thus led into the speculative ideas rather
than the substantialities of worldly existence. Among his schemes was
one for the founding of an universal language, over which he held a
lengthy and elaborate correspondence with Percy Bysshe Shelley and
other men of the day. He died at Chelsea in 1837. He was three times
married--first to Mary Yeomans, of Worcester, by whom he had issue
Ralph Wedgwood, of Barnes and Cornhill; secondly, to Sarah Taylor; and
thirdly, to Anne Copeland, by each of whom also he had issue.

After the dissolution of the partnership at Ferrybridge, which took
place, I believe, about 1800 or 1801, when Wedgwood ceased to have
any connection with the concern, the firm of “Tomlinson & Co.” was
resumed, and so continued until 1834, when it changed to “Tomlinson,
Plowes, & Co.;” Mr. Plowes, of the Castleford Works, having joined the
proprietary.

In 1804, the name of the manufactory, which, up to that period, had
been called the _Knottingley Pottery_, was changed to that of the
_Ferrybridge Pottery_. This change was made for the convenience
of foreign correspondence--a large foreign trade being carried
on--Ferrybridge being at that time a post-town of some note, and the
works being situated nearer to it than to Knottingley.

Mr. Tomlinson was succeeded by his son Mr. Edward Tomlinson, who
continued the works under the firm of Edward Tomlinson & Co., until
the year 1826, when he finally retired from the concern. A part of the
premises were then worked for a short time by Messrs. Wigglesworth
and Ingham; when the whole place was taken by Messrs. Reed, Taylor,
and Kelsall, who continued the manufactory until the retirement of
Mr. Kelsall, after which the works were continued by the surviving
partners, Messrs. James Reed and Benjamin Taylor. Mr. Reed, who was
father of Mr. John Reed, of the “Mexborough Pottery,” was a man of
enlarged experience, of matured judgment, and of great practical skill;
and in his time many improvements in the ware were made, and the
manufacture of china introduced. He, in conjunction with his partner,
took the Mexborough Pottery, and for some time carried on the two
establishments conjointly. Ultimately Mr. Reed gave up the Ferrybridge
works, and confined himself to those at Mexborough, while Mr. Taylor
carried on the Ferrybridge works alone.

After Mr. Taylor gave up the works Mr. Lewis Woolf entered upon them
as tenant for a few years, and in 1856 became the purchaser, and
commenced manufacturing in his own name, and has continued from that
time until the present day. In the following year, 1857, a large
additional pottery was built closely adjoining, and, indeed, connected
with the “Ferrybridge Pottery,” by the sons of Mr. Lewis Woolf. This
new manufactory was called the “Australian Pottery,” and is still in
full work. The proprietors of the joint works, “The Ferrybridge and
Australian Potteries,” as they are named, now are Lewis, Sidney, and
Henry Woolf, who trade under the style of “Lewis Woolf and Sons.”

These works, besides a very large local and coasting trade, had
extensive transactions with several foreign ports. From their first
establishment to the time of the issuing of the famous Berlin decree
by Napoleon, Messrs. Tomlinson & Co. had done a very extensive and
lucrative trade with Russia, for which country the finer and more
expensive kinds of earthenware, including cream-colour, Egyptian black,
and other kinds of fancy bodies, were made, both pressed, printed,
enamelled, and gilt. The decree cut short the trade with the Continent;
but shortly after this commercial blow, which was severely felt by the
Yorkshire potters, the River Plate was opened by Sir Home Popham, a
circumstance which was taken immediate advantage of by the Ferrybridge
firm. “One of the partners immediately proceeded there, and succeeded
in establishing a good market until the royal family emigrated to
Brazil, when the same partner moved up to Rio de Janeiro, to which port
a large business was for many years carried on.”

The wares principally made were the following:--cream and cane-coloured
ware, in which services and most articles in general use were
manufactured, either plain, pressed (_i.e._, with raised
patterns), painted, or printed. Green glazed ware, in which dessert
services and other articles were made, and which were of a lighter
colour than what Wedgwood produced. Egyptian black ware, of the usual
quality made at the period. Fine white earthenware, in which was
produced all the usual kinds of goods in enamelling, blue printing,
painting, &c. Artists of considerable ability were employed at the
works, and I have seen examples which are of thoroughly good character,
and will vie with some of the best contemporary productions of the
Staffordshire potteries.

In the time of Messrs. Reed and Taylor china of a very fine quality
was made, but the manufacture was not of long duration. Tea and coffee
services, dessert services, scent bottles, and a variety of articles,
were made of this body, and were remarkably good in form and in style
of decoration. Examples of Ferrybridge china are now of extreme rarity.

Cameos, medallions, and other ornamental articles in the time of Ralph
Wedgwood’s connection with the works, were made in imitation of those
of Josiah Wedgwood, to which they were, however, very inferior both in
body and finish.

The combined works at the present time (by which of course I mean the
joint manufactory of the “Ferrybridge and Australian Potteries”) give
employment to about five hundred hands, and do a large trade with
Australia and other foreign markets. In white earthenware, which is
the staple trade of the works, the ornamentation consists of a large
variety of patterns in transfer printing, in common painting, in lustre
or “tinsel,” and in sponged patterns. Enamelled and gilt goods, too,
are made, and of qualities to suit the different markets for which
they are intended. For the Egyptian markets, to which large quantities
of goods are sent, lustred or tinselled patterns are adapted very
extensively. In “jet ware,” dessert services, candlesticks, toilet
trays, and other articles are made. In this ware, I believe I am right
in saying that a large number of services have been made especially
for the Chinese market. In Egyptian black the ordinary varieties of
articles are made, as they are also in Rockingham ware. In “blue
jasper” ware, _i.e._, a blue glazed ware, absurdly so called, many
useful and ornamental articles are made, as they are also in a variety
of other bodies.

The marks used at the Ferrybridge Pottery have been but few. So far as
my knowledge goes, those which will be of interest to the collector are
the following--

    TOMLINSON & CO.

impressed in the bottom of the ware,

    WEDGWOOD & CO.

impressed on cameos, made during the time of Ralph Wedgwood’s
connection with the works.

    FERRYBRIDGE.

also impressed, and one variety of which mark is peculiar from having
the letter D reversed thus--

    FERRYBRIDGE[with d of bridge backwards]
         P

A shield, with the words--OPAQUE GRANITE CHINA in three lines,
supported by a lion and unicorn, and surmounted by a crown. This mark
is also impressed, and occurs on green-glazed ware, as does the one
just spoken of.

The mark at the present time is that of the lion and unicorn with
the shield and crown, and the words, “Ferrybridge and Australian
Potteries,” sometimes impressed, and at others printed on the goods,
with the names of the bodies, as “granite,” “stone china,” &c., added.


                       SWINTON-ROCKINGHAM CHINA.

When pot-making was first practised in Swinton and its district, it
is, of course, impossible to say, but I believe that as early, at all
events (if not at a much earlier period), as quite the beginning of
last century, a hard brown ware, of much the same quality as that made
at Nottingham and Chesterfield, was produced on Swinton Common, where
clays useful for various purposes were abundantly found. In 1745, it
appears that a Mr. Edward Butler, seeing the advantage offered by the
locality through its clays, which consisted of a “common yellow clay
used for the purposes of making bricks, tiles, and coarse earthenware;
a finer white clay for making pottery of a better quality; an
excellent clay for making fire-bricks; and also a white clay usually
called pipeclay;” established a tile-yard and pot-works for common
earthenware, on a part of the estate of Charles, Marquis of Rockingham,
which lay closely contiguous to Swinton Common, where these clays
existed. The memory of this old potter, the founder of the works which
afterwards became so famous as the “Royal Rockingham China Works,”
is, it is pleasant to record, at the present day preserved in the name
of a field near the now ruined factory, called “Butler’s Park.” Butler
at these works produced the ordinary classes of goods then in use,
but principally the hard brown ware to which I have just alluded. An
interesting example of this period was in the possession of the late
Dr. Brameld, and is engraved on Fig. 866. It is a “posset-pot” of the
usual form of those which, at that period, were in such general use in
Derbyshire and Yorkshire; it bears the date of 1759. This interesting
example has a fragment of a label, written at “Swinton Pottery,” which
authenticates it as having been made by, or for, John Brameld.

  [Illustration: Figs. 866 and 867.]

In 1765 the works were taken by William Malpass, who held another small
pot-work at Kilnhurst, in the same neighbourhood, and he continued them
for some years. With him were associated in partnership, I believe,
John Brameld, and subsequently his son, William Brameld, of whom I
shall have more to say presently. Mr. Malpass continued to manufacture
the same varieties of ware as his predecessor, and held the works, or
rather was a partner in them, at all events as late as 1786.

In 1778 Mr. Thomas Bingley became a principal proprietor of the Swinton
works, and had for partners, among others, John and William Brameld,
and a person named Sharpe. Mr. Bingley was a member of a family of that
name which had been resident at Swinton for more than four hundred
years, and is now worthily represented in the person of Mr. Thomas
Bingley, who still resides there. The firm at this time was carried on
under the style of Thomas Bingley & Co., and, being thriving, indeed
opulent, people, the works were greatly enlarged, and conducted with
much spirit. An extensive trade was at this time carried on, and
besides the ordinary brown and yellow wares, blue and white dinner,
tea, coffee, and other services were made, as also a white earthenware
of remarkably fine and compact body, and other wares of good quality.

A highly interesting example of this period, 1788, is shown on the
accompanying engraving (Fig. 867), which exhibits a two-handled
drinking-cup, with the name of one of the proprietors, “William
Brameld,” on one side, and the date “1788” on the other. This curious
cup, which is five and a quarter inches in height, is of fine white
earthenware with a bluish coloured glaze. The upper part, both inside
and out, two narrow borders round the centre, the handles, and the
base, are ornamented with blue transfer-printing. The rest of the
vessel is black, the name, date, and ornaments upon it being gilt. The
borders of blue printing are much the same as those around “willow
pattern” plates, and from this it may be inferred that the “willow
pattern” was at that period produced in Swinton.

From about the year 1787 down to 1800, the firm traded under the style
of “Greens, Bingley, & Co.” This was consequent on some of the Greens
of the “Leeds Pottery,” (which see)--having become partners, and taken
an active part in the Swinton manufactory, with Mr. Bingley, Mr.
Brameld, and those who were connected with them in those works. Mr.
John Green became acting manager of the Swinton works, and afterwards,
as I am informed, founded the “Don Pottery.”

I possess some original letters from John Green, dated “Leeds Pottery,”
of April and June, 1788, addressed to “Mr. John Brameld, Swinton, near
Rotherham,” giving directions not only concerning the works themselves,
but relating to the partnership:--

   “Should be glad you and Mr. Bingley will look over the
   partnership-deeds, and if there be anything that do not meet
   your ideas, please point it out. When you have done this you
   may send them in a small box directed for me; they never was in
   my mind when at Swinton, or should have done the needful then.
   I have writt Charles with some sponges and ... informing him I
   expect 4 C^m kills per week exclusive of china, which I hope he
   will be able to manage without increasing the wages.” ... “Hope
   your buisket kill turns out well. You have room now if you will
   but make neat goods and be observing to get money; but it will
   require a strict attention to keep every weelband in the nick.”

In the same letter he speaks of consignments of flint by Mr. Brearey to
Selby and Tadcaster. He also offers Brameld from himself and partners a
commission of 5 per cent. on all “wearing apparell sould to your works.”

The partnership with John Green was carried on in the style of “Greens,
Bingley, & Co., Swinton Pottery;” and the same price-lists which were
printed at Leeds with the Leeds pottery heading, had that heading cut
off, and that of “Greens, Bingley, & Co., Swinton Pottery,” written in
its place. Later on large fresh price-lists were printed. They were
headed “Greens, Hartley, & Co., Swinton Pottery, make, sell, and export
wholesale all sorts of Earthenware, Cream Coloured or Queens, Nankeen
Blue, Tortoise Shell, Fine Egyptian Black, Brown China, &c., &c. All
the above sorts enameled, printed, or ornamented with gold or silver.”
On the fly-leaf was a printed circular, dated “Swinton Pottery, 1st
February, 1796,” announcing an advance in prices and a revised system
of counting.

The patterns used at Leeds were evidently, to some extent, adopted at
Swinton; and I possess some original drawings and designs on which the
numbers for each of those works are given. For instance, in teapots,
Leeds No. 149 was Swinton No. 68; Leeds 133 was Swinton 69; 218 was 70;
and 252 was 71, and so on.

Late in the last century, about the time of which I am now writing,
a peculiar kind of ware was first made at these works, and took the
name of “BROWN CHINA,” and afterwards that which it has ever since
maintained where attempted to be made, of “ROCKINGHAM WARE.” This ware,
which is of a fine reddish-brown, or chocolate colour, is one of the
smoothest and most beautiful wares that has ever been produced at any
place. The body is of fine hard and compact white earthenware, and the
brown glaze, by which the peculiar shaded and streaky effect of this
class of goods was produced is as fine as it is possible to conceive,
and required to be “dipped” and passed through the firing no fewer than
three times before it could be considered perfect. In this exquisite
ware tea, coffee, and chocolate services, jugs, drinking-cups, &c.,
were produced, and continued to be made to the close of the works in
1842. Since that time “Rockingham ware”--in every instance falling far
short of the original in beauty and in excellence--has been made by
almost every manufacturer in the kingdom, and has always, especially
for tea and coffee pots, met a ready and extensive sale. One special
article produced in this ware was the curious coffee pot, formed on
purely scientific principles, which is usually known to collectors
as the “Cadogan pot.” This curious piece was formed on the model
of an example of green Indian ware, said to have been brought from
abroad[115] by the Marquis and Marchioness of Rockingham, or the Hon.
Mrs. Cadogan, and preserved fifty or sixty years at Wentworth before it
was thought of being copied. It has a small opening in the bottom to
admit the coffee, but none at the top and no lid. From the hole in the
bottom a tube, slightly spiral, was made to pass up inside the vessel
to within half an inch of the top, so that after filling, on the “pot”
being turned over into its proper position for table use, the coffee
was kept in without chance of spilling or escape.

It is worthy of remark that tea and “Cadogan” coffee pots of genuine
Rockingham ware, the first of which was made for the Marchioness of
Rockingham, have the reputation of being by far the best of any, and
are said, I know not upon what principle, to produce a better and purer
flavour than any others.[116] I have been told it as a fact, that
George IV., who was as great a connoisseur in tea as he was in many
far less harmless matters, invariably, for a long time, used one of
the then fashionable Rockingham ware pots. I have it from undeniable
authority that the royal _penchant_ for this kind of ware thus
arose. When he, while Prince Regent, visited Wentworth House, the seat
of Earl Fitzwilliam, these teapots were in use, and were much admired.
On the return of the prince and suite to London, inquiries were made
for them at John Mortlock’s, in Oxford Street, who supplied the palace.
He at once saw that they would come into considerable repute, ordered
largely, contracted to have his own name stamped upon them, and enjoyed
the questionable reputation of being their inventor. Mr. Mortlock, I
believe, ordered as much as £900 worth of this ware in one season alone.

  [Illustration: Fig. 868.--Cadogan Pot.]

In 1796, the firm was, as before, “Greens, Bingley, & Co.;” and from a
list of prices and goods now in my possession, it appears that a large
variety of articles were produced. The list is thus headed:--

   “Greens, Bingley, & Co. Swinton Pottery, make, sell, and export
   wholesale, all sorts of Earthen Ware, viz., Cream-coloured, or
   Queen’s, Nankeen Blue, Tortoise Shell, Fine Egyptian Black,
   Brown China, &c. Also the above sorts enameled, printed or
   ornamented with gold or silver.”

Among the articles in cream ware, enumerated in this list, are all the
separate items for services in Paris, Bath, concave, royal, queen’s,
feather, and shell-edge patterns, which were produced “printed or
enamelled with coats of arms, crests, cyphers, landscapes, &c.; also
blue printed Nankeen patterns;” dishes, covers, compotiers, tureens,
plates, butter-tubs, baking-dishes, nappies, glass trays, fruit plates,
fruit baskets pierced and plain, tea-trays, garden-pots and stands,
shaving-basins, salts, castors, cruets, egg-cups, spoons plain and
pierced, ice-cellars, candlesticks, inkstands, wafer and sand boxes,
fountain inkstands, bidets, &c., furnished castors, tureen ladles,
chocolate stands, quintal flower horns, radish dishes, crosses with
holy-water cup, ice pails, broad mugs, bowls, ewers, basins, &c., milk
ewers, tea and coffee pots, tea canisters, chocolate cups and saucers,
&c., &c.

In 1806, the firm of “Greens, Bingley, & Co.” was dissolved. At this
time, as appears from a memorandum of resolutions, passed at a meeting
held on January 22nd, 1806, preparatory to the dissolution, that the
partners (present) were--“William Hartley for himself and others (this
was William Hartley, principal proprietor in the Leeds Pottery),
Ebenezer Green for himself and others (this was another of the partners
in the Leeds Pottery), George Hanson, Thomas Bingley, John Brameld, and
William Brameld.” These resolutions are as follows:--


         “At a meeting held at Swinton Pottery, on Wednesday,
                    the 22nd day of January, 1806.

                                Present

    William Hartley for himself and others.
    Ebenezer Green for himself and others.
    George Hanson.
    Thomas Bingley.
    John Brameld.
    William Brameld.

   1st. That no more Coals be got at Wath Wood Colliery.

   2nd. That on the 1st of February next the Engine, Gins, and
   every thing that is valuable belonging to us, be removed from
   the Colliery to the Pottery premises, and that the Pits be
   rail’d round.

   3rd. That no more stone be got from the Quarry on Wath Wood.

   4th. That the Willows be immediately cut and brought to the
   Pottery.

   5th. That the Manure on hand be sold.

   6th. That the Crop or Crops on the Farm be immediately valued.

   7th. That the Coals on hand be disposed of in the best manner
   possible.

   8th. That as many Men be immediately discharged from the
   Manufactory as can be conveniently done; retaining for the
   present only as many as may be necessary to compleat the orders
   already taken, and make a few things that may be needful to
   assort the Stock on hand.

   9th. That a Schedule of every thing belonging to the Colliery
   and Quarry be immediately taken.

   10th. That these Resolutions be carried into Execution by C.
   Prince.”

At the dissolution of partnership, the whole concern fell into the
hands of two of the partners, Messrs. John and William Brameld, who,
with other partners, continued the works with considerable spirit under
the style of “Brameld & Co.” until their death. The old price-lists,
which I have already named, continued to be used, but had the words
“Greens, Bingley” erased with the pen, and “Brameld” substituted, so
that the heading commenced “Brameld & Co., Swinton Pottery.” They
were later on joined in partnership by the younger branches of the
family, who eventually, as I shall show, became proprietors of the
manufactory. By Messrs. John and William Brameld additional buildings
were erected, and great improvements made in the ware. About this time
cream-coloured ware was made very extensively, and a remarkably fine
white earthenware--the “chalk-body,” as it was technically called--was
successfully produced, but, owing to its costliness through loss in
firing, was made only to a small extent, and is now of great rarity.

About the year 1813, the sons of the old proprietors, on the death
of Mr. William Brameld, succeeded to the concern. These were Thomas
Brameld, George Frederick Brameld, and John Wager Brameld, and to
them the great after-success of the works was due. These gentlemen
considerably enlarged the manufactory, made many improvements in
the wares produced, and erected a flint mill on the premises, which
after the close of the china works continued to be worked by their
descendants.

Mr. Thomas Brameld, the eldest of the partners, was a man of the most
exquisite taste, and he laboured hard to raise the character of the
productions of the Swinton Works to a high standard of excellence. In
this he succeeded to an eminent degree. In 1820 he turned his attention
to the production of china ware, and made many experiments in bodies
and glazes. Having expended large sums of money in the production
of this, his favourite project, and in making Art-advances in his
manufactory, the firm became, as is too frequently the case with those
who study the beautiful instead of the strictly commercial in the
management of their works, slightly embarrassed. This was considerably
increased by the great loss, both in earthenware and money, which
the firm sustained consequent on the war. In 1825, which it will
be remembered was a year of great commercial difficulties, Messrs.
Brameld succumbed to the embarrassments that had for some time affected
them, and a meeting of themselves, their creditors, &c., was held at
Rotherham. At this meeting, Mr. Thomas Brameld produced some remarkable
examples of his china ware, the result of long and patient labour on
his part, and these being highly approved by all who were present,
and appearing likely to succeed, Earl Fitzwilliam, the owner of the
property at Swinton, in the most laudable and kindly manner, agreed to
assist in the prosecution of the work by the advance of capital, and by
taking an active part in the scheme.

This being done, Mr. Brameld set himself to his task with renewed
spirit, and with a determination to make his porcelain at least
equal to any which could then be produced, and in this he certainly
succeeded. The works were altered and enlarged; modellers and painters,
the most skilful that could be procured, were employed; and every
means taken to insure that success, artistically and manipulatively,
which quickly followed. In this ware, dinner, dessert, breakfast, and
tea services, vases, groups of figures and flowers, and numberless
articles, both of utility and ornament, were produced, and were
all characterised by pure taste, and an excellence of design and
workmanship which told much for the skill and judgment of the mind that
governed the whole of the manufactory.

Mr. George Frederick Brameld, the second of the partners, devoted
himself to the strictly commercial part of the business on the
Continent. He for some time resided at St. Petersburg, a large trade
with Russia being carried on by the firm.

Mr. John Wager Brameld, like his brother, was a man of pure taste.
He was an excellent artist, and some truly exquisite paintings on
porcelain by him have come under my notice. He was a clever painter of
flowers and of figures, and landscapes. In flowers Mr. Brameld went to
Nature herself, collecting specimens wherever he went, and reproducing
their beauties on the choice wares of the works. At Lowestoft I
remember seeing a set of three vases painted in flowers, which, it is
said, Mr. Brameld gathered on the Dene, at that place, on one of his
visits, and which vases he presented to the father of their present
owner.[117] In the same hands is an elegant snuff-box, bearing an
exquisite painting of “The Politician,” with groups of flowers, and
bearing the words, “Brameld, Rockingham Works, near Rotherham,” “The
Politician, J. W. Brameld.” This being a signed piece of John Wager
Brameld’s, is particularly interesting. Mr. Brameld’s time was chiefly
devoted, however, to travelling for the firm in the United Kingdom, and
to the management of the London house, so that his artistic productions
did not make a feature in the goods generally made at the works.

Mr. Thomas Brameld, who resided at Swinton House, Swinton, a delightful
residence overlooking the valley of the Don (to whose taste Swinton is
deeply indebted for the preservation from destruction of two fine old
Norman archways from the destroyed chapel), died in 1850. He left four
sons, the Rev. John Thomas Brameld, late of Mansfield; the Rev. George
William Brameld; the late Rev. Arthur James Brameld, of New Wortley,
who was accidentally drowned soon after I made his acquaintance; and
the late Dr. Henry E. Brameld, to each and all of whom--especially the
two last named--I was indebted for much assistance in the preparation
of this notice. Mr. John Wager Brameld died in 1851, leaving an only
son, who was accidentally drowned while bathing near Swinton. The last
of the partners, Mr. George Frederick Brameld, died unmarried in 1853.

The regulations laid down for the keeping of time by the workmen at
Swinton, and for their guidance over their work, were remarkably well
considered and clear; the original document of about 1829, in Mr.
Brameld’s handwriting, is in my own possession, as is also another from
which I learn some particulars as to the overlookers of that time.
Richard Shillito was to have charge of the earthenware department as
general overlooker, with ... Hulme to assist him; William Horncastle
had charge of the Warehouse, &c.; Mr. Wager had charge of the men at
the farm; Mr. Baguley had “charge of all the painting and gilding
department in china and enamel earthenware.” John Speight, “the
painting, &c., &c., in earthenware biscuit work;” George Liversedge was
overlooker and manager of the printing department; Joseph Bullough was
sorter of biscuit ware; William Speight had charge of the mill, and
also “the care of and management of all gold, colours, and glazes, &c.,
he giving them out as they may be properly wanted to use.”

Earthenware of various kinds--“Brown China,” or “Rockingham ware,”
green glazed ware, biscuit figures and ornaments, hard fine white
stoneware, cream-coloured ware, and other varieties of goods were also
still made; and the works, which, at this time--the time when china
began regularly to be made (1826)--with the assistance of the Earl
Fitzwilliam, assumed the name of the “ROCKINGHAM WORKS,” began
to use the crest of the Fitzwilliam family as the mark of the firm.

In 1826 (November 17), Messrs. Brameld & Co. secured the services of
an excellent painter, “Mr. John Cresswell, painter on china,” and
articles of agreement (in my own possession) were drawn up by which
Cresswell engaged himself to them for five years at 7s. 6d. a day for
the first three years; 9s. 3d. a day for the fourth year; and 10s. 6d.
a day for the fifth year. In 1830 the firm received an order for a
service from the Duchess of Cumberland:--

                                          “At Kew, October 23, 1830.

   “Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cumberland most graciously
   inspected the Pattern Plates (5) prepared for the purpose; and
   was pleased to express herself much gratified therewith, and
   commanded me to get up her Service with

    6 Plates Interiors, style of Original.
    6   „    Shells.
    6   „    Birds.
    6   „    Fruit.
    6   „    Landscapes (real views).
    6   „    Marine.

   and the comports, elevetated, (_Des Assiettes Elevès_) to be
   same of those of His Majesty; to be shewn to her as they are
   prepared in turns for the King to see.

                        Price 250 Guineas.

                           36 Plates, gad g.
                           12 Comports, or W. S.
                            2 Cream Bowls.
                            2 Ice Cellars.

                                               J. W. BRAMELD.”

   And in 1833, from the Duke of Sussex:--


        _Memorandum of a Dessert Service for H.R.H. The Duke of
                               Sussex._

                                          Kensington, 30th Nov., 1833.

  Forms same as H.M.’s.

    Plate--Essex--but same size as H.M.’s.

    4 Large Dress Plates.
    4 Second size  do.
    8 Small   do.  do.
    4 Ice Pails (Handles à la Warwick).
    4 Pine and Grape Baskets.
    8 Peach Baskets--say 4 Mulberry and 4 Pine.
    4 Fruit Comports.
    4 Shell    „
    ----
    40 pieces             perhaps 500 guineas.
    6 doz. of Plates      will be 360   „
                                  ---
                                  860   „
                                                              Say £600,
                                                               for 2/3.

In the same year Messrs. Brameld & Co. became the purchasers from Mr.
George Green of his interest in the Kilnhurst Pottery (which see).
In 1840, Messrs. Brameld were in negotiation for the purchase from
Mr. Dillwyn of the Glamorgan Pottery at Swansea (which see); but the
purchase was not made.

In 1830, the Rockingham Works received an order for a splendid dessert
service for King William IV., which was executed in the highest style
of the art, and gave intense satisfaction. The original sketches for
this service are in my own possession, and are named “Original Designs
for His Majesty’s Dessert, 12th Nov., 1830, per J. W. B.” (John Wager
Brameld). They are pen-and-ink sketches by himself. Of this service
I shall have yet to speak. At this time the works assumed the name
of “Royal Rockingham Works,” and the proprietors called themselves
China Manufacturers and Potters to the King, Queen, and Royal
Family. In 1838, the manufacture of china and earthenware bed-posts,
cornices, &c.--a somewhat novel feature in the art--was added to the
other productions of the Rockingham Works. In that year a patent was
taken out in the name of William Dale[118] for “certain improvements
in constructing columns, pillars, bed-posts, and other such-like
articles;” consisting of several ornamental pieces or compound parts of
china or earthenware,” “united, strengthened and supported by a shaft
or rod passing through the whole length of the same, and furnished with
screw nuts or other description of fastenings, and collars,” &c. These
bed-posts and other similar things were made at the Rockingham Works,
though never to any extent. They are now of very great rarity, but
examples are in my own possession. The body is white, the prevailing
colour being _Rose-du-Barry_, with yellow flowers, &c. Another of
these interesting examples is white with an effective chintz pattern
in colours; while others have small groups and sprigs of flowers,
the outline in transfer printing, and filled in with colour. In my
own possession, too, are several of the original drawings of designs
for beds, window cornices, lamps, candelabra, tables, &c., which are
remarkable for their elegance and beauty. An elegant work-table of this
description of ware, of simple but very effective design and excellent
workmanship, is in the possession of Mr. Wilson of Sheffield. It is 2
feet 6 inches high and 1 foot 6 inches in diameter at the top. Among
the designs to which I have alluded is one representing a small and
remarkably elegant table of somewhat similar, but much more ornate
character, on which is a fish-globe stand of corresponding design.

Although the Rockingham Works were eminently successful in an artistic
point of view, they were not so commercially, and in 1842 were
closed, after involving not only their noble owner, but the absolute
proprietors, in a loss of very many thousands of pounds. Only sixteen
years had elapsed since the introduction of the china manufacture to
the works, but those had been sixteen years of beauty, and of artistic
and manipulative success. No man better understood his art than Mr.
Thomas Brameld, no man laboured harder and more disinterestedly in the
ennobling of that art than he did, and few men, either before his time
or since, succeeded in accomplishing greater or more honourable things.
He and his brother looked to Art instead of commerce, and the result
was embarrassment and loss.

At the close of the Rockingham Works in 1842, the stock, &c., was
sold off and dispersed, and the manufactory which had produced so
large a quantity of elegant services, &c., was entirely discontinued.
A small portion of the building was taken by an old and experienced
workman, Isaac Baguley (formerly employed at the famous Derby China
Works), who was one of Messrs. Brameld’s best painters and gilders.
Here he commenced business in a small way on his own account, and
continued to do some little business until his death. Mr. Baguley did
not manufacture the wares himself, but purchased what he required in
the biscuit and white state, from other makers, and then painted,
gilt, and otherwise ornamented them for sale. At his death, his son,
Alfred Baguley, succeeded him, and, for a few years, carried on this
decorative branch of the business on the old premises. Mr. Baguley
decorated with commendable taste earthenware and porcelain, and
produced some extremely good and effective designs in modelling, and
clever patterns in decoration. One of his specialities was the old
Rockingham ware, which he produced of a far purer and better quality
than any other house. To this branch he paid particular attention, and
produced the Rockingham chocolate or brown glaze on a china body. In
this “Rockingham china,” breakfast and tea services, tea and coffee
pots of the good old designs, drinking horns, jugs, &c., were made,
and, being gilt in the same manner as the old Rockingham ware, have a
remarkably pleasing appearance, while in touch they are all that can
be desired. Mr. Baguley also made the famous old “Bishopthorpe” and
“Wentworth” jugs. His mark was the same as that of the old works--the
crest of Earl Fitzwilliam (Fig. 880) with the name--

  [Illustration:

        _Baguley_
    _Rockingham Works._

  Fig. 869.]

In 1852, a small portion of the works was tenanted by some earthenware
manufacturers, who traded as “P. Hobson & Son,” but their occupation
was of only short duration, and now the whole place is closed.

The Rockingham Works--a view of which in their palmiest days is on
a dish made by Twigg, in my own collection--when in full operation,
gave employment to a considerable number of hands and occupied a
large area of ground.[119] At the present time the place is a sad and
desolate-looking wilderness. The buildings have most of them been
removed, and others, at the time of my visit, were being taken down.
The whole place was in ruins, and in the area, where but a few years
ago all was life, activity, and bustle in the execution of a royal
order, “weeds and briars grow;” while in the centre of the wreck stood
a building bearing the almost defaced words, “This way to the China
Room,” where no china, save broken fragments scattered about on the
“shard rucks,” was to be seen.

Of the “brown china” or “Rockingham ware” services, Cadogan pots, &c.,
I have given notices. It will be sufficient to add that although all
which was made at these works were not marked, they usually bore the
impressed marks of “ROCKINGHAM,” “BRAMELD,” or “BRAMELD & CO.,” or the
name of “MORTLOCK.”

  [Illustration: Fig. 870.]

In fine hard “white stoneware,” and in fine cane-coloured ware, jugs
of remarkably good design were made, and were decorated with groups
in relief in the same manner; indeed, strongly resembling, both in
body and in design, those of Turner, which are so well known to
collectors. In Mr. Davis’s and other hands are remarkably good jugs
of this kind, decorated with raised groups of figures in blue, and
bearing the embossed mark to be hereafter spoken of. The handles of
these jugs are formed of the leg and tail of a horse. In “green-glazed
earthenware,” dessert services, flower vases, garden seats, and all
the usual varieties of articles were made. The green, as a rule, was
a somewhat lighter colour and not so good in quality as Wedgwood’s.
The pieces were generally marked with the usual impressed mark. In
fine “earthenware,” services of every kind were produced, both white,
blue-printed, painted, and gilt. The glaze on the earlier pieces, it
should be remarked, is of a decided blue tint, and somewhat inferior in
quality. Some of the dessert-services produced in the early part of the
present century are particularly interesting. On each piece is painted
some flower as large as life, and coloured true to nature in every
particular. The name of the plant represented is in each case pencilled
at the back of the piece. The plants represented on the two examples
(Fig. 870) are respectively marked as “_Althea Frutex_” and “_Virgilia
helioides_.” In the late Dr. Brameld’s possession was a service of this
same kind, in which the flowers were beautifully painted. The painter
of these pieces was Collinson, the best flower-painter employed at the
Swinton Works, and they were made between the years 1810–15. The ware
is particularly light, and has a remarkably pleasant feel in handling.
I have been somewhat particular in speaking of this variety of goods,
because similar services were produced far more extensively at the Don
Works, at Swansea, and at other places.

  [Illustration: Figs. 871 and 872.]

Of works of Art, in earthenware, the Swinton Pottery produced many
vases and other objects of a high degree of excellence, both in design,
manipulation, and in decoration, and were, indeed, far in advance
of most of their competitors. Fig. 871 represents one of a pair of
remarkably fine _pot-pourris_, which were “thrown” at the Swinton
Works by Mr. Thomas Brameld the year he was out of his apprenticeship,
in 1805, and were, till his death, in the possession of his son, Dr.
Brameld. They are 18 inches high, and have lions’ heads for handles,
while on the top of the lid is a lion couchant, the family crest,
gilt. The jars are beautifully painted in Chinese subjects. The next
engraving shows one of the specialities of the Swinton pottery, a
“lotus vase,” from an example in Mr. Manning’s possession. It is formed
of leaves, &c., and has butterflies, &c., raised, as if resting upon
the leaves. The whole is carefully enamelled, and altogether forms
a flower vase of surpassing beauty. It is pleasant to add that at
the close of the Rockingham Works, the moulds for the production of
these “lotus vases,” as well as others, including the model of the
keep of Conisborough Castle,[120] which, by the way, was another of
the specialities of the Swinton Works, passed into the hands of the
late Mr. John Reed, of the “Mexborough Pottery,” by whose successor
they continue to be made, both in the fine old green-glazed style, and
enamelled.

In “Queen’s ware,” or “cream-coloured ware,” services were formerly
made at Swinton. It was of a very similar quality to that made at Leeds
and at Castleford, and, being unmarked, is generally ascribed to one or
other of those works. In Dr. Brameld’s possession was a teapot of this
material, which is said to have been made in the latter part of last
century by his grandfather. It is here shown. It is of deep buff, or
cream colour, with beaded edges, and bears the name and date--

    Amelia Hallam,
        1773.

[Illustration: Fig. 873.]

In the late Mr. Reed’s possession, too, was a double-handled drinking
cup of elegant form, with the name IOHN ALSEBROOK, and the date 1795,
within an enamelled border of roses and foliage, and having on the
other side a Chinese figure subject, also enamelled.

That this kind of ware was not made extensively at Swinton until after
the dissolution of partnership with Hartley, Greens & Co., is perhaps
to be easily accounted for in the fact that these proprietors of the
Leeds Pottery, where it was manufactured so extensively and so well,
being also partners here, the cream ware would be made principally at
Leeds, while at the Swinton Works was produced what had not been made
at the other place. From the time the works fell entirely into the
hands of the Bramelds, however, this kind of ware became the staple
production of the manufactory, and an immense trade was carried on in
it in the Baltic and elsewhere. Not being marked, it probably often
passes for Leeds ware in the eyes of collectors. In this material
beautiful open-work baskets, and many other elegant articles, were
made.

Transfer printing was introduced at Swinton, at all events, as early,
as I have shown, as 1788, and was continued to the close of the
works. In the later years, some extremely tasteful groups of flowers,
butterflies, &c., were engraved and transferred in outline, and
then painted in the usual manner. In dinner, tea, toilet, and other
services, the designs were extremely good, and one of them, the Don
Quixote pattern, became very popular.

Engine-turned tea and coffee pots, plates, &c., were also manufactured,
and in manipulation were equal to any produced in ordinary earthenware.
Groups of flowers, figures, trophies, borders, &c., in relief, were
also introduced.

  [Illustration: Figs. 874 to 876.]

In “china” the earliest examples are two trial pieces by Mr. Thomas
Brameld, which I saw in the possession of his son, the late Dr.
Brameld. These are a pair of small leaves, the body of which is of good
quality, painted of a salmon colour with gold veins. These are probably
of the date 1820–2, and but few trials were made from that time until
1825. In 1826 china ware began to be made largely, and from that time
(in this year it will be remembered the works changed their name from
“Swinton” to “Rockingham”) to 1842 was one series of successes in all
but profit. Tea, coffee, dinner, dessert, toilet, and other services,
were made in every variety of style, from the ordinary blue printed,
or white with raised blue ornaments, to the most elaborately painted
and gilt varieties. Vases, and numberless ornamental articles for
the drawing-room and the toilet were also made, and were generally
distinguished by good taste in design, and skill in decoration. To show
how Art was, by the taste of the Bramelds, made subservient to the
production of things of every-day use, I give, in Figs. 874 to 876,
three examples in Mr. Manning’s possession.

In vases, some of the finest which had ever been produced were made
at these works. At Wentworth House, the magnificent seat of Earl
Fitzwilliam, among other fine examples of Swinton Art, is one which
is of surpassing beauty. It was the largest china vase produced at
that time in a single piece in this country. It stands three feet
nine inches in height, and is three feet one inch in circumference.
The base, which is of tripod form, has a blue ground, with flowers in
compartments, and is massively gilt. From it rises the vase, supported
on three lions’ paws in white and gold. From between the feet on each
side spring branches of oak, solidly gilt, which entwine their leaves
around the paws, and form an elegant border to each of the large
painted subjects on the sides. The neck of the vase is in honeycomb
open-work, with raised bees upon it; and the handles are of massive
coral in white and gold. On each of the three sides of the vase is a
large subject from Don Quixote, exquisitely painted in enamel colours.
The cover has a blue ground, on which are flowers and trophies in
tablets, surrounded by oak leaves and acorns in gold. It is surmounted
by a large and powerfully-modelled rhinoceros, gilt. The under side
of the cover, quite out of sight except when lifted off the vase, is
painted in a series of small landscapes, alternating with subjects
taken from Bewick’s celebrated tail-pieces. Inside the cover is the
mark of the crest, and the words “Rockingham Works, Brameld,” and the
date 1826. This splendid vase was painted by John Wager Brameld. At
Wentworth House, too, the Earl and Countess Fitzwilliam have, along
with a large number of choice examples of Chelsea, Chelsea-Derby,
and other rare makes of China (which I have examined), several other
notable pieces of Rockingham china. Among these are a set of three
“Canova-shape” vases, painted with groups of flowers; a dessert-service
of white and gold “seaweed” pattern, each piece bearing the crest and
the date 1838; three of the pattern-plates submitted to William IV.
in competition for the royal service; a number of example-plates of
different designs; a breakfast service painted in flowers, each flower
named; an elegant tray with raised flowers and a view of Arundel
Castle; a pair of “monkey” beakers, nineteen inches high; and a pair
of fine biscuit scent bottles, sixteen inches high, decorated with
exquisite raised flowers.

In the possession of the late Dr. Brameld, who had among other things,
a remarkably beautiful ice pail and other pieces of note, was the fine
vase engraved in Fig. 877, which is known as the “Dragon Vase,” and
occasionally by the not very euphonious name of the “Infernal Vase.”
It is 3 feet 4½ inches in height, and has dragons for handles, and
also a dragon on the top of the cover. Another of these “Dragon” vases
is in the possession of Mr. Henry Barker. In the late Mr. Bagshawe’s
collection was a set of three vases, green and gold, with swans for
handles, on which are beautifully painted “named” views of “Bellagio,
Lago di Come,” “Verona,” and “Isola Bella, Lago Maggiore.” Mr. Reed
had pieces bearing views of Newstead Abbey, &c., and in Mr. Hobson’s
possession are vases, with views of Chatsworth and other places.

  [Illustration: Fig. 877.]

The _chef-d’œuvre_ of the Rockingham China Works was, however, the
truly gorgeous dessert service made for William IV., which is now
preserved with the most scrupulous care at Buckingham Palace, and is,
we are credibly informed, justly prized by her Majesty as among her
more precious ceramic treasures. This service, which cost no less
a sum than £5,000, consists of one hundred and forty-four plates,
and fifty-six large pieces, and is one of the finest produced in
this or any other country. The plates have raised oak borders in
dead and burnished gold running over a raised laced pattern, also in
gold, and the centres are splendidly painted with the royal arms,
&c. The comports, which were all designed by Mr. Thomas Brameld,
are emblematical of the use to which each piece has to be put. For
instance, the comports for biscuit, are supported by ears of wheat; the
fruit pieces have central open-work baskets of fruit; the ice pails are
supported by holly berries and leaves; and in each case the landscapes
are also in unison with the uses of the pieces, which are of exquisite
design, and have also oak-leaf and lace decorations, so massively gilt
in dead and burnished gold as to have the appearance of _ormolu_ laid
on the porcelain, and each piece is decorated with views of different
seats, the sketches for which were taken expressly for the purpose,
and by groups of figures, &c. This service is, as I have said, at
Buckingham Palace. In Dr. Brameld’s possession was the specimen plate
which was submitted to, and approved by, the king, and some portions of
the comports, &c.; and in Mrs. Barker’s hands was one of the comports
(with views of “Langthwait Bridge,” and “Kentmore Hall,” and a group
of bird-catchers), which, for its extreme beauty and rarity, is an
almost priceless treasure. She also possesses a cup and saucer of the
breakfast service prepared for Her Majesty. In Mrs. Reed’s possession
is an unique example, being one of the specimen plates submitted for
royal approval in a competition with the principal china manufacturers
of the kingdom for the royal order. In this competition, twelve plates
of different patterns were specially prepared and submitted by the
Rockingham Works. Of these plates, the examples in Mr. Reed’s, Dr.
Brameld’s, the Earl Fitzwilliam’s, Mr. Hobson’s, and other hands, form
a part. In the centre are the royal arms, and the rim is decorated
with oak leaves and acorns. Another unique pattern-plate belonged to
Dr. Brameld, and is of the most delicate and exquisitely beautiful
character. In the centre are the royal arms, and on the rim are three
compartments, two of which contain groups of flowers, and the third a
view, while between these the “garter” is repeated. The cost at which
in the estimate it was calculated these plates could be produced, was
twelve guineas each.[121]

The dessert service made for William IV. was first used on occasion
of the coronation of our beloved Queen, and has only, I am informed,
been used on very special state occasions from that time to the
present. Although so large a sum of money was paid for it the cost of
its production was so great, that the actual outlay was, I am told
by those who are in the best position to know, considerably more
than was charged. This royal service had some little to do with the
embarrassments that caused the final stoppage of the works.[122]

In “biscuit,” figures, busts, and groups, as well as vases, of which
splendid examples belong to Earl Fitzwilliam, were produced. Among
other specimens that have come under my notice are a Swiss boy and
girl, a fine bust of Earl Fitzwilliam, Chantrey’s sleeping child,
Chantrey’s full-length statue of Lady Russell, &c.

Among the artists employed at the Rockingham works it will only be
necessary to name a few. These were Collinson, who painted flowers;
Llandig, who was a charming fruit and flower painter; Bailey, who
was the principal butterfly painter,[123] and who also painted
landscapes and crests; Speight (father and son), the latter of whom
painted many of the finest subjects, both landscapes and figures, on
the royal service, and who also painted the heraldic decorations on
the same; Brentnall, who was a clever flower-painter; Cordon, who
executed landscapes and figures; Tilbury, who painted landscapes and
figures; Mansfield, who was the principal embosser and chaser in gold;
Aston, who was clever as a modeller of flowers; and Cowen, who was an
artist of much repute, and for many years enjoyed the patronage of
the Fitzwilliam family. William Eley, too, was employed as modeller,
and executed some admirable works, including a fine bust of Earl
Fitzwilliam.

The MARKS used at the Swinton Works are not many, but have the
advantage of being particularly clear and easily recognised. They are,
so far as I have been able to ascertain, the following.

It should be premised that no mark was placed on the early productions
of these works, and they are, therefore, only to be ascertained by a
knowledge of the body, the glaze, and the style of ornamentation used.

The following are the marks which have come under my notice:--

  [Illustration: _Rockingham_

  Fig. 878.]

This incised mark, the earliest used by these works, occurs on one of
the famous “Brown China” high-shaped teapots of which I have spoken. It
is a mark of great rarity.

    ROCKINGHAM         ROCKINGHAM

in large capital letters, impressed into the body of the ware. The same
in small capital letters. These occur on early examples of “Rockingham
ware,” &c. The name MORTLOCK also occurs on examples of this ware.

    BRAMELD ✠✠

in capital letters, impressed. This occurs on green glazed ware, &c.

    BRAMELD & CO’ or BRAMELD**

also in small capital letters, impressed.

  [Illustration: Fig. 879.]

An embossed mark, in an oval, stuck on the ware, from which it
generally differs in colour, being usually in blue.

      ROYAL
    ROCKINGHAM
      WORKS
     BRAMELD

in small capitals, in four lines, impressed. This mark occurs in
biscuit figures, &c.

  [Illustration: Fig. 880.]

This mark (Fig. 880) is the crest of the Earl Fitzwilliam, and was
adopted in 1825–6 on the commencement of the manufacture of china,
under the assistance of that nobleman, who was owner of the works. It
is usually printed in _red_.

  [Illustration]

    _Rockinghan Works_
         (Same
         crest.)
       _Brameld_

       Same crest.
    _Rockingham Works
       Brameld_
    _Manufacturers to the King_

         (Same crest.)
    _Royal Rockingham Works
         Brameld_]

in writing letters. The first of these marks occurs, with the date
1826, on the Rhinoceros Vase at Wentworth House. The others are also in
writing letters in purple.

  [Illustration]

      (Same crest.)
    ROYAL ROCKINGHAM
        BRAMELD

       (Same crest.)
    ROYAL ROCKINGHAM WORKS
         BRAMELD]

in capital letters. Sometimes in gold.

  [Illustration]

      (Same crest.)
    Rockingham Works.
        Brameld
    Manufacturer to the King
    Queen and Royal Family.]

surrounded by a wreath of roses, &c. Printed in purple.

It is only necessary to add to this account of the Swinton Pottery that
collectors will find remarkably good examples of Rockingham china, for
reference, in the Jermyn Street Museum, including pattern plates of the
royal service.


                              MEXBOROUGH.

_The “Rock Pottery” or “Mexbro Pottery”_ is situated at Mexborough,
a rising town near Swinton, with stations on the South Yorkshire and
Midland lines of railway. The works, at first very small, were, I
believe, established for the manufacture of brown and yellow wares,
and for common red garden-pots, by a person named Beevers, who, with
a partner named Ford--trading as Beevers and Ford--carried on the
business for some years. The workrooms at this time were built close up
to the rock, which, indeed, formed the back wall of the manufactory;
and from this circumstance the place was called the “Rock Pottery,” a
name by which it is still occasionally known. The goods at this time,
and subsequently, during the proprietorship of Ford, Simpson, and
Beevers, were made entirely from native clays, and were confined to
“cane” or “yellow ware” dishes, jugs, &c., for household use; garden
and root pots of red ware; and pitchers, &c., of a brown ware.

The works next passed into the hands of Messrs. Reed and Taylor, who
also owned the works at Ferrybridge (which see), and by them were
considerably enlarged. The manufacture of finer kinds of earthenware
was also introduced by them, and carried on with great success. In
1839 the pottery passed entirely into the hands of Mr. James Reed, who
carried it on until 1849, when he was succeeded by his son, Mr. John
Reed, by whom the manufactory was conducted until his decease. It was
then carried on by his executors under the management of the late Mr.
C. Bullock. During the time of Mr. Reed’s proprietorship, and that of
his father, considerable alterations and additions were made to the
works, and new kilns erected; the character of the productions was
also much improved, and several new varieties of wares were introduced.
In 1873, Messrs. Sydney Woolf & Co., the owners of the “Australian
Pottery,” at Ferrybridge (which see), became the purchasers of this
manufactory, and they now carry it on conjointly with their other works
at Ferrybridge, under the management of Mr. Bowman Heald. By Messrs.
Woolf & Co. the works have been considerably extended and several new
varieties of shapes and patterns introduced. They successfully compete
in several classes of goods with any in the locality, and with many of
the Staffordshire houses. The principal varieties of goods are,--in
ordinary white earthenware,--all the most marketable varieties of
painted, printed, enamelled, and gilt services of different kinds,
many of which are of good design, manufactured chiefly for the home
market. In dinner and toilet services, especially, some remarkably good
patterns, well enamelled and gilt, are produced. In Stilton cheese
stands and covers some good designs have been introduced. In Rockingham
ware all the usual kinds of vessels are made. In “terra-cotta,” which
is of a good colour, and of a fine and durable quality, Mr. Reed
manufactured large-sized flower-vases for gardens and other decorative
purposes; pendant flower-vases for conservatories, entrance-halls, &c.;
root-pots of tasteful design, butter coolers, &c., &c.

In green glazed earthenware, dessert services, in which the plates,
centres, comports, &c., are embossed with leaves, flowers, and other
patterns, are made, many of them from the original moulds of the
Swinton Works, which passed by purchase to the Mexborough pottery; and
others of equally elegant design from moulds expressly belonging to
Mexborough. In this ware garden seats, both plain and foliated, of the
same designs as those produced in the old days of the Rockingham Works;
and also root-pots and flower-vases, are made. Of these the “lotus
vase,” of which I have already given an engraving (Fig. 872), is one of
the most elegant and attractive, and is, I believe, made only at the
Mexborough Pottery, as is also the model of the keep of Conisborough
Castle already alluded to.

The mark used at the Mexborough Pottery, but which is only occasionally
introduced, is simply the name of the proprietor,

    * REED *

in large capitals, impressed in the ware.

       *       *       *       *       *

_Mexborough Old Pottery._--At Mexborough was formerly another
pot-work, known as the “Mexborough Old Pottery.” This was established
at the end of the last century by Messrs. Sowter and Bromley,[124] who
held the works until 1804, when they came into the possession of Mr.
Peter Barker. Peter Barker was the son of Joseph Barker, who came out
of Staffordshire as manager of the Swinton Pottery. He became partner
with Mr. Wainwright at the pot-works at Rawmarsh (afterwards Hawley’s),
and ultimately took to the works at Mexborough. These were continued by
the brothers, Peter and Jesse Barker, who were succeeded by Mr. Samuel
Barker, the son of the latter, until 1834, when they acquired the Don
Pottery. By Mr. Samuel Barker they were continued until 1844. The
Mexborough Old Pottery was then discontinued, and is now converted into
ironworks for the manufacture of wheels for locomotives. At these works
the commoner descriptions of earthenware, including blue printing, were
produced.


                               RAWMARSH.

In the latter part of last century a pottery was carried on here by
Mr. Peter Barker and his partner, under the style of “Barker and
Wainwright.” He afterwards joined his brother Jesse at the Mexborough
Old Pottery.


                              ROTHERHAM.

_North Field Pottery._--This pottery was established in 1851 by
Joseph Lee, a working potter, who had previously carried on a small
manufactory (now disused) in the town of Rotherham. In 1855 it was
purchased by Mr. George Hawley, of Rawmarsh; who, on his death, was
succeeded by his sons, the late Mr. William Hawley, father of the
present proprietors, Mr. Matthew Hawley, and his two brothers. The
firm was for a time carried on as “W. and G. Hawley,” but its present
style is Hawley Brothers. The goods manufactured are the commoner
descriptions of earthenware; and a large trade is carried on in
furniture polish bottles and articles of a similar class.

       *       *       *       *       *

_Holmes Pottery._--These works were built on part of the Holmes
Hall Estate--the kitchen garden, in fact--formerly belonging to
the Walker family, who owned the large ironworks there, where at
one time the notorious Tom Payne worked. The pottery was at first
extremely small, but has gradually extended itself until it is now
of considerable extent. It was first worked by Messrs. Earnshaw and
Greaves, who were succeeded by Messrs. Dickinson and Jackson; it was
then continued by Mr. Thomas Jarvis until some few years back, when
it passed into the hands of Messrs. John Jackson & Co., the present
owners. The goods produced are the commoner class of white and blue
printed earthenware. Some years ago an attempt at china manufacture was
made here, but was abandoned.


                           THE DON POTTERY.

_The Don Pottery_, closely adjoining the canal at Swinton, on which
it has a wharf, was established in a very small way about 1790, and
considerably increased in 1800 by John Green, of Newhill. He was one
of the Greens of Leeds, of the same family as the proprietors of the
Leeds Pottery, and a proprietor in the Swinton Pottery. He is, in fact,
stated to have been the manager of the Leeds and the Swinton potteries,
and to have sustained considerable losses on the breaking out of the
French war. About 1800, or a little later, he purchased a plot of
almost waste and swampy land at Swinton, and, with the aid of partners,
set about the erection of the present works. At this time a person
named Newton, father to the more than octogenarian from whom, some
years ago, I picked up many scraps of the information I record, had an
enamel kiln at the back of his house at Swinton, where he used to burn
such wares as he decorated. To this man, for the first twelve months,
Green, of the Don Pottery, brought his pattern pieces to be fired, as
he prepared them. In 1807, other members of the family united with John
Green, who also had partners named Clarke; the firm trading as “Greens,
Clarke, & Co.” In 1831, Mr. Green was proprietor of the Don Pottery.

In 1834 the Don Pottery passed by purchase to Mr. Samuel Barker, of
the Mexborough Old Pottery; which latter works he closed in 1844, and
confined his operations entirely to the Don manufactory. In 1851 the
firm became “Samuel Barker and Son,” under which style it is still
continued, the present proprietors being Mr. Henry Barker and Mr.
Edward Barker.

From a list of goods prepared by the firm in 1808, it appears that a
considerable variety was produced at that time. This list, which is in
my own collection, is thus headed:--

   “Greens, Clarke, & Co., Don Pottery, near Doncaster, Make, Sell,
   and Export Wholesale all the various kinds of Earthenware,
   viz., Cream-colour, Brown, Blue, and Green Shell, Nankin Blue,
   Printed, Painted, and Enamelled, Egyptian Black, Brown, China,
   &c., &c. Also Services executed in Borders, Landscapes, Coats of
   Arms, &c., and ornamented with Gold or Silver.”

Of the ordinary fine earthenware made soon after the opening of
the works, some specimens, whose actual date can be satisfactorily
ascertained, have come under my notice, and show to what perfection in
body and glaze, in manipulation, and in decoration, the manufacture had
already arrived. The most remarkable of these early specimens is a jug,
commonly called the “Jumper Jug,” which is of great rarity. On either
side of the larger jugs is the figure of a very uncouth, coarse, and
slovenly-looking man, in red coat, pink waistcoat, striped green and
white under-waistcoat, orange-neckerchief, orange breeches, above which
his shirt is seen, top boots, and spurs. In his hand he holds his hat,
orange, with red ribands, on which is a card bearing the words “Milton
for ever.” Beneath the spout, on a scroll, is the following curious
verse:--

    “The Figure there is no mistaking,
    It is the famous Man for--_breaking_.
    Oh that instead of Horse and Mare
    He had but broken Crockery-ware,
    Each grateful Potter in a bumper
    Might drink the health of
                      Orange Jumper.”

This man, who was known all the country round as “Orange Jumper,”
was a very eccentric character, and a great mover in the political
“stirs” of his county. He was a horse-breaker at Wentworth, and many
extraordinary stories are remembered in connection with him. One of
these, as connected with the story of this jug, is worth repeating.
In the great Yorkshire election of 1807--the most costly and the most
strongly contested election on record--when the candidates who were so
mercilessly pitted against each other were Lord Milton, Wilberforce,
and Lascelles, “Orange Jumper” was employed to carry dispatches
regularly backwards and forwards from York to Wentworth House, the
seat of Earl Fitzwilliam, the father of Lord Milton, who eventually
won the election, and was returned as the colleague of Wilberforce.
Orange was the Fitzwilliam colour, and blue that of Lascelles (son of
the Earl of Harewood), his opponent; and on one occasion “Jumper” was
seen entering York decked out as usual in orange, but riding on an
ass gaily decorated with bright blue ribands. On being jeered at for
this apparent inconsistency in wearing both colours, he replied that
_he_ wore the right colour, orange, and that his ass was only like
other asses, for they were all donkeys that wore blue! The election was
gained by the party he espoused, and in commemoration these jugs,[125]
with his portrait and verse, were made. They are marked

    Don. Pottery.

pencilled in red on the bottom.

An engraved pattern-book was issued by the firm, in the same style,
and of the same size, as that of Hartley, Greens, & Co., of the Leeds
Pottery. A careful comparison of the two books reveals the fact,
that whereas in the latest edition of that of Leeds 269 patterns are
engraved, in that of the Don Pottery 292 are given. It also reveals
the important fact that many of the Don patterns are identical with
those of Leeds, the engraver of the former having evidently traced
from those of the latter (Leeds) in preparing his plates. Many of the
remaining patterns are slightly altered from Leeds, while others do not
appear in the book of those works at all. In this pattern-book Figs.
1 to 8 are covered tureens; 10 to 12 are leaves; 13 to 18, covered
vegetable dishes; 19 to 23, sauce tureens with covers, stands, and
ladles; 24, a two-handled drinking cup; 26 to 30, butter-boats; 31 to
49, dishes and plates, &c.; 50 to 69, fruit bowls, side dishes, &c.; 70
to 76, perforated, open-work, and embossed baskets and stands, some of
which have covers, and are precisely of the same kind as those of the
Leeds works; 77, a perforated chestnut tureen, like that of the Leeds
works; 78, also perforated and embossed; 79 to 83, perforated dishes
and plates; 84 to 91, covered sugar bowls, &c.; 92 to 96, spoons and
strainers; 97 to 110, bowls, &c.; 111 is a melon bowl of the same kind
as those made at Leeds; 113 to 116 are egg cups and stands; 118 to 130,
cruets, &c.; 131, an asparagus holder, like the Leeds; 139 to 145, mugs
and jugs; 146, a toast rack; 147, an invalid’s feeding cup; 148 to 159,
dishes, tureens, &c.; 160 and 161, vegetable trays in compartments;
163 to 176, ice pails and domestic vessels; 177 to 183, ink stands;
184, 185, flower-pots; 186 to 202, toilet services and shaving basins;
201 is a _scaphium_; 206 is a quintal flower horn; 207, a
pastile-burner; and then come candlesticks, egg-cups, flower-vases,
flower-stands, vases, crosses with cup for holy water, &c. Another
series of plates, the figures numbered from 1 to 54 and from A
to K, are devoted to tea equipages, consisting of a remarkable
and very striking variety of teapots, coffee-pots, milk jugs, sugar
bowls, cake trays, tea canisters, basins or bowls, tea, coffee, and
chocolate cups and saucers, &c., &c. On each plate throughout the
series the name “_Don Pottery_” is engraved in a scroll.

  [Illustration: Figs. 881 to 883.]

Open-work baskets, tureens, &c., twig baskets, in which the “withies”
were of precisely the same form as those of Leeds and Wedgwood, &c.,
perforated plates, dishes, tureens, spoons, ladles, and other articles,
ice-pails, salt-cellars, flower-vases, cruets and stands, inkstands,
seals, bird fountains, smelling-bottles, and, indeed, every variety
of articles, as well as services of all descriptions, and ornamental
vases of several designs, were made in these wares, and such as were
adapted for the colour were made in green glazed ware. Of teapots, many
patterns, with raised groups, trophies, &c., and others for loose metal
“kettle-handles” are also engraved.

In the cream-coloured ware, and also in the fine white earthenware,
excellent dessert and other services were made, and were painted with
flowers, &c., with a truth to nature which has seldom been equalled. In
my own collection are also some remarkable plates of small size of fine
earthenware. In these the underside of the plate is left white, while
the whole of the rest is tinted of a deep buff. The edge, and a line on
the inner side of the rim, is black, and in the centre of each plate
is a landscape, which has all the beauty and effect of a well-executed
Indian ink drawing.

About 1810–12, _china_ of an excellent quality was, to a very small
extent indeed, made at the Don Pottery, and examples of this are
of extreme rarity. In Mr. Manning’s possession is a coffee mug of
excellent body, and of remarkably good soft glaze, well painted with
Chinese subjects, which is marked “Don Pottery” in very small letters,
pencilled in red. This interesting specimen is the only marked one
which has come under my notice. Two other specimens of this very rare
china ware, which are equally curious and interesting with the one just
spoken of, are here engraved. One is a jug which will hold rather more
than a pint, and has a curious story attached to it. The china body of
which it was made was mixed by Godfrey Speight and Ward Booth, both
of whom were originally from Staffordshire; the latter, it is said,
was brought from that county “with a whole regiment of hands” to work
at the new Don Pottery, of which he became the manager. The jug was
painted by his son, Taylor Booth, who was brought up with Enoch Wood,
of Burslem, and afterwards was at the old Derby China Works, and given
to Speight, from whose aged son’s hands it passed into my own. It is
beautifully painted with groups of flowers on either side, and a sprig
of jasmine beneath the spout, and has a broad gold line round the top.
The curious part of the story connected with this jug is, that in the
body of which it is composed, by one of those strange and unaccountable
freaks to which potters as well as other people are liable, are two
of the fingers of a noted malefactor, Spencer Broughton, who was
gibbeted on Attercliffe Common at the close of the last century. It
appears that a party of the Don and Swinton potters, who had been to
Sheffield for a carousal, and had stayed there till the small hours of
the morning, were, when not sober, returning over the moor, when, on
passing the gibbet on which the gaunt skeleton of the malefactor still
hung, as it had for years, in chains, one of them, saying, “Let’s ha’
a rap at him,” picked up a stone and threw it, knocking off the bones
of two of the fingers. These were picked up, and carefully carried
home as trophies of the exploit; and some time afterwards, when trials
in the manufacture of china were being made, they were brought out,
calcined, and mixed with some of the body. Of this body a seal was
made, “with a gibbet on it,” and the jug (Fig. 882) just described.
This story I had from the lips of one of the party of potters, a man
then fast nearing “fourscore years and ten” in age. The horrible and
brutal taste displayed by the potters has, it must be admitted, its use
in authenticating the example, and in giving it, at all events, an
approximate date.

The other example is a comport (Fig. 881) of remarkably fine body and
excellent glaze, and has a plant of the tiger-lily exquisitely painted
of natural size, occupying the whole of its inside.

In fine cane-coloured ware, tea-services, jugs, &c., were made, and
were ornamented with figures, borders, and other designs in relief. Of
this kind of ware the accompanying engraving of a sugar-box will serve
as an example. It is ornamented with figures, trophies, &c., in relief
in black and is marked “Green’s Don Pottery.”

In green glazed ware flower-vases of large size, root-pots, dessert
and other services; in red ware, scent jars of bold and good design,
large-sized mignonette vases, and many other articles; and in “Egyptian
black,” teapots, cream-ewers, jugs, &c., were made.

The “brown china” spoken of in the list of goods was the “Rockingham
Ware,” which was attempted to be made at the Don Pottery, and is still
made of the common marketable quality.

A considerable trade was carried on with Russia, with France and
Belgium, and with South America, to which markets the greater part of
the goods produced were consigned.

At the “Don Pottery” at the present day, Messrs. Barker produce all
the usual varieties of the commoner classes of earthenware to a large
extent; the works giving employment to between two and three hundred
hands. In toilet services many excellent patterns are produced, both
enamelled, gilt, and lustred. They also produce dinner, tea, dessert,
and other services, as well as all the usual varieties of goods for
home and foreign consumption, including in “Egyptian black,” teapots,
cream-ewers, &c., Rockingham ware, and “cane,” or yellow ware.

Some of the painted patterns recently introduced are of good design,
and their pressed jugs are of superior shape.

The marks adopted by these works have been but few, and these only very
occasionally used. They are, so far as I have been able to ascertain,
as follows:--“Don Pottery” pencilled in red on the bottom of the
vessel, or “DON POTTERY” impressed on the bottom of the pieces.

       GREEN
    DON POTTERY

also impressed.

  [Illustration: Fig. 884.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 885.]

The first of these (Fig. 884) was impressed, the second (Fig. 885) was
printed and transferred on the ware. It was the first mark used by
Samuel Barker, and was adopted by him on purchasing the Don Pottery on
its discontinuance by the Greens.

  [Illustration: Fig. 886.]

  [Illustration: Fig. 887.]

The first of these marks (Fig. 886), also in transfer printing, an
eagle displayed rising from out a ducal coronet, was adopted by the
firm when it became Samuel Barker and Son, at which time the old mark
was discontinued. The eagle displayed is not now used, the firm having
adopted the old mark of the demi-lion rampant holding in his paws the
pennon, and enclosed within a garter, beneath which are the initials
of the firm, “S. B. & S.” (Fig. 887) On the ribbon of the garter is
usually given the name of the pottery, as for instance YORK.


                                DENABY.

The Denaby Pottery was established for the manufacture of fire-bricks,
&c., but was, about 1864, taken by Mr. John Wardle (from Messrs.
Alcocks, of Burslem), who was shortly afterwards joined in partnership
by Mr. Charles W. Wilkinson, the business being carried on under
the style of “Wilkinson and Wardle.” The works were situated near
the railway, from which they had a siding direct into the premises.
The goods produced were the general ordinary classes of printed
earthenware, pearl body, cream ware, &c., which were of good ordinary
quality. In these all the more popular and favourite patterns were
produced, and all the copper plates being new, were sharp and fresh
in appearance. Dinner, tea, coffee, toilet and other services were
produced, as well as jugs and other articles, some of which are of
really good and effective design. Yellow, or cane-coloured ware, was
also made, as well as tiles for external decorative purposes. These
were made from clay found at Conisborough, where branch works were
established. The mark adopted by the firm, for what reason it is
difficult to divine, unless it be that the wares were intended to
pass for Staffordshire make, was the Staffordshire knot, with the
words “Wilkinson and Wardle, Denaby Potteries.” These works, after an
existence of a few years only, were closed in 1869 or 1870, and the
buildings converted into bone and glue works.


                              KILNHURST.

At Kilnhurst, a place which one would naturally say took its name from
pot-works, is a manufactory of earthenware, known as the “Kilnhurst Old
Pottery.” This was established about the middle of last century, soon
after the Act for the navigation of the river Don was obtained. It was
erected on the estate of the Shore family. It was held at the beginning
of this century by a potter named Hawley, who had also a pottery at
Rawmarsh. From him it passed into the hands of George Green (one of the
family of the Greens at Leeds), by whom, on the 25th of April, 1832,
they were purchased by Messrs. Brameld & Co. (subject to Mr. Shore, the
owner, accepting them as tenants), at a valuation, Mr. Green to retain
all the manufactured goods, copper plates, moulds, &c., and to reduce
as much as convenient the stock of raw materials. In 1839 it came
into the hands of Messrs. Twigg Brothers. It is now carried on by the
surviving partner, Mr. John Twigg, who produces the usual varieties of
earthenware, and has made some unsuccessful trials in china.


                           WATH-UPON-DEARNE.

The “Newhill Pottery” was established, about 1822, by Mr. Joseph Twigg,
who up to that time had the management of the Swinton Old Pottery, by
whom, in partnership with his sons John, Benjamin, and Joseph Twigg,
it was carried on until about 1866, when it passed into the hands of
Messrs. Binney and Matthews, who were shortly afterwards succeeded by
Messrs. Dibb and Coulter. In April, 1872, the works were purchased
by Messrs. Bedford and Richmond, the present proprietors. The goods
produced are the ordinary useful classes of earthenware, both for
home consumption and for export. In these all the usual services and
articles of every-day use are made, both in white, in printed (in which
some good patterns are employed), sponged and coloured varieties, and
they are produced of the usual qualities.


                              WAKEFIELD.

A pottery existed on Wakefield Moor in the latter part of the
seventeenth century, where vessels were made from clay found on the
spot. This clay Houghton, in 1693, calls “The potters’ pale yellow clay
of Wakefield Moor.”


                               POTOVENS.

The village of Potovens lies about two miles from Wakefield, and, as
its name implies, takes its origin from some old potteries established
at this place. Ralph Thoresby in his Diary (1702) says, under date
of March 16th, “From Wakefield then by Allerthorpe (Alverthorpe) and
Silkhouse to the Pott-Ovens (Little London, in the dialect of the
poor people), where I stayed a little to observe not only the manner
of their forming their earthenware--which brought to mind the words
of the prophet, ‘As clay in the hands of the potter, so are we in the
Lord’s’--but to observe the manner of building the furnaces, their
size and materials, which are small, and upon the surface of the
ground, confirming me in my former apprehensions that those remains at
Hawcaster-rigg (Philosoph. Trans. No. 222) are really the ruins of a
Roman pottery.” These works were carried on, about the time, or in the
time, when Thoresby wrote, by one Caleb Glover. In his will, dated 29th
of January, 1728, recorded in the Rolls Office, February 6th, 1729,
this Caleb Glover “of Pott-Ovens, pott-maker,” bequeaths to his wife
all his chattels excepting his “working tools and oven house,” and to
his son Daniel Glover he leaves all his “working tools belonging to
the trade of a pot-maker, and the pot oven.” He was succeeded at his
death, in 1728–9, by this son Daniel Glover, who continued the works.
No manufactory of the kind now exists at this place, and the name of
the village itself is somewhat ambiguous, for it is occasionally known
as Wrenthorp.


                               YEARSLEY.

The earliest, and, indeed, only potters of whom anything is known
at this place, are members of the Wedgwood family, as recounted in
my “Life of Josiah Wedgwood” (p. 583), where these works were first
brought into notice. One branch of the Wedgwoods of Staffordshire
settled at Yearsley, in the Yorkshire Wolds, at an early date, and
commenced pot-making, which was carried on successfully for some
generations. In 1682 John Wedgwood, of Yearsley, was “buried in
woollen,” as were also in 1692 William Wedgwood, and in 1690 Isabell,
who was wife of one of these. John, the son of this John Wedgwood, who
died in 1707, was, I have reason to believe, the John Wedgwood whose
name appears on the puzzle jug here engraved, with the date 1691. It is
in the Museum of Practical Geology, in the Catalogue of which museum is
an engraving of the opposite side from Fig. 888. It is of brown ware
body, coated with green lead glaze, and has, round the body, the name
“John Wedg Wood 1691. incised in writing letters.

  [Illustration: Fig. 888.]

The ware made by the Yorkshire Wedgwoods was the common hard brown
ware, made from the clays of the district, and consisted, of course,
mainly of pitchers, pancheons, porringers, and other vessels of homely
kind. From researches I have made, I have succeeded in tracing out,
with tolerable accuracy, a pedigree, of the Yorkshire Wedgwoods for
seven or eight generations, ranging from the middle of the seventeenth
century down to the present time, when their descendants are still
living in the district, not as potters, but in other equally useful
walks of life.

So well known were the Wedgwoods of this district, that one member of
the family has been immortalised in song, thus:--

    “At Yearsley there are pancheons made
    By Willie Wedgwood, that young blade.”

For this interesting fragment of a Yorkshire ballad I am indebted

    MM

to my late friend the Rev. Robert Pulleine, Rector of Kirkby Wiske.

“Pancheons” are thick coarse earthenware pans, made of various sizes,
and used for setting away milk in, and for washing purposes. They are
made in several localities, and besides being sold by earthenware
dealers, are hawked about the country by men who make their living in
no other way.

Several fragments of brown pottery have at one time or other been dug
up at Yearsley, and, among the rest, a brown earthenware oven, green
glaze, semicircular, open at top, with a hollowed ledge round the inner
side about half way, and a flat bottom, having two handles at the
sides, and between them a crinkled ornament, bearing some letters and
the date 1712.


                               WORTLEY.

The works at Wortley, near Leeds, were established in 1795 by Mr. John
Cliff, father of the present Mr. Joseph Cliff, the head of the now
firm of “Joseph Cliff and Son,” for the manufacture of fire-bricks,
for which the clay of the locality was considered highly valuable.
In 1820 the manufacture of clay retorts was commenced and continued
very largely until 1830, when it gradually died out, but was revived
about 1850 and has continued to the present day one of the most
successful branches of the trade--the retorts being considered to be
both better and cheaper than those in iron. About 1847 the manufacture
of drain-pipes was added, and these were, and still are, made at the
rate of several miles per week; blast-furnace lumps being also largely
made, and, owing to their excellent quality, extensively used. In 1866,
terra-cotta was added to the other productions of this firm and is
still carried on. About the same time white and coloured glazed bricks
were made, and now form one of the staple trades of the works, as do
plumbago crucibles, the manufacture of which was introduced in 1869.

The goods principally produced by Mr. Cliff are, in terra-cotta,
vases, tazzas, and pedestals; figures and brackets; capitals,
trusses, keystones, terminals, and other architectural enrichments;
flower-boxes, baskets, and suspenders; chimney-shafts, and many other
articles, some of which are characterized by extreme chasteness of
design and by excellence of finish. In stoneware, tubes, pipes, and
sanitary goods of every description; troughs, mangers, and sinks;
enamelled retorts for gas, and chemical goods, &c. Fire and other
bricks and tiles are also very extensively made, as are garden edgings,
fire-backs, for which a patent has been obtained by the firm. Messrs.
Cliff and Son were awarded a medal in 1862, and at the Paris Exhibition
of 1867.


                                HEALEY.

A mediæval pottery existed here, in the parish of Masham, in the North
Riding of Yorkshire. Its site was on the spot where Healey church now
stands, the ground bearing the name of “Potters Field.” When the church
was erected in 1848 considerable quantities of “wasters” and fragments
of pottery were dug up by the workmen.


                             COLSTERDALE.

A pottery of a similar character existed at this place on a spot called
“Potter’s Pit.” Here many vessels have been found, as well as the
clay pits which had been worked for their manufacture. The place was,
according to some old maps, a very ancient enclosure from the moor.[126]


                            END OF VOL. I.


        PRINTED BY VIRTUE AND CO., LIMITED, CITY ROAD, LONDON.


FOOTNOTES:

[1] For articles upon this subject see the “Reliquary, Quarterly
Archæological Journal and Review,” vol. ii.; Bateman’s “Ten Years’
Diggings;” Jewitt’s “Grave-Mounds and their Contents;” Sir John
Lubbock’s “Pre-historic Times,” &c.

[2] Lib. III. c. 5, § ii.

[3] Warne’s “Celtic Tumuli of Dorset.”

[4] From Borlase’s “Nænia Cornubiæ”--a recently published and most
excellent work on the early antiquities of Cornwall; it contains a vast
amount of valuable information upon discoveries of Celtic pottery in
that county, and enables me, through the courtesy of its author, to
present these remarkable looped examples to my readers. This work is a
valuable addition to archæological literature.

[5] Wright.

[6] “The Durobriva of Antoninus Identified and Illustrated.” 1828.

[7] Vol. i. p. 1.

[8] Vol. iv. p. 80, and vol. vi. p. 179.

[9] In the furnace of one kiln was a layer of wood ashes from four to
five inches thick. The kiln, in a very perfect state, was covered in
again undisturbed.

[10] “Collectanea Antiqua.”

[11] Artis.

[12] Sloane MSS., 958, fol. 105.

[13] “Illustrations of Roman London,” p. 79, and “Collectanea Antiqua,”
vol. vi. p. 173.

[14] Conyers had previously described the red, lustrous (Samian) ware,
and also the vessels termed Castor ware, with figures of animals and
foliage, but which he did not find in the kilns.

[15] Stone ware, the kind imported from Cologne, was commonly called
_Cullen_. In 1626, too, Abraham Cullen took a patent for the
making of these stone pots. It is this kind of ware to which Conyers
refers.

[16] Wright.

[17] “The New Forest, its History and Scenery,” by John R. Wise (Smith,
Elder, & Co.), p. 214.

[18] “Archæologia,” xxxv. 91.

[19] Vol. ii. p. 36.

[20] Vol. v. p. 159, and vol. vi. pp. 52 to 67.

[21] This curious and unique potter’s mould is in my own possession.

[22] For a further account of this ware see p. 51.

[23] “Col. Ant.,” vol. v. p. 193.

[24] _Journal of the British Archæological Association_, vol. vi.
p. 64.

[25] These three engravings are reproduced from Messrs. Buckman and
Newmarch’s “Ancient Remains of Cirencester,” an admirable and truly
useful work, to which I refer my readers for much information.

[26] It was also a common practice to place a tile as the covering of a
cinerary urn.

[27] This is extremely interesting, as illustrating the custom of
funeral garlands, which still obtains in some parts of our country.

[28] These glasses were made rounded or pointed at the bottom; thus
they must have been filled while held, and could not without spilling
have been set down till emptied. From these the name of “tumblers”
takes its origin. For a drinking-cup and wine-pitcher, see our cut,
Fig. 225, and for two of these “tumblers,” see Figs. 228 and 231.

[29] See notice of pot-works at King’s Newton on a later page.

[30] For an account of the pottery here discovered see the “Reliquary,
Quarterly Archæological Journal and Review,” vol. ii. p. 216.

[31] Marryatt.

[32] See p. 79, _ante_.

[33] _Arch. Journ._, vol. iv. p. 29.

[34] Edwards.

[35] Vol. iii. p. 63.

[36] Page 182.

[37] Lansdowne MSS., 108, fol. 60.

[38] Probably written about ten years before printed.

[39] Page 98, _ante_.

[40] Not 1693, as stated by Chaffers, who has evidently not understood
that the date given by Houghton is “old style.”

[41] Aubrey, in his “MS. Natural History of Wiltshire,” had also, a few
years previously, thus spoken: “In Vemknoll, adjoining the lands of
Easton Pierse, neer the brooke and in it, I bored clay as blew as ultra
marine, and incomparably fine, without anything of sand, &c., which
perhaps might be proper for Mr. Dwight for his making of porcilaine. It
is also in other place, hereabout, but ’tis rare.”

[42] I perceive that Mr. Chaffers, in the 1870 edition of his work,
says: “the discovery of the two patents granted to John Dwight ... now
published for the first time, in treating on this matter,” &c.; but
here he is in error. In 1863 Mr. Woodcraft printed abridgments of these
very patents, and to these abridgments Mr. Chaffers is indebted for the
knowledge he possessed of them. In 1864 I, too, gave notices of these
patents, four years before the date of his publication.

[43] November.

[44] This is evidently the material for the white-brown and white
gorges to be made of, which were to be decorated with incised lines.

[45] November.

[46] Guineas.

[47] Those entries which I thus indicate are all crossed out in the MS.
Evidently they have been crossed out as the money was withdrawn.

[48] October, 1862.

[49] This collection afterwards passed into the hands of Mr. C. W.
Reynolds, and has since been dispersed by auction.

[50] See page 90.

[51] Page 98.

[52] See “Stamford.”

[53] See under “Blackfriars Road.”

[54] It would seem from this that General Conway and Mrs. Dimer had
figures, &c., probably their own modelling, fired privately.

[55] See “Runcorn.”

[56] This plan is in possession of my friend, Mr. T. Hughes, F.S.A.

[57] No. 829, folio 21.

[58] In 1757 the following notice appeared: “The Publick is hereby
acquainted that the Chelsea Porcelain Manufactory has been very much
retarded by the sickness of Mr. Spremont; nevertheless several curious
things have been finished, and are now exposed to sale at the warehouse
in Piccadilly, with the lowest price, for ready money, fixed on each
particular. All warranted true enamel.”

[59] The horse was used for turning the flint and clay mills.

[60] Mr. Lygo was London agent and salesman to Mr. Duesbury.

[61] These are mentioned by Walpole as twelve earthen plates in blue
and white delft, painted with the twelve signs of the Zodiac by Sir
John Thornhill, in August, 1711, bought at Mrs. Hogarth’s sale. They
were bought for seven guineas, and are said to have been of Dutch make,
and then painted by Thornhill.

[62] I know of one service of flowered cups and saucers where the whole
of the saucers have the raised anchor, and the cups bear the usual
anchor drawn in red.

[63] Or Barnett.

[64] Or Parker.

[65] Mr. Rhodes was the Clerk.

[66] For an account of this, _see_ Kentish Town.

[67] Sir Patrick Blake, Bart., of Langham, co. Suffolk.

[68] Sir James Lake, Bart., of Edmonton, who died in 1807, married, in
1764, Joyce, daughter of this Mr. John Crowther; she died in 1834.

[69] This is an error; it was at Cornhill.

[70] This is very doubtful.

[71] See Chelsea.

[72] The portrait here engraved is copied from an engraving by Daniell,
after a drawing by George Dance, R.A.

[73] Chambers’s “Biographical Illustrations of Worcestershire.”

[74] At Pirna.

[75] The battle of Prague.

[76] The battle with Ct. Daun, 18th of June.

[77] The battle of M. Lehwald, with the R.

[78] The battle with the Prince Soubise, November 5.

[79] Chambers’s “Biographical History.”

[80] The Battersea works were carried on, it is said, by Alderman
Jansen, who failed in 1756, and soon afterwards the Worcester printing
began.

[81] Mr. Binns, in his “Century of Potting in the City of Worcester,”
8vo., 1865, says--“We may here state that the copper plate from which
not only this Chinese porcelain was painted, but some of the finest
specimens in our cabinet, was discovered by Mr. Jewitt at Coalport.”

[82] For full details of all the changes which have taken place, and
for an immense fund of information on every point connected with the
works, the reader is referred to Mr. Binns’s “Century of Potting in
Worcestershire.”

[83] It may not be out of place to allude to the Prince Consort’s
unqualified approval and appreciation of these enamels. In 1854, Mr.
Binns obtained permission to exhibit specimens of his new invention
to his royal highness, whose commendations were most emphatically and
unhesitatingly expressed, and he at once purchased all the examples
which had been shown him, saying they were the best things he had seen.
Her Majesty subsequently ordered some specimens of this work, which
was all on dark blue ground; and latterly an order for a magnificent
dessert service, in the same style of work, on a turquoise ground, has
been ordered by her Majesty. The Worcester works owe much to the pure
taste of his late Royal Highness the Prince Consort.

[84] Pages 270 and 271.

[85] “A few Words on ‘Fairy Pipes,’” _Reliquary_, vol. iii., pp. 72 to
84.

[86] Pipes of three feet long and more, with barrel bowls, are still
imported in small quantities.

[87] “They are called “Fairy Pipes” in this neighbourhood, and the
small bowls with broken stem have been occasionally found on my estate
at St. James’s.”--_H. S._

[88] “Maund” is the Devonshire name for basket, or hamper. In Plymouth
it is not unusual to hear of a “maund o’ cloam,” which is only “a
basket of pots”--_cloam_ being the Devonshire word for crockery ware.

[89] Mr. Owen has shown that previous to December, 1765, china had
been attempted to be made in Bristol. In November of that year,
Champion wrote, in reference to some clay from Carolina, “I sent
part to Holdship, as you desired, and gave part to a new work just
established.... This new work is from a clay and stone discovered in
Cornwall, which answers the description of the Chinese,” &c.; and on
December 15th, “I have had your clay tried at the works here, which is
now given up, as they could not burn the ware clean.” Probably either
Cookworthy was connected with these short-lived works, or they were
carried on under license from him.

[90] This allusion to the time occupied in the journey from Bristol
to Plymouth is very interesting. It was then, it seems, a hundred
years ago, a two days’ journey by the “machine” (which was, of course,
the coach). Cookworthy intended to set out, it seems, on the Tuesday
morning, and hoped to reach Plymouth by the machine some time on the
Thursday. On my last journey, in fact while making these notes, I left
Bristol at eight o’clock, and arrived at Plymouth at ten minutes after
twelve, the journey occupying only four hours and ten minutes! What a
contrast between the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries this simple
fact presents.

[91] “Two Centuries of Ceramic Art in Bristol,” by Hugh Owen, F.S.A.

[92] See the account of the Plymouth china works, p. 329.

[93] This Act I first printed _in extenso_ in the _Art-Journal_, for
1863, page 214.

[94] This specification of Cookworthy’s I have given _in extenso_ in my
history of the “Plymouth China Works,” _Art-Journal_, September, 1863,
and on page 329, _ante_, of this volume.

[95] My notice of the Bristol china works in the _Art-Journal_ for
1863 was the first occasion in which these “Reasons” were reprinted, in
connection with the porcelain works of this kingdom.

[96] This would have formed a straight line, and is omitted in the
figure.

[97] _Felix Farley’s Journal._

[98] _Felix Farley’s Journal._

[99] John Hope was apprenticed to Richard Frank, and became a stoneware
potter in Temple Street.

[100] Thomas Patience, “victualler and potter,” kept the Cross Keys,
Temple Street, the “potters’ house of call.”--(_Sketchley’s Directory._)

[101] Enamel.

[102] For this extract I am indebted to the librarian, Mr. J. P.
Briscoe.

[103] Vol. xiii. p. 161.

[104] _Reliquary, Archæological Journal and Review_, vol. xv. p. 207.

[105] The whole of the dated examples which I have described (with the
exception of this last, which I now make known for the first time) and
those of 1765 and 1782, I fully described in the _Art-Journal_ for
1863, and they have served, unacknowledged, as the foundation upon
which Chaffers and every other later writer have built up their notices
of Lowestoft.

[106] It is worthy of note that Mr. Chaffers, speaking upon this, says
(p. 619): “There is such a peculiarity in the form and quality of the
Lowestoft porcelain, that we are surprised any one at all conversant
with or accustomed to see collections of china could ever mistake
it for Oriental;” and yet a few pages later on he says (p. 636), “a
punch-bowl representing similar harvest scenes is in the collection of
the Author, which has been in his (Mr. Chaffers’) family for nearly
a century, painted evidently by the same artist; former possessors
_supposing it to be of Oriental manufacture_.” How is it that, being in
his own family for nearly a century, and he being assuredly “conversant
with and accustomed to see collections of china,” Mr. Chaffers did not
previously find out that it was Lowestoft, but should have allowed his
family always to suppose it to be Oriental?

The same writer relies in great measure on a statement made by Mr.
Abel Bly, in 1865, that “No Oriental porcelain ever came into it to be
decorated.” The statement is as follows:--“From my Father working at
the Factory I was in the habit of going daily to the premises, and can
most positively affirm that no manufactured articles were brought there
to be painted; but that every article painted in the Factory had been
previously made there. I remember that the ware produced in the Factory
was deemed far superior to anything to be obtained in the country.”

The statement is almost too ridiculous to notice, and how any careful
writer could give credence to it is somewhat mysterious. Abel Bly
begins his statement (which evidently was drawn up for him to sign) by
saying, “I ... am now in the 84th year of my age.... My father’s name
was Abel Bly, who was employed in various departments in the china
factory at Lowestoft. He died when I was eleven years of age.” It will
be seen that he says that, from his father working at the factory, he
was in the habit of going there daily, and so can “positively affirm”
as above, and yet his father died when he was only a little boy eleven
years old! and he was only four years old when hard paste porcelain,
according to Chaffers, _began to be made_ there. I think one can
judge pretty well what amount of weight can be attached to a statement
made seventy-three years afterwards, of the internal and commercial
arrangements of a manufactory where, till he was only eleven years
old, a boy was in the habit of going daily, probably with his father’s
dinner! The statement is just as ludicrous as the next, where he says,
“I remember that the ware produced at the factory was deemed _far
superior to anything to be obtained in the country_.” Where was the
Chelsea? the Bow? the Derby? the Bristol? the Plymouth? and a host of
others?

[107] A copy of this most interesting pattern-book--from which,
however, three plates are missing--is in the Museum of Practical
Geology, Jermyn Street, London, which has the English list, 1786;
German, 1783; and French, 1785. I have also copies bearing the date
1794, and others undated.

[108] In the Pattern Book of 1783 the plates represent the various
articles as follows:--

Nos. 1 to 4 are covered terrines; 5 to 8 are sauce terrines with
spoons and stands; 9 and 10 are the same articles with fast stands;
11 to 13 are a pickle leaf, a sea shell, and an escallop shell; 14 to
17 are sauce-boats; 18 to 21 are oval dishes; 22 to 25, table plates;
26 to 29, covered, or ragout dishes; 30 to 34, sallads; 35, a turtle
dish; 36 to 39, compotiers; 40 to 46, pierced dessert dishes, with
open-work rims; 47 and 48, fish drainers; 49 to 54, salts, with covers;
55 to 57, egg-cups; 58 and 59, pierced double salts; 60 and 61, jugs;
62 and 63, salts; 64 to 67, mugs covered and uncovered; 68, melon
terrine and spoon; 69, round terrine and stand; 70 and 71, covered
bowls; 72 and 73, covered dessert, pierced covers, and bowls, &c.; 74
to 79, butter-tubs and stands; 80 to 82, single castors; 83 to 85,
mustards; 86 and 87, strawberry dishes and stands; 88, platt menage;
89, water-bottle and basin; 90, ice cellar; 91 and 92, bakers; 93 and
94, ice-pails; 95, glass tray; 96 and 97, double and single pails; 98,
hot-water dish; 99, asparagus shell; 100, escallop’d nappy; 101, salad;
102 and 103, large furnished castors; 104, oil and vinegar stand; 105
and 106, grand platts menage; 107 to 115, various candlesticks, some
highly ornamental; 116, vase candlestick; 117, composite candlestick;
118, flat candlestick; 119 and 120, ewers and basins; 121 and 122,
scaphia; 123 and 124, “spitting pots;” 125 and 126, shaving basin;
127 to 130, spoons and ladles; 131, pierced fish trowel; 132 to 136,
fruit-baskets and stands of elegant basket, twig and open work; 137,
pierced chesnut basket and stand; 138, ornamented jar, or pot pourri;
139, a cockle pot, or potpourri; 140, caper jar, or pot pourri; 141,
covered flower cup; 142, a quintal flower-horn; 143 and 144, sweetmeat
cups; 145, confectionery basket and stand; 146, a pot pourri, whose top
inverts to form a candlestick; 147, inkstand; 148, a wafer-box; 149, a
fountain inkstand; 150, a sand-box or pounce-box; 151, inkstand; 152,
a cross with holy water cup. Tea ware: Nos. 1 to 4, teapots; 5 to 8,
coffee-pots; 9 to 11, tea-cannisters; 12 and 13, milk pots with covers;
14 and 15, slop-bowls; 16 and 17, milk ewers; 18, tea or coffee-tray,
with open-work border; 19 to 24, sugar-basins with covers; 25 to 32,
cups and saucers of various kinds.

[109] Henry Ackroyd died in 1788. In a letter from John Green, of the
Leeds Pottery, to his partner, John Brameld, at the Swinton Pottery,
dated “Leeds Pottery, 15 April, 1788,” the following curious allusion
is made to him:--“Our worthy friend Ackroyd is dead, and I doubt not
but is alive again. It was a pleasant reflection to me, being one of
the pall-bearers, to think I was bearing the Cover over a dead Carkess
whose soul I had not the least doubt was in heaven. He left this world
with as great Composer and Confidance in his future state as was
posable for a man to do; and I sincerely wish that you and me may be as
well prepared as friend A^d for a future state.”

[110] A letter of John Green’s in June, 1788, says, “Letters are to be
directed to me at Flint Mill Grange, near Wetherby.”

[111] The Act of Parliament for the formation of this line of railway
was passed in January, 1758, and it is therein stated that Charles
Brandling, the owner of the collieries, had made agreements with the
owners of the lands through which it was intended to pass, “to pay
yearly rent or other considerations” for the privilege. The Leeds
pot works must, therefore, have been established some length of time
previous to the year 1758. It may be interesting to add that by this
act Mr. Brandling bound himself for a term of sixty years to bring from
his collieries at Middleton, to a repository at “Casson Close, near the
Great Bridge at Leeds,” “20,000 dozens, or 240,000 corfs of coals,”
each corf containing in weight about 210 lbs., and in measure 7,680
cubical inches, and there sell the same to the public at the price
of 4¾d. a corf. As the town increased in size, and its manufactures
spread, fresh acts of parliament were applied for and obtained in 1779,
1793 (two), and 1803, by which last the quantity of coal undertaken to
be supplied was increased to 1,920 corfs per day, and the price raised
to 8d. per corf.

[112] In the same year (1825), to add to the perplexities of the
proprietors, there appears to have been a strike among the potters.
The following “Appeal” was printed for the men by Mr. Baines, who
afterwards became one of our statesmen:--

“_An Appeal to the Public from the Journeymen Potters of Leeds and
its Neighbourhood._

“It is with painful feelings that we are under the necessity of laying
before a discerning public the following brief statement of Facts
relative to those differences now existing between us and our Employers.

“At a time like the present, it is very strange that our Employers
should attempt an unparalleled Reduction of our Wages, amounting from
20 to 30 per cent. upon the prices we have received, when those prices
were barely sufficient to support a Man and his Family, and at the same
time raise the price of his goods to the Public at least 50 per cent.

“We feel confident the above Statement of Facts will at once convince
every thinking individual that our conduct in standing out to oppose
such uncalled-for proceedings is just and right. We should have exposed
ourselves to the censure of every reasonable Man, and all who have
alive in their bosom a spark of honest indignation, had we tamely
submitted to the fiat of our Employers, and not have made every effort
in our power to preserve that which is every man’s natural right--a
fair remuneration for his labour.

“We respectfully solicit the aid of a generous Public, to enable us to
withstand the unjust proceedings of those who have driven us to this
alternative, by their unceasing endeavours to reduce us to a state of
misery and degradation from which we hope to be preserved by your kind
assistance, and enabled to withstand those encroachments which would
inevitably plunge ourselves, our families, and our successors into
inevitable ruin.--Dec. 13, 1825.”

[113] Jewitt’s “Life of Wedgwood.” London: Virtue Brothers, p. 177,
_et seq._

[114] Letter from Josiah Wedgwood, M.P.

[115] Vessels of this construction, of early Japanese make, are in
existence.

[116] These teapots were of high and somewhat peculiar form, like what
are now usually sold as coffee pots, and were universally known as
“Rockingham Teapots.” This high form was said to be the reason of the
tea being produced of a better quality than in the ordinary shaped ones.

[117] Mr. Allen, of Lowestoft, at one time was in the habit of
purchasing white wares from the Rockingham Works, which he painted and
burnt in an enamel kiln, erected at the back of his shop.

[118] The following is a copy of the agreement in my own possession:--

“MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT THE 28TH OF FEBRUARY, 1838.

“Brameld & Co. agree to buy from Mr. Wm. Dale, of Shelton, his interest
in a certain invention he has now in the Patent Office in London for
the manufacture of China, Ironstone China or Earthenware Pillars,
Columns or Rails, &c., for Bed-Posts, Window-Heads, &c., &c., and for
obtaining the Patent-right of which he has entered a Caveat and taken
other preliminary steps.

“B. & Co. agree to employ the said Wm. Dale in the manufacture of and
superintendance of the completion of the articles to be manufactured by
them under the Patent, and also in the general management of the China
Clay department at the Rockingham Works for seven years, to be computed
from the 1st of          , this year--at the yearly salary of
Eighty Pounds.

“The whole expences incurr’d from this time in obtaining the proper
security of the Patent to be borne and paid by Brameld & Co. at their
sole cost and risk.

“The said Wm. Dale to have no extra allowance above his salary as fixed
above, for the first year of his servitude. But for the second, and
each and every of the succeeding years of the term the allowance or
premium of Fifty Pounds, as a compensation for giving up his interest
in the Patent, making in the six years terminating this agreement a
total of _Three Hundred Pounds_. But it is understood and provided that
if the amount of sales of the articles made under this patent does not,
in any of the said six last years of this agreement, amount to _Five
Hundred Pounds_ or upwards, at wholesale or trade prices, _nett money_,
then, in such case, the premium or compensation for the Patent-right
shall be reduced exactly in the same degree or proportion as the sales
may fall short of the amount of _Five Hundred Pounds_ in any or all the
said six years of this agreement.

“For the considerations agreed as above to be given by Brameld & Co.
to the said Wm. Dale, it is fully and clearly understood that he shall
give up to them the whole of his designs, models, and moulds of every
sort connected with the execution of the articles to be produced under
the Patent.

“It is also further agreed between the parties to this contract, that
if it shall turn out that the said Wm. Dale cannot from any cause
whatever substantiate his claim to, and fully secure an available and
efficient Patent so that the advantages to be expected from it shall
fail of being obtained, then, in such case, this Agreement, in every
part, shall be considered to be annulled, and to cease and determine.”

The specification, of which I possess a copy, was enrolled on the 10th
of September, 1838, and is accompanied by illustrative drawings.

[119] I possess two original copper plates engraved with views of these
works in their best days.

[120] Conisborough Castle is in the neighbourhood of these works, being
only four or five miles distant from Swinton. It is one of the finest
Norman keeps in existence.

[121] This truly exquisite plate, which is a perfect _chef-d’œuvre_
of ceramic art-decoration, was designed by Mr. Thomas Brameld, after
the death of King William IV., and submitted to her present Majesty,
Mr. Brameld proposing to substitute it for the plates made for his
late Majesty. The Queen, however, did not give her consent to the
alteration. The cost of the substitution would, it is stated, have been
£1,700.

[122] Services were also made for the King of Hanover, the King of
the Belgians, the Dukes of Sussex, Cambridge, &c., for the Duke of
Sutherland, and for many others of the nobility.

[123] Butterflies were more frequently introduced into the decorations
at these works than at any others, and were beautifully painted from
nature. They were also introduced as “knobs” to muffineers, sauce
tureens, &c., and were for that, and other decorative purposes,
charmingly modelled.

[124] Of Mr. Bromley, and his connection with these and the Whittington
Works, some notice will be found under Whittington.

[125] On the quart jugs the figure appeared on one side, and the verse
on the other.

[126] Fisher’s “History of Masham,” p. 68.


Transcriber’s Notes:

1. Obvious printers’, punctuation and spelling errors have been
corrected silently.

2. Where hyphenation is in doubt, it has been retained as in the original.

3. Some hyphenated and non-hyphenated versions of the same words have been
retained as in the original.

4. Where appropriate, the original spelling has been retained.

5. Superscripts are represented using the caret character, e.g. D^r. or
X^{xx}.

6. Italics are shown as _xxx_.







*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 73875 ***