Huza, &c.
Now fill up your Glasses, and let Mirth abound,
and Joy in our faces appear to all Round,
hears a health to hise Majesty Grate George our King,
To our Worthy Masters, & Mistress Ring.
Huza, &c.”
In 1797 these works are described as “a large pottery,” so they must at that time have been very extensive. In that year a curious reference to “two gentlemen of the name of Ring,” sons, no doubt, to Joseph Ring, occurs in the account of the death of James Doe, a potter who worked there under them, which I have given under the head of Lambeth (see page 137, ante). A mug bearing his name, “J. Doe, Sept. 1797,” is engraved in Mr. Owen’s book. In 1813 a deed of partnership between Joseph Ring (son of the late owner), Henry Carter, and John D. Pountney was drawn up, but through the death of the first-named was not executed. The business was therefore carried on by Pountney and Carter, under the style of Elizabeth Ring & Co., until 1816, when Carter retired and was succeeded by Edward Allies, the style being Pountney and Allies. In 1825–6 it was, according to Chilcott’s and Matthews’ Guides, worked by the firm of Pountney and Allies, and at that time gave employment to about two hundred persons. Mr. Allies retired in 1835, and in the following year Mr. Pountney took into partnership Mr. Gabriel Goldney, who retired in 1850. Mr. Pountney died in 1852, and the works were then carried on by his widow under the style of “Pountney & Co.,” under the management of Mr. Clowes. In 1872, in which year Mrs. Pountney died, the works were purchased by Mr. Halsted Sayer Cobden, who also owns the Victoria Pottery, in Bristol, and by whom they have been much extended, and give employment to about four hundred hands. The goods produced are the ordinary classes of white and printed earthenware, principally for exportation. During Mr. Pountney’s lifetime, some parian figures, &c., were made at these works; and some exquisite examples, made by one of the workmen named Raby, who removed into Staffordshire, were in the possession of the late Mrs. Pountney, as were also some excellent imitations of the Etruscan and other styles. Examples of the early productions of these works are scarce, and it is interesting to state that the good old Bristol mark of the cross was used on some of the pieces of earthenware here made. The mark is sometimes in blue, and sometimes impressed. A name well known in connection with these works is that of William Fifield (and his son John), who was a painter of some merit. One of his plaques—a sportsman with dog, gun, and glass—is, with other examples, in my own possession. It bears on the back his initials, “W. F.,” and the words, “Here’s to my Dog and my Gun, 1855.” The view of the works, painted on four large tiles, and dated May 15th, 1820, now on the wall of the office of the Water Lane Pottery (Fig. [802]), was also painted by him.
Fig. 802.
