Fig. 746.—Joseph Fry.
In 1778, Josiah Wedgwood, in a letter, dated August 24th in that year, says, “Poor Champion, you may have heard is quite demolished; it was never likely to be otherwise, as he had neither professional knowledge, sufficient capital, nor scarcely any real acquaintance with the materials he was working upon. I suppose we might buy some growan stone and growan clay now upon easy terms, for they have prepared a large quantity this last year.” This curious letter, whose sympathy was certainly left-handed, did but little credit to Wedgwood—the man who of all others had worked hard to crush him, and had succeeded in so doing. His hope now that Champion was “quite demolished” was that he might be able to gain his point and get the growan stone and clay on easy terms! It is lamentable to feel that a great name could sink so low. It does not appear, however, that Champion ever became bankrupt, or even appealed to his creditors.
Fig. 747.—Book Plate, with Arms of Champion.
In his Bristol works, although only his own name appears in the various documents to which I have alluded, Champion had friends who assisted pecuniarily in his undertaking. One of these friends was Joseph Fry, the grandfather of the present Mr. Francis Fry, F.S.A., of Bristol, whose name is as well known among biblists and connoisseurs in china for his fine collection of old bibles and choice porcelain as the firm to which he belongs is to the general public for the “Fry’s Chocolate” which they manufacture to so large an extent. Mr. Joseph Fry, the friend of Champion, died in 1786, about nine years after the works had been closed on their removal into Staffordshire; and it appears that the only return he got for the capital he had sunk in the concern, was the beautiful set of vases now in the possession of his grandson.
The patent right was sold by Champion, in 1781—not 1777, as stated by Shaw—to a company of Staffordshire potters, who continued the manufacture at New Hall (which see for a continuation of this narrative) for some time, when the ordinary soft-paste china was allowed to supersede it. Thus the works at Bristol were brought to a close, and the manufacture of porcelain was lost to the locality. Champion himself with his family removed for a time into Staffordshire, fixing themselves at Newcastle-under-Lyne, in November, 1781, and there remained until April, 1782, when, having been appointed a Deputy Paymaster-General of the Forces, by Edmund Burke, he left Staffordshire “at a day’s notice,” and removed to London, having apartments at Chelsea Hospital. This appointment he only held till 1784. In October of that year he sailed for Charleston, in South Carolina, and there he died, in 1791.
Fig. 748.—Venus and Adonis, belonging to Lady Charlotte Schreiber.
Bristol china (marked), every description of which, owing to the short time the works were in operation, and other causes, is scarce, is particularly rare in the finer and more highly finished varieties. Fortunately, however, examples of these different varieties, of the very finest kind, are still preserved, and attest most strongly to the extreme perfection to which Champion succeeded in bringing his works. Much discrimination is, nevertheless, required in appropriating examples, and it is well to caution collectors against placing too much reliance on the sweeping way in which, by some writers, all examples are hauled into the Bristol net; and by others into those of Lowestoft and other places.