J&G Meakin was a prominent Staffordshire pottery company which played a significant role in the global ceramics market. Known for producing affordable yet stylish tableware they were considered for a long time as having one of the largest and best equipped potteries in the world. They became a key exporter of British pottery. Its success lay in balancing mass production techniques with appealing design, making its products widely accessible across Europe, the Americas, and the Commonwealth.

• The potter James Meakin had four sons who were also all potters - see more on the Meakin Brothers.

• The father, James (b.1807 d.1852), started potting around 1846 as an earthenware and china manufacturer at the New Town Pottery, High Street, Longton. 

• In 1850 he moved his business to works in Cannon Street, Hanley.  In 1851, due to ill health, his sons James and George Meakin took over the business. 

• The brothers kept on the Cannon Street works for a short time, but by 1852 they took over another pottery in Market Street, Hanley where, during a period of seven years they built up a profitable business. James was the technical man, the potter, his brother, George, being the 'salesman', publicity manager and traveller. Realising the potential of the export business George went to America to set up a sales market there. 

• Following on from their success they commissioned a new up-to-date works on the moorland outskirts of Hanley and in 1859 the Eagle Pottery was opened alongside the Caldon Canal. By 1861 245 people were employed (Godden, Guide to Ironstone). 

• James Meakin died in 1885 and the business was continued by his brother George. 

• In 1890 the business was incorporated as a limited company under the name J & G Meakin Ltd.

• In 1891 George Meakin died and the family business continued, firstly under George Eliot Meakin (son of George Meakin), from 1891 to 1927 and then under Bernard Meakin (son of George’s brother James) from 1927 until his retirement in 1955.   

• J & G Meakin remained open during the Second World War under the Wartime Concentration Scheme - they were permitted to produce undecorated domestic ware. They also produced canteen ware for the British armed forces. 

• 1956 Article on J & G Meakin

• 1958 Family control of the business ceased in about 1958 when management control was acquired by pottery entrepreneurs J. W. E. Grundy and A. Derek Jones.

• The 1960 Pottery Gazette Reference Book lists the company officers as - President: James F. Meakin, Chairman: J. W. E. Grundy, Managing Director: A. Derek Jones.

• 1968 - W. R. Midwinter Ltd was acquired by Meakin through a friendly merger in September 1968 and the two companies continued to operate independently as subsidiaries of Meakin & Midwinter (Holdings) Ltd. 

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Demise of the Meakin brand

• In January 1970 Wedgwood made an offer for the whole share capital of J. & G. Meakin Ltd and Meakin (and its subsidiary Midwinter) became part of the Wedgwood Group. 

• J. & G. Meakin Ltd continued as a quasi-independent entity within the Wedgwood Group until 1980 when it became part of Wedgwood’s Creative Tableware Division (with Midwinter, Johnson Bros, and others). 

• Meakin shapes and patterns were subsumed into the Johnson Bros. earthenware brand from c.1991 and use of the Meakin brand name had been abandoned by 2000.

• In the year 2000 the production of J&G Meakin ware ceased and the Eagle Pottery was given over to the production of Johnson Bros tableware - they produced at the Eagle Pottery until 2004 when manufacturing was transferred abroad. The Eagle Pottery works were demolished in 2005.

Much of the detailed information courtesy: A Handbook of British Pottery Manufacturers 1900-2010; Michael Perry

Factory Sites:

Dates are approximate and may overlap.  

1846 - 1850 James Meakin, China & Earthenware, Newtown Pottery, High Street, Longton

1850 - 1856 James Meakin, China & Earthenware, Cannon Street, Shelton

1853 - 1860 James & George Meakin, Earthenware Manufacturers, Market Street, Hanley

1859 - 2000 J & G Meakin, Earthenware Manufacturers, Eagle Pottery, Ivy House Road, Hanley

1888 - 1959 J & G Meakin, Earthenware Manufacturers, Eastwood Works. Lichfield Street, Hanley

J & G Meakin

This fragment dates from 1853-1856 period which was when the brothers James & George Meakin were operating from works in Market Street, Hanley. 

It was found on the beach along Lake Michigan in Port Washington, US. Numerous pottery fragments are found from the October 1856 ship wreck of the steamship Toledo.

photo courtesy: Jenny Guetchidjian
 

This fragment dates from 1891+ and was generally in use until the 1910s.  

It was found in 2024 in the ruins of an old house located in a gold and sugar cane region of Brazil

photo courtesy: Renato Silva

an example of what the full mark looked like 
- it includes the Royal Arms 

J & G Meakin produced "a good range of ironstone-granite ware which was largely exported to North America" (Godden, Guide to Ironstone). 

It was noted that "The largest makers of ironstone chinaware were Messrs J & G Meakin in Staffordshire, their Eagle Pottery (built in 1859) being considered for a long time one of the largest and best equipped potteries in the world" (J. Arnold Fleming, Scottish Pottery, 1923). 

J & G Meakin probably started production of white ironstone in 1869 as the date is included in some marks on various designs of ironstone. 

Mark from the Eagle Pottery Works - unusually this mark includes the date of manufacture

J&G Meakin operated the Eastwood Works from 1888. Marks with 'ENGLAND' are 1891 onwards

The "Wheat" pattern is an embossed or relief decoration featuring stylized sheaves or sprays of wheat, in a raised, moulded design rather than painted. 

A "Wheat" or "Ceres" pattern, featuring raised grain designs, was first registered in 1848 by Minton and Co. and in 1851 Edward Walley registered a jug design in a similar pattern. 

By the 1860s  many English manufacturers were incorporating agricultural motifs like wheat into their ironstone products to appeal to the American market.

it is uncertain what the 1869 
date signifys

printed mark incorporating the Royal Arms  

pre 1891 

impressed mark - appears with and without printed marks 

printed mark incorporating the Royal Arms with the town name 'Hanley' and the country of origin as required by the 1890 McKinley Tariff Act

1891+

example of printed and impressed mark

The crest used in this printed mark is a hybrid coat of arms designed specifically for export appeal to the American market. 

During the mid-to-late 1800s, English potters were competing heavily in American markets.
As some potters were producing ware with hybrid emblems that combined British quality with American pride.

The bird at the top is a stylized bald eagle, a symbol of the United States. Its inclusion signaled products made for the U.S. market. It added an element of patriotism and familiarity for American buyers.

The lion and the unicorn are part of the British Royal Arms - their inclusion evoked royal endorsement and British heritage, lending prestige.


This dual-nationalistic crest is clever marketing: It visually says, “This is fine British ware, made for proud Americans.”

photo courtesy: Geri Cone

c. 1891 -  1912

this mark was likely used for ware exported to the USA - underneath the globe is a representation of the 
American Eagle 

Universal Exposition in Paris in 1889

Buenos Aires

J & G Meakin
Hanley
England

The Argentine Pavilion was a monumental construction commissioned by the Argentine State for their site the Universal Exposition in Paris in 1889

The Palace of Running Waters (Spanish: Palacio de Aguas Corrientes) is an architecturally significant water pumping station in Buenos Aires, Argentina 

The mark shown indicates that the ware was produced for and supplied to the British Government; it was ultimately property of the Crown/Government, hence the GR-VI Cypher.

This mark is there to distinguish the piece from being normal ‘utilitarian’ ware for public sale during the period surrounding the Second World War. 

J & G Meakin (and others) were given government contracts throughout the late 1930s and into the 1940s (WWII) and produced canteen ware - most likely for the armed services.

The year of manufacturer is generally included.