• The partners were William Mollart Harding & Joseph Boon Harding. 

• Previously they had been in partnership with Charles Cockson as trading as Cockson & Hardings - This partnership was dissolved in January 1863. Charles Cockson continued at the Cobridge China works and William & Joseph Harding continued earthenware and brick manufacture at the Newhall Works.  

• Around 1867 the brothers leased the Mousecroft Brick Works in Eastwood, Hanley. 

• W & J Harding continued earthenware manufacture at the Newhall Works until around 1869 when John Aynsley, china manufacturer of Longton, purchased the back portion of the works and let it to Thomas Booth & Sons.

• Manufacture of bricks at the Mousecroft Works continued until 1885 when the partnership was dissolved. 

Notice of the dissolution of the previous partnership of
Cockson and Hardings - China & Earthenware manufacturers

Charles Cockson continued at the Cobridge China works and William & Joseph Harding continued earthenware and brick manufacture at the Newhall Works.  

"NOTICE is hereby given, that the Partnership lately subsisting between us, the undersigned, Charles Cockson, William Mollart Harding, and Joseph Boon Harding, carrying on business at Colridge and Hanley, both in the county of Stafford, as China Manufacturers, at Colridge (sic), and as Earthenware Manufacturers and Brickmakers, at Hanley, under the style or firm of Cockson and Hardings, hath this day been dissolved by mutual consent; and that the business carried on by the said firm at Colridge aforesaid, as China Manufacturers, will, in future, be carried on by the said Charles Cockson alone, who will receive and pay all debts due to or by the said firm, in respect of the said business; and that the said businesses of Earthenware Manufacturers and Brickmakers, carried on by the said firm at Hanley aforesaid, will, in future, be carried on by the said William Mollart Harding and Joseph Boon Harding, who will receive and pay all debts due to or by the said firm, in respect of such last mentioned businesses respectively.—Dated this 21st day of January, 1863."

Charles Cockson.
William Mollart Harding.
Joseph Boon Harding.

Notice of the dissolution of the partnership of
William & Joseph Harding - Brick Manufacturers

"NOTICE is hereby given, that the Partnership carried on by the undersigned, William Mollart Harding and Joseph Boon Harding, at Hanley, in the county of Stafford, as Brick Manufacturers, under the style or firm of W. and J. Harding, has been dissolved by mutual consent.—Dated this 20th day of May, 1885."

William Mollart Harding.
Joseph Boon Harding.

G & F ? Cecchi
London & Florence

the mark includes the British Royal Arms

Harding

impressed mark - (contrast enhanced)

"Simla" is chinoiserie design pattern — an exotic, romanticized Oriental scene with a pagoda-style pavilion, bridge, palm trees, lush tropical foliage, large flowers (like peonies), and peacocks 

The name likely draws from Simla (now Shimla), the famous hill station in British India, evoking an "exotic East" theme popular in Victorian-era British pottery.

The Simla pattern was also made by Thomas Walker (1845-51) and Elsmore & Forster (1853-71). 

 

The printed marks shown to the right appear on various items in the dinner service 

- mark using the British Royal Arms - 

G & F Cecchi 
London & Florence

this is not a manufacturers mark - it is the mark of a retailer/importer