China and Earthenware manufacturer in Longton, Stoke-on-Trent, England

• From 1876 to 1880/82 at Gold Street, Longton.

• From 1882 at the Meir Works, Barker Street, off High Street (now Uttoxeter Road), Longton. 

• They became a limited company in 1882.

• In 1910 the business was bought by the brothers William and Arthur Hewitt. The name 'Barker Bros' continued to be used. 

• In 1939 Sampson Smith's was also purchased by the Hewitt brothers. Gerald Hewitt directed Sampson Smith's & Arnold Hewitt, Barker Bros. 

• From 1941 to 1945 production of both companies was at the Barker Bros factory.  

• 1959 Barker Bros was taken over by Alfred Clough Ltd. and operated as a subsidiary. 

• In 1960 the management was listed as: Chairman & Joint Managing Director: Alfred Clough; Joint Managing Directors: A. E. Clough and A. R. Clough; General Manager: Arnold Hewitt; Works Manager: H. Salt; Works Directors: H. Baggley and T. Fox; London Director and Representative: J. G. Hewitt. 

• The name Barker Bros continued to be used until the business closed in 1981 following the disposal of some the assets of Grindley of Stoke (Ceramics) Ltd  (who were a successor of Alfred Colclough Ltd) to Federated Potteries Co Ltd.

this pattern is in the Aesthetic style 

this unattributed mark could 
belong to Barker Bros
c.1876-82 

Crested china collecting became a craze in Victorian and Edwardian times when day trippers bought small porcelain ornaments decorated with the coat of arms of the locality to take home as a souvenir.

Barker Bros. manufactured crested china under the name "Meir Arms China" - it is not known when they started production but manufacture had generally declined in the 1930s and was stopped in the time of the Second World War.  

  this style of mark
c.1930-37

Tripoli Ware Plate - probably introduced in the 1930s -

Barker Bros Ltd Longton Staffs Tripoli Ware Hand Painted England

photos courtesy: Michael Clode

Coffee set in the Madison pattern - probably introduced in the 1950s -

MADISON Bone White Ironstone  Barker Bros Staffordshire England

Trio in the fiesta pattern  The fiesta pattern was introduced by Barker Bros in the 1960s Influenced by Enid Seeney's 'Homemaker' pattern (1955),  the pattern illustrates the contemporary style in domestic tableware

fiesta  by Barker Bros Royal Tudor Ware Staffordshire England Bone White Ironstone

Barker Bros produced many designs and patterns which had a specific name and back-stamp examples include: Tonga, fiesta, Madison, Tripoli

c.1880+ 

c.1912-30
(but note this mark appears in 
a 1960 trade directory) 

c.1912-30

Barker Bros Ltd
Longton
Made in 
England

mark on a Willow pattern plate
probbly c.1921+

c.1912-30

this mark is c.1921 and onwards because of the addition of "MADE IN ENGLAND" as required by the McKinley Tariff Act of 1890 (amended 1921)

c.1930-37

c.1930-37

the Tudor Ware name was introduced c.1937

c.1937+

c.1937 +

(variations of this mark were in constant use - this mark appears in a 1960 trade directory) 

c.1950 +

The registration numbers 863703-4-5 for the 
Richmond Shape indicate that it was first
registerd in 1950

The letter "B" in these two marks indicates that the ware was made under the Wartime Concentration Scheme