“Ordered, That leave be given to bring in a Bill for enlarging the Letters patent.
“And that Mr. Frederick Montagu, Mr. Cruger, Mr. Harris, Mr. Cooper, the Lord Clare, and Mr. Eden, do appear and bring in the same.”
By this time he had prepared and produced some remarkably fine specimens of china made at his works, for examination by the committee, and it is not too much to say that at this period his productions were of the highest rank. The result of his application was the ultimate passing of an Act of Parliament, by which the patent was accordingly enlarged. This Act, which contains a vast deal of valuable and interesting information, I give in extenso, for the benefit of my readers.[93] It was passed in 1775 (15 Geo. III., cap. 52), and is entitled, “An Act for enlarging the term of Letters Patent granted by his present Majesty to William Cookworthy, of Plymouth, Chymist, for the sole use and exercise of a discovery of certain materials for making Porcelain, in order to enable Richard Champion, of Bristol, merchant (to whom the said Letters Patent have been assigned), to carry the said discovery into effectual execution for the benefit of the public.” It is as follows:—
“Whereas his present Majesty King George the Third has been graciously pleased to grant his Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain unto William Cookworthy, Chymist, in the words, or to the effect, following; that is to say: George the Third by the grace of God of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, and so forth, to all to whom these presents shall come, greeting: Whereas, William Cookworthy, of Plymouth, in the County of Devon, Chymist, has by his petition humbly represented unto us that he hath by a series of experiments discovered that materials of the same nature as those of which the Asiatic porcelain is made are to be found in immense quantities in our island of Great Britain, which ingredients are distinguished in our two counties of Devon and Cornwall by the names of moor stone, and growan, and growan clay; that the ware which he hath prepared from these materials hath all the character of the true porcelain in regard to grain, transparency, colour, and infusibility, in a degree equal to the Chinese or Dresden ware: whereas, all the manufactures of porcelain hitherto carried on in Great Britain have been only imitations of the genuine kind, wanting the beauty of colour, and the smoothness and lustre of grain, and the great characteristic of genuine porcelain sustaining the most extreme degree of fire without melting; that this discovery hath been attended with great labour and expense, and, to the best of his knowledge and belief in regard to this kingdom, is new and his own, the materials being, even at this time, applied to none of the uses of pottery but by him and those under his direction; and that he verily believes this invention will be of great advantage to the public. He, therefore, most humbly prayed us that we should be pleased to grant him our Royal Letters Patent for the sole making and vending of this new invented porcelain, composed of moor stone or growan, and growan clay, within that part of our kingdom of Great Britain called England, our dominion of Wales, and the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, for the space of fourteen years, according to the statute in that case made and provided: we, being willing to give encouragement to all arts and inventions which may be for the public good, are graciously pleased to condescend to the petitioner’s request. Know ye, therefore, that we, of our especial grace, certain knowledge, and meet motion, have given and granted, and for these presents our heirs and successors do give and grant unto the said William Cookworthy, his executors, administrators, and assigns, our special licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that he, the said William Cookworthy, his executors, administrators, and assigns, and every of them, by himself and themselves, or by his or their deputy or deputies, servants, or agents, or such others as the said William Cookworthy, his executors, administrators, and assigns shall at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time, and at all times hereafter during the term of years herein expressed, shall, and lawfully may make, use, exercise, and vend his said invention within that part of Great Britain called England, our dominion of Wales, and the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and in such a manner as he, the said William Cookworthy, his executors, administrators, and assigns, or any of them, in their discretions seem meet; and that the said William Cookworthy, his executors, administrators, and assigns shall, and lawfully may, enjoy the whole profit, benefit, commodity, and advantage from time to time coming, growing, accruing, and arising by reason of the said invention for and during the term of years herein mentioned, to have, hold, exercise, and enjoy the said licence, privileges, and advantages hereinbefore granted, or mentioned to be granted, to the said William Cookworthy, his executors, administrators, and assigns, for and during and to the full end of the term of fourteen years from the date of these presents next and immediately ensuing, and fully to be completed and ended according to the statute in such case made and provided, and to the end that he, the said William Cookworthy, his executors, administrators, and assigns, and every of them, may have and enjoy the full benefit and the sole use and exercise of the said invention, according to our gracious intention hereinbefore declared; we do by these presents, for us, our heirs and successors, require and strictly command all and every person and persons, bodies politic and corporate, and all other our subjects whatsoever, of what estate, quality, degree, name, or condition soever they be, within that said part of Great Britain called England, our dominion of Wales, and our town of Berwick-upon-Tweed aforesaid, that neither they nor any of them, at any time during the continuance of the said term of fourteen years hereby granted, either directly or indirectly, do make, use, or practise the said invention or any part of the same so attained unto by the said William Cookworthy as aforesaid, nor in anywise counterfeit, imitate, or resemble the same, nor shall make, or cause to be made, any addition thereunto, or substraction from the same, whereby to pretend himself or themselves to be the inventor or inventors, deviser or devisers thereof, without the licence, consent, or agreement of the said William Cookworthy, his executors, administrators, or assigns, in writing under his or their hands and seals, first had and obtained in that behalf, upon such pains and penalties as can or may be justly inflicted on such offenders for their contempt of this our Royal command; and further, to be answerable to the said William Cookworthy, his executors, administrators, and assigns according to law for his and their damages thereby occasioned; and moreover, we do by these presents, for us, our heirs, and successors, will and command all and singular the justices of the peace, mayors, sheriffs, bailiffs, constables, head boroughs, and all other officers and ministers whatsoever, of us, our heirs, and successors for the time being, that they, or any of them, do not, nor shall at any time hereafter during the said term hereby granted the said William Cookworthy, his executors, administrators, or assigns, or any of them, or his or their deputies, servants, or agents, in anywise molest, trouble, or hinder the said William Cookworthy, his executors, administrators, and assigns, or any of them, or his or their deputies, servants, or agents, in or about the due and lawful use or exercise of the aforesaid invention or anything relating thereto: Provided always, and these our Letters Patent are and shall be upon this condition, that if at any time during the said term here granted, it shall be made to appear to us, our heirs, or successors, or any six or more of our or their Privy Council, that this our grant is contrary to law, or prejudicial or inconvenient to our subjects in general, or that if the said invention is not a new invention as to the public use and exercise thereof, in that part of our kingdom of Great Britain called England, our dominion of Wales, and town of Berwick-upon-Tweed aforesaid, or not invented or found out by the said William Cookworthy as aforesaid, then, upon signification or declaration thereof, to be made by us, our heirs and successors, under our or their signet or Privy Seal, or by the lords of our or their Privy Council, or any six or more of them under their hand, these our Letters Patent shall forthwith cease, determine, and be utterly void to all intents and purposes, anything hereinbefore contained in anywise notwithstanding. Provided also, that these our Letters Patent, or anything herein contained, shall not extend to or be construed to extend to the privileges of the said William Cookworthy, his executors, administrators, or assigns, or any of them, to use or imitate any invention or work whatsoever which has heretofore been found out or invented by any other of our subjects whatsoever, or publicly used or exercised in that part of our kingdom of Great Britain called England, our dominion of Wales, and town of Berwick-upon-Tweed aforesaid, unto whom, the like Letters Patent or privileges have already been granted for the sole use, exercise, and benefit thereof, it being our will and pleasure that the said William Cookworthy, his executors, administrators, and assigns, and all and every person or persons to whom the like Letters Patent or privileges have already been granted as aforesaid, shall distinctly use and practice their several inventions by them invented and found out, according to the true intent and meaning of the said Letters Patent and of these presents. Provided, likewise, nevertheless, and these our Letters Patent are upon this express condition, that the said William Cookworthy, his executors, administrators, or assigns, or any person or persons which shall or may be at any time or times hereafter, during the continuance of this grant, have or claim any right, title, or intent, in law or equity, or of, in, or to the power, privilege, and authority of the sole use of the said benefit hereby granted, shall make any transfer or assignment, or pretended transfer or assignment, of the said liberty and privilege, or any share or shares for the benefit or profit thereof, or shall declare any trust thereof to or for any number of persons exceeding the number of five, or shall open, or cause to be opened, any book or books for public subscriptions to be made by any number of persons exceeding the number of five for such or the like intents or purposes, or shall presume to act as a corporate body, or shall divide the benefit of these our Letters Patent, or the liberty and privileges hereby by us granted, into any number of shares exceeding the number of five, or shall commit or do, or shall procure to be committed or done, any act, matter, or thing whatsoever, during the time such person or persons shall have any right or title, either in law or equity, in or to the said premises which shall be contrary to the true intent and meaning of a certain Act of Parliament, made in the sixth year of the reign of our late royal greatgrandfather King George the First, entituled, ‘An Act for the better securing certain powers and privileges, intended to be granted by his Majesty by two charters, for the Insurance of Ships and Merchandize by Sea, and for laying money out upon bottoming, and for restraining several extravagant and unwarrantable practices therein mentioned,’ or in case the said privilege or authority shall at any time hereafter become vested in, or in trust for, any number of more than five persons or their representatives (reckoning executors or administrators as for the single person whom they represent, as to such interest as they are or shall be entitled to in right of such testator or intestate), that then, and in any of the said cases, these our Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages whatsoever hereby granted, shall utterly cease and become void, anything hereinbefore contained to the contrary thereof, anywise, notwithstanding. Provided also, if the said William Cookworthy shall not particularly describe and ascertain the nature of his invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing, under his hand and seal, and cause the same to be enrolled in our High Court of Chancery within four calendar months next and immediately after the date of these our Letters Patent, that then these our Letters Patent, and all liberties and advantages whatsoever hereby granted, shall utterly cease, determine, and become void, anything hereinbefore contained to the contrary thereof in anywise notwithstanding. And, lastly we do by these presents, for us, our heirs and successors, grant unto the said William Cookworthy, his executors, administrators, and assigns, that these, our Letters Patent, or the enrollment of the exemplification thereof, shall be in and by all things good, firm, valid, sufficient, and effectual in the law, according to the true intent and meaning thereof, and shall be taken, construed, and adjudged in the most favourable and beneficial sense for the best advantage of the said William Cookworthy, his executors, administrators, and assigns, as well in all our Courts of Record as elsewhere, and by all and singular the officers and ministers whatsoever of us, our heirs, and successors in that part of the said kingdom of Great Britain called England, our dominion of Wales, and town of Berwick-upon-Tweed aforesaid, and amongst all and every the subjects of us, our heirs, and successors whatsoever and wheresoever, notwithstanding the not full and certain describing the nature or quality of the said invention, or of the materials thereto conducing and belonging, in witness whereof we have caused these our Letters to be made patent: witness ourself, at Westminster, the seventeenth day of March, in the eighth year of our reign.
“And whereas the said William Cookworthy hath by an instrument in writing, under his hand and seal, described and ascertained the nature of the said invention,[94] and the manner in which the same is to be performed, and hath caused the same to be enrolled in His Majesty’s High Court of Chancery within the time and in the manner directed by the said Letters Patent; and whereas by a deed of assignment, bearing date the sixth day of May, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Seventy-four, the said William Cookworthy (for the consideration therein mentioned) hath assigned all his interest, benefit, and property, in the said Letters Patent and invention, unto Richard Champion, of Bristol, merchant, his executors, administrators, and assigns; and whereas the said Richard Champion hath been at very considerable expense and great pains and labour in prosecuting the said invention, and by reason of the great difficulty attending the manufacture upon a new principle, hath not been able to bring the same to perfection until within the last year, and it will require further pains, labour, and expense, to render the said invention of public utility, for all which trouble and expense the said Richard Champion will not be able to receive an adequate compensation unless the term granted by the said royal Letters Patent be prolonged. To the end therefore that the said Richard Champion may be encouraged to prosecute and complete the said invention, may it please your Majesty (at the humble petition of the said Richard Champion) that it may be enacted, and be it enacted by the King’s most excellent Majesty, by and with the consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, that all and every the powers, liberties, privileges, authorities, rights, benefits, and advantages, which in and by the said Letters Patent were originally given and granted to him the said William Cookworthy, his executors, administrators, and assigns, and no further or greater than he or the said Richard Champion would have been entitled to if this Act had not been made, shall be, and the same are hereby given and granted, to the said Richard Champion, his executors, administrators, and assigns, and shall be held, exercised, and enjoyed by him the said Richard Champion, his executors, administrators, and assigns, for and during the present term of fourteen years granted by the said Letters Patent; and from and after the end and expiration of the said term of fourteen years thereby granted, for and during the further or additional term of fourteen years, in as full, ample, and beneficial manner, in all respects, and to all intents and purposes whatsoever, as he the said Richard Champion, his executors, administrators, and assigns, could have held and enjoyed the same under and by virtue of the said Letters Patent for the term thereby granted, in case the said Letters Patent had been originally granted by his Majesty to him the said Richard Champion, his executors, administrators, and assigns.
“Provided always, and be it further granted and declared by the authority aforesaid, that if the said Richard Champion shall not cause to be enrolled in the High Court of Chancery, within four months after passing this Act, a specification of the mixture and proportions of the raw materials of which his porcelain is composed, and likewise of the mixture and proportions of the raw materials which compose the glaze of the same (which specification is now in the hands of the Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain); or if the same shall not be a true and just specification of the mixture and proportions of the said materials, then this Act shall cease, determine, and be absolutely void, anything hereinbefore contained to the contrary notwithstanding.
“Provided also that nothing in this Act contained shall be construed to hinder or prevent any Potter or Potters, or any other person or persons, from making use of any such raw materials, or any mixture or mixtures thereof (except such mixture of raw materials, and in such proportions, as are described in the specification hereinbefore directed to be enrolled), anything in this Act to the contrary notwithstanding.
“And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that this Act shall be adjudged, deemed, and taken to be a public Act, and shall be judicially taken notice of as such by all judges, justices, and other persons whomsoever, without specially pleading the same.”
Between the time, however, of the committee’s sitting and the passing of the Act, Josiah Wedgwood, whose name is always received with reverence by all who study the history of Ceramic Art, ostensibly as the spokesman of the Staffordshire potters, but really at first alone, opposed the grant, on the ground, among others, that the use of the natural productions of the soil ought to be the right of all, and that the restrictions would be detrimental to trade and injurious to the public. In Wedgwood’s “memorial” against the petition of Champion, which he presented to parliament, “Josiah Wedgwood on behalf of himself and the manufacturers of earthenware in Staffordshire,” urges “that the manufacture of earthenware in that county has of late received many essential improvements, and is continually advancing to higher degrees of perfection; that the further improvement of the manufactory must depend upon the application and the free use of the various raw materials that are the natural products of this country; that the raw materials, now secured for a limited time to the petitioner (Champion) may, at the expiration of the patent assigned to him, be of great use to enable the potters throughout Great Britain to improve their manufactures into the finest porcelain, and thereby produce a branch of commerce of more national importance than any of this kind hitherto established;” that Mr. Champion “was not the inventor, but the purchaser only of the unexpired patent granted to another man, who does not appear to have any interest in this application; that the petitioner, therefore, not being the original discoverer, and having purchased the remaining term of the patent at a proportionate price, can have no right to expect a further extension of a monopoly injurious to the community at large, which neither the ingenious discoverer nor the purchaser, for want perhaps of skill and experience in this particular business, have been able, during the space of seven years already elapsed, to bring to any useful degree of perfection;” and that, if he has brought his discovery to perfection, as alleged, the unexpired term of seven years ought to be enough to enable him to reimburse himself. To this memorial of Josiah Wedgwood’s, Champion presented the following honourable reply:—
“When Mr. Champion presented a petition to the Honourable House of Commons, praying the aid of parliament for a prolongation of the term granted by the Patent for making porcelain, he built his hopes of success on two circumstances: the first, the apparent utility resulting from such a manufacture carried to a perfection equal to that of the Dresden and Asiatic. The second circumstance on which he grounded his expectation was the sense which he hoped the House would entertain of the justice of compensating, by some reasonable privilege, the great labour, expense, and risque which had been incurred, not only in the invention of the material and composition, but in the improvement of this important manufacture. He was also almost certain that no person whatsoever in this kingdom could, on a supposition of their being prejudiced in their rights in a similar property, have had any cause of complaint, or pretence to interfere with him, or to oppose the prayer of his petition.