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Co-operative
Wholesale Society Ltd (China manufacture) |
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Location and period of operation:
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Co-operative
Wholesale Society Ltd |
Longton |
1911 |
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Bone
China manufacturer at the Windsor Pottery, Longton,
Stoke-on-Trent, England.
NOTE: The CWS also operated an earthenware factory at the Crown Clarence Pottery.
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Co-operative Society Ltd Gala and Anniversary Ware:
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The Co-operative Society produced commemorative ware for a number of Co-op branches and districts - generally to celebrate Gala and Anniversary events. This commemorative ware tends to use a back stamp of the logo of a wheat sheaf and the motto 'Labor and Wait' The CWS are recorded as starting in 1911 ('Encyclopedia of British Pottery and Porcelain Marks' Geoffrey Godden) - although some CWS ware was made for events at least as early as 1906. It may be that pottery manufacture started before 1911 or that the Co-op had this ware made for them by others. However the use of the town name LONGTON, which is where the Co-op pottery factory was located, perhaps indicates that the ware was made by the Co-op themselves. |
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The Co-operative Wholesale Society Ltd (CWS) logo of a wheat sheaf and the motto 'Labor and Wait' was used as a makers mark. Labor is spelt without the 'U' in the American style. This was quite intentional. The CWS was progressive in the liberal tradition, they were supporters of the Union in the American Civil War and were anti-slavery, and reflected this by taking their motto from the US poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, 'A Psalm for Life'. The last verse of the poem reads: 'Let us, then, be up and doing/ With a heart for any fate/Still achieving, still pursuing/ Learn to labor and to wait.' |
Blackpool Industrial
Co-operative Society Limited
1885 - 1906
this commemorative plate has the C.W.S. wheat sheaf logo on the back
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 C.W.S. Labor and Wait Longton
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photos courtesy: Chris
Twigg
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plate produced to commemorate the 50th anniversary
of the |
 C.W.S. Longton
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photos courtesy: Lynda
Brown
 Commemorative mug
Queensferry & District Co-operative Society Ltd The Co-operative pottery manufacturing
business produced |
 C.W.S. Longton
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photos courtesy: Paul Davies
Windsor Fine Bone China:
Windsor Fine Bone China
Pottery Gazette Reference Book - 1960
"Windsor" and
"Clarence" were trade names of the
Co-operative
Wholesale Society
typical bone china tea ware
cups & saucers with an
identical chrysanthemum pattern - but different backstamps...
 one set has the 'normal' Windsor mark
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 the other set is marked 'Royal London' - this may be a mark used after 1971 by Hammersley when they took over the business and ran it as 'Royal Windsor' |
photos courtesy: Thea Hawryluk
Marks used on ware for identification:
The trade name was "Windsor"
Bone China and from mid 1950s also included
"Clarence" bone chine - visually there was nothing to distinguish one
from the other.
Generally the initials C.W.S. were only used in earlier marks
C.W.S.
Windsor China
c.1911+
c.1946+ |
c.1950+ |
c.1960+ |
Windsor
Bone China
Made in England
mid 1950s+ |
mid 1950s+ |
Clarence
Bone China
Made in England
C.W.S Ltd. - Windsor Pottery
Windsor and Elektra Potteries,
Longton
November 1962 - Bert Bentley Collection
| The photograph show the two large updraught hovel ovens in the foreground, which dominated the works. These works were demolished in 1975 and the site now lies beneath the A50 road.
The Windsor and Elektra Potteries were on Edensor Road, just before the junction with Clayton Road. This photograph was taken looking south from in front of the old Alhambra Cinema, with Clayton Road going off to the left of the Windsor Pottery. Windsor Pottery was owned and operated by the Co-operative Wholesale Society from 1911. The CWS was part of the Co-op group of shops and suppliers. In Longton, the CWS also operated the Crown Clarence Pottery. The Windsor Pottery produced bone china and was previously operated by Hill & Co. |
Courtesy: Staffordshire Past Track
Questions, comments, contributions? email: Steve Birks
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