Broseley.
Broseley Pipe Works.—Broseley is perhaps more universally known as a seat of the manufacture of tobacco-pipes than in any other way; for in this particular it has “held its own” against other localities for about three centuries, and seems still likely to do so for three centuries more, should the habit of smoking continue so long. As a few words must in the course of this work be said upon this branch of ceramic art, it may be well here to introduce it; and I cannot do better than give, in an abridged and altered form, what, some years ago, I drew up for the pages of the Reliquary.[85]
The period at which the introduction of tobacco into England took place is a vexed question, which it is not necessary here to attempt to solve. To Sir Walter Raleigh, Mr. Ralph Lane (his governor of Virginia, who returned to England in 1586), Sir John Hawkins (1565), Captain Price, Captain Keat, and others, have respectively been assigned the honour of its introduction and of its first use in this country. But, at whatever period tobacco was introduced, it must not, I think, be taken for granted that to that period the commencement of the habit of smoking must be ascribed. It may reasonably be inferred, from various circumstances, that herbs and leaves of one kind or other were smoked medicinally, in this country, long before the period at which tobacco is generally believed to have been first brought to England. Coltsfoot, yarrow, mouse-ear, and other plants are still smoked by the people, for various ailments, in rural districts, and are considered highly efficacious, as well as pleasant; and I have known them smoked through a stick from which the pith had been removed, the bowl being formed of a lump of clay rudely fashioned at the time, and baked at the fireside. I have no doubt that pipes were in use before “the weed” was known in our country, and that it took the place of other plants, but did not give rise to the custom of smoking.
It is difficult to assign dates to these early pipes, but the one represented in Fig. [645] is probably Elizabethan. It bears on its spur a rose. Mr. Crofton Croker considered that the smaller the pipe, the more distant its date, and therefore he assigned the diminutive example shown on Fig. [648], of its full size, to an early period. This idea, which originated in the knowledge that tobacco was an extremely expensive luxury when first imported, and as it gradually decreased in value allowed a larger indulgence to the smoker, will not, I think, hold good, for dated examples show that some of the later specimens are far less capacious than others which are of an undoubtedly earlier period. The form of the pipe is generally a better criterion of age than its size, though even this cannot always be depended upon. Adopting Mr. Croker’s arrangement as to periods, the following series of examples, partly selected from pipes in my own possession, will be useful to the collector, and enable him pretty accurately to appropriate any specimens which may come under his notice. The engravings are, of course, of a reduced size. Fig. [649] is of similar form to the one above; it is probably Elizabethan.
Figs. 645 to 665.—Old English Clay Pipes.
The next example Mr. Croker assigned to the period of James I. or Charles I. It does not differ very materially in shape from the preceding specimens. Of pipes of this period, a large variety of shapes might be adduced. These forms may be understood from the figures in the accompanying group, copied from engravings of the period. The dates are, No. 1, 1630; 2, 1632; 3, 1640; 4, 1641. The latter example is of the same shape as those known to have been in use in the reign of Elizabeth, and is pretty nearly similar to Mr. Croker’s example. The same form is found in use through several reigns. The usual shape of the period, however, will be seen on Figs. [1], [2], and [3].
The barrel-shaped pipe, engraved as an example of the period comprising the Commonwealth and the reign of Charles II., is from Devonshire, and may be taken as the usual type of that era. Of this period, the examples given are chosen principally from Traders’ tokens. One (2) will be seen to be of the form usually ascribed to William III.’s reign. The dates of these specimens are 1, 1650; 2, 1666 (Dunstable); 3, 1688 (Chipping Norton); 4, probably same year (Southwark); 5, 1669 (Leeds). Pipes were made at Leeds from a peculiar vein of clay found there.
Mr. Croker considered the pipes of the reign of William III. to have had bowls of the elongated form (Figs. [662 and 663]), and it would appear probable that this is correct, for at the places where his Dutch troops were stationed, the pipes of this and the accompanying form are most abundant. Barrel-shaped bowls were, however, still in use, and I have copied one from Mr. Fairholt’s book, on which the date 1689 is incised. That these long pipes were not imported in very large quantities, may be gleaned from the following highly interesting notice, which I quote from Houghton:—
“The next are tobacco-pipes, of which came from Holland, gross one hundred and ten, chests four. I have seen some very long ones and also small from thence, that truly are very fine. If there comes no more, they’ll do us no great hurt. I think they must be permitted to be patterns to set our people on work, and if our smoakers would use none but fine ones, I question not but we should make as fine as anybody.”[86]
From this it appears that, in 1694, only 110 gross, or four chests, of Dutch pipes were imported, and this included both sorts—the “very long ones and also small.” It is worthy of note, for comparison’s sake, that in the same year from Holland 12,000, and from Germany 23 tons, of “marbles for boys to play with,” were imported.
Figs. 666 to 676.—Old Broseley Clay Pipes.
The long-bowled pipes continued in use to the middle of last century, and representations of them may be found on engravings of the period, thus showing that they gradually merged from the bulbous into the elongated form of the time of William III., and so passed on to the wide-mouthed shape of the present day. The heel or spur also changed from the flat form—made to rest the pipe upon during or after use—to the long pointed one now so common, and which took its rise probably from the Dutch. It must be remembered, however, that the Dutch were originally indebted to England for the introduction of pipe-making into that country.
Usually the old pipes were perfectly plain, with the general exception of a milled border, impressed by hand, not in the mould, running round the mouth. It is also worthy of remark, that the bowls of many of the older pipes are scraped into form after having been moulded. Sometimes ornamented examples are met with, but they are of extremely rare occurrence. Mr. Croker had one which he considered to have been of foreign make, but which I think there is little doubt is of English manufacture: and the one in my own possession (Fig. [646]) presents some very interesting features; in form it closely resembles one of the examples of James I. and Charles I., and I have no doubt, from the form of the letters, that I am right in appropriating it to that period.
It is not very easy to localise pipes, for but little is known of places where they were made, and the manufacture was of course of so small an extent that it is difficult to trace it. In November, 1601, Mr. Secretary Cecil alludes, in a speech, to a then existing patent of monopoly enjoyed by tobacco-pipe makers; and in 1619 the craft of pipemakers were incorporated, their privileges, according to Stowe, extending through the cities of London and Westminster, the kingdom of England, and dominion of Wales. They were governed by a master, four wardens, and about twenty-four assistants. These privileges were confirmed by subsequent monarchs. At Derby several generations of pipemakers have uninterruptedly carried on business, and it was in one of these ovens that the first pieces of Derby china were fired. The pipes made at Winchester were, in Ben Jonson’s time, great favourites; they were said to be the best then made, and far superior to those of Vauxhall and other places. In the neighbourhood of Bath, pipes were apparently made in the beginning of the seventeenth century, the makers’ names being Thomas Hunt, Henry Putley, Rich. Greenland, Rich. Tyler, and Jeffry Hunt; and some of the examples bear a shield with a branch of the tobacco-plant. At Lichfield they were made to a large extent, as also at Newcastle-under-Lyme, and indeed they were produced in most parts of the country.
From the smallness of size of these early pipes has, I presume, arisen their common name of “Fairy Pipes,” varied sometimes into “Elfin Pipes,” “Mab Pipes,” “Danes Pipes,” etc. They are also sometimes called “Celtic” and “Old Man’s Pipes,” and I have heard them designated by the characteristic name of “Carls Pipes,” a name indicative of a belief in their ancient origin.[87] In Ireland, they are believed to have belonged to the Cluricanes, a kind of wild, mischievous fairy-demon, and when found are at once broken up by the superstitious “pisantry.” In England, they are said to have belonged to the fairies or “old men,” but, unlike their Irish brethren, our peasantry usually preserve them, and in some districts believe that a certain amount of good luck attends their possession. I have known one of these pipes carried about the person for years, and have heard its owner—a Peak-man—declare in his native dialect, on being asked to part with it, “Nay, a’d part wi’ a towth sowner!” A quantity of these “fairy pipes” were found in the parish of Old Swinford, Worcestershire, some few years ago, “and the country folks there had a tradition that it was a favourite spot for the resort of Queen Mab and her court, and that among other appendages of royalty was a fairy-pipe manufactory, of which these were the remains.”
Broseley has been so long famous for its tobacco-pipes, that a “Broseley” is a term familiar to smokers all over the world. That this locality should have been chosen as the place par excellence for their manufacture, is to be accounted for by the excellent clay of the district.
The white pottery found at Wroxeter is made of clay from the Severn Valley, and this shows that the Broseley or other clays were worked at a very early period of our history. The Shirlot clay, of which a few pipes were made at Shirlot and Much-Wenlock, is of a coarse texture, and very inferior to the Devon pipeclay, of which most are now made. This might lead us to suppose that the earliest manufacturers of pipes at first used the clay found in the neighbourhood, but discarded it for the purer clays which they obtained from Devonshire; but I feel assured the Shirlot and Wenlock pipes are not of very ancient date. In the late Mr. Thursfield’s collection were many with marks on the spur. Some of these marks exhibit the maker’s name in full, some abbreviated, others initials only, and one has a gauntlet on the bowl, with S. D. (probably the initials of Samuel Decon, who was alive in 1729) on the spur; three bowls alone only bear dates, viz., Richard Legg, 1687; John Legg, 1687; and John Legg, 1696. These three are engraved on page 293. “I have carefully examined the Broseley parish register,” Mr. Thursfield informed me, “which dates back as early as 1572, and find in 1575, 17th Elizabeth (ten years before Sir Walter Raleigh introduced tobacco), that Richard Legg had a daughter baptized. I therefore consider him to be the father of Broseley pipemakers, for even at the present day some of his descendants follow the trade in this place—from various causes no longer as masters—and still bear the family names of Richard and John Legg. A stone slab let into the front of a substantial cottage, with the words ‘Richard Legg built this, 1716,’ testifies to the well-to-do position held by the family in the early part of the eighteenth century.” The name of Ben Legg also occurs on a pipe found in Worcestershire. The names of the pipemakers at Broseley, judging from the examples I have seen, appear to commence first as follows:—Clarke in 1647, Roden in 1681, Legg 1575, Darbey 1700, Decon 1608, Evans 1615, Hughes 1641, Hartshorne 1620, James 1600, Jones 1590, Price 1608, Partridge 1718, Overton 1700, Smith 1709, Shaw 1630, Wilksone 1733, and Ward 1700. Other names (Brown, Bradley, Dry, Hart, Harper, Overley, and Roberts, for instance) occur as pipemakers here in the olden time.
More than a hundred years ago, the pipemakers began to stamp their names and residences on the stems of the pipes instead of the spurs, the stems being, in many instances, 16 or 18 inches or more in length. They likewise made a small twist or bead mid stem, at such a length from the bowl, that when held between the fingers at that spot, the pipe was balanced.
A pipe-maker, named Noah Roden, brought the long pipes to great perfection, and supplied most of the London clubs and coffee-houses of that day; he died about 1829, and his business was carried on by the late William Southorn, who made great strides in improving the manufacture, and whose eldest son is now carrying on the famed business of maker of the patent and genuine “Real Broseleys.”
About the middle of last century, and since, the Rodens were famous makers of pipes at Broseley, and to them is due the introduction of “churchwardens” and “London straws,” and they were succeeded in the early part of this century by Mr. Southorn, father of the present well-known maker, Mr. Edwin Southorn. The works at present carried on by Mr. Edwin Southorn were established about 1830 by Noah Roden. In 1856 they passed into the hands of Mr. Southorn, and from that time forward their progress has been of marked improvement in every branch of the manufacture. In 1860 Mr. Southorn introduced the process of transfer printing upon pipes, the same as practised in other branches of ceramics. By this means the crests or armorial bearings, names, mottoes, or monograms of his patrons, trade marks or initials of firms, and signs and names of hotels and inns are produced, as are also other devices in colours. In 1868 Mr. Southorn introduced steam-power into his manufactory, and has rendered it available to all parts of his works; he is thus enabled to produce an enormous quantity, counting at the present time about 10,500 gross or 1,500,000 pipes in the course of a year. The “Broseleys” thus, not only in quantity but in quality—for they are the finest produced both in form, in quality of clay, in beauty of surface, and in manipulation of any made—surpass all others. In 1851, Mr. Southorn received honourable mention as “superior tobacco-pipes” at the Exhibition in that year. Mr. Southorn has also introduced the plan of dipping, or “tipping,” his pipes at the mouth-piece with green or any other coloured glaze, which is one of the most marked improvements of modern days.
The variety of pipes produced at these works is somewhat remarkable. Among these are “large bowls,” 21 inches long; “long plain,” 22 inches long; “long Broseley straws,” or “aldermen,” 27 inches long, “fit for an alderman or a king;” “long straws,” or “churchwardens,” 25 inches long, which Dr. Richardson, at the Bath meeting of the British Association, says are unquestionably the best of pipes; “London straws,” 16 inches; “Raleigh straws,” “Lord Crewes,” 27 inches long; “long Dutch straws,” 28 inches long; “short Broseley straws,” “short tips,” “plain tips,” “S. D. straws,” “dhudeens,” “peg-top straws,” “ovarium straws,” “billiard,” “cutty,” “yachting,” “Broseley meerschaums,” and a score of other kinds. One of the specialities, however, of Mr. Southorn’s productions is his “patent Broseley Narghilé.” In this “the pipe, which is formed of clay noted for its fineness and remarkably porous qualities, is enclosed for a portion of its length in a glass tube, which is filled with water; and the action of the water is to draw away the colouring matter and narcotic poison from the smoke before reaching the smoker’s mouth. The proof of this is in the gradual colouring of the water; which may be readily discharged and the tube refilled. A further effect is coolness of the extremity. The glass tubes are supplied from the Broseley pipe works in every variety of style, and we have never seen so much fine art taste combined with utility as in these, some of them vieing with the ancient Venetian glass in the combination of opaque and clear, &c. It is to be understood that by the ‘Narghilé’ is meant the attachment, or tube containing water, which is removable at the pleasure of the holder; a title that serves to recall the luxurious and costly water-pipes of Turkey, to which, in all their best qualities, this patent completely answers. The ‘patent’ Broseley pipe is manufactured specially for the Narghilé, and is the only clay pipe for which it is adapted. It is evident that a clay, either more or less porous than are these tobacco-pipes, would be equally unsuitable; and what is very remarkable, and shows the perfection to which the manufacture has been carried, these pipes are uniform in porousness, in part due to their being manufactured of the very finest and purest clay.”
Many of the forms adopted by Mr. Southorn are adaptations of mediæval examples, and others are of the most artistic and elegant outline. The mark used by him is usually the name “E. SOUTHORN, BROSELEY,” impressed on the stem. Sometimes his name with the royal arms appears printed on the bowl.
The other pipemakers at Broseley at the present day are Mr. William Southorn, of the late firm of William Southorn and Co.; and Richard Tomkis; but of these it is not necessary to speak.