The ceramic art of Great Britain from pre-historic times down to the present day, Volume 1 (of 2)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Blackfriars Road.

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

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

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

Vauxhall.

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

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

Aldgate.

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

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

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

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

Mill-Wall.

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

Mortlake.

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

Southwark.

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

Isleworth.

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

Stepney.

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

Greenwich.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Deptford.

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

Merton (see “Aldgate”).

Hounslow.

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

Wandsworth (see “Aldgate”).

Ewell.

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

Cheam.

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

Chiselhurst.

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