Wedgwood. The Man.

Having read Jenny Uglow's wonderful book 'The Lunar Men', I was keen to see the Wedgwood Museum near Stoke-on-Trent, and see first-hand the beautiful pottery conceived by the creative talents of Josiah Wedgwood and his skilled artists and craftsmen.

Josiah Wedgwood came from a long line of potters but it was he who made the Wedgwood name synonymous with exquisite tableware and beautiful ornaments. 

He was born in 1730 and, at an early age, joined the family business as apprentice to his older brother, Thomas, their father having died when young Josiah was nine years old. Josiah, being hampered by a smallpox-affected right leg, was not able to use a potters' wheel and so became interested in pottery design. When Josiah came of age his brother refused to take him into partnership (bad mistake) so Josiah, in his early twenties, began working with renowned pottery maker, Thomas Whieldon. Within a few years they would become business partners and Josiah's outstanding career was set in motion.

The mid eighteenth century was a time of great innovation and Josiah was a keen philosopher as the amateur scientists called themselves. He belonged to a group of like-minded innovators known as the 'Lunar Society', because they met on evenings of a full moon which lit their way home afterwards. Travelling at night was a risky business on atrocious roads. Together they discussed all types of new ideas and inventions. Erasmus Darwin, a medical doctor with a great interest in botany, was one of the group as was James Watt, the man who did great things with steam.

Josiah was a jolly man, revelling in his wife and large family, always willing to help his friends and the wider community, and he was also a vocal supporter of the abolition of slavery. His gamy leg caused him great difficulty so, when he was not yet forty, he decided to get rid of the thing. His friend Erasmus Darwin removed the leg and Josiah happily made do with a wooden one.

Josiah and his friends and associates were at the forefront of the Industrial Revolution, introducing production-line manufacture, inventing machines and tools to speed production and backing the making of canals to transport goods safely to market and bring raw materials to the factories. Josiah himself was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1783 after inventing the pyrometer to measure oven temperatures, a crucial improvement in the accuracy of successfully firing pottery. He is credited with introducing modern marketing techniques by such means as capitalising on a royal connection. After being appointed queen's potter, at the age of thirty-two, by Queen Charlotte, he named his cream-coloured dinnerware 'Queen's Ware'.

He experimented tirelessly with clays, minerals and glazes keeping detailed records of his experiments, which survive to this day. During the 1770s he worked on producing the Jasper-ware which has become what we all recognise as 'Wedgwood'. 

The mid blue Jasper-ware gave its name to the colour 'Wedgwood Blue'. It became the most popular colour but Jasper-ware comes in green, pink, beige and, of course, black, the colour of his famous copy of the Portland Vase. He spent three or four years experimenting before producing a copy of which he was happy to put the name 'Wedgwood'.

His daughter, Susannah, married Erasmus Darwin's son, and they became the parents of naturalist, Charles Darwin, making both Josiah and his friend Erasmus his grandparents.

Josiah died at the age of 65 leaving a great fortune and having created a business that still prides itself on quality 250 years after its inception.

No photography allowed at the Wedgwood Museum so photos courtesy of Google Images.