George Leason

 

LEASON, George (1841-1911), pottery manager, Stoke upon Trent.

George Leason, the son of George and Prudence Leason, was born in Hartshill on 25th August 1841. His father worked for Minton and helped with experiments on encaustic tiles c.1835-45.

George junior was educated in Newcastle under Lyme until the age of 10 when he became a messenger boy. His father apprenticed him to Minton's when he was 13, and in time he became a journeyman and then a foreman. In 1868 he was appointed manager of the china works and in 1883 became a director. He left Minton's in 1900 to work for the firm of Guillaume, Frans and Mahlem in Germany, and stayed with that company for five years.

His wife Emma, nee Griffiths, bore him two children, George Griffith and William.

He was elected councillor for the borough of Stoke upon Trent in 1875 and was mayor for three consecutive years, 1884-5, 1885-6, 1886-7. He was present at the first funeral to be held in the new  municipal cemetery at Hartshill on 27th December 1884. 

He died on 3rd April 1911.

SOURCES: Staffs. Sentinel 5 April 1911 (Obit); People of the Potteries; A. Dobraszczyc notes