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
Tag: pottery
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
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 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
What’s in a name?
This advert appeared in the Staffordshire Sentinel and Commercial & General Advertiser on 2nd October 1869 and seemed very strange when I first came across it. The pottery advertised in the Stoke papers whenever they wanted to recruit a pottery specialist but I couldn’t figure out why they would want a table manufacturer. After quite… Continue reading What’s in a name?
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
The origin of the word ‘loo’
If you are going to write about the history of Armitage potbank how can you resist looking up the origins of the word ‘loo’? The word itself first appeared in print in the 1922 book, Ulysses, by James Joyce so it was obviously already in popular use by that time. There’s all sorts of claims… Continue reading The origin of the word ‘loo’
Soldiers from the Great War
Many of the survivors of The Great War had also been wounded or gassed or otherwise injured. On walking around the churchyard, you can see a number of gravestones for those who died after the war.
Edward Johns
What sort of a person was Edward Johns?