The mark is the one here engraved. It is two bells, surrounded by the words “Belle Vue Pottery, Hull;” but sometimes the bells alone appear, without the lettering. In the possession of the late Mr. Bagshawe were some of the later accounts of these works, from which a good idea of the extent to which the operations were carried on may be gleaned. For instance, in 1837, four years before the close of the works, the expenses were as under:—

Slip Men£96190
Flat Men14449
Pressers47110
Throwers and Turners37656
Saggar Making331511
Cock Spurs261810
Modelling2100
Printing164011
Biscuit Firemen591611
Biscuit Painting89188
Gloss Firemen11394
Packing, &c.104198
Engineer79105
Enamel Painting76179
£1,434196

The works have been entirely discontinued since 1841, and the site included in the extensive engineering works of Messrs. C. D. Holmes & Co.

In 1804, Mr. William Clowes (also from the Staffordshire pottery district), one of the founders of Primitive Methodism, worked at the Hull pottery. Mr. Clowes was born at Burslem in 1780; he “came from Nottingham to Hull to establish a missionary centre, on the 15th of January, 1819;” the day after his arrival “he informs us that he visited the Pottery by the Humber Bankside, where he had worked as a potter fifteen years before, but he found the working of the pottery had been discontinued;” i.e., I presume it was then in a transition state before being transferred to Mr. Bell by the brothers Ridgway.

Stepney Lane.—At the present time a small pottery for the manufacture of the common brown ware pancheons, flower-pots, &c., is still carried on by the successors of Mr. Mayfield, of the Stepney Paper Mills, Hull.

Leeds.

There is no doubt that pottery has been made at Leeds, or in its immediate neighbourhood, from the earliest times of our British history. Celtic and Romano-British relics have, from time to time, been found in the neighbourhood, which were, without doubt, made at the place; and the village of Potters Newton evidently takes its name from a colony of potters having settled there in early times. That it was so in days of yore is evidenced by the fact of the name appearing in deeds of the thirteenth century. In later times coarse brown earthenware was made in Leeds, as were also tobacco-pipes in the reign of Charles II. These were made from clays found at Wortley—the same bed of clay which was worked for the old Leeds pottery, and is still used for making yellow ware and saggars at the present day. The manufacture of tobacco-pipes at Leeds was established in the latter part of the seventeenth century, and was carried on somewhat extensively for several years. Ralph Thoresby, in his “Ducatus Leodiensis,” published in 1714, in his account of Wortley Hundred says: “Here is a good vein of fine clay, that will retain its whiteness after it is burnt (when others turn red), and therefore used for the making of tobacco-pipes, a manufacture but lately begun at Leeds.” Probably to the existence of this bed of fine clay is to be attributed the establishment of the pot works at Leeds, to which I am now about to direct attention.

Of the date of the first establishment of the Leeds pot works nothing definite is known. It is, however, certain that they were in existence about the middle of last century, and that they were then producing wares of no ordinary degree of excellence. Before this time a kind of delft-ware was made, and I have seen some very creditable copies of Oriental patterns, with salt glaze, also produced at these works. Delft-ware, however, was only made to a small extent, and was soon succeeded by the manufacture of that fine cream-coloured earthenware which made the works so famous, and enabled them in that particular branch to compete successfully with Wedgwood and other makers. As early as 1770 considerable progress had been made in the ornamental productions, and I have seen dated examples of open and embossed basket-work ware of a few years later (1777 and 1779), which are as fine as anything produced at the time.

The first proprietors of whom there appears to be any record were two brothers named Green, in 1760; and it is believed their earliest productions were in black ware, in which the firm afterwards excelled. It was then carried on by Humble, Green, & Co. “Mr. Wilson has found the draft of an agreement, dated November 11, 1775, whereby ‘Joshua Green, of Middleton, gent., John Green, of Hunslet, potter, with divers others, under the firm of Humble, Green & Co.,’ agree with Messrs. Hutchinson and Evers to erect and maintain in repair at their mill a water-wheel, with all necessary machinery for grinding flints. For thirteen years the wheel was to be used exclusively by the Greens, who were to supply burnt flints and to pay 10s. for every 100 pecks of well ground and levigated flints, the workmen’s wages being first deducted.” In 1783 the firm was Hartley, Greens, & Company, and they had so far advanced in their work, and were so firmly established and well known by that year as to justify them in issuing a book of “designs” of some of the articles they were then producing. A copy of this rare volume, in my own possession, contains all three of the lists—English, French, and German. The English title is “Designs of sundry Articles of Queen’s, or Cream-colour’d Earthen-Ware, manufactured by Hartley, Greens, & Co., at Leeds-Pottery: with A Great Variety of other Articles. The same Enamel’d, Printed or Ornamented with Gold to any Pattern; also with Coats of Arms, Cyphers, Landscapes, &c., &c. Leeds, 1783.” The list and title-page occupy eight pages, as do also each of the two others—translated into German and French—which accompany it, and which bear the following titles:—“Abrisse von verschiedenen Artickeln vom Königinnen oder gelben Stein-Gute, welches Hartley, Greens, & Comp. In ihrer Fabrick in Leeds verfertigen; Nebst vielen andern Artickeln; Auch dieselben gemahlt, gedruckt oder mit Gold gezieret zu jedem Muster, ebenfalls mit Wapen, eingegrabene Namen, Landschaften, &c., &c., &c. Leeds, 1783.” “Desseins de divers Articles de Poteries de la Reine en Couleur de Creme, Fabriqués à la Poterie de Hartley, Greens, & Co. à Leeds: Avec une Quantité d’autres Articles; Les mêmes émaillés, imprimés ou ornés d’Or à chaque Patron, aussi avec des Armes, des Chiffres, des Paisages, &c. &c. Leeds, 1783.”[107] This catalogue, with some variations, continued to be issued till a much later period. A copy presented by myself in 1865 to the Jermyn Street Museum supplies the plates missing in the former copy. It has no title-page, but is printed on paper bearing a water-mark of 1814. The words “Leeds Pottery” are engraved on each plate of the book. The plates, forty-four in number, are very effectively engraved on copper, and exhibit a wonderful, and certainly exquisite, variety of designs for almost all articles in use, both plain, ornamented, perforated, and basket-work, including services, vases, candlesticks, flower-stands, inkstands, baskets, spoons, &c., &c.[108]