At Whittington, pot works have existed from an early date, and are still continued. At these much good ware and many specialities of design, &c., were produced; it is only necessary to premise that the goods are commonly known by the general term of “Chesterfield ware” or “Nottingham ware”—it being a fact that London houses still sell, and persist in calling, the products of these Derbyshire works by the latter name.
The Whittington Potteries[32] are of very old establishment, having been in existence since about the middle or latter end of the seventeenth century, if not longer. Here the ordinary brown ware of the period was manufactured; the ware being of extreme hardness and closeness of texture, and having a rich warm reddish-brown colour. About the year 1800, and for some years later, the works, which were near the race-course, were held by Mr. William Bromley, who, in addition to the ordinary brown ware, made also a white, or cream-coloured, earthenware of fine quality. In this fine body he manufactured dinner, tea, and other services, principally decorated, in the prevailing manner, with transfer-printing in blue. He also practised batt-printing for some of his goods. Mr. Bromley also made some experiments in, and succeeded in producing, a very good china ware, but he did not prosecute this branch of manufacture to any extent. At that time, when Mr. Bromley was making the fine earthenware, and was experimenting on porcelain bodies, my late father, Mr. Arthur Jewitt, then a young man, was residing at Brampton, and was in habits of close intimacy with him. My father being a man of scientific, as well as of high literary attainments, and being, moreover, a good artist, took considerable interest in his friend Mr. Bromley’s manufacture, and at his own house at Brampton entered with spirit into a series of experiments in enamelling and enamel-printing, and in other processes for decorating the wares. For this purpose he caused to be erected in his own house two enamel kilns, one of which he had constructed on the ordinary simple principle of heating, and the other on the spiral principle. He also fitted up, for the purpose of these private experiments, a small printing-room, and here, being, as I have said, a good artist, he tried various processes for transferring aquatints and etchings (which he etched and prepared himself) by the batt-process, both on to the biscuit and on to the white glazed ware. By this process he produced many remarkably successful transfers; but, like the boy who dug up the seeds in his garden day by day, to see if they were sprouting, and so killed them, he was always so impatient to see the result of his experiments that he did not wait for the fire in the kilns to die out, but opened the doors, and so frequently spoiled all the pieces. Sufficient, however, remained each time to show that he was right in his experiments, and that his trials were all that could be desired.
Fig. 103.
Besides transfer-printing, he tried some interesting experiments in surface-painting on the biscuit. Only one example of this ware is known to exist, and this fortunately is now in my own possession. It is here engraved (Fig. [103]). It bears a view of (I believe) Renishaw Hall, and part of the park, with deer, &c. The body is extremely light, and the painting highly artistic. It is simply surface-painted on the biscuit. It is a small flower-pot, or “bow-pot,” and saucer, and is only 3⅜ inches in height.
These experiments are highly interesting in connection with the Whittington and Brampton potteries. They were very successful, and showed that had my father devoted his time and his talents to the process, great results would have been achieved. As it was, he prosecuted his inquiries as an amateur only, and from a simple love of the art, and his name, until I made it known in the Art-Journal a few years ago, has never been publicly associated with the fictile history of the country. I felt that it was due to the memory of one of the most talented of men, and the best of parents, that I should place his name on record in connection with an art in which, for a short time, in midst of a busy literary life,[33] he took such a lively interest.
Mr. Bromley continued the works for some years, when they changed hands. He was a man of great ability and of much spirit, and did more to further the standard of excellence of the works in his district than any of his contemporaries. He had three sons, Rev. Samuel Bromley, who was a poet of no ordinary stamp, and was a Baptist missionary to Jamaica and other countries; Joseph Bromley, who entered the army; and the Rev. James Bromley, whose name is well known in connection with the Wesleyan persuasion. The works afterwards belonged to Messrs. Robert Bainbrigge & Co. The pot-works at Whittington, in the early part of the present century, were carried on by Mr. William Johnson and Mr. Aaron Madin. At the present time there are two manufactories at this place; viz. those of Mr. Samuel Lancaster, successor to Mr. Madin, and Mr. James Pearson.
Stone Bottle Works.—These works, at Whittington Moor, were established in 1818 by Mr. Aaron Madin, and they are now carried on in his name by his son-in-law, Mr. Samuel Lancaster. The goods produced are in stoneware, brown ware, and coarse black ware. The stoneware is made of fire-clay, found underneath the Tupton coal-measures at Brampton and elsewhere, and glazed with the usual compound of flint, Paris white, Cornwall stone, barytes, and ground glass. It is of good quality, and very hard and durable. The ground ware is, as is usual in the district, salt-glazed; and the black ware, which is made of the common brick-clay, is glazed chiefly with lead-ore. The goods produced are the usual domestic and other articles made in the neighbourhood, and their quality is equal to most others.