Liverpool Pottery--Shaw’s Delft Ware--Shaw’s Brow--Zachariah
Barnes--Sadler and Green--Transfer Printing--Wedgwood’s
Printed Ware--Drinkwater’s Works--Spencer’s Pottery--Richard
Chaffers--Reid and Co.’s Works--The Penningtons--Patrick’s Hill
Works--The Flint Pottery--Herculaneum Works--Warrington Pottery
and China--Runcorn--Prescot--St. Helen’s--Seacombe.
LIVERPOOL.
It would, perhaps, scarcely be expected that in such a busy,
bustling, and gigantic place of enterprise and commercial activity
as Liverpool--in the midst of shipping of every description, and
surrounded by the most enormous and busy undertakings of one kind
or other--we should successfully look for the full and perfect
accomplishment of so quiet, so unostentatious, so peaceful, and so
delicate an art as that of the potter. But thus it is; and Liverpool,
which counts its docks by tens, its wharves and stores by hundreds, its
shipping by thousands, and its wealth by millions--which can boast its
half-million inhabitants, its overground and under-ground railways,
and every appliance which skill and enterprise can give or trade and
commerce possibly require--which has undertaken the accomplishment of
some of the most wonderful and gigantic schemes the world ever knew,
and has carried them out in that spirit of commendable and boundless
energy that invariably characterises all its actions--has not been
behindhand with its more inland and more modest neighbours in the
manufacture of delicate porcelain, and of pottery of the most fragile
nature.
It is more than probable that in mediæval times the coarse ware of the
period--the pitchers, porringers, dishes, &c.--was made on the banks of
the Mersey. The first mention of pottery, however, occurs in 1674, when
the following items appear in the list of town dues:--
“For every cart-load of muggs (shipped) into foreign ports,
6_d._ For every cart-load of muggs along the coasts, 4_d._ For
every crate of cupps or pipes into foreign ports, 2_d._ For
every crate of cupps or pipes along the coast, 1_d._”
[Illustration: A WEST PROSPECT OF GREAT CROSBY 1716
Fig. 1.]
_Shaw’s Delft Ware Works._--The earliest potwork of which there
is any reliable information, appears to have been that of Alderman
Shaw, situated at Shaw’s Brow, which afterwards became a complete
nest of pot-works belonging to different individuals. At these works
was most probably made the earliest known dated example of Liverpool
delft ware. This is a large oblong-square plaque, unique in its size
and decoration, which is preserved in the Mayer museum, and is shown
on Fig. 1. It is of fine delft ware, flat in surface, and measures 2
feet 7 inches in length, by 1 foot 8 inches in depth, and is nearly
three quarters of an inch in thickness. The body is composed of the
ordinary buff-coloured clay, smeared, like what are usually called
“Dutch tiles,” on the face with a fine white clay, on which the design
is drawn in blue, and then glazed. The plaque represents the village
of Great Crosby as seen from the river Mersey, and bears the name and
date, “A WEST PROSPECT OF GREAT CROSBY, 1716,” on a ribbon at
the top. In the foreground is the river Mersey, with ships and brigs,
and a sloop and a schooner. The large ship in the centre of the picture
has a boat attached to her stern, and another boat containing two
men is seen rowing towards her, while on the water around them are a
number of gulls and other sea-birds. On the sandy banks of the river
are several figures, consisting of a woman with a basket on her arm,
apparently looking across the river; another woman, also with a basket
on her arm, walking with a long stick; a man also walking with a stick;
a gentleman on horseback; and a man driving an ass before him. Beyond
these figures rise the sandbanks, covered with long grass and heather,
in which is a rabbit warren. The warren keeper’s house is shown, as
are also numbers of rabbits. Beyond this again, in the open space,
are a number of figures: men are seen galloping on horseback; women
are carrying baskets; men are walking about, some with dogs, others
without; and the intermediate space is pretty well studded with cattle,
rabbits, and birds; a milkmaid milking one of the cows. Behind this,
again, the ground is divided by hedgerows into fields, in which are
cattle, people walking to and fro, and a milkmaid carrying a milkpail
on her head. In the background is the town of Great Crosby, including
the school-house and numerous other buildings, with long rows of trees,
palings, gates, and other objects incidental to the scene. To the left
of the spectator is Crosby windmill, still standing; and those who are
best acquainted with the aspect of the place, as seen from the river
at the present day, say that little alteration has taken place in the
village; that this view, taken a hundred and fifty years ago, might
well pass for one just executed.
[Illustration:
Concordia Parua Res Crescunt
THIS SEAT WAS ERECTED BY
JOHN HARRISON AND
HENRY HARRISON OF
LEVERPOOLE 1722
Fig. 2.]
Another plaque, Fig. 2, is of a few years later date, 1722. It is
affixed to the wall over one of the seats of old Crosby Church, and
bears the arms of the Merchant Taylors’ Company, viz., _argent_, a
royal tent between two parliament robes, _gules_, lined _ermine_;
on a chief _azure_, a lion of England; crest, a Holy Lamb in glory,
_proper_; supporters, two camels, _or_; motto, “_Concordia parvæ
res crescunt._” Below is the inscription--“THIS SEAT WAS ERECTED BY
JOHN HARRISON AND HENRY HARRISON, OF LEVERPOOLE, 1722.” This plaque
measures sixteen inches on each side, and is nearly an inch and a half
in thickness. It is of precisely the same kind of ware as the view of
Crosby, and was doubtless the production of the same establishment.
John and Henry Harrison are said to have been natives of Crosby, the
grammar school of which village they erected and endowed, after having
made large fortunes as merchants in London, the trust being held by
the Company of Merchant Taylors. Mr. Mayer mentions that another of
these curious plaques, or slabs, was attached to the front of a house
at Newton-cum-Larten. It was circular, and bore the arms of Johnson
and Anton impaled, with the date 1753. The Mr. Johnson whose armorial
bearings it represents, was afterwards Mayor of Liverpool, and formed
St. James’s Walk. He married Miss Anton, an heiress, and built the
house where the slab was affixed, and which is believed to have been
made and presented to him for that purpose by his brother alderman, Mr.
Shaw, the potter. Another dated example is a mug in the Mayer museum
shown on the accompanying engraving. It is decorated with borders in
blue and black, and bears on its front the initials and date
P
I · R
1728
[Illustration: Fig. 3.]
There were, it appears, two potters, at least, of the name of
Shaw--Samuel Shaw, who died in October, 1775, and Thomas Shaw, who,
I believe, was his son. The works were, as I have stated, at a place
which, from that circumstance, took the name of Shaw’s Brow, a rising
piece of ground on the east side of the rivulet that ran at the bottom
of Dale Street. Here the early pot-works were established, and here
in after years they increased, until the whole “Brow” became one mass
of potter’s banks, with houses for the workmen on both sides of the
street; and so numerous were they that, according to the census taken
in 1790, there were as many as 74 houses, occupied by 374 persons,
the whole of whom were connected with the potteries. At these works,
Richard Chaffers, to whom credit is due for the advances he made in the
manufacture of porcelain, was apprenticed to Shaw, and on the Brow he
established his own manufactory. In 1754 the following very interesting
little notice of these pot-works occurs in “The Liverpool Memorandum
Book:”--
“The chief manufactures carried on here are blue and white
earthenware, which at present almost vie with China. Large
quantities are exported for the colonies abroad.”
[Illustration: Fig. 4.]
Of about this period are some examples in the Mayer museum. Fig.
4 is a magnificent punch-bowl, measuring 17½ inches in diameter,
and of proportionate depth. It is of the ordinary Delft ware; its
decorations painted in blue. At the bottom of the bowl, inside, is
a fine painting of a three-masted ship, in full sail, with streamer
flying at the mast-head, the Union Jack at the jib, and a lion for a
figure-head. This bowl was “made for Captain Metcalfe, who commanded
the _Golden Lion_, which was the first vessel that sailed out of
Liverpool on the whale fishery and Greenland trade, and was presented
to him on his return from his second voyage, by his employers, who
were a company composed of the principal merchants of Liverpool,
in the year 1753.” The size of the bowl, and the excellence of its
decorations and workmanship, show to what perfection Shaw had arrived
in this manufacture. Among other articles besides mugs and punch-bowls,
were char-pots; these, like the rest, are of Delft ware, and usually
decorated with fishes around their outsides. One (Fig. 5) bears the
initials I. B. Figs. 6 and 7 are two mugs, of the same body and glaze
as the plaques already described. The larger one, a quart mug, is
ornamented with flowers, painted in blue, green, and black, and bears
the initials and date T. F. 1757, the initials being those of Thomas
Fazackerley, to whom it was presented by its maker, a workman at Shaw’s
pottery. In 1758, Mr. Fazackerley having married, his friend made the
smaller of the two mugs, a pint one, on which he placed the initials of
the lady, Catherine Fazackerley, and the date C. F. 1758 within an oval
on its front. This mug is decorated with flowers, painted in green,
yellow, and blue. Fig. 8 is one of a pair of cows, 4¾ inches in height;
the upper half of each lifts off. They are excellently modelled, and
painted in flowers, evidently by the same artist as the Fazackerley
mugs, in yellow, blue, and green. Fragments of figures were, I believe,
found in excavating on the site of Shaw’s pottery.
[Illustration: Fig. 5.]
[Illustration: Figs. 6 and 7.]
Another dated example of about this period is a fine Delft ware bowl,
on the outside of which are painted birds, butterflies, and flowers,
and on the inside a man-of-war, painted in blue and colours, with the
inscription, “Success to the _Monmouth_, 1760.”
[Illustration: Fig. 8.]
[Illustration: Figs. 9 to 12.]
A most interesting matter in connection with the Delft ware works at
Shaw’s Brow is the fact of a number of broken vessels being discovered
on its site during excavations for building the Liverpool Free Library
and Museum, in 1857. On that occasion an old slip-vat was found
containing clay, which might probably have been prepared as early as
1680. The clay was of the common coarse kind, the same as the general
body of Delft ware. Of this clay so discovered Mr. Mayer had a vase
thrown and fired. Some of the Delft cups, &c., exhumed are shown on
Figs. 9 to 14. These are all of a pinkish white; one only having a
pattern painted in blue. Another example of Delft ware (Fig. 15), said
to be of Liverpool make, in Mr. Mayer’s collection, is one of a pair of
flower vases, of good design, with heads at the sides, and elaborately
painted in blue. It is marked on the bottom--
W
D A
in blue. Another example (Fig. 16), said to be of Liverpool make, is
the puzzle jug, and bears the very appropriate motto, painted in blue--
“Here, Gentlemen, come try y^r skill,
I’ll hold a wager, if you will,
That you Don’t Drink this liq^{r} all
Without you spill or lett some Fall.”
_Zachariah Barnes._--another maker of Delft ware in Liverpool--was
a native of Warrington, and brother to Dr. Barnes, of Manchester. He
was born in 1743, and having learned the “art, mystery, and occupation”
of throwing, &c., commenced business as a potter in the old Haymarket,
at the left-hand side in going to Byrom Street. He is said to have
first made China, but afterwards turned his attention to Delft ware,
and soon became proficient in the art. The principal varieties of goods
made by him were jars and pots for druggists; large dishes, octagonal
plates and dishes for dinner services; “Dutch tiles;” labels for
liquors; potted-fish pots, &c., &c. Of the druggist’s jars, of which
he made considerable quantities, it is said that the labelling in his
time underwent no less than three changes from alterations in the
pharmacopæia.
[Illustration: Fig. 13.]
[Illustration: Fig. 14.]
[Illustration: Fig. 15.]
[Illustration: Fig. 16.]
The large round dishes made by Barnes were chiefly sent into Wales,
where the simple habits of their forefathers remained unchanged among
the people long after their alteration in England; and the master of
the house and his guest dipped their spoons into the mess and helped
themselves from the dish placed in the middle of the table. Quantities
of this ware were sent to the great border fairs, held at Chester,
whither the inhabitants of the more remote and inaccessible parts of
the mountain districts of Wales assembled to buy their stores for the
year. The quality of this ware was very coarse, without flint, with the
usual Delft-like thick tin glaze. But Barnes’s principal _forte_
lay in the manufacture of square tiles, then much in vogue. When these
tiles were required to be printed, that part of the work was done by
Messrs. Sadler and Green. So large was the sale of this article, that
Mr. Barnes has been heard to say he made a profit of £300 per annum by
his tiles alone, he having a monopoly of the trade. He also made large
quantities of pots for potting char, which were sent to the lakes. The
ovens were fired with turf brought from the bogs at Kirkley, and on the
night of firing, the men were always allowed potatoes to roast at the
kiln fires, and a certain quantity of ale to drink.
[Illustration: WORMWOOD
Fig. 17.]
The labels for different kinds of liquors, to which I have just alluded
as being largely made by Barnes, were of various sizes, but generally
of one uniform shape; the one engraved (Fig. 17) being five a and half
inches long. Examples in the Mayer Museum are respectively lettered
for Rum, Cyder, Tent, Brandy, Lisbon, Peppermint, Wormwood, Aniseed,
Geneva, Claret, Spruce, Perry, Orange, Burgundy, Port, Raisin, and
other liquors. They are of the usual common clay in body, faced with
fine white slip and glazed.
[Illustration: Fig. 18.]
The tiles made by Zachariah Barnes were usually five inches square,
and about a quarter of an inch in thickness, and were used for lining
fire-places, forming chimney-pieces, and other domestic purposes.
Originally, the tiles were painted in the ordinary Delft style,
with patterns of various kinds--flowers, landscapes, ships, groups,
&c.--usually in blue, but sometimes in colours. A _plaque_ of
Liverpool Delft, painted in two or three colours (in the possession of
Mr. Benson Rathbone), is shown on Fig. 18; it represents a bird in a
cage, the perspective of which is more curious than accurate.
_Sadler and Green._--The tiles to which I have alluded bring me to
a very interesting part of the subject of this chapter. I mean the
introduction of _printing_ on earthenware, an invention which has
been attributed to, and claimed by, several places, and which will
yet require further research to entirely determine. At Worcester it
is believed the invention was applied in the year 1756, and it is an
undoubted fact that the art was practised there in the following year,
a dated example of the year 1757 being, happily, in existence.[2] At
Caughley transfer-printing was, as I have already shown, practised at
about the same period. At Battersea, printing on enamels was, it would
seem, carried on at about the same date, or probably somewhat earlier.
At Liverpool it is certain that the art was known at an earlier period
than can with safety be ascribed to Worcester. A fine and exquisitely
sharp specimen of transfer-printing on enamel, dated 1756, is in
Mr. Mayer’s possession. It is curious that these two earliest dated
exemplars of these two candidates for the honour of the invention of
printing on enamels and earthenware, Liverpool and Worcester, should be
portraits of the same individual--Frederick the Great of Prussia. But
so it is. The Worcester example is a mug, bearing the royal portrait
with trophies, &c., and the date 1757; the Liverpool one an oval enamel
(and a much finer work of art), with the name, “J. SADDLER, Liverp^l.
Enam^l.”
The art is said to have been invented by this John Sadler, of
Liverpool, in 1752. In Moss’s “Liverpool Guide,” published in 1790,
it is stated:--“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 latter of whom still continues
the business in Harrington Street. It appeared unaccountable how uneven
surfaces could receive impressions from copper-plates. It could not,
however, long remain undiscovered that the impression from the plate is
first taken upon paper, and thence communicated to the ware after it
is glazed. The manner in which this continues to be done here remains
still unrivalled in perfection.”
John Sadler, the inventor of this important art, was the son of Adam
Sadler, a favourite soldier of the great Duke of Marlborough, and was
out with that general in the war in the Low Countries. While there, he
lodged in the house of a printer, and thus obtained an insight into the
art of printing. On returning to England, on the accession of George
I., he left the army in disgust and retired to Ulverstone, where he
married a Miss Bibby, who numbered among her acquaintance the daughters
of the Earl of Sefton. Through the influence of these ladies he removed
to Melling, and afterwards leased a house at Aintree. In this lease
he is styled “Adam Sadler, of Melling, gentleman.” The taste he had
acquired in the Low Countries abiding with him, he shortly afterwards,
however, removed to the New Market, Liverpool, where he printed a great
number of books--among which, being himself an excellent musician,
one called “The Muses’ Delight” was with him an especial favourite.
His son, John Sadler, having learned the art of engraving, on the
termination of his apprenticeship bought a house from his father,
in Harrington Street, for the nominal sum of five shillings, and in
that house, in 1748, commenced business on his own account. Here he
married a Miss Elizabeth Parker, daughter of Mr. Parker, watchmaker,
of Seel Street, and soon afterwards became engaged in litigation.
Having got together a good business, his fellow townsmen became jealous
of his success, and the corporation attempted to remove him as not
being a freeman of Liverpool, and therefore having no right to keep
a shop within its boundaries. Disregarding the order of removal, the
corporation commenced an action against him, which he successfully
defended, and showed that the authorities possessed no power of
ejection. This decision was one of great importance to the trading
community, and opened the door to numberless people who commenced
business in the town.
Mr. John Sadler was, according to Mr. Mayer, the first person who
applied the art of printing to the ornamentation of pottery, and the
story of his discovery is thus told:--Sadler had been in the habit
of giving waste and spoiled impressions from his engraved plates to
little children, and these they frequently stuck upon pieces of broken
pot from the pot-works at Shaw’s Brow, for their own amusement, and
for building dolls’ houses. This circumstance gave him the idea of
ornamenting pottery with printed pictures, and, keeping the idea
secret, he experimentalised until he had nearly succeeded, when he
mentioned the circumstance to Guy Green, who had then recently
succeeded Mr. Adam Sadler in his business. Guy Green was a poor boy,
but spent what halfpence he could get in buying ballads at the shop of
Adam Sadler. Sadler liking the lad, who was intelligent beyond his age
or his companions, took him into his service and encouraged him in all
that was honourable. John Sadler having, as I have said, mentioned his
discovery to Guy Green, the two “laid their heads together,” conducted
joint experiments, and having ultimately succeeded, at length entered
into partnership. This done, they determined to apply to the king for a
patent; which, however, under the advice of friends, was not done.
The art was first of all turned to good account in the decoration of
tiles--“Dutch tiles,” as they are usually called--and the following
highly interesting documents relating to them, which are in the
possession of Mr. Mayer, and to whom the antiquarian world is indebted
for first making them public, will be read with interest:--
“I, John Sadler, of Liverpoole, in the county of Lancaster,
printer, and Guy Green, of Liverpoole, aforesaid, printer,
severally maketh oath that on Tuesday, the 27th day of July
instant, they, these deponents, without the aid or assistance
of any other person or persons, did within the space of six
hours, to wit, between the hours of nine in the morning and
three in the afternoon of the same day, print upwards of twelve
hundred Earthenware tiles of different patterns, at Liverpoole
aforesaid, and which, as these deponents have heard and believe,
were more in number and better and neater than one hundred
skilful pot-painters could have painted in the like space of
time, in the common and usual way of painting with a pencil;
and these deponents say that they have been upwards of seven
years in finding out the method of printing tiles, and in making
tryals and experiments for that purpose, which they have now
through great pains and expence brought to perfection.
“JOHN SADLER.,
“GUY GREEN.
“Taken and sworn at Liverpoole, in the county of Lancaster, the
second day of August, one thousand seven hundred and fifty-six,
before William Statham, a Master Extraordinary in Chancery.”
“We, Alderman Thomas Shaw and Samuel Gilbody, both of
Liverpoole, in the county of Lancaster, clay potters, whose
names are hereunto subscribed, do hereby humbly certifye that
we are well assured that John Sadler and Guy Green did, at
Liverpoole aforesaid, on Tuesday, the 27th day of July last
past, within the space of six hours, print upwards of 1,200
earthenware tiles of different colours and patterns, which is
upon a moderate computation more than 100 good workmen could
have done of the same patterns in the same space of time by the
usual painting with the pencil. That we have since burnt the
above tiles, and that they are considerably neater than any we
have seen pencilled, and may be sold at little more than half
the price. We are also assured the said John Sadler and Guy
Green have been several years in bringing the art of printing on
earthenware to perfection, and we never heard it was done by any
other person or persons but themselves. We are also assured that
as the Dutch (who import large quantities of tiles into England,
Ireland, &c.) may by this improvement be considerably undersold,
it cannot fail to be of great advantage to the nation, and to
the town of Liverpoole in particular, where the earthenware
manufacture is more extensively carried on than in any other
town in the kingdom; and for which reasons we hope and do not
doubt the above persons will be indulged in their request for a
patent, to secure to them the profits that may arise from the
above useful and advantageous improvement.
“THOMAS SHAW,
“SAMUEL GILBODY.”
“Liverpoole, August 13th, 1756.
“SIR,
“John Sadler, the bearer, and Guy Green, both of this town, have
invented a method of printing potters’ earthenware tyles for
chimneys with surprising expedition. We have seen several of
their printed tyles, and are of opinion that they are superior
to any done by the pencil, and that this invention will be
highly advantageous to the kingdom in generall, and to the town
of Liverpoole in particular.
“In consequence of which, and for the encouragement of so useful
and ingenious an improvement, we desire the favour of your
interest in procuring for them his Majesty’s letters patent.
“ELLIS CUNCLIFFE,
“SPENCER STEERS,
“CHARLES GOORE.
“Addressed to Charles Pole, Esq., in London.”
In the Mayer museum are found, among other invaluable treasures, some
enamels on copper bearing impressions from copper-plates transferred
to them, and having the name of “_J. Sadler, Liverp^l, Enam^l_,”
and other examples of enamels and of earthenware with the names of
“_Sadler, Sculp._,” or of “_Green_.” Messrs. Sadler and Green appear
to have done a very profitable and excellent business in the printing
on pottery. The process was soon found to be as applicable to services
and other descriptions of goods as to tiles; and these two enterprising
men produced many fine examples of their art, some of which, bearing
their names as engravers or enamellers, are still in existence. Josiah
Wedgwood, always alive to everything which could tend to improve or
render more commercial the productions of his manufactory, although at
first opposed to the introduction of this invention, as being, in his
opinion, an unsatisfactory and unprofitable substitute for painting,
eventually determined to adopt the new style of ornamentation, and
arranged with the inventors to decorate such of his Queen’s ware as it
would be applicable to, by their process. The work was a troublesome
one, and in the then state of the roads--for it must be remembered that
this was before the time even of canals in the district, much less of
railroads--the communication between Burslem and Liverpool was one
of great difficulty. Wedgwood, however, overcame it, and having made
the plain body at his works in Staffordshire, packed it in waggons
and carts, and even in the panniers of pack-horses, and sent it to
Liverpool, where it was printed by Sadler and Green, and returned to
him by the same kind of conveyance. The works of Sadler and Green were
in Harrington Street, at the back of Lord Street, Liverpool, and here
they not only carried on their engraving and transfer-printing for
other potters, but made their own wares, and carried on an extensive
business. It was here that they printed ware for Josiah Wedgwood. Of
this connection of Wedgwood with the Liverpool works, Mr. Mayer thus
writes:--
“About this time Josiah Wedgwood was making a complete
revolution in the art of pottery; and four years after Messrs.
Sadler and Green’s invention was announced to the world,
Wedgwood brought out his celebrated Queen’s ware. Dr. Gagerly
seizing upon the new style of ornamentation invented in
Liverpool, he immediately made arrangements with the proprietors
for decorating his hitherto cream-coloured Queen’s ware by their
process; and accordingly I find him making the plain body at
Burslem, and sending it in that state to Liverpool by waggon,
where it was printed, and again returned to him by the same
conveyance, except in the case of those orders that must go by
sea, fit for the market. This he continued to do until near the
time of his death, when we find by invoices in my possession
that ware was sent to Liverpool and printed by Mr. Guy Green
as late as 1794. A little before this time, his manufactory
at Etruria having been made complete in all other branches of
the art, and the manufacture at Liverpool being much decayed,
he engaged many of the hands formerly employed there: amongst
the indentures is the name of John Pennington, son of James
Pennington, manufacturer of china, dated 1784, to be taught the
art of engraving in aquatint, and thus he was enabled to execute
the printing on his own premises in Staffordshire, thereby
saving the expense of transport to and fro. In proof that Mr.
Wedgwood did this, I may quote a few passages from letters to
his partner, Mr. Bentley, in London. He says:--
“‘1776.--We wrote to Mr. Green in consequence of your letter,
acquainting that a foreign gentleman wanted a series of ware
printed with different landskips, but that he would not confirm
the order without knowing how many different designs of
landskips we could put upon them.’
“Mr. Green’s answer is:--
“‘The patterns for landskips are for every dish a different
landskip view, &c.; about 30 different designs for table, soup,
and dessert plates, and a great variety for various purposes of
tureens, sauce boats, &c.’
“‘1768.--The cards (address) I intend to have engraved in
Liverpool, &c.’
“‘1769.--One crate of printed tea-ware.’
“On the other hand I find letters from Mr. Green to Mr.
Wedgwood:--
“‘1776.--Your Mr. Haywood desires the invoice of a box of
pattern tiles sent some time ago. As I did not intend to make
any charge for them, I have no account of the contents. The
prices I sell them for to the shops are as follows:--For black
printed tile, 5_s._ per dozen; green vase tile, 4_s._ ditto;
green ground, 4_s._ ditto; half tiles for borders, 2_s._ 9_d._
ditto; rose or spotted tiles, 3_s._ 6_d._ ditto, &c.’
“‘1783.--I have put the tile plate to be engraved as soon as
I received your order for doing it; but by the neglect of the
engraver it is not yet finished, but expect it will be completed
tomorrow.’
“‘1783.--Our enamel kiln being down prevented us sending the
goods forward as usual.’
“‘1783.--The plate with cypher was done here. I think it would
be best to print the cypher in black, as I am much afraid the
brown purple that the pattern was done in would not stand an up
and down heat, as it would change in being long in heating.’
“‘1783.--For printing a table and tea-service of 250 pieces (D.
G.) for David Garrick, £8 6_s._ 1½_d._
“‘1783.--Twenty-five dozen half-tiles printing and colouring, £1
5_s._’
“The last invoice I find from Mr. Green is dated
“‘1793.--I am sorry I cannot make out the invoice you request of
goods forwarded you, April 4, for want of having received your
charge of them to me. Only directions for printing these came
enclosed in the package.’
“‘1798.--To printing two fruit baskets, 1_s._’
“This last item, of course, does not imply that Mr. Wedgwood
had the chief of his work done here, but no doubt the articles
were required to match some service previously sold, of which
Mr. Green had possession of the copper plates. In the following
year Mr. Green retired from business to enjoy the fruits of his
long and successful labours. The following memorandum, in the
handwriting of Mr. Sadler (from Mr. Sadler’s receipt-book in my
possession, date 1776), will give an idea of the extent of their
business:--
“J. Sadler and G. Green would be willing to take a young man
about 18 into partnership for a third of their concern, in the
printing and enamelling china, earthenware, tile, &c., business,
on the following conditions:--1st, That he advances his £200 for
the third part of the engravings and other materials necessary
for the business (N.B.--The engravings alone have cost above
£800). 2nd. That he should give his labour and attendance for
twelve months without any share of the profits, in consideration
of being instructed completely in the business. 3rd. After the
expiration of twelve months, the stock in ware should be valued
as low as is common in such cases, and he should immediately
enter as a partner into the profits of the whole concern
throughout, either paying the value for his third share of such
stock, or paying interest for it till it is cleared off. The
value of the stock is uncertain, being sometimes £200 more than
other time; but reckon it at the least may be about £600. The
sole reason of taking a partner is, J. Sadler not choosing to
confine himself to business as much as heretofore.”
Specimens of these early printed goods, bearing Wedgwood’s mark, are
rare. The curious teapot (Fig. 19) will serve as an example. It bears
on one side a well-engraved and sharply printed representation of the
quaint subject of the mill to grind old people young again--the kind
of curious machine which one recollects in our boyish days were taken
about from fair to fair by strolling mountebanks--and on the other an
oval border of foliage, containing the ballad belonging to the subject,
called “The Miller’s Maid grinding Old Men Young again.” It begins--
“Come, old, decrepid, lame, or blind,
Into my mill to take a grind.”
[Illustration: Fig. 19.]
The teapot is marked WEDGWOOD. In the possession of Mr. Beard, of
Manchester, is a fine dinner service of the printed “Queen’s ware,”
and other pieces of interest. In the Museum of Practical Geology is an
example of this printing, the design on one side of which is a group at
tea--a lady pouring out tea for a gentleman, and on the opposite side
the verse:--
“Kindly take this gift of mine,
The gift and giver I hope is thine;
And tho’ the value is but small,
A loving Heart is worth it all.”
Examples of Liverpool made pottery, printed by Sadler and Green, are
also of uncommon occurrence. In the Mayer Museum the best, and indeed
only series worthy the name in existence, is to be found, and to these
wares I direct the attention of all who are interested in the subject.
Of TILES printed by John Sadler and Guy Green, many examples
are in existence--a large number, some bearing their names, being in
Mr. Mayer’s Museum. Of these I also possess examples, and others again
are found in other collections. They are remarkable for the sharpness
of the engraving, the wonderful clearness and beauty of the transfers
(the ink used being evidently far superior to that usually used at the
present day), and excellence of the glazes. They are printed either in
black, green, red, or purple, and the devices are extremely varied.
It is interesting to add, that the same copper-plates which were used
for decorating these Delft ware tiles were used also for ornamenting
mugs, jugs, &c., of finer earthenware. Adam Sadler died on the 7th of
October, 1788, aged eighty-three, and his son, John Sadler, the 10th of
December, 1789, aged sixty-nine, and they were buried at Sefton.
* * * * *
_Drinkwater._--Another Delft ware pottery was situated at the bottom
of Duke Street, in a small street which, from that establishment, took
the name which it still retains, of “Pot-House Lane.” These works were
conducted by Mr. George Drinkwater (who was born in the neighbourhood
of Preston), brother to Mr. James Drinkwater, who, in the navy,
acquired considerable riches and honour, and was ancestor of Sir John
Drinkwater. The works were not, however, of very long continuance,
and except they can be authenticated by evidence of descent, &c., the
productions cannot be distinguished from those of the other potteries
of the time. In the Mayer museum are some authenticated specimens of
Drinkwater’s make, among which a large plate, twenty-three inches in
diameter, is the most interesting.
* * * * *
_Spencer._--Another potwork of a similar kind was established by a
Mr. Thomas Spencer, at the bottom of Richmond Row. These works were,
however, carried on only for a few years, when Mr. Spencer removed to
the “Moss Pottery,” near Prescot, where he continued to make coarse red
ware for common use.
[Illustration: Fig. 20.]
* * * * *
_Chaffers._--One of the most noted men connected with the ceramic art
in Liverpool was Richard Chaffers, who made great advances in that art,
and to whom his native town owed the introduction of the manufacture
of china. He was the son of a shipwright of considerable eminence and
means; was born in Mersey Street, Liverpool, in the year 1731, one year
only after the birth of Josiah Wedgwood; and was apprenticed to Mr.
Alderman Shaw, the Delft ware potter, of whom I have already spoken.
About 1752 he commenced business on his own account, for which purpose
he took, or erected, some small works on the north side, and nearly at
the bottom of Shaw’s Brow, where he began making the ordinary kind of
Delft ware of the period, the same as he had learned to manufacture
during his apprenticeship. These productions he, as well as the other
makers in Liverpool, in great measure exported to what were then our
American colonies, now the United States of America. In the manufacture
of this ordinary blue and white ware--the staple of the trade as it
then existed--Chaffers continued for some years actively employed. From
the Delft ware Chaffers passed on to the manufacture of fine white
earthenware, and produced an excellent body, and an almost faultless
glaze. The rapid strides which Wedgwood was making in the art served
as a strong incentive to Richard Chaffers, and he determined to go on
improving until his productions should equal those of his great rival.
In this, of course, he did not succeed, but he _did_ succeed in making
the pottery of Liverpool better than that of most localities. A dated,
though not very early, example of Chaffers’s make is fortunately in the
Mayer museum and is here engraved (Fig. 20). It is, Mr. Mayer says, “a
pepper-box of the hour-glass shape,” painted in blue on a white ground,
with a chequered border at top and bottom, and the name,
[Illustration: Richard Chaffers 1769
Fig. 21.]
round the waist. “So well known was the ware of Mr. Chaffers in the
American colonies,” continues Mr. Mayer, “that it was a common saying
of a person that was angry, that ‘He’s as hot as Dick’s pepper-box,’
alluding to those made by Mr. Chaffers, who exported a very large
portion of his manufacture to the then English colonies.” But here I
think he is decidedly in error. The example is, no doubt, a pounce-box
or pounce-pot of the ordinary and not at all uncommon form, and was
made and painted with his name and date so prominently, for use on his
own desk. This pounce-box remained in the family of its maker until it
was presented to Mr. Mayer by the grandson of Richard Chaffers, Mr.
John Rosson.
In 1754 or 1755 William Cookworthy, of Plymouth, as I have already
shown in my account of those works, discovered the “moor stone,
or growan stone, and growan clay”--two important materials in the
manufacture of china--in Cornwall, and in 1768 he took out his patent
for the manufacture of porcelain from those materials. Chaffers having
determined upon prosecuting researches into the nature of china ware,
and of endeavouring to produce it at Liverpool, entered into a series
of experiments, but finding that the “soap-stone” was essential for
his purpose, and that the district where it was found was held by
lease for its production, so as to keep the monopoly of its use to
Cookworthy and those whom he might supply with it, he determined to try
and seek the stone in a fresh locality. About this time a Mr. Podmore,
who had for some years been employed by Josiah Wedgwood, and who was
a good practical potter, and a man of sound judgment, left Wedgwood’s
employment, intending to emigrate to America, and establish himself as
a potter in that country. To this end he went to Liverpool, intending
thence to embark for the colony. On reaching Liverpool, he called
upon Mr. Chaffers, who was then the leading man in the trade at that
place, and the result of their meeting was, that Mr. Chaffers finding
Podmore to be a man of “so much intelligence and practical knowledge,
induced him, by a most liberal offer, to forego his American project,
and enter into his service.” This Podmore entirely confirmed the views
of his new master as to the importance of getting a supply of the
Cornish materials, and the two practical men together soon effected
improvements in the then manufacture of earthenware, and laid their
plans for future operations. Of the manner in which Chaffers set about
his search, and the successful results at which he arrived, Mr. Mayer
gives the following graphic account:--
“Mr. Chaffers’s object now was to come into the field with
Staffordshire _pari materiâ_, if I may be allowed that play
upon words. He therefore determined to set out for Cornwall
upon the forlorn hope of discovering a vein of soap-rock. The
operations would be most expensive and laborious, somewhat akin
to the process of boring for coal in our country. But where
was he to begin? On whose estate, was it to be found? What
description of men was he to employ? He was, however, in the
prime of manhood, of untiring energy, of fine address, and,
what was then necessary, an excellent horseman. He obtained
letters of introduction from the Earl of Derby, Lord Strange,
his eldest son, and other men of consequence in our county, to
some of the leading landowners in Cornwall, then attending their
duties in Parliament. In those days there were no mail-coaches
and railways to aid the weary traveller. A stout horse was the
only means of conveyance for a man of the higher class. Imagine
Mr. Chaffers, having taken leave of his wife, and his numerous
family and friends, mounted with a pair of saddle-bags under
him, containing a supply of linen, &c., a thousand guineas,--the
first instalment to pay the wages of the miners,--a brace of
pistols in his holsters, pursuing his journey to London. He
had made considerable progress in practical geology, though
the science was then but little cultivated. Having, during his
stay in London, obtained permission to bore for soap-rock from
more than one of the principal proprietors of mountain land he
judged most likely to yield it, he proceeded to Cornwall and
commenced operations. His first efforts were not successful.
He moved to another quarter with no better result; in a word,
he expended large sums of money without finding the wished-for
vein. Somewhat disheartened but not subdued, he determined to
return home, where his presence was much wanted. He did not,
however, intend to abandon, but only suspend, his operations.
He accordingly assembled all the miners in his employ, and
announced to them, to their great regret, his determination.
Previously to his departure, he scrupulously paid every man his
wages. One of them was missing: he was told the man in question
was gone up the mountain to try another place. He then left
that man’s wages in the hands of the ‘captain of the gang,’
and, mounting his horse with a heavy heart, took leave of the
men, to whom his animated and conciliatory manners had greatly
endeared him. The road to the nearest town, the name of which
I never could learn, was precipitous and rugged. A traveller
on horseback made so little progress, that a mountaineer on
foot, by taking a short cut over the rocky crags, could easily
come within earshot of him. After journeying for some time, he
thought he heard a faint cry in the distance; he dismounted,
and, ascending a hill, plainly saw the signal of discovery
flying from a lofty peak. It appeared that the man who had
separated from his fellow-miners, and pursued his researches
alone, had discovered a vein, and finding Mr. Chaffers had
left them, he hoisted the preconcerted signal, and pursued him
across the mountain with the pleasing intelligence, shouting at
times to attract the somewhat dispirited traveller’s attention.
Mr. Chaffers immediately returned, took the whole gang into
permanent employment, and obtained an ample supply of the
long-sought-for clay, which was conveyed to the nearest port,
and shipped thence to Liverpool. On its arrival the vessel
entered with its precious freight into the Old Dock, dressed
in colours, amidst the cheers of the assembled spectators.
During his absence, Mr. Chaffers had regularly corresponded
with his wife, but on his arrival in London on his return home,
the continued fatigue he had endured, together with anxiety of
mind, brought on a dangerous fever, under which he laboured for
several weeks. He was unknown at the inn where he stayed; but
the landlord, seeing that his guest--a very handsome man--had
the dress and demeanour of a gentleman, called in an eminent
physician, who sedulously and skilfully attended his patient.
The doctor examined his saddle-bags, and having ascertained
his name and address from the letters and papers therein,
communicated to his anxious wife all the particulars of his
illness, and concluded with the consoling intelligence that ‘he
could that day pronounce him out of danger.’ As soon as he could
travel, he delighted his family and friends with his presence in
Liverpool. No sooner had Mr. Chaffers arrived at home, than he
set to work with his new materials, and soon produced articles
that gained him much reputation, as was frankly acknowledged by
the great Wedgwood, to whom Mr. Chaffers presented a tea-set
of his china ware, and who, on looking at one of the cups,
admiring the body and examining the colours used in decoration,
exclaimed, ‘This puts an end to the battle! Mr. Chaffers beats
us all in his colours and with his knowledge; he can make
colours for two guineas which I cannot produce so good for
five!’”
William Cookworthy discovered the Cornish stone about the year 1754
or 1755, and Richard Chaffers must soon afterwards have prosecuted
his researches in the same direction, for in December, 1756, we find
him making his “porcelain or china ware” in considerable quantities,
both for home sale and for exportation. This is shown by the evidence
of _Williamson’s Liverpool Advertiser and Mercantile Register_
for the 10th of December, 1756, in which the following advertisement,
discovered by Mr. Mayer, occurs:--
“Chaffers and Co., China Manufactory.--The porcelain or china
ware made by Messrs. Richard Chaffers & Co., is sold nowhere in
the town, but at the manufactory on Shaw’s Brow. Considerable
abatement for exportation, and to all wholesale dealers.
N.B.--All the ware is proved with boiling water before it is
exposed for sale.”
Liverpool may therefore boast of producing its china in 1756, if not
in 1755, which is an early date in the annals of English porcelain
manufacture. Not only, however, in this year did Richard Chaffers and
Co. make china-ware, but another firm, that of William Reid and Co.,
held at the same time, as I shall presently show, the “Liverpool China
Manufactory,” where they produced blue and white ware in considerable
quantities.
[Illustration: Fig. 22.]
Of the “china ware” made by Richard Chaffers some excellent examples
are in the Mayer collection. They are unmarked, but remained in the
possession of the family until they passed from Chaffers’s descendant
to Mr. Mayer. One of these is the cup (Fig. 22.) It is, of course,
of “hard paste,” and is of remarkably compact and excellent texture.
It is painted, after the Indian style, with figure and landscape of
good and rich colours, and is faultless in manipulation and in its
glaze. Examples of Chaffers’s china are of exceeding rarity, but in
the Mayer collection is a fine jug, bearing in front a portrait of
Frederick the Great, with trophies of war on either side. This jug has
the peculiarity of being painted inside as well as out. At the bottom,
inside, is the Prussian Eagle in a border; in the spout is a trophy,
and all around the inside of the vessel roses and other flowers are
spangled about.
Chaffers carried on his works for some years, making both earthenware
and china--the former largely, the latter but to a limited extent--but
was suddenly cut off in the midst of his usefulness, and at an
early age. It appears that Podmore, his foreman, being seized with
a malignant fever, and beyond hope of recovery, sent a message to
Chaffers, expressing “his wish to see his dear master once more before
their final separation.” With this request Mr. Chaffers, who was a man
of full and sanguine habit, most kindly but unfortunately complied,
and at once visited the sufferer. The consequence was he took the
fever, and soon afterwards died, and master and servant were interred
near to each other in St. Nicholas’s churchyard. “This unfortunate
event, by taking away both master and principal assistant, put an
end to the prosecution of the trade, and was the commencement of the
breaking up of that branch of the art which Mr. Chaffers had mainly
brought to such a high state of perfection. A great number of the
potters ultimately emigrated to America, whilst many of the best hands
transferred themselves to the service of Mr. Wedgwood, or were hired by
other Staffordshire manufacturers.”
* * * * *
_Reid & Co._--About the year 1753 or 1754, I believe, works were
established in Liverpool by a Mr. William Reid, who afterwards took
a partner and conducted his business under the style of Reid & Co.
These works, in 1756, were called “the Liverpool China Manufactory.”
In that year Messrs. Reid & Co. opened a warehouse in Castle Street,
as is shown by the following announcement in Williamson’s _Liverpool
Advertiser_ of November 19, 1756:--
“Liverpool China Manufactory.--Messrs. Reid & Co., proprietors
of the China Manufactory, have opened their warehouse in Castle
Street, and sell all kinds of blue and white china ware, not
inferior to any make in England, both wholesale and retail.
Samples sent to any gentlemen or ladies in the country who will
pay carriage. Good allowance for shopkeepers and exporters.”
In 1758, Messrs. Reid & Co. removed their warehouse to the top of
Castle Hey, where, having largely increased their business, they
occupied much more extensive premises. In the same year they were found
advertising for apprentices for the painters in the china manufactory.
In 1760, again, the works appear to have considerably increased, and
“several apprentices for the china work” were advertised for, as well
as “a sober, careful man, who understands sorting and packing of ware
and merchants’ accounts.” Messrs. Reid & Co. continued in business
many years, and produced, besides their “china ware,” a considerable
quantity of the ordinary blue and white earthenware, most of which was
exported.
* * * * *
_Pennington._--Another of the principal manufacturers of Liverpool
pottery was Seth Pennington, of whose works, as well as those of
his two brothers, a few words may well be here introduced. Of the
Penningtons, three brothers were potters, and each had separate works.
Their names were James, John, and Seth, and they were sons of John
Pennington, a maltster, by his wife, formerly a Mrs. Johnson, of
Everton. James Pennington, the eldest, had his works on Copperas Hill,
but produced only the commoner varieties of ware, and being dissipated,
and having done his youngest brother a serious injury by divulging
a secret in the mixing of colour, he removed to Worcester, where he
obtained employment, and where, at a later period, one of his sons
painted a fine dinner service for the Duke of York.
[Illustration: Fig. 23.--Part of Pennington’s Works.]
John Pennington, the second son, had his pot-works at Upper Islington,
which he carried on for some time. Ultimately he sold the concern to a
Mr. Wolf, “who being a scientific man, made great improvements in the
ware, but ultimately finding it did not answer, as the Staffordshire
potters were making such rapid strides towards monopolising the whole
trade, he gave up the manufacture, and the works were closed, never to
be resumed.”
[Illustration: Figs. 24 and 25.]
Seth Pennington, the youngest of the three brothers, it appears, had
his pot-works in that nest of potters, Shaw’s Brow. His factories were
very large, extending as far as Clayton Street, and were conducted
with much spirit. At these works, Seth Pennington, besides the
ordinary classes of earthenware then in use, and which he produced
in large quantities both for home consumption and for exportation,
made a remarkably fine kind of ware that successfully competed, for
vases and beakers, with the oriental, both in its colour, its glaze,
and its decoration. He also produced many remarkably large and fine
punch-bowls both in Delft ware, in fine earthenware, and, latterly, in
china. The largest size bowl I have met with was made by Pennington,
at these works, and is here shown. This fine bowl, which is 20½ inches
in diameter and 9 inches in height, is painted in blue on the usual
white ground. Outside it is decorated with a landscape with two bridges
in the foreground, on which men are standing to fish, trees, houses,
church, &c., &c. Inside the upper part of the bowl is decorated with
a series of six trophies, composed of flags, swords, cannons, drums,
trumpets, spears, &c., divided from each other by different kinds
of shot, viz., chain, crescent, arrow or triangle shell with fusee
burning, cross or bar, and grape. In the centre, and filling up the
inside of the bowl, with the exception of the border, is a group of
ships and boats on the water, with the inscription beneath it--
Success to the Africa Trade,
George Dickinson.
[Illustration: Figs. 26 to 30.]
This bowl was painted probably about the year 1760–70 by John Robinson,
who was apprenticed, and afterwards employed, at Pennington’s works.
Robinson subsequently removed into Staffordshire, and ultimately
presented the bowl to the Potteries Mechanics’ Institution at Hanley,
where it is now carefully preserved along with his note--“John
Robinson, a pot painter, served his time at Pennington’s, in Shaw’s
Brow, and there painted this punch-bowl.” Several other bowls of
Pennington’s make are in the Mayer collection. Of these, two of the
finest are dated. One bears on its outside a design of trees, birds,
and butterflies, painted in yellow and green, and on its inside a
ship in full sail, with the words, “Success to the Monmouth, 1760.”
The other has on the outside a soldier and a sailor, one of whom is
seated on the stock of an anchor, and holding in one hand a sword,
and in the other a punch-bowl; and the other sitting, Bacchus-like,
astride a barrel. Between them is a chest, bearing the words “Spanish
gold;” while inside the bowl is a painting of a ship in full sail, with
the words, “1779. Success to the Isabella.” Of the fine earthenware
vases and beakers illustrations are given on Figs. 26 to 30. They
form part of a set of chimney ornaments, purchased by Mr. Mayer from
the only and aged daughter of Seth Pennington, by whom they had been
treasured as examples of her father’s manufacture. In the making of
blue colour, Pennington succeeded in beating all his competitors, and
it is said that a Staffordshire manufacturer offered him a thousand
guineas for his recipe. This he refused, “as it was a source of great
profit to him, being kept so secret that none ever mixed the colours
but himself.” His brother James, however, whom I have spoken of as
being a dissipated man, persuaded him to tell him his secret, and soon
afterwards, in one of his drunken bouts, told it to a pot-companion,
who at once sold it to the Staffordshire house, and thus did Pennington
a grievous injury. Seth Pennington took into partnership a Mr. Port,
but the connection was not of long duration. Having turned his
attention to the manufacture of china, he produced some excellent
services and other pieces in that material. In china[3] he also
produced punch-bowls, as well as services. Pennington is said to have
used the following marks--
[Illustration: Figs. 31 and 32.]
* * * * *
_Christian._--Philip Christian was another of the famous Liverpool
potters, and had his works also on Shaw’s Brow, but higher up than
those of Pennington. They were on the site of what is now known as
Islington Terrace. His house was at the corner of Christian Street,
which was called after his name. At these works he produced octagonal
and other shaped plates of tortoiseshell ware, as well as bowls
and other pieces of the same material. He also made the ordinary
earthenware of the time. Here, later on, he manufactured china[4] to a
considerable extent, and, after the death of Richard Chaffers, is said
to have become the leading potter in the place. Mr. Christian is said
to have produced in china ware some remarkably good dinner, tea, and
coffee services, as well as a number of vases and other ornaments. It
is, however, impossible at present to authenticate his productions, so
similar are they to those of other makers of the same time and place.
* * * * *
_Patrick’s Hill Pot-house._--In 1760 the firm of Thomas Deare & Co.
took the old Delft ware pottery at Patrick’s Hill, known as the
“Patrick’s Hill Pot-house,” where they manufactured “all sorts of the
best blue and white earthenware.”
* * * * *
_The Flint Pot Works._--About the same time a Mr. Okell carried on “The
Flint Pot Works,” which were situated at the upper end of Park Lane,
near the Pitch House. Here he made blue and white earthenware, and
afterwards the more fashionable cream-coloured ware. Mr. Okell died in
1773–74, and the works were then taken by Messrs. Rigg and Peacock,
who immediately advertised their intention of “making all kinds
of cream-coloured earthenware, &c.” Mr. Rigg was, I have reason to
believe, from Newcastle-under-Lyme, and a descendant of the celebrated
Charles Rigg, the pipe-maker of that town. In the same year there was
also a pot-house, called the “Mould Works,” carried on by Messrs. Woods
& Co., near the infirmary, but where nothing of a finer description
than jars, sugar-moulds (for sugar refiners), crucibles, chimney-pots,
melting-pots, black mugs, and the like, were made.
In 1761 Liverpool was the scene of a strongly contested election
between three rival candidates, viz., Sir William Meredith, Bart.,
Sir Ellis Cuncliffe, Bart., and Charles Pole, Esq., and the election
was carried by the potters, one hundred and two of whom gave plumpers
for Sir William. This is proved by the poll and squib book, which was
published by John Sadler, and I allude to the circumstance for the
purpose of introducing an engraving of one of the drinking-mugs made
specially for the occasion by the “jolly potters” of Liverpool. This
mug is of common white earthen ware, and has a rude border, with the
words,
Ser William
a
Plumper,
scratched in, in blue, in the soft clay before firing.
[Illustration: Fig. 33.]
In connection with this election, a song written especially for the
potters, and no doubt sung while this very mug was filled with strong
ale, and passed round from mouth to mouth, is worth reprinting:--
THE POTTER’S SONG.
_To the tune of “Ye mortals whom fancy,” &c._
ADDRESSED TO THE PLUMPING POTTERS.
Ye true-hearted fellows, free plumpers and men,
Independent in Britain, how great is your claim!
Not power without candour can soothe with a smile,
Or forms of vain grandeur e’en fancy beguile.
CHORUS.
And thus sings the parent of liberty’s cause,
If my son you would be,
If my son you would be,
Like Britons undaunted, like Britons be free.
Tranquillity, heightened by friendship’s supply,
Degraded may censure, with malice stalk by!
Auspiciously reigning, those plumpers, they say,
Unluckily carry the spoils of each day.
And thus, &c.
Regardless of great ones, we live uncontrolled,
We’re potters and plumpers, we’re not to be sold.
No purchase but merit can cheapen such souls,
Thus circled in friendship, we live by our bowls.
And thus, &c.
Regained, now preserve the true blessing of choice,
And strike at the wretch that would blast a free voice;
Thus rich in possession of what is our own,
Sir William’s our member, Squire Charley may moan.
And thus, &c.
[Illustration: Fig. 34.--Herculaneum Pottery.]
The HERCULANEUM POTTERY,--the largest earthenware manufactory ever
established in Liverpool,--was founded in the year 1796, on the site
of some old copper works on the south shore of the river Mersey at
Toxteth Park. The pottery had originally been established about the
year 1793–4, by Richard Abbey, who took into partnership a Scotchman
named Graham. Richard Abbey was born at Aintree, and was apprenticed to
John Sadler, in Harrington Street, as an engraver, where he produced
many very effective groups for mugs, jugs, tiles, &c. Of these, one
of his best productions was the well-known group of the “Farmer’s
Arms.” After leaving Sadler’s employment, Abbey removed to Glasgow,
where he was an engraver at the pot-works, and afterwards served in
a similar capacity in France, before he began business in Liverpool.
Messrs. Abbey and Graham were successful in their factory at Toxteth
Park, but Abbey growing tired of the business, they sold it to Messrs.
Worthington, Humble, and Holland, and he retired to his native village,
where he died in 1801, “at the age of eighty-one, after breaking a
blood-vessel whilst singing in Melling Church, where, being a good
musician, he used to lead the choir on a Sunday. He was buried at
Walton.”
In the Mayer museum is a teapot of cream-coloured ware, with black
printing, of Richard Abbey’s making. On one side is “The Farmer’s
Arms,” with supporters quarterly: viz., 1st, a sheaf of corn; 2nd,
two scythes in _saltier_, across them in _fess_ two flails, knitted
together by a sickle; 3rd, a hay rake and hay fork in _saltier_, with
a three-pronged fork, prongs upwards, in _pale_; 4th, a riddle and a
bushel measure; crest, a plough; supporters, a dairymaid with a churn,
and a mower with a scythe; motto, “In God is our trust.” On the other
side is the appropriate verse;--
May the mighty and great
Roll in splendour and state;
I envy them not, I declare it;
I eat my own Lamb,
My Chicken and Ham,
I shear my own sheep, and I wear it.
I have Lawns, I have Bowers,
I have Fruits, I have Flowers,
The Lark is my morning alarmer;
So you jolly Dogs now,
Here’s “God bless the Plow,”
Long Life and content to the Farmer.
On taking to these works, Messrs. Worthington, Humble, and Holland
engaged as their foreman and manager, Mr. Ralph Mansfield, of Burslem.
This person served them for some years, and afterwards commenced a
small pottery on his own account at Bevington Bush, where he made only
the commoner kinds of earthenware. These works ceased at his death.
Besides Mansfield the foreman, the new Company engaged about forty
“hands,” men, women, and children, in Staffordshire, and brought them
to Liverpool to work in different branches of their art. As Wedgwood
had chosen to call _his_ new colony “Etruria,” the enterprising company
determined on christening _their_ colony “Herculaneum,” which name they
at once adopted, and stamped it on their wares. The buildings acquired
from Richard Abbey were considerably enlarged, the arrangements
remodelled, new ovens and workshops erected, houses for the workmen
built, and then workpeople were brought from Staffordshire. The story
of the removal of this band of artisans is thus pleasantly told by my
friend Mr. Mayer: “After enlarging and remodelling the works, and the
little group of emigrants, who were chiefly from Staffordshire, being
ready to start, their employers gave them a dinner at the Legs of Man
public-house at Burslem, to which a few of their friends were invited.
There they spent the parting night in jollity and mirth; and at a
late hour, in conformity with an old Mercian custom, still prevalent
in some parts of Staffordshire, the parting cup was called for, and
each pledged the other to a loving remembrance when absent, and a safe
journey and a hearty goodwill. Next morning at an early hour they
started on their journey, headed by a band of music, and flags bearing
appropriate inscriptions, amongst which was one, ‘Success to the Jolly
Potters,’ a motto still met with on the signs of the public-houses in
the Staffordshire pot districts. When reaching the Grand Trunk Canal,
which runs near to the town of Burslem, after bidding farewell to all
their relatives and friends, they got into the boats prepared for them,
and were towed away amid the shouts of hundreds of spectators. Now,
however, came the time for thought. They had left their old homes, the
hearths of their forefathers, and were going to a strange place. Still
the hopes of bettering themselves were strongest in their thoughts,
and they arrived in Runcorn in good spirits, having amused themselves
in various ways during their canal passage, by singing their peculiar
local songs, which, as ‘craft’ songs, perhaps stand unrivalled in
any employment for richness of material, elegance of thought, and
expression of passion and sentiment, and it is to be regretted that
many of them are daily becoming lost. Amongst other amusements was one
that created much merriment--drawing lots for the houses they were to
live in, which had been built for them by their employers; and as they
had not seen them, nor knew anything about them, the only preference to
be striven for was whether it should be No. 1, 2, 3, &c.
“At Runcorn they stayed all night, as the weather was bad and the river
very rough, after one of those storm-days frequent in the Mersey,
when the waters are lashed by the wind into such fury, that few boats
dare venture out, and many who had never seen salt water before, were
afraid to trust themselves upon it in a flat. Next morning, November
11, 1796, the wind had subsided. They embarked on board the flat, and
at once, with a fair wind, got into the middle of the Mersey, where it
becomes more like an inland sea surrounded by lofty mountain ranges.
This much surprised the voyagers, alike by its picturesque beauty and
the vast extent of water. They had a pleasant voyage down the river,
and arriving at their destination, were met on their landing by a band
of music, and marched into the works amidst the cheers of a large crowd
of people, who had assembled to greet them. Thus commenced the peopling
of the little colony called Herculaneum, where a few years ago, on
visiting the old nurse of my father, who had accompanied her son there,
I heard the same peculiar dialect of language as is spoken in their
mother district in Staffordshire, which to those not brought up in that
locality, is almost unintelligible.”
From this it will be seen that the little colony was peopled in the
middle of November, 1796. The works were opened on the 8th of December,
on which occasion an entertainment was given to the workpeople, as will
be seen from the following interesting paragraph from _Gore’s General
Advertiser_ of December 13th, 1796:--
“On Saturday last, the new pottery (formerly the copper
works)[5] near this town was opened, and a plentiful
entertainment given by Mr. Worthington, the proprietor, to
upwards of sixty persons employed in the manufactory, who were
preceded by a military band, from the works along the docks
and through Castle Street. Two colours were displayed on the
occasion, one representing a distant view of the manufactory.
We have the pleasure to say, that these works are very likely
to succeed, from their extent and situation, and will be of
infinite advantage to the merchants of Liverpool.”
The first productions of the Herculaneum works were confined to
blue-printed ware, in which dinner, toilet, tea, and coffee services,
punch-bowls, mugs, and jugs, were the principal articles made; and
cream-coloured ware, which was then so fashionable. At a later date,
terra-cotta vases and other articles were produced, as were also
biscuit vases, figures, &c.
Of the cream-coloured ware, or Queen’s ware, the examples which have
come under my notice are of remarkably fine quality, and are as well
and carefully potted as those of any other manufactory, scarcely even
excepting Wedgwood’s own. In colour they are of a somewhat darker shade
than Wedgwood’s and Mayer’s, and not of so yellow a cast as the Leeds
ware. The collector will find some good examples of this ware in the
Mayer Museum at Liverpool, which will serve for comparison with other
makes. The Herculaneum works also produced some remarkably good jugs
with bas-relief figures, foliage, &c, of extremely fine and hard body.
These pieces, which rival Turner’s celebrated jugs, are marked with the
name HERCULANEUM in small capitals, impressed.
In terra-cotta, vases of good design, as well as other pieces, were
produced. In the possession of Mr. Beard is a remarkably fine pair
of covered vases, with boldly-modelled heads of satyrs for handles,
and festoons on the sides. The vases are black, and the heads
and festoons gilt. This fine pair is marked HERCULANEUM. In Mr.
Rathbone’s collection is a wine cooler of vine leaves and grapes, of
similar design, and of the same reddish colour as some of Wedgwood’s
terra-cotta coolers. It is marked HERCULANEUM, impressed on the bottom.
In Blue Printing the Herculaneum Works produced many remarkably good
patterns, and the earthenware bearing those patterns was of a fine
hard and compact body, of excellent glaze, and the potting remarkably
good and skilful. Some services had open-work basket rims, of similar
design to those produced by Davenport. One service bore views of the
principal towns in England, the names of which were printed in blue
on the bottoms of each piece, which mostly bear the impressed mark of
HERCULANEUM in large capitals. Batt printing was also practised.
[Illustration: CAMBRIDGE
Fig. 35.]
In 1800 the manufactory was considerably increased, and again in 1806
it received many additions. At this time, in order to augment the
working capital, the number of proprietors was increased. Early in the
present century china was made at these works, and continued to be
produced, though not to a large extent, to the time of the close of
the works. Of the china produced several examples may be seen in the
Mayer museum. In 1822 it was ordered by proprietors at a meeting held
in that year, that “to give publicity and identity to the china and
earthenware manufactured by the Herculaneum Pottery Company, the words
‘Herculaneum Pottery’ be stamped or marked on some conspicuous part of
all china and earthenware made and manufactured at the manufactory.”
In 1833 the company was dissolved, and the property sold for £25,000
to Mr. Ambrose Lace, who leased the premises to Thomas Case and James
Mort, who are said to have carried on the business for about three
years only. By these gentlemen, it is said, the mark of the “Liver” was
introduced. About 1836 the firm of Case, Mort & Co. was succeeded by
that of Mort and Simpson, who continued the manufactory until its close
in 1841. During the time the works were carried on by Case, Mort & Co.,
a fine dinner-service, of which a portion is in Mr. Mayer’s museum, was
made for the corporation of Liverpool. It was blue-printed, and had on
each piece the arms of Liverpool carefully engraved, and emblazoned.
In the same collection is part of another service of somewhat similar
description, but with the earlier mark of HERCULANEUM impressed. The
marks used at the Herculaneum Works at different periods appear to have
been the word
HERCULANEUM HERCULANEUM
impressed in large capitals. The same in small capitals, also
impressed. These have generally a number attached, which, of course,
is simply the mark of the workman or of the pattern. The same name
also occasionally occurs in blue printing. A crown, with the word
Herculaneum in a curve, above it, impressed. A crown within a garter,
bearing the word Herculaneum; impressed. (Figs. 36 and 37.) The words
in capitals, impressed,
HERCULANEUM
POTTERY.
[Illustration: HERCULANEUM
Fig. 36.]
[Illustration: HERCULANEUM
Fig. 37.]
The crest of the borough of Liverpool, a bird called the _Liver_, or
_Lever_, with wings expanded, and bearing its beak a sprig of the plant
liverwort. Of this mark of the crest three varieties are shown on Figs.
38 to 40; they are all impressed in the ware. An anchor, with and
without the word LIVERPOOL in a curve, above it (Fig. 41), impressed.
Another, and more imposing looking mark, has the name of the pattern
(“PEKIN PALM,” for instance) within a wreath of foliage, surmounted
with the crest of Liverpool, on an heraldic wreath.
[Illustration: Figs. 38 to 40.]
[Illustration: LIVERPOOL.
Fig. 41.]
Among the men of eminence who have been connected with the potteries
of Liverpool, besides those named, were William Roscoe, the eminent
Art-critic and biographer; Peter Pever Burdett, the engraver, who also
worked for Wedgwood, and who introduced the process of transferring
aquatints to pottery and porcelain; Paul Sandby, who assisted other
manufactories; and other artists of note. It may also be well to say
a word or two on those pieces which more than others are considered
to be “Liverpool pottery,” and which, indeed, I believe are thought
by many collectors to be the only kind ever made there. I allude to
the mugs, plates, &c., of cream-coloured ware which are decorated with
ships or with flags of different merchants, and signals. These were
principally made at the works of Guy Green, in Harrington Street, of
whom I have already spoken. Some pieces have the engraving of the
lighthouse and flags, with the name, “An east view of Liverpool Light
House and Signals on Bidston Hill, 1788.” The flags are all numbered,
and beneath are references, with the owner’s names, to forty-three
different flags. Another piece with the same date has forty-four flags
and owners’ names, showing the addition of a new merchant in that year.
Others again, without date, show fifty and seventy-five flags, and are
therefore interesting as showing the rapid extension of the port. These
pieces are very sharply engraved and printed in black, and the flags on
some of the pieces are coloured.
WARRINGTON.[6]
This pottery was one of but short duration, but during the time it was
in operation some very good ware was produced. The works were commenced
about 1797 or 1798, by Messrs. James and Fletcher Bolton, who were
brothers, and members of the Society of Friends. These gentlemen got
their idea of starting an earthenware manufactory at Warrington from
the fact that the great bulk of the raw materials from Cornwall, &c.,
used in the Staffordshire manufactories for the finer kinds of wares,
was brought by sea to Liverpool, where it was unshipped and sent on
again by boats on the Trent and Mersey Canal, and thus passed within a
short distance of Warrington. Messrs. Bolton, with this knowledge, and
with the further fact before them that the Liverpool potters drove a
very successful trade, very shrewdly argued that if the Staffordshire
manufacturers could make money, with the longer freightage from
Ellesmere, they, at Warrington, with the shorter freightage, might
hope for equal success. Soon after the establishment of the works
they associated themselves with Mr. Joseph Ellis, of Hanley, in
Staffordshire, who was practically conversant with every branch of the
manufacture. Joseph Ellis was born in 1760, and was apprenticed to
Wedgwood, as a _turner_. He is said to have been very clever and
ingenious, of careful and sober habits, and of a plodding disposition.
He married a daughter of Ralph and Ellen Simpson, of Hanley, a family
then considered to be in very fair circumstances, from whom he derived
considerable pecuniary help, which, together with his own thrifty
habits, soon placed him in comfortable circumstances. Mr. Ellis became
superintendent of the Tabernacle Independent Chapel Sunday-school, now
said to be the oldest place of worship of that denomination left in the
Potteries. As his family began to increase, he disposed of his property
in the potteries, joined Messrs. Bolton at Warrington, and became the
managing partner of the firm. He is said to have directed his special
attention in all his spare time to the discovery of new colours,
glazes, and bodies, and to have been very successful in jasper and
enamelled ware. To the manager of some adjoining glass-works he also
gave many useful recipes for colours. Mr. Ellis’s manuscript recipes
for different glazes and colours required in the manufacture are still
preserved in the hands of his descendants, and show him to have been a
man of considerable practical knowledge and skill.
A number of potters were engaged at Hanley and the other pottery towns,
and they, with their wives and children, forming quite a little colony,
and their household goods, tools, and everything requisite for their
use and for the trade they were engaged in, were brought by canal to
Warrington, where kilns, sheds, and other buildings were erected.
Here they commenced operations. The goods made at these works were
intended principally for the American markets, and a good trade was
soon established. The works continued to flourish until 1807, “when the
embargo which was laid by the Americans upon all articles of British
manufacture, and the subsequent war between Great Britain and America,
in 1812, caused the failure, by bankruptcy, of the firm.”
In 1802, Mr. Ellis appears to have fallen into a weak state, and
his share in the concern was given up on condition of an annuity
being granted to himself and his widow and children, so long as the
pot-works were carried on. With the failure of the works of course this
arrangement ceased. He died at Warrington, and was buried in the old
dissenting burial-ground at Hill Cliff, near that town.
The potters, with their wives and families, their household goods
and tools, and all their other belongings, on the failure of the
firm, returned to Staffordshire in the same manner as they arrived.
During their stay at Warrington, they are described as having held
little or no communication with the townspeople; marrying only and
solely amongst themselves; preserving their own manners, customs, and
amusements; and, beyond purchasing at shop or market the necessaries
of life, keeping quite aloof from “the natives,” with a pertinacity
so remarkable as still to be the subject of occasional remark. The
expressions, “as proud as th’ potters!” and “as close as th’ potters!”
are still to be heard, and serve to perpetuate the remembrance of the
class-feeling which existed. They dwelt in “Pottery Row, Bank Quay,” on
the bank of the river Mersey, and this name is the only local record
which Warrington now possesses of this little colony of industrious
workpeople. The factory itself has been successively converted into
lime-kilns and an iron ship-building yard, and is now used as a
chemical works.
Of the productions of the works Dr. Kendrick has got together a
number of examples, which he has deposited in the Warrington museum.
The wares produced were an ordinary quality of white ware; blue and
white printed goods, and common painted goods; as well as an inferior
description of black-jasper ware, and both gold and silver lustre.
Besides these, a china ware is said to have been made to some extent,
but of this, although the matter is generally believed, there is,
perhaps, some little doubt. Among the examples in the Museum is a black
teapot of somewhat curious character. It is of a hard, but somewhat
inferior black ware, and is ornamented with raised borders and groups
of figures--some of the borders, the figures, and the swan knob of the
lid, being surface-painted in yellow, red, &c. The lid is attached by
a hinge. Another curious piece is a “tobacco-jar, comprising within
itself a drinking mug and a candlestick,” and also a small upright jar,
capable of holding exactly half-an-ounce of tea,--the quantity, we are
told, which was served out to each visitor to the tea-gardens of that
day. The china ware attributed to these works is somewhat curious.
It is of a kind of creamy colour, and of inferior quality, and is
ornamented with raised borders, &c, and with groups of figures in blue.
In general appearance it is more like earthenware than porcelain. Among
the examples, stated by Dr. Kendrick to have been made at Warrington,
is a lantern of Delft ware, ornamented with flowers in blue. There
are, however, grave doubts as to this having been made in this
locality. No mark is known. This distinction is believed to have been
omitted in consequence of the jealous dislike of the Americans of that
day to anything emanating from the mother country.
* * * * *
_Warrington Pottery._--These works, in a locality where older ones
had long existed, were established in 1850 in Dallman Lane, by the
late Mr. John Welsby, who manufactured stoneware, Rockingham and black
tea-pots, coarse red ware, terra cotta chimney tops (the construction
of the “Dallman Chimney Pot” being very effectual for preventing
smoky chimneys), ornamental garden vases, flower-pots, pancheons,
&c. On his death, in 1863, the works passed into the hands of Mr.
Thomas Grace, who, in 1871, removed them to their present site, on the
Winwick Road. Mr. Grace’s productions consist of plain black ware of
various descriptions, chimney tops, and plain and fancy garden vases,
flower-pots, &c., which he supplies largely to the home markets. Most
of the goods are made from clays found on the spot, and those of Arpley
Moor, a mile or two distant from the works.
SUTTON.
At Sutton, near Warrington, where some potteries for the manufacture of
the commoner descriptions of wares are still worked, Dr. Kendrick is
of opinion pottery was made in mediæval times. His opinion is founded
on the fact of a fragment of a vessel in form of a mounted knight (of
somewhat the same character as those already described in last volume)
being said to be made of Sutton fire-clay. The fragment was found in
Winwick Churchyard, and is preserved in Warrington Museum; fragments of
similar ware are frequently dug up in the district.
RUNCORN.
_Old Quay Pottery._--These works were carried on in 1869 by Mr. John
Cliff who, in that year, removed from the Imperial Pottery, Lambeth, to
this place, where he manufactures largely chemical stoneware and other
goods. Mr. Cliff has taken out patents for an improved kiln, and for
wheels for throwers, and lathes for turners, which have the reputation
of being the most effective, simple, and valuable of any in existence.
PRESCOT.
_The Moss Pottery._--Mr. Thomas Spencer, who last century established
pot works at the bottom of Richmond Row, Liverpool (see Page 33) for
the production of Delft ware, removed them to Prescot, where he founded
the “Moss Pottery,” and made coarse brown ware from the native clays of
the district. At his death the works passed into the hands of his son,
who, in turn, was succeeded by his son, the present owner of the place,
Mr. Thomas Spencer. White stone ware was afterwards manufactured to a
large extent, but of late years the operations have been principally
confined to sanitary ware, one of the most notable features of which
are the socket drain pipes, for which Mr. Spencer holds a patent, dated
April 10th, 1848. Sugar moulds for sugar refiners were at one time a
staple production of the Moss Pottery, but these have been superseded
by the iron moulds now in general use. Mr. Spencer, too, has taken out
a patent (in 1861) “for improvements in apparatus for the manufacture
of articles of earthenware, and of other plastic materials” by which
saggars for burning earthenware in glass cisterns, crucibles, etc.,
are made by direct action of steam pressure. The principal goods
produced are vitrified and glazed earthenware; sanitary and chemical
wares; garden, sea-kale and other pots; black ware articles; filters;
stoneware bottles, jars, pans, barrels, foot warmers, and other useful
domestic articles.
ST. HELEN’S.
Messrs. Case, Mort & Co., of the Herculaneum Works at Liverpool, had,
at one time, a manufactory at St. Helen’s, where goods of common
quality were produced. Messrs. Doulton, of the Lambeth Pottery, have
also established a branch manufactory here for drain pipes, sanitary
ware, &c.
SEACOMBE.
Mr. Goodwin, a potter of Lane End, in Staffordshire, in 1851,
established a pottery at Seacombe, on the opposite shore of the Mersey
from Liverpool. He brought his workmen from Staffordshire, and fired
his first oven in June, 1852. Of this pottery, now closed, Mr. Mayer
thus wrote in 1855: “The ware manufactured here at present consists
principally of earthenware and stoneware, chiefly of blue and colour
printed ware, and, lately, parian has been made of a good quality.
Here has been introduced one of the throwing tables for making hollow
ware, cups, bowls, &c., by machinery, with the aid of which four
boys who are quite unacquainted with the art can, in a day or two’s
practice, produce as much work as by the old process of hand throwing
could formerly be made by five men in the same space of time. The
success of the undertaking may be considered fairly established,
and a very large and increasing trade is now carried on with the
east and west coast of South America, Turkey, California, and India.
So admirably arranged are the buildings on this work that all the
different parts work together. The ware after being fired is carried
direct from the ovens into the bisque warehouse which adjoins them, and
on the other side the coal is conveyed along a railway and deposited
close to the mouths of the kilns. The whole may be looked upon as a
model for all future buildings and arrangements for pot works. Indeed,
so perfect is it that it has been visited by several manufacturers from
France and Germany, who, by permission of Mr. Goodwin, have taken plans
of it as a guide for new works to be erected in those countries.”