Wedgwood, strictly speaking Josiah Wedgwood and Sons, is a pottery firm owned by KPS Capital Partners, a private equity company based in New York City, USA.^[1] Wedgwood was founded on May 1, 1759^[2] by Josiah Wedgwood and in 1987 merged with Waterford Crystal to create Waterford Wedgwood, an Ireland-based luxury brands group. After the 2009 purchase by KPS Capital, Wedgwood became part of a group of companies known as WWRD Holdings Ltd, an acronym for "Waterford Wedgwood Royal Doulton." Wedgwood is still used as a generic term to describe the company's traditional product style, especially Jasperware.

The family and company history[link]

Typical wedgwood blue plate with white decor

Kutani Crane by Wedgwood

Portland Vase, about 1790

Wedgwood Room with porcelain panels, in the palace of Archduke Albert in Vienna

Josiah Wedgwood worked with the established potter Thomas Whieldon until 1759 when relatives leased him the Ivy House in Burslem, allowing him to start his own pottery business. The launch of the new venture was helped by his marriage to a remote cousin Sarah (also Wedgwood) who brought a sizeable dowry with her.

In 1765, Wedgwood created a new earthenware form which impressed the then British Queen consort Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz who gave permission to call it "Queen's Ware"; this new form sold extremely well across Europe. The following year Wedgwood bought Etruria, a large Staffordshire estate, as both home and factory site. Wedgwood developed a number of further industrial innovations for his company, notably a way of measuring kiln temperatures accurately and new ware types Black Basalt and Jasper Ware. Wedgwood's most famous ware is jasperware. It was created to look like ancient cameo glass. It was inspired by the Portland Vase, a Roman vessel which is now a museum piece.. (The first jasperware colour was Portland Blue, an innovation that required experiments with more than 3,000 samples). In recognition of the importance of his pyrometric beads (pyrometer), Josiah Wedgwood was elected a member of the Royal Society in 1783. Today, the Wedgwood Prestige collection sells replicas of some of the original designs as well as modern neo-classical style jasperware.

The main Wedgwood motifs in jasperware, as well as in other wares like basaltware, queensware, caneware, etc., were decorative designs that were highly influenced by the ancient cultures being studied and rediscovered at that time, especially as Great Britain was expanding her Empire. Many motifs were taken from ancient mythologies: Roman, Greek or Egyptian. Meanwhile, archeological fever caught the imagination of many artists. Nothing could have been more suitable to satisfy this huge business demand than to produce replicas of ancient artefacts.^{[citation needed]} Many representations of royalty, nobles and statesmen in silhouette were created, as well as political symbols. These were often set in jewelry, as well as in architectural features like fireplace mantels, mouldings and furniture. Wedgwood has honored several American individuals and corporations as well, both historically and recently. In 1774 he employed the then 19 year old John Flaxman as an artist, who would work for the next 12 years mostly for Wedgwood. The "Dancing Hours" may be his most well known design. Other artists known to have worked for Wedgwood include among others Lady Elizabeth Templetown, George Stubbs, Emma Crewe and Lady Diana Beauclerk.

Wedgwood had increasing success with hard paste porcelain which attempted to imitate the whiteness of tea-ware imported from China, an extremely popular product amongst high society. High transportation costs and the demanding journey from the Far East meant that the supply of chinaware could not keep up with increasingly high demand. Towards the end of the eighteenth century other Staffordshire manufacturers introduced bone china as an alternative to translucent and delicate Chinese porcelain.^[3] In 1812 Wedgwood produced their own bone china^[4] which, though not a commercial success at first^[3] eventually became an important part of an extremely profitable business.

Josiah Wedgwood was also a patriarch of the Darwin–Wedgwood family. Many of his descendants were closely involved in the management of the company down to the time of the merger with the Waterford Company:

• John Wedgwood (1766–1844), eldest son of Josiah I, partner in the firm from 1790 to 1793 and again from 1800 to 1812.
• Josiah Wedgwood II (1769–1843), second son of Josiah I, succeeded his father as proprietor in 1795 and introduced the production by the Wedgwood company of bone china. In 1815, during Josiah II's time as proprietor, the great English Romantic poet William Blake (1757–1827) spent some time engraving for Wedgwood's china catalogues.^[5]
• Josiah Wedgwood III (1795–1880), son of Josiah II, he was a partner in the firm from 1825 until he retired in 1842.
• Francis Wedgwood (1800–1880), son of Josiah II, he was a partner in the firm from 1827 and sole proprietor following his father's death until joined by his own sons. Financial difficulties caused him to offer for sale soon after taking over the firm's factory at Etruria and the family home Etruria Hall, but in the event and fortunately for the company only the hall was sold. He continued as senior partner until his retirement to Barlaston Hall in 1876.
• Godfrey Wedgwood (1833–1905), son of Francis Wedgwood, partner in the firm from 1859 to 1891. He and his brothers were responsible for the reintroduction of bone china c.1876 and the employment of the artists Thomas Allen and Emile Lessore.
• Clement Wedgwood (1840–1889), son of Francis Wedgwood, partner.
• Laurence Wedgwood (1844–1913), son of Francis Wedgwood, partner.
• Major Cecil Wedgwood DSO (1863–1916), son of Godfrey Wedgwood, partner from 1884, first Mayor of the federated County Borough of Stoke-on-Trent (1910–1911). He was chairman and managing director of Wedgwood until his death in battle in 1916.
• Kennard Laurence Wedgwood (1873–1949), son of Laurence Wedgwood, partner. In 1906 he went to the United States and set up the firm's New York office, which became Josiah Wedgwood and Sons USA, an incorporated subsidiary, in 1919.
• Francis Hamilton Wedgwood (1867–1930), eldest son of Clement Wedgwood, chairman and managing director from 1916 until his sudden death in 1930.
• Josiah Wedgwood V (1899–1968) grandson of Clement Wedgwood and son of Josiah Wedgwood, 1st Baron Wedgwood, the Managing Director of the firm from 1930 until 1968 and credited with turning the company's fortunes around. He was responsible for the enlightened decision to move production to a modern purpose built factory in a rural setting at Barlaston. It was designed by Keith Murray in 1936 and built between 1938 and 1940. He was succeeded as managing director by Arthur Bryan (later Sir Arthur) who was the first non-member of the Wedgwood family to run the firm.

Enoch Wedgwood (1813–1879), a distant cousin of the first Josiah, was also a potter and founded his own firm, Wedgwood & Co, in 1860. It was taken over by Josiah Wedgwood & Sons in 1980.

The company from 1986 to 2008[link]

In 1986, Waterford Glass Group plc purchased Wedgwood plc for $USD360 million, with Wedgwood delivering a 38.7 million USD profit in 1998 (when Waterford itself lost $28.9 million) after which the group was renamed Waterford Wedgwood. From early 1987 to early 1989, the CEO was Patrick Byrne, previously of Ford, who then became CEO of the whole group. During his time, he sold off non-core businesses, and reduced the range of Wedgwood patterns from over 400 to around 240. In the late 1990s, the CEO was Brian Patterson. From 1 January 2001, the Deputy CEO was Tony O'Reilly, Junior, who was appointed CEO in November of the same year and resigned in September 2005. He was succeeded by the then president of Wedgwood USA, Moira Gavin up until the company went into administration in 2009.

In 2001 Wedgwood launched a collaboration with designer Jasper Conran which started with a white fine bone china collection then expanded to include seven patterns.

The company from 2009[link]

On 5 January 2009, following years of financial problems at group level, and after a share placement failed during the global financial crisis of 2008, Wedgwood was placed into administration^[6] on a "going concern" basis, with 1800 employees remaining. On 27 February 2009, Waterford Wedgwood's receiver Deloitte announced that the New York-based private equity firm KPS Capital Partners had purchased "certain Irish and UK assets of Waterford Wedgwood and the assets of several of its Irish and UK subsidiaries" in a transaction expected to completed in March.^[7] In March 2009, KPS Capital Partners announced that it had acquired group assets in a range of countries, including the UK, USA and Indonesia, would invest €100m, and move a number of jobs to Asia to cut costs and return the firm to profitability.^[8] In a move that had begun under the previous owners, some 1,500 jobs were cut in the U.K., leaving 800 workers in the U.K. producing only the high-end Wedgwood products.^[9] KPS Capital Partners has placed Wedgwood into a group of companies known as WWRD, an acronym for "Waterford Wedgwood Royal Doulton."

Wedgwood Museums and the Museum Trust[link]

Wedgwood's founder wrote as early as 1774 that he wished he had preserved samples of all the company's works, and began to do so. The first formal museum was opened in May 1906, with a curator named Isaac Cooke, at the main (Etruria) works. The contents of the museum were stored for the duration of World War II and relaunched in a gallery at the new Barlaston factory in 1952. A new purpose-built Visitor Centre and Museum was built in 1975 and remodelled in 1985 with pieces displayed near items from the old factory works in cabinets of similar period. A video theatre was added and a new gift shop as well as an expanded demonstration area where visitors could watch pottery being made. A further renovation costing 4.5 million pounds was carried out in 2000, including access to the main factory itself, following which the Visitor Centre complex won multiple awards.

Adjacent to the museum and visitor centre are a restaurant and tea room, serving on Wedgwood ware. The museum, managed by a dedicated trust, closed in 2000 and in 2008 reopened in a new multi-million pound building. The new "state of the art" museum was opened on the 24th of October 2008.

In June 2009, the Wedgwood Museum won a UK Art Fund Prize for Museums and Art Galleries for its displays of Wedgwood pottery, skills, designs and artifacts.^[10] In May 2011, the archive of the museum was inscribed in UNESCO's UK Memory of the World Register.^[11][12][13]

The Minton Archive is a separate part of the collection. It comprises papers and drawings of the designs, manufacture and production of the pottery company Minton covering the period 1793–1968 and the artistic and industrial archives of Royal Doulton. The liquidation of Wedgwood placed this collection under threat of break-up and sale.^[14]

Wedgwood locality[link]

Wedgwood railway station was opened in the 1950s to serve the Wedgwood complex in Staffordshire, England.

Notes and references[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Josiah Wedgwood and Sons

• Official Wedgwood website
• Wedgwood Museum
• Save the Wedgwood Museum Campaign
• Wedgwood Society of Boston
• Wedgwood Waterford
• Jasper Conran Dining
• MacroJuice.com, highlights from the Wedgwood Museum collection.
• Wedgwood buttons, made 1785-1800, from the Victoria & Albert Museum jewellery collection.
• Sydney Cove Medallion at the National Museum of Australia

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Josiah Wedgwood
Born	(1730-07-12)12 July 1730 Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England
Died	3 January 1795(1795-01-03) (aged 64) Etruria, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England
Resting place	Stoke-on-Trent, England
Occupation	Potter

Etruria Hall, the family home, built 1768–1771 by Joseph Pickford. It was restored as part of the 1986 Stoke-on-Trent Garden Festival and is now part of a four-star hotel.

Josiah Wedgwood (12 July 1730 – 3 January 1795) was an English potter, founder of the Wedgwood company, credited with the industrialization of the manufacture of pottery. A prominent abolitionist, Wedgwood is remembered for his "Am I Not a Man And a Brother?" anti-slavery medallion. He was a member of the Darwin–Wedgwood family. He was the grandfather of Charles Darwin and Emma Darwin.

Biography[link]

Early life[link]

Born in Burslem, Staffordshire, England, the twelfth and last child of Thomas Wedgwood and Margret Wedgwood (née Stringer; d. 1766), Josiah was raised within a family of English Dissenters. By the age of nine, he was proving himself to be a skilled potter. He survived a childhood bout of smallpox to serve as an apprentice potter under his eldest brother Thomas Wedgwood IV. Smallpox left Josiah with a permanently weakened knee, which made him unable to work the foot pedal of a potter's wheel. As a result, he concentrated from an early age on designing pottery and then making it etc.

In his early twenties, Wedgwood began working with the most renowned English pottery-maker of his day, Thomas Whieldon, who eventually became his business partner in 1754. He began experimenting with a wide variety of techniques, an experimentation that coincided with the burgeoning of the nearby industrial city of Manchester. Inspired, Wedgwood leased the Ivy Works in the town of Burslem. Over the course of the next decade, his experimentation (and a considerable injection of capital from his marriage to a richly-endowed distant cousin) transformed the sleepy artisan works into the first true pottery factory.

Marriage and children[link]

Wedgwood married Sarah Wedgwood (1734–1815), his third cousin, in January 1764. They had seven children:

• Susannah Wedgwood (1765–1817) (married Robert Darwin, parents of the English naturalist Charles Darwin)
• John Wedgwood (1766–1844)
• Josiah Wedgwood II (1769–1843) (father of Emma Darwin, cousin and wife of the English naturalist Charles Darwin)
• Thomas Wedgwood (1771–1805) (no children)
• Catherine Wedgwood (1774–1823) (no children)
• Sarah Wedgwood (1776–1856) (no children, very active in the slavery abolition movement^[1])
• Mary Anne Wedgwood (1778–86) (died as a child)

Work[link]

Wedgwood was keenly interested in the scientific advances of his day and it was this interest that underpinned his adoption of its approach and methods to revolutionize the quality of his pottery. His unique glazes began to distinguish his wares from anything else on the market. He was perhaps the most famous potter of all time.

By 1763, he was receiving orders from the highest levels of the British nobility, including Queen Charlotte. Wedgwood convinced her to let him name the line of pottery she had purchased "Queen's Ware", and trumpeted the royal association in his paperwork and stationery. In 1773, Empress Catherine of Russia ordered the Green Frog Service from Wedgwood; it can still be seen in the Hermitage Museum.^[2] An even earlier commission from Catherine was the Husk Service (1770), now on exhibit in Petergof.

As a leading industrialist, Wedgwood was a major backer of the Trent and Mersey Canal dug between the River Trent and River Mersey, during which time he became friends with Erasmus Darwin. Later that decade, his burgeoning business caused him to move from the smaller Ivy Works to the newly-built Etruria Works, which would run for 180 years. The factory was so-named after the Etruria district of Italy, where black porcelain dating to Etruscan times was being excavated. Wedgwood found this porcelain inspiring, and his first major commercial success was its duplication with what he called "Black Basalt". He combined experiments in his art and in the technique of mass production with an interest in improved roads, canals, schools and living conditions. At Etruria, he even built a village for his workers.

Bust of Minerva, Wedgwood and Bentley, c. 1795

Not long after the new works opened, continuing trouble with his smallpox-afflicted knee made necessary the amputation of his right leg. In 1780, his long-time business partner Thomas Bentley died, and Wedgwood turned to Darwin for help in running the business. As a result of the close association that grew up between the Wedgwood and Darwin families, Josiah's eldest daughter would later marry Erasmus' son. One of the children of that marriage, Charles Darwin, would also marry a Wedgwood — Emma, Josiah's granddaughter. This double-barreled inheritance of Wedgwood's money gave Charles Darwin the leisure time to formulate his theory of evolution.

In the latter part of his life, Wedgwood's obsession was to duplicate the Portland Vase, a blue and white glass vase dating to the first century BC. For three years he worked on the project, eventually producing what he considered a satisfactory copy in 1789.

After passing on his company to his sons, Wedgwood died at home, probably of cancer of the jaw, in 1795. He was buried three days later in the parish church of Stoke-on-Trent. Seven years later a marble memorial tablet commissioned by his sons was installed there.

He belonged to the fourth generation of a family of potters whose traditional occupation continued through another five generations. Wedgwood's company is still a famous name in pottery today (as part of Waterford Wedgwood; see Waterford Crystal), and "Wedgwood China" is sometimes used as a term for his Jasperware, the coloured stoneware with applied relief decoration (usually white), still common throughout the world.

He was an active member of the Lunar Society often held at Erasmus Darwin House and is remembered on the Moonstones in Birmingham. He was elected to the Royal Society in 1783 for the development of a pyrometer.

Wedgwood is credited as the inventor of modern marketing, specifically direct mail, money-back guarantees, traveling salesmen, self-service, free delivery, buy one get one free, and illustrated catalogues.^[3]

"Am I Not a Man And a Brother?"[link]

Am I Not a Man and a Brother? Design of the medallion created as part of anti-slavery campaign by Wedgwood, 1787

Wedgwood was a prominent slavery abolitionist. His friendship with Thomas Clarkson – abolitionist campaigner and the first historian of the British abolition movement – aroused his interest in slavery. Wedgwood mass produced cameos depicting the seal for the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade and had them widely distributed, which thereby became a popular and celebrated image. The Wedgwood medallion was the most famous image of a black person in all of 18th-century art.^[4] The actual design of the cameo was probably done by either William Hackwood or Henry Webber who were modellers in his Stoke-on-Trent factory.^[5] From 1787 until his death in 1795, Wedgwood actively participated in the abolition of slavery cause, and his Slave Medallion, which brought public attention to abolition.^[6] Wedgwood reproduced the design in a cameo with the black figure against a white background and donated hundreds of these to the society for distribution. Thomas Clarkson wrote; "ladies wore them in bracelets, and others had them fitted up in an ornamental manner as pins for their hair. At length the taste for wearing them became general, and thus fashion, which usually confines itself to worthless things, was seen for once in the honorable office of promoting the cause of justice, humanity and freedom".^[7]

The design on the medallion became popular and was used elsewhere: large-scale copies were painted to hang on walls^[8] and it was used on clay tobacco pipes.^[9]

Sydney Cove Medallion[link]

Commemorating the landing of the First Fleet in Botany Bay, the Sydney Cove medallion was made by Josiah Wedgwood after he was given a sample of clay from Sydney Cove by Sir Joseph Banks, who had received the sample from Governor Arthur Phillip. Wedgwood made it into a commemorative medallion titled "Hope encouraging Art and Labour, under the influence of Peace, to pursue the employments necessary to give security and happiness to an infant settlement".^[10]

Locomotive[link]

A locomotive was named after Josiah Wedgwood and ran on the Churnet Valley Railway.^[11]

See also[link]

• Josiah Wedgwood & Sons
• Erasmus Darwin House Erasmus Darwin Museum house and gardens

Inventions[link]

Josiah Wedgwood also invented the pyrometer, a device to measure the extremely high temperatures that are found in kilns during the firing of pottery. For this he was elected a member of the Royal Society.

References[link]

The Earth and Its Peoples: A Global History. Forth Edition, 1986

Sources[link]

• Dolan, Brian (2004). Wedgwood: The First Tycoon. Viking Adult. ISBN 0-670-03346-4.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Josiah Wedgwood

• Wedgwood website
• Wedgwood collection at the Lady Lever Art Gallery
• Wedgwood Museum
• The Great Crash, Jenny Uglow, The Guardian, 7 February 2009
• [1]
• National Museum of Australia The Sydney Cove Medallion (Flash required for close-up viewing).

Whirimako Black (born c. 1961) is a New Zealand Māori recording artist ^[1]

Whirimako sings mostly in Te Reo Māori,^[1] uses traditional Māori musical forms and collaborates with traditional Taonga pūoro instruments.

Her musical achievements include composing and singing the titles for the acclaimed Television New Zealand series, 'The New Zealand Wars', as well as composing with Hori Tait the initial title music for the Māori news programme, Te Karere. In 1991, she formed the female Māori band Tuahine Whakairo but left in 1993, to start a solo career.

Born in Whakatane,^[1] Whirimako is of Ngāti Tuhoe, Ngāti Tuwharetoa, Ngāti Ranginui, Kahungunu, Te Whakatohea, Te Whanau-a-Apanui, Te Arawa, and Ngāti Awa descent.

Whirimako Black bears a striking traditional Maori female tattoo, or Ta Moko on her face, a cultural symbol of pride and beauty.

She was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2006 New Year Honours.^[2]

Discography[link]

References[link]