Midwinter Pottery

Midwinter Pottery

Former type	Private company (subsidiary of Wedgwood Group)
Industry	Pottery
Founded	1910
Defunct	1987
Headquarters	Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England
Key people	Roy Midwinter (Director)
Products	Ceramics
Employees	700+ (1930s)
Parent	Wedgwood Group

The Midwinter Pottery was founded in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, in 1910 and had become one of England's largest potteries by the late 1930s with more than 700 employees.

Close up of a jug and side plates in the popular Zambesi design, 1950s

Galaxy, a hand painted design by Jessie Tait, 1950s

Midwinter ware from the Mexicana range

English Garden, transfer printed on the 'Fine' shape, late 1960s

History

In the 1950s, under the leadership of the director Roy Midwinter, the company became one of the leading innovators in British tableware production. A large part of this was due to the noted ceramicists and designers who worked for the pottery, including Jessie Tait, Terence Conran, Hugh Casson, John Russell^{[disambiguation needed ]} and Peter Scott. The Midwinter Pottery was also an innovator in producing 'accessories' to their basic dinner services and tea sets. The Clayburn Pottery, a sister company to Midwinter, made pieces such as lamp bases that could be added to a Midwinter dinner service. In the 1960s, the Spanish Garden design, that was very successful on dinner ware and tea sets, adorned articles such as a bread bin and chopping board.

The costs involved in developing two unsuccessful new ranges weakened the company, and there was a takeover by J. & G. Meakin in 1968. In 1970 Meakin was itself bought out by Wedgwood. Pottery was produced under the Midwinter name from their factory until 1987.

Many of the pieces produced by Midwinter in the 1950s and 1960s have become highly collectible, being typical of the styles of those eras.

Bibliography

MIDWINTER A Collector's guide - Alan Peat, Cameron and Hollis, 1992, ISBN 0-906506-06-9 (Now being reprinted on demand)

• Midwinter Pottery - Steven Jenkins, Richard Dennis, 2003, ISBN 0-903685-90-6