By December 1819 Thomas was free from bankruptcy and could restart a business. The pottery was now being run by Bridgwood & Co and as the pottery buildings included the malting operation, he couldn’t operate that, so he moved to Handsacre where he could run both a malting business and a brickyard. Within just a… Continue reading Thomas Bond Part 3 – brickmaker
Tag: Armitage
Thomas Bond Part 2 – maltster, brickmaker, potter and bankrupt
By September 1815 Thomas Bond was in Stafford gaol – one of 10,000 people imprisoned for debt each year during the 18th and 19th centuries. Life in the debtors’ prisons of the early 19th century could be harsh; a prisoner had to provide his own food, clothes, and water, for example, so without a supportive… Continue reading Thomas Bond Part 2 – maltster, brickmaker, potter and bankrupt
The founding of Armitage potbank
When Bill Wright wrote ‘Notes for a history of Armitage’ in 1950 he included a chapter entitled ‘The Armitage Sanitary Pottery’. He had joined the pottery in 1918 as an office boy and by 1950 he had become Sales Manager of what was then called Edward Johns Co. Ltd., (and later Armitage Ware and Armitage… Continue reading The founding of Armitage potbank
Thomas Bond Part 1 – maltster, brickmaker, potter and gaolbird
Thomas Bond is generally credited with building the first pottery in Armitage. Largely based on a set of papers held at Stafford Record Office, entitled Armitage Brickworks, this is the first of three stories about Thomas Bond. This set of events happens before the founding of the Armitage pottery as detailed in Book One History… Continue reading Thomas Bond Part 1 – maltster, brickmaker, potter and gaolbird
The pre-fabs
In October 1946 the Housing Committee of Armitage-with-Handsacre Parish Council convened a public meeting to ‘discuss the unsatisfactory progress of the new houses’. Held in the Parish Hall, crowded with many young married couples including young babies, the meeting was at times quite tempestuous. The Council Chairman, H. Wright, told the meeting about the unsatisfactory… Continue reading The pre-fabs
Armitage School Logbook 1917
The transcript below is taken from Armitage Senior School for 1917 – the building at the top of Church Lane. It was written by G.H. Neville, Headmaster. It shows that the school year started in April and that the summer holidays were taken for the hay harvest and for the corn harvest – the School… Continue reading Armitage School Logbook 1917
Armitage Ware colour samples
In 1927 Edward Johns & Co., (later Armitage Ware and then Ideal Standard) produced the very first coloured sanitary ware in the world. Biscuit-fired ware was shipped to their sister company, Richards Tiles Ltd in Tunstall, who applied a mottled colour glaze and fired it again. Only four colours were created – Mottled Armitage Green,… Continue reading Armitage Ware colour samples
A coronation carnival
If you are looking for events with which to celebrate King Charles’ coronation this year then why not take a look at the 1937 version and stage pillow fighting, cutting down a leg of mutton or even ‘climbing the greasy pole’? Like most towns and villages at that time a lot of effort was put… Continue reading A coronation carnival
A shipwreck find
An email from John Bennett last week, giving me a link to a BBC news article on a new display at the Gladstone Pottery Museum, gave me an excuse to look again at one of my favourite characters from the history of Armitage potteries – Robert Hedderwick Penman. The picture above, courtesy of the Gladstone… Continue reading A shipwreck find
The pottery pay dispute in 1914
In 1914 the pottery industry followed the same procedure for pay discussions that had been developed in the 1890s and it had a very set annual pay round – every company in the industry followed exactly the same routine. Prices that were to be paid to the potters for the following 12 months were set… Continue reading The pottery pay dispute in 1914