Oh that instead of Horse and Mare
He had but broken Crockery-ware,
Each grateful Potter in a bumper
Might drink the health of
Orange Jumper.”
This man, who was known all the country round as “Orange Jumper,” was a very eccentric character, and a great mover in the political “stirs” of his county. He was a horse-breaker at Wentworth, and many extraordinary stories are remembered in connection with him. One of these, as connected with the story of this jug, is worth repeating. In the great Yorkshire election of 1807—the most costly and the most strongly contested election on record—when the candidates who were so mercilessly pitted against each other were Lord Milton, Wilberforce, and Lascelles, “Orange Jumper” was employed to carry dispatches regularly backwards and forwards from York to Wentworth House, the seat of Earl Fitzwilliam, the father of Lord Milton, who eventually won the election, and was returned as the colleague of Wilberforce. Orange was the Fitzwilliam colour, and blue that of Lascelles (son of the Earl of Harewood), his opponent; and on one occasion “Jumper” was seen entering York decked out as usual in orange, but riding on an ass gaily decorated with bright blue ribands. On being jeered at for this apparent inconsistency in wearing both colours, he replied that he wore the right colour, orange, and that his ass was only like other asses, for they were all donkeys that wore blue! The election was gained by the party he espoused, and in commemoration these jugs,[125] with his portrait and verse, were made. They are marked
Don. Pottery.
pencilled in red on the bottom.
An engraved pattern-book was issued by the firm, in the same style, and of the same size, as that of Hartley, Greens, & Co., of the Leeds Pottery. A careful comparison of the two books reveals the fact, that whereas in the latest edition of that of Leeds 269 patterns are engraved, in that of the Don Pottery 292 are given. It also reveals the important fact that many of the Don patterns are identical with those of Leeds, the engraver of the former having evidently traced from those of the latter (Leeds) in preparing his plates. Many of the remaining patterns are slightly altered from Leeds, while others do not appear in the book of those works at all. In this pattern-book Figs. 1 to 8 are covered tureens; 10 to 12 are leaves; 13 to 18, covered vegetable dishes; 19 to 23, sauce tureens with covers, stands, and ladles; 24, a two-handled drinking cup; 26 to 30, butter-boats; 31 to 49, dishes and plates, &c.; 50 to 69, fruit bowls, side dishes, &c.; 70 to 76, perforated, open-work, and embossed baskets and stands, some of which have covers, and are precisely of the same kind as those of the Leeds works; 77, a perforated chestnut tureen, like that of the Leeds works; 78, also perforated and embossed; 79 to 83, perforated dishes and plates; 84 to 91, covered sugar bowls, &c.; 92 to 96, spoons and strainers; 97 to 110, bowls, &c.; 111 is a melon bowl of the same kind as those made at Leeds; 113 to 116 are egg cups and stands; 118 to 130, cruets, &c.; 131, an asparagus holder, like the Leeds; 139 to 145, mugs and jugs; 146, a toast rack; 147, an invalid’s feeding cup; 148 to 159, dishes, tureens, &c.; 160 and 161, vegetable trays in compartments; 163 to 176, ice pails and domestic vessels; 177 to 183, ink stands; 184, 185, flower-pots; 186 to 202, toilet services and shaving basins; 201 is a scaphium; 206 is a quintal flower horn; 207, a pastile-burner; and then come candlesticks, egg-cups, flower-vases, flower-stands, vases, crosses with cup for holy water, &c. Another series of plates, the figures numbered from 1 to 54 and from A to K, are devoted to tea equipages, consisting of a remarkable and very striking variety of teapots, coffee-pots, milk jugs, sugar bowls, cake trays, tea canisters, basins or bowls, tea, coffee, and chocolate cups and saucers, &c., &c. On each plate throughout the series the name “Don Pottery” is engraved in a scroll.
