The partners at this time (1783–4) composing the firm of Hartley, Greens, & Co. were William Hartley, Joshua Green, John Green, Henry Ackroyd,[109] John Barwick, Samuel Wainwright, Thomas Wainwright, George Hanson, and Saville Green. The business was, it appears, divided into six shares, of which William Hartley, Joshua and John Green, and Henry Ackroyd, had each one; John Barwick and the two Wainwrights half of one each; and George Hanson and Saville Green a quarter share each, the latter acting as “bookkeeper” to the firm. The proprietors were extremely systematic and particular in their mode of keeping accounts and in their dealings with each other. They held regular meetings, and appointed independent and disinterested persons as valuers in each department; for instance, one to value the stock of finished goods in the ware rooms, another the unfinished ware, another the copper plates, another the buildings, others the moulds and models, the windmill, the horses, the waggons and carts, the raw materials, the woodwork, and every imaginable thing. The reports of these various valuers, whose names and awards for many years I have carefully examined, were submitted to a meeting of the partners, when a balance was struck, to which the names of each one were attached.
In 1785, and again in 1786, fresh editions of the catalogue and book of plates were issued, without change either in the number of articles enumerated or in their variety or form. The works at this time had been considerably increased in size, and the wares made were exported in large quantities to Germany, Holland, France, Spain, and Russia. So great had the concern become five years later (1791), that the yearly balance then struck amounted to over £51,500; and it is worth recording that in that year the value of the copper-plates from which the transfer printing was effected was £204, while at the present time they represent about £1,000. These copper-plates consisted of teapot borders, landscapes, Nankin borders, and others. The general stock in this year (1791) was valued at about £6,000, and the windmill at about £1,200. The house of the partners, entered as “Hartley, Green, & Co.’s House,” was at Thorpe Arch, near Tadcaster and Wetherby.[110] At Thorpe Arch, too, were the grinding mills. These mills were ten miles from the works at Leeds, and a team of four horses was kept constantly at work carrying the ground flint and stone. They, with the men who worked them, stayed six days, going and coming, between the two places, and then six at Thorpe Arch, alternately. The raw material was taken from Leeds to the mills at Thorpe Arch, when the horses who had brought it worked the mill to grind it, and returned with it, when prepared, to Leeds for use. This continued until 1814, when the windmill on the Leeds premises, which had been used as a corn mill, was converted into a flint mill, and an engine, made by the builders of the first successful locomotive, Fenton, Murray, & Co., put up. This mill is still used for the same purpose.
In 1794 another edition of the catalogue and pattern-book was issued. It was precisely the same in contents as the previous editions, both in the plates and letter-press; and contained the catalogue, or list, in English, French, and German. Fresh designs appear to have been continually added, and, the connections of the company increasing, a translation of the catalogue into the Spanish language was in a few years issued. This interesting work, of which a copy is in the possession of Mr. E. Hailstone, F.S.A., and which also contains the English catalogue, without date, bears the following title:—“Dibuxos de varios Renglones de Loza Inglesa de Regna, de Color de Crema, Fabricados en la Manufactura y Lozeria Hartley, Greens, y Compa. en Leeds: en este mismo ramo fabriam de dicha loza, hay piezas esmaltadas, impresas y adornadas con oro; como tambien hermoseadas con escudos, armas, cifras, payses, &c. &c. Leeds.” Instead of 152 general articles, as enumerated in the previous editions, 221 appear in this; and instead of 32 in tea-ware, 48 appear. In 1814, too, another edition was issued, a copy of which is in my own possession; it contains 71 plates of patterns, exhibiting 221 general articles, and 48 patterns of tea, coffee, and chocolate services. In this edition the whole of the plates, both those from the other copies and those newly engraved, have the words “Leeds Pottery” engraved upon them.
In the middle of the last century an important event in connection with the Leeds pottery took place. This was the establishment of the tramway from the collieries of Mr. Charles Brandling, at Middleton, to the town of Leeds. This tramway passed through the Leeds pot works, to the proprietors of which a nominal rental of £7 a year was paid, and to whom, as a further consideration for the right of passage, an advantage in the price of coals was allowed.[111] While speaking of the formation of this early line, it is interesting to note that upon it was set to work the first locomotive commercially successful on any railway. Mr. John Blenkinsop, who was manager of the Middleton Collieries, took out a patent, in 1811, for a locomotive steam engine, and placed his designs for execution in the hands of Messrs. Fenton, Murray & Co., at that time eminent engineers of Leeds. This was the first locomotive engine in which two cylinders were employed, and in that respect was a great improvement upon those of Trevithick and others. The cylinders were placed vertically, and were immersed for more than half their length in the steam space of the boiler. The progress was effected by a cog wheel working into a rack on the side of one of the rails. Mr. Blenkinsop’s engine began running on the railway extending from the Middleton Collieries to the town of Leeds, a distance of about three miles and a half, on the 12th of August, 1812, two years before George Stephenson started his first locomotive. Mr. Blenkinsop was for many years principal agent to the Brandling family, and his invention was, as is seen, first brought to bear in bringing coals from those pits to Leeds—a matter of immense importance to the town and its manufactures.
In 1796, as named in Hutchins’ “History of Dorset,” much of the Poole clay in that county was sent “to Selby for the use of the Leeds potteries.”
In the year 1800 two fresh partners, Ebenezer Green and E. Parsons, had joined the concern, the firm at this time consisting of William Hartley, Joshua Green, John Green, Ebenezer Green, E. Parsons, Mrs. Ackroyd and her daughter Mary (widow and daughter of Henry Ackroyd, deceased), John Barwick, Thomas Wainwright, George Hanson, Saville Green, and Samuel Wainwright. On the death of Mr. Hartley the business was carried on—still under the title of Hartley, Greens & Co.—by the remaining partners; and a Mr. Ruperti, a Russian, became, I believe, a partner in the firm. The trade at this time was, as I have already stated, principally with Russia, and with Norway, Spain and Portugal, and hence, I presume, Mr. Ruperti’s connection with it. The agent in Russia at one time was Mr. Barwick, and afterwards his nephew, Mr. Jubb. Other changes in the proprietary followed in succession, one of which was that a minister, the Rev. W. Parsons, married Miss Ackroyd, and thus became a partner; and for a time the style of the firm was changed from “Hartley, Greens, & Co.,” to “Greens, Hartley, & Co.” These repeated changes, and the unpleasantness and disputes that arose in consequence appear to have been detrimental to the concern, which was ultimately thrown into Chancery, and a large portion of the stock sold off. Some idea of the extent of the business done about this time may be formed from the fact, which I have gathered from a personal reference to the accounts, that the annual sales amounted, in round numbers, to about £30,000; that about £8,000 was paid in wages, and more than £2,000 for coals, even with the decided advantage of reduction in price by the arrangement spoken of.
In 1825, by an advantageous arrangement effected through the good offices of his friend Mr. Hardy, the then Recorder of Leeds, I am informed, the affair was got out of Chancery, and passed, by purchase, into the hands of Mr. Samuel Wainwright, one of the partners. The concern was at this time, I believe, carried on in the name of “Samuel Wainwright and Company,” and was conducted with great spirit. Mr. Wainwright engaged as his confidential cashier Stephen Chappell, who up to that time was employed as a bookkeeper in one of the Leeds cloth manufactories.[112] At Wainwright’s death (of cholera) in 1832, the trustees carried on the business under the style of the “Leeds Pottery Company,” and employed Stephen Chappell as their sole manager. This arrangement continued until the year 1840, when the trustees transferred the whole concern to Chappell, who took it at his own valuation. Shortly after this time his brother James became a partner in the concern, the firm then consisting simply of “Stephen and James Chappell,” who continued the works until 1847, when they became bankrupt. The pottery was then carried on for about three years, for the benefit of the creditors, by the assignees, under the management of Mr. Richard Britton, who had for some time held a confidential position with Mr. Chappell. In 1850 the concern passed, by purchase, into the hands of Mr. Samuel Warburton and this same Mr. Richard Britton, and was by them carried on under the style of “Warburton and Britton,” until 1863, when, on the death of Mr. Warburton, Mr. Richard Britton became sole proprietor of the works. On July 1st, 1872, he was joined in partnership by his two eldest sons, John Broadbent Britton and Alfred Britton, the firm at the present time being “Richard Britton & Sons.”
The Leeds Pot Works are situated in Jack Lane, and occupy an area of considerably more than seven acres of ground, and at the present time give employment to about two hundred and fifty persons. The premises are intersected for a considerable portion of their length by the Brandling’s Railway, and are also crossed in a cutting by the main line of the Midland Railway. The works are very extensive, and, with but some trifling alterations, now stand as they did in the time of Hartley, Greens, & Co. Closely adjoining them is the Leathley Lane Pottery.
The wares manufactured at different periods at these interesting works consist of the coarse brown earthenwares, made on its first establishment; delft-ware, produced only in small quantities, and for a short period; hard and highly vitrified stone ware, with a strong salt glaze; cream-coloured, or Queen’s ware; Egyptian black ware; Rockingham ware; white earthenware; yellow ware, &c., &c. The great speciality of the works was the perforated “Queen’s or cream-coloured earthenware,” for which they became universally famed, and successfully competed with Wedgwood. It is this kind of ware which among collectors has acquired the name of “Leeds Ware.” To this it will be necessary to direct careful attention, and to point out both the peculiarities of pattern and of ornamentation which they exhibit.
