Burton-upon-Trent.
In 1794 a manufactory was established in the neighbourhood of Burton-on-Trent by Sir Nigel Gresley, Bart., of Drakelow, and C. B. Adderley, Esq., of Hams Hall (ancestor of the present statesman, the Right Honourable C. Adderley, M.P.), who died in 1826. In June, 1795, William Coffee, one of the modellers at the Derby china works, was engaged for these works. On page 98 I have given a copy of a letter relating to this engagement; and another letter, also in my possession, dated “Burton on Trent, June 4th, 1795,” says, “Sir,—My being your debtor makes it my duty to inform you immediately of my arrival here, and likewise of my engagement with Sir Nigel Gresley, and Mr. Adderley, lest you should suppose I had forgot the obligation I lie under to you,” etc. The works were, I have ascertained, situated “within fifty yards of Gresley Hall, near the village and castle of Gresley, in the county of Derby,” with also a place in Burton itself. From some cause or other the project did not answer the expectations of Sir. N. Gresley and Mr. Adderley, and about the year 1800 the works passed from them into the hands of Mr. William Nadin, the father of Mr. Joseph Nadin of Arthurlie, Burton-on-Trent. Mr. Nadin only carried on the manufactory for four or five years, when, it having proved a failure, he discontinued it, and was succeeded by Mr. Burton, of Linton, Derbyshire, who continued the works for a few years and then closed them.
During Mr. Nadin’s time the usual classes of ordinary Staffordshire wares were made, as also was china. In the latter, one great speciality was boots, shoes, and slippers, which were extensively produced, and variously ornamented. His now aged son, Mr. J. Nadin, wrote me, in reference to these, “My father made a large number of china boots and shoes, and I well remember when about six years old, walking up to my ankles into a pond of water in a pair of these boots (Wellington in shape).” He also tells me that when his father “had these works, he received an order for a magnificent dinner-service—the price was fixed at £700—for Queen Charlotte, through Colonel Desbrow, her Chamberlain, but he was never able to execute it, as the china always came out of the ovens cracked and crazed, though he employed the very best men he could obtain.” The Duke of Kent is said to have paid the works a visit, accompanied by Colonel Desbrow. No examples of the productions of these are, so far as my inquiries go, now known to be in existence.
About 1832 Mr. William Edwards, a solicitor, of Derby (brother-in-law of the second Mr. William Duesbury of the Derby china works), in conjunction with a Mr. Tunnicliffe, commenced an earthenware (yellow ware) manufactory at the Hay, Burton-on-Trent. Later on the manufacture of china or “artificial marble” was commenced; workmen having been brought from the Potteries and from Derby. The works, which were in High Street, only continued in operation for a very few years, and the productions were not marked. Mr. Edwards, in his ornamental ware, confined himself mainly to the production of figures, but they were, both commercially and artistically, complete failures. “Mr. Edwards’s artificial marble gods and goddesses, made at the Burton-on-Trent works, came out of the oven with their limbs twisted into every conceivable form.” On Mr. Edwards’s failure the works were closed, and he removed to Butt House, near Woodville, at that time known as Wooden Box. Mr. Edwards employed some really good workmen, amongst whom was a clever modeller named Wornell, who, besides, was an excellent stuffer of birds. Some good examples of Wornell’s work are in the possession of Mr. Abram Bass, by whom much of this information has kindly been supplied to me.
Swadlincote.
Swadlincote Potteries.—The works of Messrs. Sharpe, Brothers, and Co. were established, and erected, by the late Mr. Thomas Sharpe, in 1821, and were carried on by him, alone, as “Thomas Sharpe” until 1838, in which year he died. They were then continued by his brothers under the style of “Sharpe, Brothers, and Co.,” under which firm they are still carried on; the sole proprietor being the last surviving brother, Mr. Edmund Sharpe. The productions of the firm are the same as those of the general district, viz., the “Derbyshire Ironstone Cane (or Yellow) Ware” (a name by which this ware has for upwards of a century been known, and which is the speciality of the district); buff drab ware, fire-proof ware, Rockingham ware, mottled ware, and black lustre ware. In “Derbyshire Ironstone” plain and pressed jugs and mugs; bowls of various kinds; ewers and basins, tea-pots, cups, and jars of various kinds; beef, jelly, bread, stew, and other pans; and every description of household vessels are made, as they are also in the buff drab ware. In the Rockingham, mottled, and black lustre wares, tea and coffee pots in endless variety of patterns, “Bohemian,” “American,” “Rebecca,” “Shakspere,” “Fuchsia,” “Ivy,” “Chinese,” “Cottage,” “Mandarin,” “Royal Flute,” “Gipsy,” &c., &c.; pressed and plain jugs and mugs of good designs; and many other useful articles are made. Blue printed goods are also produced.
Among many ornamental specialities of these works may be named the “Toby Fill-pot” jugs, which are made in both coloured and Rockingham ware, on much the same model as the older jugs of that name; one is shown on Fig. [140].
Fig. 140.
Sanitary earthenware is a great speciality of these works, and is produced in cane-colour, white, and blue printed varieties, as well as, occasionally, of a highly decorative character. In these, plug-basins, closet-basins with Sharpe’s Patent Direct Action, requiring no fans, but acting on the principle of a hollow rim with graduated perforations; traps, cabinet wash-hand stands of excellent and convenient construction, and other articles, are extensively made. Besides the Home trade, Messrs. Sharpe export in large quantities to Canada, the United States, Nova Scotia, South Africa, New Zealand, India, Australia, Africa, the Sandwich Islands, Germany, Holland, Russia, Prussia, Hungary, &c.