Wedgwood

Wedgwood, strictly "Josiah Wedgwood and Sons", is a British pottery firm, originally founded in 1759 by Josiah Wedgwood, which in 1987 merged with Waterford Crystal, creating Waterford Wedgwood, the Ireland-based luxury brands group. The company still exists as a subsidiary within the group, with its own board of directors and management team. "Wedgwood" is also used as a general term to describe the company's main products.

The family and company history

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

In 1765, Wedgwood created a new earthenware form which impressed the then English Queen, who gave permission to call it "Queen's Ware"; this new form sold extremely well across Europe. Then, in 1766, Wedgwood bought "Etruria", a large Staffordshire house, 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" (the first colour was the Poland Blue and for its innovation Josiah Wedgwood experimented with more than three-thousand samples). As a reward for his contributions, Josiah Wedgwood was elected a member of the Royal Society in 1783. Today, the Wedgwood Prestige collection provides customers with the opportunity to purchase replicas of some of the original designs, as well as modern neo-classical style jasper ware.

A word or two must be said on the designs on Jasper Ware. The main themes on the Jasper ware have all been taken from ancient mythologies: Roman, Greek or Egyptian. The initial decision to have antiquity designs was probably that as Britain entered an age of great industrialization, the demand for luxurious goods subsequently exploded. Meanwhile, the 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 artefacts.

The major break-through came when Wedgwood became the first firm in eighteenth century England to innovate the perfect mixture of fine bone china. This was an imitation on the bone china tea-ware imported from China which were extremely popular with the high society, they were delicate pieces: transluscent under candlelight, perfect white and light. Nevertheless the high transportation costs and the vigorous long journey from the Far East meant that the supply of bone china could not keep up with the increasing high demand. In the background of this, who could first produce the first version of local fine bone china would be the 'winner'. Wedgwood's new innovation of English Fine Bone China certainly led to extremely profitable businesses. Almost two hundred and fifty years later, the fame of Wedgwood's fine bone china is world-wide. Wedgwood stores in London regularly receive customers from all over the world purchasing its fine bone china ware.

Josiah Wedgwood was also the 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.
*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, 1st Baron Wedgwood (Josiah Wedgwood IV), (1872-1943), son of Clement Wedgwood. He was a distinguished Labour Party (UK) politician and Member of Parliament for Newcastle-under-Lyme for 36 years until elevated to a seat on the Labour benches in the House of Lords by Winston Churchill in 1942.
*Josiah Wedgwood V (1899-1968) son of Josiah Wedgwood IV, 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.

*Dr. John Wedgwood (1919-2007), elder son of Josiah Wedgwood V, was a noted British physician.

Enoch Wedgwood, a cousin of Josiah's, was also a potter. There were other Wedgwoods in British public life (in addition to those named here) who are mostly related to the extended family of Josiah Wedgwood.

The company from 1986

In 1986, Waterford Glass Group plc purchased Wedgwood plc for 360 million USD, with Wedgwood delivering a 38.7 million USD profit in 1998 (when Waterford itself lost 28.9 million USD), following 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 1990's, 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, and had seen then succeeded by the then president of Wedgwood USA, Moira Gavin.

The company today incorporates Coalport, Mason's and Johnson Brothers wares, and its parent company, Waterford Wedgwood also heads crystal brands such as Waterford, Stuart and Edinburgh, and the Royal Doulton ranges. Wedgwood continues to be headquartered at Barlaston, on 200 acres of grounds.

Wedgwood Museums and the Museum Trust

The 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 museum was 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 giftshop, 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, now in the care of a dedicated Trust, is closed at this time (April 2008), following an announcement by the company that it wished to enlarge the "visitor experience". The expanded Museum and Visitor Centre is due to open during autumn 2008.

Wedgwood locality

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

External links

* [http://www.wedgwood.com Wedgwood Website]
* [http://www.wedgwoodmuseum.org.uk/ Wedgwood museum]
* [http://www.wedgwoodsociety.org/ Wedgwood Society of Boston]
* [http://www.waterfordwedgwood.com/ Wedgwood Waterford]
* [http://www.youricons.macrojuice.com/content/blogcategory/21/137/ Your Icons ] Highlights from the Wedgwood Museum collection