“Chelsea buns,” “Chelsea pensioners,” and “Chelsea china” are surely three things, each one in itself sufficient to make a place famous, but when brought together, a three-fold fame must certainly attach to the locality which has given them a name. With the buns and the pensioners, however, I disclaim all connection in my present work. The former are not sufficiently works of Art-manufacture to entitle them to a place in our columns, and the latter are certainly not articles of virtù which can be collected together and stowed away under glass shades by the connoisseur. And yet the “Chelsea Bun-house” has its story—full of interest and of incident—and the “Hospital” has a history and a host of associations connected with it, which render these two places memorable, and give them an imperishable interest. It is with the “China”—the third of the matters I have named, and of whose story the least is known—that I have now to do. The establishment of the Bun-house, and its history to the latest time, is easily traced out and written; the foundation of the Hospital, and the events which have from time to time filled it with pensioners, are matters of record which are easily gathered together; but the formation of the china works, and many of the changes the establishment has undergone, are lost to us, and will be difficult to recover. It is my object here to attempt to get back so much as may be of the early history of the works, and to throw together the scraps I have collected, into the form of a narrative, which may become the nucleus of a larger and more extended history, as fresh facts are brought to light in the course of my own investigations or of those of others interested in the matter.
It is better to state at the outset that the history of the Chelsea China Works is very obscure. In fact, a London fog, such as is proverbial in the month in which I write (November), seems to have closed around, and enveloped the place in such a dense mass as to make it next to invisible. A little of this cloud of mist I have already removed, and I trust that in the course of future researches I may be able to almost entirely dispel it. At all events, every item of information is valuable, and in the following narrative a vast deal of new matter will be found, which will materially assist the collector in understanding the history of these, the most celebrated of any of the old china manufactories of the United Kingdom.
The south-western district of London, on both sides of the water, has, as I have already shown, for a long period, been the seat of fictile manufactories of an extensive and important character. Fulham, Chelsea, Battersea, Vauxhall, Pedler’s Acre, Lambeth—all had their potteries at an early date, and all, probably, had their origin from one common source. What that first source was—i.e., where the first pottery was founded—is, of course difficult to say, but from it others sprung up, in different directions, until quite a nest of manufactories was located in the suburban districts. The artisans of the seventeenth century were chiefly Dutchmen; indeed, the manufacture was of that kind of ware known as “Delft-ware”—originally made in Holland, and introduced into England by workmen from thence. The importation of “Delft-ware” in this (seventeenth) century was considerable, and at that period the manufacture of a kind of porcelain is said to have been achieved at Delft.
I have shown on another page that large quantities of ware were imported into England from Holland in the seventeenth century, and that Dutch workmen of skill and enterprise were induced, from the prospect of a good home trade here, to settle in England. These workmen, it is not too much to believe, were acquainted with the art of manufacturing porcelain as produced in Delft, as well as the ordinary kind of ware made in their native country; and thus the knowledge was brought into our kingdom, and carried on, to some little extent, by those who settled here. The first maker of china, as I have shown in my account of the Fulham Works, was Mr. Dwight, and to him I am inclined to award the honour of being the father of the Chelsea China Works, about whose origin so little is known. The probability is that after Dwight had succeeded in making porcelain, and abandoned it, some other potter started the works at Chelsea, and with good result.
When first commenced they were, of course, of a very small size, and were, it is said, principally confined to painting and finishing Oriental china, which was imported for that purpose. There is a tradition—but only tradition—that the origin of the Chelsea works took its rise from the fact of clay being brought as ballast in vessels from Chinese ports, which was found to be the veritable clay used by the Oriental potters. This clay is said to have been used both at Chelsea and at Bow, and to have enabled the workmen successfully to compete with their Eastern rivals. The tradition, however, goes on to recount that the Chinese, finding that the uses of this clay had been discovered, and perceiving that they were losing trade in consequence, wisely “stopped the supplies,” and peremptorily refused to allow any more to leave their ports. The workmen were then driven to seek elsewhere for material, and, as a matter of course, soon found enough to use in our country.
By whom the works were carried on in their early days is not recorded, but in the year 1745 the art had evidently attained a high continental as well as home celebrity. In this year the French company, in their petition for the exclusive privilege of establishing a porcelain manufactory at Vincennes, urged the benefit which France might be expected to derive by having a manufactory of porcelain which should counteract the reputation of English and German make, and stop their importation into France. There is nothing to show that Chelsea, any more than Bow, was intended by this; but as ten years later, according to Rouquet, “that of Chelsea is the most considerable” of the three or four china manufactories in the neighbourhood of London, it is probable it was then one of the seats of manufacture of which France was jealous.
George II. gave the Chelsea establishment his countenance and earnest support, and did much to encourage its works, and to ensure its success. He procured for it workmen, models, and materials from the State of Saxony, and thus enabled the factory to produce works of such high merit as to successfully rival the productions of Sèvres and Dresden. This royal patronage of course produced its results, in procuring the patronage of many of the leading men of the day. Thus, the Duke of Cumberland not only took it under his special care, but allowed a sum of money annually for its furtherance and support. In 1750 it belonged to M. Nicholas Spremont, or Sprimont, a foreigner of considerable taste and talent, who did much towards establishing its already acquired reputation. At this time the productions of the establishment must have been of a particularly high order. In Watkins’s “Life of Queen Charlotte,” it is stated that “there are several rooms in Buckingham Palace full of curiosities and valuable movables, but not ranged in proper order. Among other things I beheld with admiration a complete service of Chelsea china, rich and beautiful in fancy beyond expression. I really never saw any Dresden near so fine. Her Majesty made a present of this choice collection to the duke, her brother—a present worthy of so great a prince.” Horace Walpole, too, in 1763, wrote, “I saw yesterday (March 3, 1763) a magnificent service of Chelsea china, which the king and queen are sending to the Duke of Mecklenberg. There are dishes and plates without number, an epergne, candlestick, salt-cellars, sauce-boats, tea and coffee equipages, &c. In short it is complete, and cost £1,200.”
In the Lansdowne MSS.[57] in the British Museum is a curious document relating to the Chelsea works, which, being particularly interesting, I here give in full. It is entitled “The case of the Undertaker of the Chelsea manufacture of Porcelain Ware.”
“Many attempts towards this art have been made in Europe for a long course of years past; the success which has been met with at Dresden has revived these pursuits in many parts of Europe.
“The Empress Queen has a manufacture of her own.