“A.D. 1761. 6th November. Geo. III.
“A Petition of Samuel Wilkinson and William Delamain, Esqres. Executors of Mary Delamain, late of the City of Dublin, Earthen-Ware Manufacturer, was presented to the House and read, Setting forth, That the late Henry Delamain erected a Manufactory for Making of Earthen-Ware in which he discovered the Art of burning with Coal instead of Wood, and brought it to such Perfection as not only to excel any thing of the kind ever attempted in this Kingdom before, but to equal the best Foreign Ware imported: in which he expended his entire Fortune to the amount of £6,000, and upwards, as appeared to a Committee of the late Parliament who were appointed to take his Petition into consideration.
“That in the Session 1753, the House of Commons did grant him £1,000 as an encouragement for carrying on said Manufacture, and the Dublin Society upon Inspection had, and Satisfaction received of his having expended said Bounty in the Improvement of said Manufacture, did in the year 1755 confer a further Bounty on him of £1,100, which sum was also expended with the best Economy, in improving said Manufacture. That on the Decease of said Henry Delamain, his late Widow, Mary Delamain, carried on said Manufacture with Great Success, and declined troubling Parliament in Session 1757, assured that the Manufacture would support itself: but finding that the export of the Ware to Foreign Markets was prevented by the continuance of the War, she, the said Mary, Petitioned in the Session of 1759, praying the further Sanction of Parliament, and Proved the Allegations of her Petition; but in that Session no money was granted to Private Petitions.
“That the Petitioners, since the Decease of said Mary Delamain, have carried on the same Manufacture, for the advantage of the orphans of the said Henry and Mary, in particular, and of the Nation in General, with so much success as to prevent the Import of Foreign Ware, which Annually carried out of this Country above £10,000 to France, and have supplied Dealers in every principal Seaport of this Kingdom. That Petitioners by commencing on a Small Stock are disabled of purchasing Coal and other Materials in the proper Season requisite for carrying on the Work, and lowering the price of the Ware, or employing between 2 and 300 of the poor Natives which the Apparatus is equal to; and on a Peace, of exporting to Foreign Markets about £20,000 worth every year, over and above the Home Consumption; and therefore praying the House to take their Case into Consideration, and to grant such assistance and relief as shall seem meet.
“Referred to a Committee.”[69]
A similar petition appears to have been presented by the same parties on 9th Nov., 1763, and was referred to a Committee, but no votes in either case seem to have been taken.
Dublin.
Donovan.—Whether Mr. Donovan, of Poolbeg Street, on the Quay, Dublin, was a manufacturer or not is uncertain, but I believe not. He purchased both English and Continental wares in the white and decorated them in his own place. He amassed a large fortune and purchased estates in Sussex. In his business he was usually known in Dublin as “The Emperor of China.” “About 1790 he had a glass manufactory at Ringsend, near Dublin, and he employed a painter to decorate pottery, and placed all sorts of fancy and imitation marks on china and earthenware.” His name sometimes occurs as DONOVAN only, and at others as
Donovan
Dublin
or