“L.—Oi’d summat t’ doo t’ get dahn t’ L’rpool wi’ eawr caart, at th’ teyme as oi fust tayd Mester ‘Siah Wedgut’s wheit ware for t’ be printed theer. Yu known as hâe ther wur noo black printin’ on ware dun i’ Boslem i’ thoos deys.
“T.—Oi remember ’t varry weel. Oi s’pose as ’Siah wur abaht th’ same age as thiseln, Rafy, wur he no’?
“L.—Ya, oi rek’n he wur tew year yunker til me.
“T.—When he started i’ bizness fust, he made spewnes, knife hondles, an’ smaw crocks, at th’ Ivy hahs, close to where we’re nah sittin’.
“L.—Aye, oi weel remember th’ toyme; an’ arter that he flitted to th’ Bell Workhus, wheer he put up th’ bell-coney for t’ ring th’ men to ther work isted o’ blowin’ em together wi’ a hurn. ’Twur a pity he e’er left Boslum, for he wur th’ cob o’ th’ Wedguts.”
Figs. 525 and 526.—Flaxman’s Medallions of Josiah Wedgwood and his Wife.
Figs. 527 to 533.—Wedgwood’s Basaltes or Egyptian Black Ware.
On the 25th of January, 1764, Josiah Wedgwood married, at Astbury, in Cheshire, his distant relative—his seventh cousin—Sarah Wedgwood, daughter, and eventually heiress, of Richard Wedgwood, Esq., of Smallwood, in that county, and also heiress to her brother John. By this marriage Josiah Wedgwood ultimately became possessed of a fortune of some twenty thousand pounds. After his marriage he still resided at the “Ivy House;” and, having failed in his proposal to purchase the “Big House” when his relatives retired from business, he set about the founding of an entirely new manufactory. His “Big House” relations were the brothers Thomas and John Wedgwood, sons of Aaron Wedgwood, by his wife Mary Hollins. This Aaron was son of Aaron, sixth son of Gilbert, from whom Josiah and the various Burslem branches of the family were descended, and he and his wife, Mary Hollins, were both buried in the same grave on the same day, 24th of April, 1743. He, as well as his son and his grandsons, Thomas and John, were lead-glaze potters. About 1740, it is said, these two “commenced the manufacture of white stoneware upon their own account; but although very industrious and ingenious workmen (one of them being well skilled in burning or firing the ware, and the other an excellent thrower), they were unsuccessful for a long time, and had actually determined to abandon any further attempt to make the white stoneware, when an accidental circumstance encouraged them to proceed. The water with which they prepared the clay, it seems, became highly saturated with salt, owing to the shard ruck or rubbish from their ovens being placed immediately above their water pool, and which rubbish contained much salt. The rain passing through the shard ruck, dissolved the salt, and carried it into the pool, whence it got into the body of the ware, and, in conjunction with the flint and clay, together with the lime which generally adheres to flint stones, formed a fusible body that arrived at a state of vitrification with a lower degree of heat than was requisite to prepare this body for the salt glaze. This discovery induced them to make other and more extended trials, and in these they succeeded beyond expectation. The Wedgwoods followed up their success with unremitting diligence; and shortly afterwards built a new and commodious manufactory, where they had a supply of good water. This was near the Windmill, invented and erected by the celebrated Brindley for reducing flint-stones to a fine powder by grinding them in water, and thereby preventing the pernicious effects upon the health of the men employed in preparing the flint according to the old method, by pounding it by hand in a dry state in a mortar. The fine dust of the flint getting into the lungs produced coughs and consumptions, which frequently proved fatal. This building, censured at the time as having been upon too extensive a scale, was the first earthenware manufactory in the Potteries not covered with thatch. In 1750 they erected an excellent and substantial dwelling-house adjoining their manufactory, which so far exceeded the other houses in the Potteries in point of size and elegance, that it then was, and now is, distinguished by the appellation of the ‘Big House;’ and in the year 1763 these gentlemen retired from business in the possession of an ample fortune, the just and honourable reward of their industry and integrity.”