Inventors of ironstone-type ware.

The Turner family of potters was a prominent English pottery-making dynasty active in the latter half of the 18th and early 19th centuries. The most notable members were John Turner (1737–1787) and his sons William (1762-1835) and John (1766-1824). Based in Lane End, Staffordshire, the Turners were highly regarded for their innovative ceramics, often compared to those of Josiah Wedgwood, with whom they had professional connections.

John Turner at Stoke town:

• In 1753, at the age of 16, John Turner was apprenticed to Daniel Bird - a potter at Cliffe Bank, Stoke.

• In 1756 Turner established his own business at a factory in Stoke town producing white stoneware in partnership with William Banks [Bankes] under the style of Turner or Turner & Banks. 
  In 1762 Josiah Spode I joined Turner and Banks, in the same year Turner left and Spode took over as manager of the works.

There are no identifiable pieces of the 1756-62 period but they were likely to be specially made and satirical pieces. 

John Turner at Lane End:

• It appears that around 1759 John Turner and his wife were living in nearby Lane End (Hillier p. 5), about an hour or so walk from Stoke. 
  He started his own manufactory in Lane End in 1762 (Shaw p. 172). Here he "manufactured every kind of pottery then in demand and also introduced some other kinds not previously known". Turner became "one of the most clever and successful potters Staffordshire ever produced". The ceramic art of Great Britain - Llewellynn Jewitt, 1878. 
  
  Degg teapot - In March of 1762 Turner produced a teapot commissioned by the Degg family of Uttoxeter as a gift for The Marquis of Stafford, Lord Trentham's father. 

• In about 1780 John Turner took his sons John and William into partnership.

• He was appointed potter to the Prince of Wales in 1784 and some of the ware is marked with the Prince of Wales feathers. 

• 1783-7 John Turner was in partnership with Andrew Abbott as Turner & Abbott -  a London based retail outlet. John Turner died in 1787 and this terminated the partnership. 

Turners and New Hall Porcelain:

• In 1768 a Mr. Cookworthy had obtained a Patent for the exclusive use of Cornish Clay and the Growan Stone in the manufacture of Hard Paste Porcelain. He afterwards sold the patent right to Richard Champion of Bristol who set up a factory producing what was perhaps the first English Porcelain. Champion overextended himself and was unable to recoup his expenditure and so in 1777 he sold the Patent on to a company called New Hall in Shelton.  

• John Turner snr. was one of the original six members vis:
  
  Mr. Samuel Hollins, Red China Potter, of Shelton; Anthony Keeling, Son-in-law of Enoch Booth, Potter, Tunstall; John Turner, Lane End; Jacob Warburton, Son of Mrs. W. of Hot Lane; William Clowes, Potter, of Pert Hill; and Charles Bagnall, Potter, Shelton. 

• A disagreement arose in 1782 which resulted in Anthony Keeling and John Turner withdrew from the partnership. 

The Gerverot Beaker:

• "Louis-Victor Gerverot (1747-1829), who was originally from Lorraine and worked both at Sèvres and at Niderviller (Jacob-Hanson, 2004, 2007) was employed by Turner at the Lane End (Longton, Staffordshire) factory possibly to make hard-paste porcelain between 1786-88." 

A beaker attributed to Gerverot and made in July 1877 is in the British Museum collection. 

John Turner snr. died in December 1787 and his sons John and William succeeded him in the business. They had been partners with their father since c. 1780. 

Turners' patent:

• On 19th January 1800 William Turner was awarded patent number 2367 for the manufacture of what was known as "Patent Stone"

• It is recognised that Turner produced the first vitrified stone ware. "The Turner's Patent ware can be of very fine quality and they can be regarded as the first of the British ironstone-type bodies"  Godden, Ironstone, Stone & Granite Wares, p345

• Following the bankruptcy in 1806, William Turner continued manufacturing on his own account until 1829. It has been suggested that William may have produced some patent ware. Although Godden notes that "No late-looking marked 'Turner' stone chinas have been reported". 

Bankruptcy & beyond:

• Around the turn of the century the company had financial problems which were compounded by difficulties in collecting debts from Continental Europe as a consequence of the French Revolution.  

• By February 1804 John and William Turner had been joined in partnership by John Glover and Charles Simpson joined them - the business became Turner, Glover & Simpson (Turner & Co). 

• In November of 1804 John Turner retired from the business. 

• In March 1806 the Turner, Glover, Simpson partnership was dissolved and it appears that the business was bankrupt. 

• By October of 1806 John and William Turner had met the bankruptcy conditions placed upon them. William Turner continued the business until he retired in 1829. 

Useful links & publications:

Turner - History of the Staffordshire Potteries, 1829, Shaw

Turner - Printed British Pottery & Porcelain

Turner (potters) - Wikipedia - note that there are errors in this Wikipedia article: 

(1) It mistakes references in Godden's Ironstone, Stoke and Grantite Wares p.326 and assumes that Turner sold his patent to Josiah Spode II, it now generally considered that this was not the case and that Spode introduced his Stone China around 1813 or 1814 to compete with the newly patented Mason's Ironstone China. 

(2) In the reference to the discovery of peacock marl at Dock Green, Edensor the article assumes that this refers to Edensor in Derbyshire. The location of the clay seam was Green Dock in Longton, in the borough of Stoke-upon-Trent.

The Turners of Lane End - Bevis Hillier; 1965, Cory, Adams & Mackay Ltd. 

Turner Teapot - March 1762
LORD TRENTHAM WITH HIS FRENCH DOLLS

flowers and foliage complete the design - the whole is outlined in a rich dark blue

Lord Trentham was four years old at the time of the manufacture of this teapot - the 'dolls' are marionettes 

 - there is the usual impressed mark Turner on the bottom - 

This teapot appears to have been commissioned by the Degg family of Uttoxeter as a gift for The Marquis of Stafford, Lord Trentham's father.

"The teapot illustrated appears to be a very interesting, if not unique, specimen of the work of John Turner, of Lane End. It is five inches high and made in a buff-coloured earthenware body, with the surface ornamented with an elaborate design in low relief, of which the prominent feature is the standing figure of a youngish man, dressed in the costume of the middle eighteenth century, and dangling from his right hand one male doll, and from his left two female dolls, all dressed in the style of the same period.

Beneath this figure and running round the teapot is the inscription:-

LORD TRENTHAM WITH HIS FRENCH DOLLS.

Conventional flowers and foliage complete the design. The whole is outlined in a rich dark blue, considerably worn in places. 

On the base in underglaze lettering is the name and date, "M. Degg,
Mar., 1762," and inside the lid are the initials, "M.D., Uttoxeter."
There is the usual impressed mark Turner on the bottom.

There are several remarkable points about this teapot. To begin with, it must have been one of the very first pieces of pottery made by John Turner
at Lane End ; for, although he had been engaged in the manufacture of white stoneware in conjunction with one R. Bankes at Stoke before then, it was not until 1762 that he set up as a potter at Lane End on his own account. And this teapot bears the date of the third month of that year.

Again, it is so unlike Turner’s usual style that it naturally occurs to
one to regard it as an experimental piece. Indeed, it is just such a piece as Professor Church might have had in his mind when he wrote in his English
Earthenware, "Turner was not a mere plagiarist of
Wedgwood, many of his productions having marked
elements of originality.""

Connoisseur, May 1907 p.51

"After Mr. Turner had separated from the New Hall Company, he commenced the manufacture of porcelain, at Lane End; and one of the ornaments he made, is now preserved by Broadhurst Harding, with truly laudable care and anxiety. [now in the British Museum]

It is a beaker, on which is enamelled, in brown colours, the whole interior of a Pottery. The celebrated modeller Gerverot designed it; and in quality it will still rank very high among English, porcelain." 

(Shaw p. 204)

The Gerverot Beaker

 "Beaker, hard-paste porcelain, of flared form with out-turned rim, on a circular stepped foot, painted in monochrome sepia on both sides with scenes of children at work in a pottery between the Prince of Wales's feathers. 
The scenes are surrounded by oil-gilt stylised leaf ornament; gilt lines on rim, foot and around upper part of foot. Signed and inscribed."

British Museum - The Gerverot Beaker

See: The Turners of Lane End - Hillier Chapter Six. 

Lane End . July . 1787

"In 1800, Mr. W. Turner having amused himself with examining by chemical analysis the different strata perforated in sinking a new shaft of a Coal Pit at Milfield Gate, discovered, in what is called the Taberner's (or Little) Mine, a mineral, which by calcination becomes a pearl white, yet unlike other minerals, does not shrink by the most ardent temperature to which it has been subjected — 130° of Wedgwood's pyrometer. 

This is now called Patent Stone, in consequence of the brothers Turner having obtained Letters Patent for manufacturing, with it as one material, a real Porcelain, wholly different from any previously manufactured. 

The stone is very different from the Iron Stone; and therefore the present Patent Ironstone China must not be confounded with the other Patent Porcelains, Champion's and Turners'. 

The late J. Spode, Esq. purchased the right to manufacture this patent Stone Porcelain; and a fine specimen of it has already been noticed."

'History of the Staffordshire Potteries', published in 1829 by Simeon Shaw. p. 172

Note: A number of subsequent writers copied Shaw's statement about the sale of the patent and it has been assumed that  in 1805 Turner sold his patent to Josiah Spode. However it now generally considered that this was not the case given that Spode did not introduced his Stone China until around 1813 or 1814. 

N8 is probably a pattern number 

In December 1803 the Turner brothers partnership was enlarged to include John Glover and Charles Simpson. Turner & Co ceased trading in Dec 1804 and the partnership was dissolved March 1806.

Collection of Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent

photos and text source: Printed British Pottery & Porcelain

"Small rectangular dish or stand, Turner's patent ironstone china with underglaze blue printed decoration. The design is known as House on the Bridge and depicts an exotic scene with a house at the extreme right of a three-arched bridge. 

It is impressed on the reverse TURNER MIST SOLE AGENT indicating that this was made by Turner for retail by James Mist of London. Mist was in various partnerships until he was sole owner of the company between 1811-1818. 

The piece must have been produced for Mist during those years and consequently it must have been made by William Turner who had started up in business in 1806 after the partnership with his brother ceased on their bankruptcy that year. 

The pattern is also known in a version produced by Charles Heathcote & Co. who had a factory near to Turner and appears to have acquired a number of his copper plates."

TURNER 

impressed mark 

c. 1770+

TURNER 

printed or impressed mark include the Prince of Wales' Feathers

1784+

Turner's Patent

hand painted mark 

January 1800 Turner's were a patent
for the manufacture of what was known as Patent Stone

 TURNER  & Co 

impressed mark 

(example show is on Jasper ware)

TURNER 
Mist Sole Agent 

made by William Turner for retail by James Mist of London. Mist was in various partnerships until he was sole owner of the company between 1811-1818. 

TURNER, John (1737-87), pottery manufacturer, Lane End (now called Longton) 

John Turner of Lane End was christened 7th Jun 1737 at St Nicholas Church, Newport, Shropshire to parents Walter Turner & Mary Phipps.

Where he attended school is not known but he was sufficiently well-educated to be able to write his pottery chemical formulae in French to guard against industrial espionage. 

He was apprenticed to a Staffordshire potter, Daniel Bird, in 1753, and was established by 1756 in a partnership with R. Banks, making white stoneware, in a factory on the site of what became Copeland-Spode, in Stoke upon Trent. He moved to Lane End in 1762. (Jewitt).

He was acknowledged as being 'one of the cleverest and most successful potters Staffordshire ever produced.'

The earliest dated piece attributed to him is a 1762 teapot. About 1780 he discovered a vein of fine clay, peacock marl, at Green Dock, Edensor (Longton), from which he made a wide variety of ware of a cane colour. He also produced a blue glazed pottery similar to Japanese porcelain. He was both a friend and commercial rival of Josiah Wedgwood. 

John Turner was one of the six founders of the New Hall Works, Shelton.

John Turner was a pioneer of the atmospheric Newcomen steam engine in the Potteries, installing one in his pottery in 1775. 

He was appointed potter to the Prince of Wales in 1784 and some of the ware is marked with the Prince of Wales feathers. 

He married Ann nee Emery on 15 October 1759 and by her had three sons and three daughters. His sons William and John later became his partners, continuing the business after his death on 24 December 1787. The firm was declared bankrupt in 1806. William continued on his own until 1829 when the factory was sold. 

Sources: Jewitt's, B. Hiller, Master Potters of the Industrial Revolution – the Turners of Lane End, A Lamb 'Mechanisation and the Applications of Steam Power in the North Staffordshire Pottery Industry', in N.S.J.F.S. vol. 17, 1977; ) Mankowitz & Haggar Concise Encyclopedia of English Pottery....; People of the Potteries; information from Maureen Leese and Rob Fountain.

Date of birth and parents details updated June 2013 - information supplied by Rob Fountain. 

TURNER, William (1762-1835), pottery manufacturer, Longton. 

William Turner was born in 1762, the son of John Turner. With his brother John he was in partnership with his father in the works at Lane End (Longton). After John Turner senior's death William and his brother John jnr. continued the business. 

On 19 January 1800 they took out a patent for the manufacture of a new kind of stoneware called Turner's patent, which used Tabberner's mine rock. The rights were sold to Spode in 1805. 

The firm was declared bankrupt in 1806 and William continued on his own until the factory was sold in 1829. 

The firm's productions were among the best wares of their day, equaling Wedgwood's in quality and sometimes being mistaken for them. 

William was in Paris during the French Revolution, was arrested and escaped with his life only by the intervention of the British ambassador, the marquis of Stafford (later Duke of Sutherland). 

The effects of the revolutionary and Napoleonic wars contributed to the firm's financial collapse in 1806. 

William, a rather more public figure than his brother John, was a major in the Longton volunteers in 1803. His bust, by George Ray, is in Stoke on Trent City Museum.

William Turner died in Longton on 5 July 1835. 

Sources: R Haggar, .Staffordshire Chimney Ornaments; B. Hillier, Master Potters of the Industrial Revolution – the Turners of Lane End; Jewitt; .Staffs. Advertiser  11 July 1835 (obit ), People of the Potteries; information from Maureen Leese.