Mr. Caldwell, who, I believe, was a “sleeping-partner,” was one of the executors under the will of Josiah Wedgwood. He married a daughter of Thomas Stamford (half brother to Mary Stamford, wife of Thomas Bentley, the partner of Wedgwood), and by her was father of the late gifted and popular authoress of “Emilia Wyndham,” &c., Mrs. Marsh-Caldwell, of Linley Wood.
Fig. 366.—The Churchyard Works, Burslem.
The Churchyard Works.—The Churchyard Works, at the house adjoining which Josiah Wedgwood was born, and where he was apprenticed to his brother Thomas, form the north-east boundary of the “churchyard” of the old church at Burslem. Since that time they have naturally been much altered and enlarged, but the site is the same, and some of the buildings now there are what stood and were used in his day. The house in which he was born, taken down many years ago, stood near where the present slip-house stands, but its site has since been occupied by fresh buildings. New hovels and other buildings have, of late years, been added to the establishment, which is now a very complete and commodious manufactory. These works, for several generations, belonged to the Wedgwoods, and are described in 1698 as belonging to Thomas Wedgwood, “of the Churchyard House,” to whom they appear to have passed on his father’s death, who was also a potter. His son Thomas, eldest brother of Josiah, inherited this property on his father’s death in 1739, and three years later, on his marriage with Isabel Beech, by marriage settlement dated 12th of October, 1742 (in which he is described as Thomas Wedgwood, of the Over House, Burslem, Potter), “the messuage, with the appurtenances situate and adjoining the churchyard, Burslem, and all outhouses, work houses, &c., then in the occupation of the said Thomas Wedgwood, or his under tenants,” were settled upon the children of this marriage. On the death of Thomas Wedgwood, in 1772, this and other property descended to his son Thomas, of the Over House, subject to portions to his younger children, under the settlement of 1742. The works were for some time carried on, along with the “Bell Works” and “Ivy House Works,” by Josiah Wedgwood. On his removal to Etruria, they were occupied by his second cousin, Joseph Wedgwood (brother of Aaron, and nephew of the Aaron Wedgwood who was partner with William Littler in the first manufacture of porcelain in the district), who lived at the house now the Mitre Hotel, near the works. This Joseph Wedgwood, who made jasper and other fine bodies under the direction of and for Josiah, occupied the works until the time of their sale to Mr. Green, when he removed to Basford Bank. About 1780 “the Churchyard premises were sold to Josiah Wedgwood, then of Etruria, who in 1787 conveyed them to his brother John, also of Etruria, who in 1795 sold them to Thomas Green, at which time two newly-erected houses near the potwork were included in the sale.” Mr. Green manufactured earthenware at these works, and for some time resided at the house near the works, now known as the Mitre Hotel, which had been built by one of the Wedgwood family. The property remained in Thomas Green’s hands until his bankruptcy in 1811, when it appears to have been purchased by a manufacturer named Joynson, from whom it passed, some years later on, to Mr. Mosely. While in his hands, the potwork was held by various tenants, and until about 1858 was let off in small holdings to different potters. About that period Mr. Bridgwood, of Tunstall, became the tenant of the premises as a general earthenware manufacturer, and was soon afterwards joined in partnership by Mr. Edward Clarke, whose large practical experience tended much to increase the reputation of the works. This firm, having taken a lease of the premises, remodelled many of the buildings, and erected others, and greatly improved the whole place by bringing to bear many improvements in body unknown and unthought of by their predecessors. After Mr. Bridgwood’s decease, which took place in 1864, these works, and the large establishment at Tunstall, were carried on by the surviving partner, Mr. Clarke, until after a time he ceased working them, when they passed into other hands as his tenants. The manufactory was afterwards again carried on by Mr. Clarke in partnership with Mr. Josiah Wood (a descendant of Aaron Wood), who is referred to under the head of Poole, Stanway, and Wood, under the style of Wood and Clarke. The productions of the Churchyard Works, while carried on by Mr. Clarke, were opaque porcelain of the finest and hardest quality (known as “white granite”), for the American market, and ordinary earthenware of the finest quality in the usual services; many of the services, &c., being embossed in excellently designed patterns, and others artistically painted and gilt. One of the notable features was artists’ goods (palettes, tiles, slabs, saucers, &c.), and door furniture, both black, white, and highly gilt and decorated. The impressed mark was “Bridgwood and Clarke,” and the printed mark a royal arms, with the words “Porcelain Opaque, B & C, Burslem.”
In 1874, Mr. W. E. Withinshaw entered upon the Churchyard Works, and since then has greatly improved them, and raised their productions to a high order of merit. His productions consist of dinner, tea, toilet, and other services; vases, jugs, tea-pots, kettles, and jug stands; trinket and fancy articles; candlesticks, and all the usual varieties of useful and ornamental goods, both plain, printed, painted, enamelled, and gilt. In toilet designs Mr. Withinshaw is particularly successful, many of the designs being novel in character, striking in conception, and beautiful in point of manipulative decoration. Notably among these is a service in which the head of the elephant is utilised in a very pleasing manner to form the handle of the ewer; the head itself forming the top of the handle, and the trunk the part for grasping. This is, in some of the services, produced in mass gold, with a rich and striking, but at the same time simple and elegant, effect. Other designs of this firm are of equal excellence. In vases, Mr. Withinshaw produces some admirable designs, the outlines of which are faultless, and the decoration well and judiciously managed. The quality of the ware is far above the average, and gives the productions a high standing among those of the locality. In jet ware, all the usual articles—tea-pots, kettles, jugs, spill cases, &c.—are made, and in endless variety of style; all being equally good in body, in glaze, and in decoration.
Another speciality of these works is now, as in former days, door furniture. The plates are remarkable for their evenness and flatness of surface, and for the taste displayed in the patterns which adorn them; they are made both in white and in black, and of every possible style of decoration. Umbrella, walking-stick, kettle, machine, and every other kind of handles, as well as other china articles used by cabinet brassfitters, are made.
The mark, impressed in the body of the ware, is W. E. WITHINSHAW. On the dinner ware the name of the pattern is given on printed marks, with the initials W. E. W.
The Bell Works.—The Bell Works, of which, as they appeared in 1865, I give an engraving, Fig. [367], was, at the time when the great Josiah Wedgwood entered on its occupancy, the property of Mr. John Bourne, an army contractor, in the neighbouring town of Newcastle. From him the property, about the year 1771, passed to his grandson, Mr. John Adams, of Cobridge, and in 1847 the estate again passed by will into the hands of the late Mr. Isaac Hitchen, of Alsager. The pot-works were occupied by Josiah Wedgwood, as tenant to Mr. John Bourne, until his removal to Etruria. The next tenant was, I believe, Mr. William Bourne, an earthenware manufacturer, who held them for some years, and was tenant in 1809. Mr. Bourne afterwards entered into partnership with a potter named Cormie, and the works were carried on under the style of “Bourne and Cormie.” In 1836, the works having then remained for some time unoccupied, were divided, a portion being taken by Messrs. Beech and Jones as an earthenware manufactory, another portion taken away for the building of the present Independent Chapel, which was erected on its site in the following year; and other parts were let off to various holders for different purposes apart from the pot trade. In 1839, the partnership between Messrs. Beech and Jones was dissolved, the former gentleman alone continuing to occupy the same portion of the premises, in which he produced china and earthenware figures. In 1846 Mr. Beech, having increased his business, became tenant of the whole of the remaining premises, with the exception of that part occupied by Mr. Dean’s printing-office, &c., and in 1853 took into partnership Mr. Brock, which firm, however, only lasted a couple of years. In 1855, Mr. Brock went out of the concern, and from that date Mr. William Beech carried on the manufactory until his death, which took place in 1864. It was next carried on by Messrs. Beech and Podmore; but in 1876 a part of the premises was purchased by the Board of Health for the purpose of building a covered market on the site, and the remainder was bought by Mr. George Beardmore of Rode Heath and taken down; thus these historically interesting works have been brought to a close.