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.