W & E Corn

Manufacturers of earthenware at Navigation Road, Burslem and then earthenware and tiles at the Top Bridge Works, Longport, Stoke-on-Trent

The business was started at the High Street Works, Burslem by Edward Corn in 1837.
By 1850 business had increased and it was transferred to larger premises in Navigation Road, Burslem. About the time of this transfer Edward Corn retired, leaving the business to his two sons, William and Edward, in whose hands it took the name of 'W & E Corn' around 1864.
Edward Corn (the father) died in 1869.
William Corn (the elder son) died around 1885.
In 1890, still larger premises having become necessary, the Burslem factory was abandoned in favour of Top Bridge Works, Longport.
Edward Corn (the younger son) died in 1891. The management of the company devolved upon his two sons - Alfred Henry Corn and Edmund Richards Corn - at this time the name W & E Corn continued to be used.
There was another brother, Reginald Augustus Corn, and the three brothers together operated a tile manufacturing business at the Bridge Tile Works, known as Corn Brothers.
The year 1891 saw Edmund R. Corn experimenting with glazed and floor tile manufacture, and soon the firm was producing tiles on a considerable scale.
In 1896 control of the Bridge Tile Works was transfered soley to Reginald A Corn and the other two brothers continued their business at the Top Bridge Works continuing the name W & E Corn.
An important development occurred in 1900, when it was decided to purchase the sanitary earthenware business of Edward Johns & Co Ltd., Armitage, near Rugeley. Edmund R. Corn took charge at Armitage and
Alfred H. Corn remaining in control at Longport.
In 1903 the business transfered to the Pinnox Works in Tunstall and was renamed The Henry Richards Tile Company (the second Christian names of Alfred and Edmund.

Most of this information from: "A Century of Progress 1837-1937" a publication to commemorate The Centenary of Richards Tiles Ltd.