T & R Boote

Burslem

1842

1963

Earthenware, Parian ware, tile manufacturer - originally at the Central Pottery, Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent.

The original business was founded in 1842 Thomas Latham Boote and Richard Boote who rented the 3 bottle oven Central Pottery in Burslem.
Later the business moved to the Kilncroft Works and then around 1850 took over the Waterloo Pottery from Thomas Edwards.
At some time Edward Barker and John Mare Harrison were partners in the business, they left the partnership in 1861.
Thomas Latham Boote retired September 1879 and the business was continues by Richard Boote with the help of the sons.
In 1891 Richard Boote died.
In 1894 the business became a limited liability company.
For a brief period T & R Boote concurrently manufactured at the Portland Tile Works, Newcastle Street, Burslem.
At sometime T & R Boote operated at the Hall Field Works in Hanley - in 1947 it was purchased by Richards Tiles - at that time it manufactured about three thousand square yards per week of unglazed floor tiles.
In 1963 the business was taken over by Richards Tiles

Types of ware manufactured:

In a dispute with Copeland and Mintons over the invention of Parian ware, Thomas L Boote claimed to have first made parian in 1841 with E. Jones.
By 1850 the company had begun producing tiles.
In 1865 the company started to produced unglazed pavement tiles. They took out a patent for 'Process for inlaying encaustic tiles with clay dust'.
The production of decorated wear was reduced and production increasingly concentrated on white ironstone for the American market.
In 1906 production concentrated on tile manufacture.

"Messrs. T. & R. Boote, of Burslem, have very courteously supplied the following particulars relative to their establishment:- The firm was founded early in 1842 by Messrs. Thomas Latham Boote and Richard Boote, who commenced at the Central Pottery, Burslem, their original manufacture being Parian statuary and vases, of which a display was made in the first International Exhibition of 1851, and a prize medal awarded. The exhibit attracted, amongst others, the Prince Frederick William of Prussia (afterward the Emperor Frederick of Germany), who made a purchase.

After a few years the Central Pottery was found too small, and the Kilncroft Works was occupied. Ultimatly, about the year 1850 the various works on the site of what is now called the Waterloo Potteries were purchased and occupied by Messrs. T. & R. Boote.

About the same time the manufacture of tiles, which had then been revived by Messrs. Minton, Hollins & Co., of Stoke-on-Trent, attracted the attention of Messrs. Boote, and they secured the premises on the west side of Waterloo Road, Burslem and there commenced a business which has grown to its present dimensions.

From time to time changes were made, and between the years 1850 and 1860 the manufacture of white earthenware (called white granite) was undertaken for the American market, the firm suffering very considerably, along with many others, during the American Civil War.

In September 1879 Mr. T. L. Boote retired from the firm, which passed solely into the hands of Mr. Richard Boote, who at that time, and until his death in 1891, was ably assisted in the management by his son Mr. Albert J. T. Boote, and later by his second son Mr. Richard Latham Boote, who, in conjunction with his brother Mr. Charles Edmund Boote, still controls the business, which since 1894 has been conducted as a private limited liability concern.

Prize medals were awarded at the London Exhibition of 1861 and the Calcutta Exhibition of 1883. The Blackwall Tunnel is one of the public works that have been tiles throughout by this firm"

Leadless decorative tiles, faience and mosaic - William James Furnival - 1904

printed Shapoo mark with an impressed registration diamond

T&R Boote
Stone China

the registration diamond is difficult to read but is from the 1842-67 period

flow-blue plate in the Shapoo pattern

The name Shapoo is thought to be an anglicised version of Chapu, a town near Nanking in China. The pattern contains elements of the famous Willow Pattern

This pattern was first produced by T & R Boote and continued by Thomas Hughes. By 1888 Boote had stopped manufacture of decorated ware and in the same year Hughes had expanded by purchasing the Longport Pottery from Davenport's. It is most likely that Hughes bought some of the transfer engravings (including Shapoo) from T & R Boote.

Shapoo
T & R B

STONE CHINA
[impressed]

Shapoo
T & R B

BCM/T&RB

British Commercial Monomarks was a postbox service launched in November 1925 the initials BCM were to be used on goods along with an identifying name to uniquely identify the manufacturer and provide a method of correspondence.

T & R Boote
Sydenham Shape

The registration diamond shows that a dinner set design was registered on 3rd September 1853 to T and R Boote, Waterloo Potteries and Encaustic Tile Works, Burslem, Staffordshire.