On the death of Duesbury the second, his widow married his late partner, a Mr. Michael Kean, an Irishman, and clever artist. This was in 1798. But Kean hastily withdrew from the concern when the third William Duesbury came of age, who for a time carried on the factory under the firm of “Duesbury and Sheffield.” In 1815 the premises passed into the hands of Mr. Robert Bloor.
It was in the year of Waterloo that the third William Duesbury, and last of the great family of potters who had established the factory, leased the premises to Mr. Robert Bloor, who had been a clerk to his father, and had carried on the business during Mr. Duesbury’s minority. Ultimately the entire business passed into the hands of Mr. Bloor, and the name of Duesbury disappears from Derby records.
For some years up till about 1825 or 1830, Mr. Bloor used the Old Derby mark, the crown, cross daggers with dots, and D beneath, but about that period he discontinued it, and adopted instead a mark with his own name. It is well for readers to note that down to the discontinuance of the old mark, it had invariably been done with a pencil, but those adopted by Mr. Bloor were printed.
In our illustrations of the other marks used at Derby we place them in chronological order. The first printed mark used under the Bloor régime was the circle enclosing the crown, and the words “Bloor, Derby,” printed around. In some specimens, of a little later date, the mark is a trifle larger, and the crown more carefully designed. Another mark used occasionally about the year 1830 was the word “Derby” enclosed in a scroll; while on some other specimens of about the same date, or a little later an old English D, surmounted by a crown, is marked, or the word “Derby” in Roman capitals on a ribbon, appears beneath the usual crown.
BLOOR DERBY MARKS.
We now come to a rather painful chapter in the history of the Old Derby, practically a series of misdoings, which terminated the glorious career of so famous a manufactory. It is interesting to see when trade, with its somewhat ruthless methods, comes into conflict with art, with her finer susceptibilities, how art has to go to the wall. It was the same story at Derby.
CROWN DERBY VASE.