TURNER. Fig. 645.
Garner.—Robert Garner, or Gardner, son of Robert Gardner, was an apprentice with Thomas Whieldon, and afterwards employed by him, at the same period as his fellow workman, Josiah Spode, was employed. The following entry is in Whieldon’s own handwriting, in my possession:
| £ | s. | d. | |||
| “1749. | Feb. 28. | Then hired Robt. Gardner, per week | 0 | 6 | 6 |
| Earnest | 0 | 10 | 6 | ||
| Pd. him toward it | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
| I am to make his earnest about 5s. more in something. | |||||
| 1751. | Feby. 22. | Agreed with Robt. Gardner for his son for next year, pr. week | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| I am to give him earnest | 1 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Paid it. | |||||
| 1754. | Novr. 11. | Hired old Robt. Gardnr & pd. earnest | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| March 16. | Pd. Robt. Gardner, senr., earnest for this year | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
| 1757. | May 30. | Pd. earnest for this year | 1 | 1 | 0” |
Gardner was also a tenant of Whieldon’s, as shown by the following entry:—
| “1752. | May 11. | Let Robt. Gardner a house at Fenton Hall Bank, pr. year | £2 | 2 | 0” |
This he continued to hold for some years, as receipts for rent show.
Robert Gardner, who was hired from his father in 1751, married Margaret Astbury, daughter of Astbury, the well-known potter, and at one time was in partnership with one of her brothers at the Foley. He built a large house, then known as the Foley House, but latterly as the Bank House. By his wife Margaret Astbury, Mr. Garner was the father of Robert Garner, potter, of Lane End, some of whose accounts of 1797 are in my possession. He married a Miss Middlemore, daughter and co-heiress of the Middlemores of Edgbaston and Studley, by whom, with other issue, he had a son, the present Robert Garner, Esq., F.L.S., surgeon, of Stoke-upon-Trent, the author of the “Natural History of the County of Stafford,” and other works, and one of the most talented and enlightened of the worthies of the pottery district.
About 1750, it is said, the elder Robert Garner, in conjunction with Messrs. Barker, “commenced the manufactory of Shining Black and White Stone Ware, salt glaze, at the Row Houses, near the Foley, Fenton, and where afterwards they made tolerable cream colour. They realised a good property here, and Mr. R. Garner rented a manufactory and the best mansion of the time in Lane End, near the old turnpike gate.” Robert Garner, of Lane End, was a potter in a large way of business, and excellent in Queen’s or cream-coloured ware. Some examples of his make are preserved in the Stoke Museum. A sister of his married Mr. Banks, formerly one of the principal potters of Stoke.