The plates also bear a small blue-pencilled letter C, and impressed flower of seven lobes, and kind of cross pattée; these are, of course, workmen’s marks. The cup and saucer in Mr. Davis’s possession have flowers and rude landscape in colours and copper-coloured “tinsel.”

An excellent example of the white earthenware of Leeds is the puzzle jug in the possession of Mr. Alfred Britton, here engraved (Fig. 857). This is one of the most elaborate in design, and careful in execution, which has come under my notice. The upper part is ornamented with “punched” perforations, and the centre of the jug is open throughout, having an open flower on either side, between which is a swan standing clear in the inside. The jug is painted with borders and sprigs of flowers, and is marked with the usual impressed mark of LEEDS POTTERY. A curious example of the white earthenware is in the possession of Mr. Hailstone. It is a large jug, having on one side a spirited engraving of “the Vicar and Moses” in black transfer printing, and coloured, and on the other side the old ballad of “the Vicar and Moses,” engraved in two columns, and surrounded by a border. In front of the jug, pendent from the spout, is painted the arms of the borough of Leeds, the golden fleece, commonly called the “tup in trouble.” On each side of this are the initials J. B. and S. B., and beneath are the words—“Success to Leeds Manufactory.”

Transfer printing was introduced at Leeds, probably, about 1780, but this is very uncertain. In the title-page of the “Book of Patterns in 1783,” it is said, “the same enamel’d, Printed or Ornamented with Gold to any pattern; also with Coats of Arms, Cyphers, Landscapes, &c.;” and in 1791, the copper-plates then in use were valued at £204. The patterns were principally willow pattern, Nankin pattern, borders, groups of flowers, landscapes, and ruins. I may mention that several of the original pattern-books of drawings of the articles themselves, and of borders and other decorations, of the early Leeds productions are in my own possession.

Lustre, both gold and silver, was used occasionally in the decorations at Leeds, and excellent examples of “lustre ware” were also produced. These, like the other early productions of the works, are scarce.

About the year 1800, black ware was introduced at Leeds. This was of the same character as the Egyptian black, then so largely made in Staffordshire by Wedgwood, by Mayer, by Neale, and others. The body is extremely compact, firm, and hard, but had a more decided bluish cast than is usual in other makes. In this ware, tea and coffee pots, the latter both with spouts and with snips, cream ewers, and other articles were made. I believe there are but few collectors cognizant of the fact that this Egyptian black ware was made at Leeds at all; but I have been fortunate enough, by careful examination, to ascertain that up to 1812–13, probably from ninety to a hundred distinct patterns and sizes of teapots alone were produced in black at these works. This is an interesting fact to note, and is one which will call attention for the first time to this particular branch of Leeds manufacture. The patterns of the teapots were very varied, both in form, in style of ornamentation, and in size. In form were round, oval, octagonal, and other shapes, including some of twelve sides. In ornamentation some were engine-turned in a variety of patterns, while others were chequered or fluted. Others again were formed in moulds elaborately ornamented in relief with flowers, fruits, borders, festoons, &c., &c.; while others still had groups of figures, trophies, and medallions in relief on their sides. The “knobs” of the lids were seated figures, lions, swans, flowers, &c., &c. The lids were made of every variety, both inward and outward fitting, sliding, and attached with hinges. In speaking of engine-turning, it may be well to note that “engined” mugs, jugs, &c., were made at these works as early as 1782, if not at an earlier date. And here, in connection with the black ware, let me note too, that pot-works were established at Swinton, by some of the family of the Greens, of Leeds (see Swinton); and that here, too, black ware teapots were made, which were known as “Swinton pattern.” Of these I shall have more to say in my account of the Swinton works.

The marks used at Leeds are not numerous, and are easily distinguished. Collectors, however, need to be told that very few indeed of the productions of this manufactory were marked. The great bulk of the pottery, whether in Queen’s ware or otherwise, was made for foreign markets—Russia, Holland, Spain, Germany, Portugal, France, &c.—and as a rule the goods were sent off unmarked. It is worthy of note, too, that the finest examples of Leeds make, both in the perforated and other varieties, now known, have been recovered from the Continent. To illustrate this remark, it will be only necessary to point to the chestnut basket just described and engraved, which was purchased and brought from Holland a few years ago. The marks, so far as I have been able to ascertain, which were used at the Leeds works, and of each of which examples are in my own collection, are the following—

LEEDS · POTTERY*

in large capitals, with a terminal asterisk impressed. This mark occurs on a large-sized “Melon Terine” same as the one engraved in the pattern-book of 1783, figure 68, plate 16. On the same piece are a large capital letter S impressed, and the number 12 incised. These are of course workmen’s or pattern marks.

LEEDS * POTTERY

in small capital letters.

HARTLEY GREENS & CO
LEEDS * POTTERY
Fig. 858.

in small capital letters.

in small capital letters, in two curved or horse-shoe lines.

Many good examples of Leeds wares are preserved in the Museum of Practical Geology. Among these one is marked with the impressed Leeds mark twice in form of a saltire (Fig. 860).

The marks usually ascribed to Leeds are the following:—but there is no proof that any of these were ever used at the works. In my own possession is a dessert service with the “sponged” border (which was used at Leeds), and a series of extremely fine and thoroughly artistic figures, cupids, &c., engraved in stipple, and printed in a warm pinkish brown colour, which bears the first of these three marks; but although it is ascribed to Leeds, I have grave doubts as to the correctness of the appropriation.

Mr. Chaffers, in his first edition, says: “The mark of C. G. has been attributed to Charles Green, of Leeds; that in the margin is on a cup and saucer of white English china, with paintings of landscapes and the raised wicker border, common to this manufactory.” I quote this for the purpose of showing how little reliance can be placed on the information hitherto given with respect to these works. So far as my researches go, I do not find there was a Charles Green connected with the Leeds works; and that china was never made there I am fully convinced. This mark of does occur upon a china cup and saucer which has come under my notice: but it has not any connection with the Leeds works.

The Leeds Pottery at the present time produces the ordinary descriptions of earthenware for domestic use, consisting of dinner ware in great variety, tea and coffee, toilet, and other services, jugs and mugs, screw jugs, bowls and basins, and, indeed, all articles in general use. In dinner ware upwards of ten standard patterns are made for the London market, which market takes nearly one-half of the whole productions of the works in general goods. The white earthenware is of the same quality as the ordinary run of Staffordshire ware, and has a good glaze. It is produced in the usual styles of blue printing, painting and edging. Pearl white of good quality, both plain and decorated, is also manufactured. This pearl body is got up in toilet ware, varying in patterns, printed lines, and fancy stamped; jugs embossed and plain; tea and breakfast services, &c. It is also being introduced for washing-machines, substituting earthenware bottoms for wood; also for patented machines for cloth manufacturers. These were first shown at the Leeds Exhibition of 1875. Scent-jars, leech-jars, &c., &c., are also largely made.

In Rockingham ware, tea and coffee pots and other articles are still made in considerable quantities; as are also Egyptian black glazed wares and yellow earthenware, which is made from native clays procured from Wortley. Thus it will be seen that the Leeds potteries of the present day—of the very existence of which but few persons are aware—are of considerable size and importance, and are doing a large business—a business which, unlike that of the olden times, is principally confined to the supplying of the home markets, where, not being marked, the ware usually passes for that of Staffordshire.

The marks used at the present day are, an old English letter L within a gothic quatrefoil in a circle, impressed in the body of the ware; or the name of the pattern within an ornamental circle, and, below it, the initials of the firm, R. B. & S., printed on the surface.

Leathley Lane Pottery.

Closely adjoining the works I have been noticing is another small pottery, of whose history a few words may be said. They were established in the early part of the present century, by, I believe, a Mr. North, for the manufacture of black ware, but were afterwards used by the same person for the making of the ordinary white earthenware. From Mr. North the works passed into the hands of a Mr. Hepworth, who made the ordinary brown salt-glazed ware. It was next worked by Mr. Dawson, one of the trustees of the Leeds pottery, who took into partnership Mr. Chappell, of whom I have spoken as, for a period, proprietor of the Leeds pottery; and it was for some time carried on by Dawson and Chappell, afterwards by Chappell alone, and then by Shackleton, Taylor and Co. This partnership was dissolved in 1851, and the works were then continued by two of the former proprietors, Messrs. Taylor and Gibson. Since 1859, the factory has been continued to the present time by Messrs. Gibson & Co. The premises are small, and produce only the commoner and inferior kinds of earthenware for domestic purposes. These are white ware of the commonest kind, yellow ware made from the Wortley clays, and Rockingham ware.

Castleford.

Castleford, which has its stations on the “North-Eastern” and on the “Lancashire and Yorkshire,” and is in direct communication with the Midland and Great Northern Railways, lies about twelve miles from Leeds. It is, in great measure, supported by its glasshouses, its chemical works, and its potteries, which are still in full operation. Common brown ware had, I believe, been made for a considerable period, on the spot, the goods produced, of course, being pancheons and the ordinary classes of coarse vessels. The Castleford Pottery was established, towards the close of the last century, by David Dunderdale, for the manufacture of the finer kinds of earthenware, more especially Queen’s or cream-coloured ware, which was then being made so largely at Leeds and other places, as well as in Staffordshire. Mr. Dunderdale took into partnership a Mr. Plowes, and in 1803, the firm of D. Dunderdale & Co., which appears stamped on the goods, consisted of these two persons. The partnership was not of long duration, and after considerable dissension, was dissolved, Mr. Plowes removing to Ferrybridge, where he joined the proprietors of the pot-works there, his son removing to London, and Mr. Dunderdale continuing the Castleford Works alone. The next partner was Mr. Thomas Edward Upton, a relative of Mr. Dunderdale’s, and these two shortly afterwards took into partnership John Bramley (or Bramler) and Thomas Russell, who was not a practical potter, but was an hotel proprietor at Harrogate. At this time the proprietary was thus divided:—Dunderdale one half of the concern, Russell a fourth, and Upton and Bramley an eighth each. Considerable additions were made to the works at this time, and the change in the proprietary was commemorated by a grand feast, and by bonfires, and all kinds of extravagant rejoicings.

In 1820 the manufactory was closed, and in 1821 a part of the works was taken by some of the workmen—George Asquith, William and Daniel Byford, Richard Gill, James Sharp, and David Hingham. They were succeeded by Taylor, Harrison, & Co., Harrison having been an apprentice of David Dunderdale’s; and the place was for several years carried on by the latter and the son of the former, under the style of Taylor and Harrison. It is now closed as an earthenware manufactory (Messrs. Taylor and Harrison having given up the trade), and is carried on for stoneware alone. At these works, an offshoot, as I have shown, of the old pottery, the commoner descriptions of goods only are made.

At the close of the year 1825, I believe, the old works were taken by Asquith, Wood, & Co. They were joined in partnership by Thomas Nicholson, who had served his apprenticeship with Hartley, Greens, & Co., of the Leeds Pottery, and carried on the business as Asquith, Wood, and Nicholson, and afterwards as Wood and Nicholson alone. In 1854 another change took place, by which Mr. Nicholson, one of the old firm, retained the works, and took into partnership Thomas Hartley, the style of the firm being Thomas Nicholson & Co. A few years ago Mr. Nicholson retired from the concern, and it was then carried on by Thomas Hartley alone, and afterwards with partners, under the old name of Nicholson & Co. In December, 1871, Mr. Hartley died, and the Castleford Pottery was then, and still is, carried on by his co-partners, Hugh McDowall Clokie, and John Masterman, under the style of “Clokie and Masterman.”

The Castleford Works, under David Dunderdale & Co., did a large trade with Spain, the Baltic, and other “foreign parts,” principally in cream-coloured ware, and it is said that during the war the losses were so great, both in earthenware and in specie, as to cripple the works, and lead to their being closed. So great was the export trade of the firm, that they owned vessels of heavy burthen, which were kept trading with the Spanish and other ports. It is related that just before the peace of Amiens, one of Dunderdale’s ships was closely and hotly chased, but succeeded in outstripping her would-be captors. This was celebrated at Castleford, and the circumstance was remembered as “Dunkirk Races,” and is still talked of with pride by one or two of the old people with whom I have conversed.

As I have said, the staple production of the Castleford Pottery in Dunderdale’s time was the “Queen’s” or “cream-coloured ware,” which was made of an excellent quality, and of a good colour. In appearance it assimilated pretty closely to the cream ware made at the Herculaneum Works, and was not so fine or so perfect in glaze as that made at Leeds. In this ware dinner, dessert, and other services, as well as open-work baskets, vases, candlesticks, and a large variety of other articles, were made, both plain and painted, or enamelled, and decorated with transfer printing. In the accompanying engraving are shown some examples. Fig. 862 is one of a set of four central covered dishes painted in sepia with a border of vine leaves, grapes, and tendrils, of precisely the same design as appears on examples of Wedgwood’s make, and of Herculaneum, and other places. This set of dishes, when placed together for use, forms a circle of twenty-two inches in diameter. The sauce-boat (Fig. 863) is a part of the same service. The small oval sauce tureen (Fig. 861) and ladle show that double-twisted handles were made at Castleford as well as at Leeds, at Swinton, and other places. Open-work baskets, stands, plates, dishes, &c., were produced in great variety, and of designs in many instances closely resembling those of Leeds and other places. The accompanying engraving (Fig. 864) exhibits one of these. In what would now be called Parian, the Castleford Works in their early days produced some remarkably good and effective pieces. One of these, a hot-milk jug with its cover, shown on Fig. 865 is beautifully decorated with foliated and other borders, and with groups of figures in relief. Mugs, and other articles of the same material, were also produced. Examples of this kind of ware may be seen in the Museum of Practical Geology, Jermyn Street, and in many private collections.

Black or Egyptian ware of fine quality was made at Castleford in its palmy days, and is now of some degree of rarity. In my friend C. Roach Smith’s possession is a part of a service of this material, in which the hot-milk jug is of precisely the same pattern as the one engraved above. In fine white earthenware a large variety of goods was made by Dunderdale & Co., who produced a remarkably hard and compact body, and a glaze of considerable merit. In the late Mr. Pulleine’s possession, among other examples, was an oval fruit-dish, painted inside with a broad, bold, but not elegant border in red, and in the centre, in an oval, a landscape, with water, buildings, trees, figures, &c., in the same colour on a red tinted ground.

The marks used at these works appear to have been very few, and are easily recognised. They are—

D D & C^o*
CASTLEFORD

or

D·D & C^o
CASTLEFORD
POTTERY

impressed in the ware. The mark of the later proprietors when trading as “T. Nicholson & Co.,” was a circular garter, surmounted by a crown, and on the ribbon the initials of the firm—“T. N. & Co.”; in the centre the name of the pattern. The mark of the present firm is their initials within a border.

At the present day the Castleford Pottery, as carried on by Clokie and Masterman, manufactures all the ordinary kinds of earthenware, including white, printed, sponged, and the very commonest kinds of painted varieties; the principal patterns of services being “Willow,” “Wild Rose,” “Albion,” “Gem,” “Eton College,” “Verona,” etc., which are produced in blue, green, brown, and other colours. The body is firm and good, and the glaze of the usual quality. The old glory of the works has, however, long departed, and nothing artistic or beautiful is now to be seen in the place where once so many choice articles might be found. There is in connection with the pottery a flint mill, where flint, stone, glaze and colour are ground, and the clay is prepared by hydraulic pressure.

The Eagle Pottery was established in 1854 by a company of workmen, under the style of “John Roberts & Co.,” and afterwards taken by Messrs. Pratt & Co., who sold the concern to Mr. H. McDowall, who continued to trade under the original style. Since the death of Mr. McDowall the buildings have been converted into a glass bottle manufactory. Only the most common classes of earthenware were produced.

Pontefract.

Thoresby records that Francis Place, of the Manor House at York, spent much money upon his manufacture of “fine muggs,” and that he attempted it solely from a turn for experiments; but one Clifton, of Pontefract, took the hint from him, and made a fortune by it. The works of Mr. Clifton would probably be the forerunners of those of Ferrybridge, near the “town of liquorice.”

The Ferrybridge Pottery is situated at Ferrybridge, by Knottingley, and only a short distance from that famous seat of the growth of liquorice, Pontefract, whose “Pomfret cakes” are so well and, indeed, universally known. The pot-works at Ferrybridge are among the largest, if they are not the very largest, in Yorkshire, and have the reputation of being well arranged and convenient. They were established in 1792, by Mr. William Tomlinson, who had for partners Mr. Seaton, an eminent banker of Pontefract; Mr. Foster, a wealthy shipowner, of Selby; Mr. Timothy Smith, a coal proprietor; and Mr. Thompson, an independent gentleman, residing at Selby. The firm was styled “William Tomlinson & Co.,” until about the year 1796, when the proprietors took into partnership Ralph Wedgwood, of Burslem, when the style was changed to that of “Tomlinson, Foster, Wedgwood, & Co.”

Ralph Wedgwood was the eldest son of Thomas Wedgwood, of Etruria (the cousin and partner of Josiah Wedgwood), and was brought up at that place under his uncle and father. He was brother to John Taylor Wedgwood, the eminent line engraver, whose works are so justly in repute.

In my “Life of Josiah Wedgwood,” I gave, for the first time, as the result of considerable research, a notice of this remarkable man, Ralph Wedgwood, and of his inventions, and his family[113] and connections.

Ralph Wedgwood, who was a man of extraordinary and varied ability, the originator of many important scientific inventions, and the author of the “Book of Remembrance,” published in 1814, in which the invention of the electric telegraph, under the name of the “fulguripolygraph,” is made known, and its benefits—precisely such as are now reaped by the public—are described, was born in 1766, and was brought up with his father at Etruria, where he received much valuable aid in chemistry, &c., from Josiah Wedgwood. He afterwards carried on business as a potter, under the style of “Wedgwood & Co.,” at the Hill Works, Burslem; but was ruined through losses during the war. While at the Hill, he prepared and presented to Queen Charlotte some fine examples of his manufacture, on the occasion of the restoration of health to the king, which were graciously accepted through the hands of Lord Cremorne. He then removed into Yorkshire, where, as I have stated, he entered into partnership with Messrs. Tomlinson & Co., of Ferrybridge, and thus again commenced business. This engagement, however, was not of long duration, his partners being dissatisfied at the large amount of breakage caused by his experiments and peculiar mode of firing, and the partnership being dissolved he retired from the concern, having succeeded in getting a thousand pounds awarded to him as his share of the business. He next removed to Bransford, near Worcester, where he issued prospectuses for teaching chemistry at schools, and thence to London, in 1803, travelling in a carriage of his own constructing, which he describes as “a long coach to get out behind, and on grasshopper springs, now used by all the mails.” This carriage was so extraordinary in its appearance as to be taken for a travelling show. While at Bransford he had been perfecting his inventions, among which was his celebrated manifold writer, which still maintains its high repute “against all comers.” One of his copying schemes, which he called a “Penna-polygraph,” that of writing with a number of pens attached to one handle, he found, on his arrival in London, had already been made by another person. His other plan, proving to be new, he called the “Pocket Secretary,” and afterwards the “Manifold Writer;” and on the 7th of October, 1806, after much discouragement and opposition, he took out a patent for this as “an apparatus for producing duplicates of writing.” In 1808 he took out a second patent for “an apparatus for producing several original writings or drawings one and at the same time, which I shall call a Pennæpolygraph, or pen and stylographic manifold writer.” An “ærial zone” was also proposed by him, and his invention was laid before the Admiralty, but judging from the following extract from a letter now lying before me, the invention was not considered to be a very feasible one. “The ærial zone is in proper hands if it is laid before the Admiralty, for there does not seem to be any greater likelihood of its becoming an article of general use than there is of the ladies leaving off muslin because some lose their lives every year by its use.”[114]

In 1806, Ralph Wedgwood established himself at Charing Cross, and soon afterwards his whole attention began to be engrossed with his scheme of the electric telegraph, first invented by his father, Thomas Wedgwood, which, in the then unsettled state of the kingdom—in midst of war, it must be remembered—he considered would be of the utmost importance to the government. In 1814, having perfected his scheme, he submitted his proposal to Lord Castlereagh, and most anxiously awaited the result. His son Ralph having waited on his lordship for a decision as to whether government would accept the plan or not, was informed that “the war being at an end, the old system was sufficient for the country!” The plan, therefore, fell to the ground, until Professor Wheatstone, in happier and more enlightened times, again brought the subject forward with such eminent success. The plan, thus brought forward by Ralph Wedgwood in 1814 (and, as I have stated, he received the first idea from his father), was thus described by him in a pamphlet entitled, “An Address to the Public, on the advantages of a proposed introduction of the Stylographic Principle of writing into general use; and also of an improved species of Telegraphy, calculated for the use of the Public as well as for the Government.” The pamphlet is dated May 29, 1815.

Ralph Wedgwood from Charing Cross removed successively to Piccadilly, and Southampton Street, Strand, where he continued producing his “Pocket Secretary” in large numbers, and did a profitable business. The advantages he gained were, however, lost by his researches concerning the electric telegraph, and in the end his business gradually decayed. He was a man of too eccentric and visionary nature for the ordinary pursuits of life, and was thus led into the speculative ideas rather than the substantialities of worldly existence. Among his schemes was one for the founding of an universal language, over which he held a lengthy and elaborate correspondence with Percy Bysshe Shelley and other men of the day. He died at Chelsea in 1837. He was three times married—first to Mary Yeomans, of Worcester, by whom he had issue Ralph Wedgwood, of Barnes and Cornhill; secondly, to Sarah Taylor; and thirdly, to Anne Copeland, by each of whom also he had issue.

After the dissolution of the partnership at Ferrybridge, which took place, I believe, about 1800 or 1801, when Wedgwood ceased to have any connection with the concern, the firm of “Tomlinson & Co.” was resumed, and so continued until 1834, when it changed to “Tomlinson, Plowes, & Co.;” Mr. Plowes, of the Castleford Works, having joined the proprietary.

In 1804, the name of the manufactory, which, up to that period, had been called the Knottingley Pottery, was changed to that of the Ferrybridge Pottery. This change was made for the convenience of foreign correspondence—a large foreign trade being carried on—Ferrybridge being at that time a post-town of some note, and the works being situated nearer to it than to Knottingley.

Mr. Tomlinson was succeeded by his son Mr. Edward Tomlinson, who continued the works under the firm of Edward Tomlinson & Co., until the year 1826, when he finally retired from the concern. A part of the premises were then worked for a short time by Messrs. Wigglesworth and Ingham; when the whole place was taken by Messrs. Reed, Taylor, and Kelsall, who continued the manufactory until the retirement of Mr. Kelsall, after which the works were continued by the surviving partners, Messrs. James Reed and Benjamin Taylor. Mr. Reed, who was father of Mr. John Reed, of the “Mexborough Pottery,” was a man of enlarged experience, of matured judgment, and of great practical skill; and in his time many improvements in the ware were made, and the manufacture of china introduced. He, in conjunction with his partner, took the Mexborough Pottery, and for some time carried on the two establishments conjointly. Ultimately Mr. Reed gave up the Ferrybridge works, and confined himself to those at Mexborough, while Mr. Taylor carried on the Ferrybridge works alone.

After Mr. Taylor gave up the works Mr. Lewis Woolf entered upon them as tenant for a few years, and in 1856 became the purchaser, and commenced manufacturing in his own name, and has continued from that time until the present day. In the following year, 1857, a large additional pottery was built closely adjoining, and, indeed, connected with the “Ferrybridge Pottery,” by the sons of Mr. Lewis Woolf. This new manufactory was called the “Australian Pottery,” and is still in full work. The proprietors of the joint works, “The Ferrybridge and Australian Potteries,” as they are named, now are Lewis, Sidney, and Henry Woolf, who trade under the style of “Lewis Woolf and Sons.”

These works, besides a very large local and coasting trade, had extensive transactions with several foreign ports. From their first establishment to the time of the issuing of the famous Berlin decree by Napoleon, Messrs. Tomlinson & Co. had done a very extensive and lucrative trade with Russia, for which country the finer and more expensive kinds of earthenware, including cream-colour, Egyptian black, and other kinds of fancy bodies, were made, both pressed, printed, enamelled, and gilt. The decree cut short the trade with the Continent; but shortly after this commercial blow, which was severely felt by the Yorkshire potters, the River Plate was opened by Sir Home Popham, a circumstance which was taken immediate advantage of by the Ferrybridge firm. “One of the partners immediately proceeded there, and succeeded in establishing a good market until the royal family emigrated to Brazil, when the same partner moved up to Rio de Janeiro, to which port a large business was for many years carried on.”

The wares principally made were the following:—cream and cane-coloured ware, in which services and most articles in general use were manufactured, either plain, pressed (i.e., with raised patterns), painted, or printed. Green glazed ware, in which dessert services and other articles were made, and which were of a lighter colour than what Wedgwood produced. Egyptian black ware, of the usual quality made at the period. Fine white earthenware, in which was produced all the usual kinds of goods in enamelling, blue printing, painting, &c. Artists of considerable ability were employed at the works, and I have seen examples which are of thoroughly good character, and will vie with some of the best contemporary productions of the Staffordshire potteries.

In the time of Messrs. Reed and Taylor china of a very fine quality was made, but the manufacture was not of long duration. Tea and coffee services, dessert services, scent bottles, and a variety of articles, were made of this body, and were remarkably good in form and in style of decoration. Examples of Ferrybridge china are now of extreme rarity.

Cameos, medallions, and other ornamental articles in the time of Ralph Wedgwood’s connection with the works, were made in imitation of those of Josiah Wedgwood, to which they were, however, very inferior both in body and finish.

The combined works at the present time (by which of course I mean the joint manufactory of the “Ferrybridge and Australian Potteries”) give employment to about five hundred hands, and do a large trade with Australia and other foreign markets. In white earthenware, which is the staple trade of the works, the ornamentation consists of a large variety of patterns in transfer printing, in common painting, in lustre or “tinsel,” and in sponged patterns. Enamelled and gilt goods, too, are made, and of qualities to suit the different markets for which they are intended. For the Egyptian markets, to which large quantities of goods are sent, lustred or tinselled patterns are adapted very extensively. In “jet ware,” dessert services, candlesticks, toilet trays, and other articles are made. In this ware, I believe I am right in saying that a large number of services have been made especially for the Chinese market. In Egyptian black the ordinary varieties of articles are made, as they are also in Rockingham ware. In “blue jasper” ware, i.e., a blue glazed ware, absurdly so called, many useful and ornamental articles are made, as they are also in a variety of other bodies.

The marks used at the Ferrybridge Pottery have been but few. So far as my knowledge goes, those which will be of interest to the collector are the following—

TOMLINSON & CO.

impressed in the bottom of the ware,

WEDGWOOD & CO.

impressed on cameos, made during the time of Ralph Wedgwood’s connection with the works.

FERRYBRIDGE.

also impressed, and one variety of which mark is peculiar from having the letter D reversed thus—

FERRYBRIᗡGE
P

A shield, with the words—OPAQUE GRANITE CHINA in three lines, supported by a lion and unicorn, and surmounted by a crown. This mark is also impressed, and occurs on green-glazed ware, as does the one just spoken of.

The mark at the present time is that of the lion and unicorn with the shield and crown, and the words, “Ferrybridge and Australian Potteries,” sometimes impressed, and at others printed on the goods, with the names of the bodies, as “granite,” “stone china,” &c., added.

Swinton-Rockingham China.

When pot-making was first practised in Swinton and its district, it is, of course, impossible to say, but I believe that as early, at all events (if not at a much earlier period), as quite the beginning of last century, a hard brown ware, of much the same quality as that made at Nottingham and Chesterfield, was produced on Swinton Common, where clays useful for various purposes were abundantly found. In 1745, it appears that a Mr. Edward Butler, seeing the advantage offered by the locality through its clays, which consisted of a “common yellow clay used for the purposes of making bricks, tiles, and coarse earthenware; a finer white clay for making pottery of a better quality; an excellent clay for making fire-bricks; and also a white clay usually called pipeclay;” established a tile-yard and pot-works for common earthenware, on a part of the estate of Charles, Marquis of Rockingham, which lay closely contiguous to Swinton Common, where these clays existed. The memory of this old potter, the founder of the works which afterwards became so famous as the “Royal Rockingham China Works,” is, it is pleasant to record, at the present day preserved in the name of a field near the now ruined factory, called “Butler’s Park.” Butler at these works produced the ordinary classes of goods then in use, but principally the hard brown ware to which I have just alluded. An interesting example of this period was in the possession of the late Dr. Brameld, and is engraved on Fig. 866. It is a “posset-pot” of the usual form of those which, at that period, were in such general use in Derbyshire and Yorkshire; it bears the date of 1759. This interesting example has a fragment of a label, written at “Swinton Pottery,” which authenticates it as having been made by, or for, John Brameld.

In 1765 the works were taken by William Malpass, who held another small pot-work at Kilnhurst, in the same neighbourhood, and he continued them for some years. With him were associated in partnership, I believe, John Brameld, and subsequently his son, William Brameld, of whom I shall have more to say presently. Mr. Malpass continued to manufacture the same varieties of ware as his predecessor, and held the works, or rather was a partner in them, at all events as late as 1786.

In 1778 Mr. Thomas Bingley became a principal proprietor of the Swinton works, and had for partners, among others, John and William Brameld, and a person named Sharpe. Mr. Bingley was a member of a family of that name which had been resident at Swinton for more than four hundred years, and is now worthily represented in the person of Mr. Thomas Bingley, who still resides there. The firm at this time was carried on under the style of Thomas Bingley & Co., and, being thriving, indeed opulent, people, the works were greatly enlarged, and conducted with much spirit. An extensive trade was at this time carried on, and besides the ordinary brown and yellow wares, blue and white dinner, tea, coffee, and other services were made, as also a white earthenware of remarkably fine and compact body, and other wares of good quality.

A highly interesting example of this period, 1788, is shown on the accompanying engraving (Fig. 867), which exhibits a two-handled drinking-cup, with the name of one of the proprietors, “William Brameld,” on one side, and the date “1788” on the other. This curious cup, which is five and a quarter inches in height, is of fine white earthenware with a bluish coloured glaze. The upper part, both inside and out, two narrow borders round the centre, the handles, and the base, are ornamented with blue transfer-printing. The rest of the vessel is black, the name, date, and ornaments upon it being gilt. The borders of blue printing are much the same as those around “willow pattern” plates, and from this it may be inferred that the “willow pattern” was at that period produced in Swinton.

From about the year 1787 down to 1800, the firm traded under the style of “Greens, Bingley, & Co.” This was consequent on some of the Greens of the “Leeds Pottery,” (which see)—having become partners, and taken an active part in the Swinton manufactory, with Mr. Bingley, Mr. Brameld, and those who were connected with them in those works. Mr. John Green became acting manager of the Swinton works, and afterwards, as I am informed, founded the “Don Pottery.”

I possess some original letters from John Green, dated “Leeds Pottery,” of April and June, 1788, addressed to “Mr. John Brameld, Swinton, near Rotherham,” giving directions not only concerning the works themselves, but relating to the partnership:—

In the same letter he speaks of consignments of flint by Mr. Brearey to Selby and Tadcaster. He also offers Brameld from himself and partners a commission of 5 per cent. on all “wearing apparell sould to your works.”

The partnership with John Green was carried on in the style of “Greens, Bingley, & Co., Swinton Pottery;” and the same price-lists which were printed at Leeds with the Leeds pottery heading, had that heading cut off, and that of “Greens, Bingley, & Co., Swinton Pottery,” written in its place. Later on large fresh price-lists were printed. They were headed “Greens, Hartley, & Co., Swinton Pottery, make, sell, and export wholesale all sorts of Earthenware, Cream Coloured or Queens, Nankeen Blue, Tortoise Shell, Fine Egyptian Black, Brown China, &c., &c. All the above sorts enameled, printed, or ornamented with gold or silver.” On the fly-leaf was a printed circular, dated “Swinton Pottery, 1st February, 1796,” announcing an advance in prices and a revised system of counting.

The patterns used at Leeds were evidently, to some extent, adopted at Swinton; and I possess some original drawings and designs on which the numbers for each of those works are given. For instance, in teapots, Leeds No. 149 was Swinton No. 68; Leeds 133 was Swinton 69; 218 was 70; and 252 was 71, and so on.

Late in the last century, about the time of which I am now writing, a peculiar kind of ware was first made at these works, and took the name of “Brown China,” and afterwards that which it has ever since maintained where attempted to be made, of “Rockingham Ware.” This ware, which is of a fine reddish-brown, or chocolate colour, is one of the smoothest and most beautiful wares that has ever been produced at any place. The body is of fine hard and compact white earthenware, and the brown glaze, by which the peculiar shaded and streaky effect of this class of goods was produced is as fine as it is possible to conceive, and required to be “dipped” and passed through the firing no fewer than three times before it could be considered perfect. In this exquisite ware tea, coffee, and chocolate services, jugs, drinking-cups, &c., were produced, and continued to be made to the close of the works in 1842. Since that time “Rockingham ware”—in every instance falling far short of the original in beauty and in excellence—has been made by almost every manufacturer in the kingdom, and has always, especially for tea and coffee pots, met a ready and extensive sale. One special article produced in this ware was the curious coffee pot, formed on purely scientific principles, which is usually known to collectors as the “Cadogan pot.” This curious piece was formed on the model of an example of green Indian ware, said to have been brought from abroad[115] by the Marquis and Marchioness of Rockingham, or the Hon. Mrs. Cadogan, and preserved fifty or sixty years at Wentworth before it was thought of being copied. It has a small opening in the bottom to admit the coffee, but none at the top and no lid. From the hole in the bottom a tube, slightly spiral, was made to pass up inside the vessel to within half an inch of the top, so that after filling, on the “pot” being turned over into its proper position for table use, the coffee was kept in without chance of spilling or escape.

It is worthy of remark that tea and “Cadogan” coffee pots of genuine Rockingham ware, the first of which was made for the Marchioness of Rockingham, have the reputation of being by far the best of any, and are said, I know not upon what principle, to produce a better and purer flavour than any others.[116] I have been told it as a fact, that George IV., who was as great a connoisseur in tea as he was in many far less harmless matters, invariably, for a long time, used one of the then fashionable Rockingham ware pots. I have it from undeniable authority that the royal penchant for this kind of ware thus arose. When he, while Prince Regent, visited Wentworth House, the seat of Earl Fitzwilliam, these teapots were in use, and were much admired. On the return of the prince and suite to London, inquiries were made for them at John Mortlock’s, in Oxford Street, who supplied the palace. He at once saw that they would come into considerable repute, ordered largely, contracted to have his own name stamped upon them, and enjoyed the questionable reputation of being their inventor. Mr. Mortlock, I believe, ordered as much as £900 worth of this ware in one season alone.