History of Madeley / including Ironbridge, Coalbrookdale, and Coalport

by John Randall

Coalport Porcelain Works.

The first works at Coalport were we believe founded and carried on by William Reynolds, Thomas Rose, Robert Horton, and Robert Anstice; the former William Reynolds, being then Lord of the Manor. The buildings, or a good portion occupied by them are still standing.

Mr. Thomas Rose, and Mr. John Rose, were sons of a respectable farmer living at Sweeney. The latter was a clerk under Mr. Turner, at Caughley, and left him to take the Jackfield works about the year, it is said, 1780. Having carried them on for a few years, in conjunction with Mr. Blakeway, during which time he greatly improved the quality of the article manufactured there, he established the present Coalport works on the side of the canal, then recently opened, and opposite to those of Reynolds, Horton, Thomas Rose, and Robert Anstice. On Mr. Turner retiring from the Caughley works in 1799, Mr. Rose and the new company he had formed purchased them, and by means of increased capital shortly afterwards removed both plant and materials from Caughley and Jackfield to the more advantageous position they now occupy, on the banks of the canal and the Severn. Even the buildings were pulled down and the bricks and timber removed to the opposite side of the Severn, where they were used in constructing the cottages now standing opposite to the present Coalport Works.

A staff of excellent work-people had been obtained from Caughley and Jackfield works combined, but an accident occurred on the night of the 23rd of October in that year by the capsizing of the ferry, as the work-people were crossing the Severn, by which twenty-eight were drowned, some among them being the best hands employed at the works. It was a dark night, the boat was crowded, and the man at the helm, not having been accustomed to put the boat over allowed the vessel to swing round in the channel where, with a strong tide running, it was drawn under by the rope which went from the mast to a rock in the bed of the river. Some managed to scramble out on the Broseley side of the stream; but the following were lost, notwithstanding the efforts of those who rushed to the river side on hearing the despairing cries raised to save them. Jane Burns, Sarah Burns, Ann Burns, Mary Burgess, Elizabeth Fletcher, Mary Fletcher, Elizabeth Beard, Jane Boden, Elizabeth Ward, Sarah Bagnall, Sophia Banks, Mary Miles, Elizabeth Evans, Catherine Lowe, Jane Leigh, Charles Walker, George Lynn, James Farnworth, George Sheat, John Chell, Robert Lowe, William Beard, John Jones, Benjamin Gosnall, Benjamin Wyld, Richard Mountford, Joseph Poole.

The event, as may be expected, created a great sensation at the time, and was thus commemorated by Mr. Dyas, one of the Coalport workmen.

Alas! Alas! the fated night
Of cold October twenty third,
In seventeen hundred ninety-nine;
What cries, what lamentation heard,
The hour nine, when from yon pile,
Where fair porcelain takes her form,
Where energy with genius joins,
To robe her in those matchless charms,
A wearied band of artists rose,
Males and females, old and young,
Their toil suspend, to seek repose,
Their homes to gain, they bent along.
Sabrina’s stream was near to pass,
And she her frowning waves upraised,
Her mist condensed to darksome haze
Which mocked the light; no star appeared.
Yon boat, which o’er her bosom rides,
Enveloped in the heavy gloom,
Convulsive stretch’d along her sides,
To snatch the victims to their doom.
Soon e’er on board their faltering feet
A monster fell who grasped the helm,
Hove from the shore the distressed crew,
And so the dreadful overwhelm,
Swift horror’s wings o’er spread the tides,
They sink! they rise! they shriek! they cling!
Again they sink; alarm soon flies,
Along their shores dread clamours rise,
But Oh, the bleakest night preventing
Every means to save their breath,
Helpless, hopeless, life despairing
Twenty-eight sunk down in death.
Alas small time for Heaven’s implorings,
Quick sealed their everlasting state,
Or, in misery, or in glory.
The last tribunal will relate,
Here fold, O muse thy feeble wings,
Hope where thou canst, but not decide,
Dare not approach those hidden things,
With mercy, justice, these abide.
Return with sympathetic breath,
See yon distracted mother stands,
Three daughters lost, to heaven she lifts
Her streaming eyes and wringing hands,
Hark! from those dells how deep the wailings,
Fathers, Mothers, join their moans,
Widows, orphans, friends and lovers,
Swell the air with poignant groans;
Recluse in grief, those worthy masters
Silent drop the mournful tear.
Distress pervades surrounding hamlets,
Sorrow weeps to every ear,
Sleepless sighings hail the morning,
Morning brings no soothing ray.

The author of these verses, Mr. Dyas, was a very clever carver on stone and on wood. He engraved the blocks for a work printed by Mr. Edmonds at Madeley, entitled “Alexander’s Expedition down the Hydaspes and the Indus to the Indian Ocean.” He was the author too of an invention world-wide in its benefits, that of the printers’ roller; an invention second only to the art of printing itself, and infinitely superior to thousands of others out of which vast fortunes have been made.

In 1804 the company consisted of Cuthbert Johnson, William Clarke, John Wootton, and John Rose. In 1811 it was John Rose, William Clarke and Charles Maddison. In 1820 they bought the famous Swansea works and entered into an agreement with Messrs. Billingsley and Walker to make a superior kind of porcelain made by them, first at Nantgarw in Glamorganshire, and afterwards at the Cambrian Pottery, Swansea, in the same county. This was a pure soft paste porcelain, superior to any at present produced in the kingdom, and second only to the famous pate tendre of Sevres at the very best period of its manufacture. This china was first made in 1813 by Billingsley, who went from Derby to Worcester, and from there to South Wales. He was an artist, and understood the manufacture in all its branches. He produced a fret body, by mixing the materials, firing them in order to blend them together, then reducing the vitrified substance into clay—a process which was carried on at Old Sevres during the reign of Louis XV.—and thereby produced an article fine in texture, beautifully transparent, and of a delicate waxy hue, very superior to the dingy blue tinge given to much of the best china of that day. Connoisseurs were at once attracted by it, and Mr. Mortlock went down and entered into an engagement to purchase all that Billingsley and his son-in-law could make. Mr. John Rose finding he had lost a customer, whilst orders he was wont to receive were going to South Wales, went over, bought the plant, moulds, and everything, and entered into an agreement with Walker and Billingsley for a period of seven years to make the same quality of china at Coalport. The process however was an expensive one, from the difficulty of working the clay, which wanted plasticity, and also from the loss in the burning, as being a soft body it was apt to melt or warp, and to go out of shape, if it had a little too much fire in the biscuit kiln. About that time, too, Mr. Ryan discovered a very pure felspar in the Middleton, one of the Briedden hills, the true Kaolin, to which the Chinese were indebted for the quality of their egg-shell and other first class china. The fret body was therefore abandoned, the pate tendre for a pate dure, as the French say, and by adding pure felspar to the Cornish stone and clay which contains a large percentage, a good transparent body was obtained at a less cost than by using a fret body. About this time also the Society of Arts offered a prize to any one who should find a substitute for lead in the glaze, the deleterious effects of which told upon the dippers, and produced paralysis; and Mr. Rose by applying felspar to the glaze succeeded in obtaining it. He was awarded the Gold Medal of the Society; and from that time following, for some years, a badge was either attached to the ware or engraved upon it as follows:—“Coalport Felspar Porcelain, J. Rose & Co: the Gold Medal awarded May 30, 1820; Patronised by the Society of Arts.” The Devonports and other manufacturers competed for the prize.

The felspar porcelain however never equalled the original Nantgarw fret body ware for purity and transparency, a white plate of which would at the present time fetch a couple of guineas. It cannot be said that any new element was introduced by using felspar, because the kaolin, contained in Cornish stone and day, as discovered by Cookworthy in 1768, had been, and was now used at Plymouth, Derby, Worcester, Caughley, and Coalport; and by a judicious admixture of this and a free use of bone (phosphate of lime) a good serviceable china was produced. The former gave mellowness, and the latter whiteness, which approached in a degree the qualities of old and Oriental china. In fact Mr. Rose, who had the sole management of the works, spared neither pains nor expense in raising the character of the productions of the Coalport Works, which were now by far the largest porcelain works in the kingdom, if not in the world. Like Minton, he was a man of wonderful energy, being strong in body, having a clear head, a cool judgment, and gifted with remarkable perseverance.

The works were now in a state of prosperity; warehouses were opened in Manchester, London, Sheffield, and Shrewsbury, and a large trade was being done with dealers all over the kingdom. There was plenty of employment, and a good understanding generally prevailed between masters and their work people. Both before and after the strike there were at Coalport, as at other works of the kind elsewhere, an intelligent class of men, among potters and painters, as well as in other departments. Painters, especially, had good opportunities for mental culture and obtaining information. Numbers worked together in a room, one sometimes reading for the benefit of the others, daily papers were taken, discussions were often raised, and in politics the sharp features of party were as defined as in the House of Commons itself. The rooms were nicely warmed, and a woman appointed to sweep up, to bring coals, to keep the tables clean, to wash up dishes, peel potatoes, and fetch water for those who, not living near, brought their meals with them. It is not surprising, therefore, that men, having such advantages, should sometimes rise to higher situations. Some became linguists, some schoolmasters, engineers, and contractors; one, breakfasting with a bishop, whose daughter he afterwards married, saw upon the table, some time since, a service painted by himself when a workman at Coalport. Some were singular characters: old Jocky Hill kept his hunter; John Crowther, a very amiable fellow, exceedingly good natured, and always ready to do a favour to any one who asked him, lived quite a recluse, studying algebra and mechanics. He has suggested many improvements in locomotives, steam paddles, breaks, &c., &c., and had the honour of submitting to the Government the plan of terminating annuities, by which money at that time was raised to carry on the war, and by which we have been saved the burden—so far—of a permanent debt; also of making other suggestions, which have been likewise adopted. He also invented a most ingenious almanack applicable to all time.

Coalport men were usually great politicians; Hunt, Hethrington, Richard Carlile, Sir Francis Burdett, and Cobbett, had their disciples and admirers; and such was the eagerness to get the Register, with its familiar gridiron on the cover, that a man has been despatched to Birmingham for it from one of the rooms, his shopmates undertaking to do his work for him whilst he was away.

The works themselves are ill designed and badly constructed, the greater portion of them having been put up at the latter end of the past and beginning of the present centuries, whilst other portions were added from time to time, with no regard to ventilation or other requirements of health. Consequently there are the most curious ins and outs, dropsical looking roofs, bulging walls, and drooping floors, which have to be propped underneath, to support half a century’s accumulations of china, accumulations amounting to hundreds and hundreds of tons in weight. In entering some of these unhealthy ateliers and passages strangers have to look well to their craniums. Some work-rooms have very stifling atmospheres, charged with clay or flint; the biscuit room notably so. We have said that a good understanding prevailed generally between masters and workmen. There was one notable exception, the great “strike” as it was called, which occurred somewhere in November, 1833; a memorable event in the history of the works, so much so that in speaking of occurrences it is usual to the present time to ask in case of doubt if it happened before or subsequent to the strike. The men had their “Pitcher,” a well conducted sick society; and a “Travelling Society,” for assisting those in search of employment, with branches in all centres of the trade. Trades unions, however, were just then coming to the front. The Combination Laws had been repealed eleven years previously; otherwise, such was the temper of the Shropshire magistrates, and the feeling generally in relation to the trades unions, that had they existed on the statute book not a few would have had to have experienced the penal consequences of their acts. With the men who still adhered to the masters the works continued to be carried on to a limited extent; after much suffering and privation some of the hands returned, whilst some obtained employment elsewhere. The course taken by Mr. John Rose, in resisting the men was warmly approved of by his neighbours, who subscribed for a handsome silver cup, which is now in the possession of Mr. Charles Pugh, who married Miss Martha Rose, daughter of Mr. Thomas, and niece of Mr. John Rose. It is a large and massive piece of plate. A vine stem entwines around the foot and forms the handles, a vine border with grapes also forms a border round the rim of the cover. On one side is the following inscription:

Presented to John Rose Esqr.,
of
Coalport China Manufactory,
By his
Friends and Neighbours
March 3rd
1834.

On the reverse side is the following:

Tribute of respect
to his
Public and Private Character
and to the
uncompromising firmness
with which
he has recently resisted the
demands of an illegal
conspiracy.

We have lived to see trades unions legalized, and trade combinations adopted by masters as well as men.

Mr. Walker had invented a maroon colour dip for grounds, which was used with much success. A good deal was done too about this time in imitation of the Sevres style of decoration, and thousands of pounds were spent in endeavouring to make the famous torquoise of the French; but a pale imitation, called celest, only was obtained; some years afterwards however a much better colour was produced, first by Mr. Harvey, secondly by Mr. Bagshaw, thirdly by Mr. Hancock.

In 1839 the late William Pugh became one of the firm, it then being John Rose, Charles Maddison, and William Pugh. In 1841 it was Charles Maddison, William Pugh, Thomas Rose, and William Frederick Rose. In 1843 William Pugh, and William F. Rose were the proprietors. In 1845 the Messrs. Daniell received the command of the Queen to prepare a dessert service as a present by herself to the Emperor Nicholas, and it was manufactured at the works. It was a magnificent service of bleu de roi, and had the various orders of the Russian Empire enamelled, in compartments, with the order of St. Nicholas, and the Russian and Polish eagles in the centre. In 1850 the famous Rose-du-Barry was discovered. The attempt to do so had been suggested by the Messrs. Daniell, in 1849; and after repeated experiments by Mr. George Hancock, who is still the colour-maker at the works, it was produced. This colour, so named after Mdme du Barry, one of the mistresses of Louis XV, had been formerly made at the Sevres Works, but the art had been lost, and its reproduction created a demand for very rich dessert services and ornaments of the colour. Very costly services of it were produced for the Messrs. Daniell, Mortlock, Phillips, Goode, and other London dealers, which attracted considerable attention at the Exhibition of 1851. One splendid dessert service of it was purchased by Lord Ashburton; others also, after special models and designs, of this colour were subsequently produced for the head of the State, for the Emperor of the French, and for noblemen like the duke of Northumberland, the Marquis of Lansdowne and others.

The following are the remarks of the Jurors on that occasion:—Rose J., and Co., Coalbrook Dale, Shropshire (47, p. 727), have exhibited porcelain services and other articles, which have attracted special attention of the Jury. A dessert service of a rose ground is in particular remarkable, not only as being the nearest approach we have seen to the famous colour which it is designed to imitate, but for the excellence of the flower-painting, gilding, and other decorations, and the hardness and transparency of glaze. The same observation applies to other porcelain articles exhibited by this firm. The Jury have awarded to Messrs. Rose and Co. a Prize Medal. The company also attained medals at the French Exhibition in 1855, and at that of London in 1862.

A good deal has been done of late years in the Sevres style of decoration on vases, the moulds of which came direct from Sevres manufactory. It is a pleasing incident, and one worth mentioning, that some years ago Mr. W. F. Rose in company with Mr. Daniell visited Paris, and of course went to Sevres. Mr. Daniell was at once taken round the works, but Mr. Rose feeling some delicacy remained outside. Mr. Daniell mentioned the delicacy of his friend, and the manager at once sent for him in, and shewed him the greatest respect. He told him he might send his best artists to copy any thing he saw, or employ theirs to do so: and sometime after he sent over the moulds themselves to Coalport.

In 1862 Mr. Pugh became sole proprietor of the works, and continued so to his death, in June 1875. Mr. Charles Pugh, brother of the deceased, and Mr. Edmund Ratcliff, brother-in-law, were left executors; and for an adjustment of claims by them and others the estate was thrown into Chancery and a receiver and manager, Mr. Gelson was appointed. The stock which is immense and had been accumulating for half a century is being brought into the market. Hundreds of dozens of one pattern, “India tree,” for example, which had remained out of sight for forty years, are being brought to light. In some instances a hundred dozen or so of saucers, (printed,) are found stowed away, without cups to match; whilst scores of piles of plates and dishes, sixteen or eighteen feet high, may be seen (white) in others, which had been sorted and put on one side from some defect or other. It speaks well for the quality of the china that the biscuit and glazed are both sound and good. In some cases the floors are literally giving way from the immense weight of stock they have to sustain. In one place a quantity of old Caughley China was discovered; whilst in another were found a number of Caughley copper plates engraved by the late Herbert Minton’s father.

It may excite surprise that so large a stock should have been allowed to accumulate, but much was the result of a wish to keep the men employed. The fact of a number of copper plates being found with his name on, confirms what we have previously said about Thomas Minton, who founded the important commercial house bearing his name and that of his son at Stoke, having been employed as an engraver at Caughley. M. Digby Wyatt, also, in his paper read before the Society of Arts and reported in the Society’s Journal, May 28th, 1858, on the influence exercised on ceramic art by the late Herbert Minton, says:—“Mr. Thomas Minton was a native of Shropshire, and he was brought up at the Caughley works, near Broseley, as an engraver. He then went to town and worked for Spode, at his London House of business.” In 1788 he went to Stoke, bought land, and built the house and works which have since become so celebrated. Up to 1798 however he only made earthenware which was printed and ornamented in blue, similar to that at Caughley.

Mr. Wyatt, in the paper just quoted, speaking of John Rose and of the late Herbert Minton admitted that in the excellent, rapid, and cheap production of porcelain for Mr. Minton to have stood still for a moment would have been to have lost his lead in the trade. And Mr. Daniell, in the discussion which followed, said:—

“With reference to Mr. Minton’s predecessors in this branch of art, he might remind the society of one whose name was upon their records as the recipient of the society’s gold medal for china and porcelain manufactures long before Mr. Herbert Minton’s time. He referred to John Rose, of Coalport, who made more china in his day than all those who were mentioned in the paper.”

It will be seen from what we have written that Thomas Turner, of Caughley, and J. Rose, of Coalport, were the creators, so to speak, of new industries which drew around them large populations and gave employment to thousands who otherwise might have sought for it in vain, or have found it under less advantageous circumstances. It will be seen also that not only were they benefactors contributing materially to the common stock of national prosperity themselves, but that their energies and abilities inspired others who in turn became industrial organisers, and through various channels carried on the work of progress.