W Moorcroft (Ltd)






 

Location and period of operation:

W Moorcroft (Ltd)

Cobridge
Burslem

1913

present
operational as at 2023 

 

Earthenware manufacturer at Cobridge, Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England
  • William Moorcroft (b.1872 d.1945) was the son of Thomas Moorcroft who "was not only a potter but an artist of fine sensibility".   

  • William studied art at the Wedgwood Institute, Burslem then at the National Art Training School (now the Royal College of Art) in South Kensington and Paris. In 1897 he was awarded an Art Master's Certificate in 1897.

William Moorcroft at James Macintyre & Co:

  • The same year, 1897, he "returned to Burslem at the age of 26 and commenced his career as a potter with James MacIntyre and Co., where, as designer of electrical porcelain and other pottery, he developed his talent, earning the Gold Medal at the St. Louis Exhibition, 1904." (1956 article on Moorcroft ). 

  • James Macintyre & Co were predominantly manufacturers of industrial ceramics. In order to capitalise on the popular souvenir market they had started to produce crested ware. Around 1894 the opened an art pottery studio, employing established designers who introduced Faience ware incorporating raised slip and tube lined designs.

  • By happy coincidence for Moorcroft the senior designer, Harry Barnard, left Macintyre in 1897 to design for Wedgwood. The following year Moorcroft was put in full charge of the company's art pottery studio as Chief Designer. 

  • Moorcroft proved to be very successful, introducing popular designs such as "Dura, "Florian", "Aurelian" and "Hesperian". Moorcroft designed ware won a number of medals at international fairs and was distributed by Liberty in London and Tiffany in New York. 

  • It appears that the success of the artistically decorated ware over the more mundane industrial ceramics cause some friction between Macintyre and Moorcroft which led to William Moorcroft setting up his own works in nearby Cobridge with financial backing from Lasenby Liberty - Alwyn Ernest Lasenby was appointed one of the directors along with William Moorcroft. 



Moorcroft 1913-1984:

  • The following notice appeared in the May 1913 edition of the Pottery Gazette:

"W. Moorcroft, Ltd. — Registered capital £2,000 in £1 shares (1,300 "A" and 700 "B"). 
Objects : To carry on the business of potters, manufacturers of Florian ware, faience, plain and decorated stoneware, earthenware, china, fireclay drain and water-pipes, bricks, tiles, &c. 
Private company. The first directors are W. Moorcroft and A. E. Lasenby. Registered office : Glendair. Trentham, Staffordshire."

  • In 1913 William married Florence Lovibond, a local Factory Inspector.  

  • W. Moorcroft Ltd. was incorporated on the 25th April 1913.  William Moorcroft held the 1,300 "A" shares and Alwyn Ernest Lasenby the "B" shares. The voting power was one vote for every A share and two votes for every B share - which gave Lasenby overall control of the business.  

  • In 1928 Moorcroft received an appointment as Potter to Queen Mary, with the right to display the Royal Arms. In the same year Moorcroft married Marian Lasenby (his previous wife having died), who was related to the Lasenby Liberty family. 

  • William Moorcroft had three children, Walter, William John Scarlin (usually called John) and Beatrice.  

  • William Moorcroft died in 1945 aged 73, and control of the business passed to his son Walter Moorcroft. The company's royal warrant was re-issued in his name in 1946.

  • During the Second World Ware utility goods were produced under the Wartime Concentration Scheme. Following the war the manufacture of art ware recommenced. 

  • The Liberty store's interest was bought out by Moorcroft in 1962.

  • Rising fuel costs and labour intensive decorating methods meant that by the early 1980s the company faced financial problems. In 1984 the Moorcroft business was sold to the Roper brothers who owned James Broadhurst & Sons and Churchill China. However attempts to drag the small art pottery of Moorcroft into mass production failed and two years later the firm faced liquidation.

Moorcroft 1986-:

  • Around 1986 London solicitor Hugh Richard Edwards, who was then working on a book about Moorcroft, together with Richard Dennis and their wives then stepped in to save the firm. At that time Moorcroft only had 16 employees. They appointed John Moorcroft (William John Scarlin) as managing director to act as an ambassador for the company and boosted annual turnover from around £245,000 to the current (2001) five million pounds plus. 

  • In 1992, Hugh Edwards became chairman of W. Moorcroft Ltd. By 2000 the company employed around 220 staff. 

  • In 2001 a new production facility was built in Nile Street, Burslem with plans to create 180 new jobs and expand sales to the US and Canadian markets.

  • In the 2000s Hugh Edwards was a director of The Burslem Regeneration Co. Ltd. and the Ceramic Industry Forum. In May 1998 he was instrumental in creating Cobridge Pottery Ltd. which, in 2018, changed its name to James Macintyre & Co. Ltd. (both dormant companies).  

  • December 2001 the well known antiquarian, Eric Knowles was appointed as a non-executive director. He promotes the company through lectures, presentations and on-line activities.    

  • "To protect the Moorcroft brand, the directors expect to incur in the year to 31 July 2003 to cover legal costs and expenses in their fight against cheap fakes and look-a-likes imported from a factory or factories in China."  

  • John Moorcroft stepped down from the business in March 2006.  

  • Walter Moorcroft, the eldest son of William Moorcroft died in September 2002. The younger son, William John Scarlin Moorcroft, died in January 2022, aged 83.

 

Also see James MacIntyre and Co

 


 


The Pottery Gazette Diary 1917

page 42 from the Pottery Gazette showing adverts for both
James Macintyre and William Moorcroft - this was after the two parted 
company in 1912 and Moorcroft started his own business in 1913

 


 

 


The Moorcroft factory in Sandbach Road, Cobridge, Burslem 

The works were designed to reflect the social and legislative concern for health, hygiene, and functionalism, and were one of the first single storey factories to be built in the Stoke-on-Trent Potteries.  It is a single storey factory, nine rooms wide by four rooms deep. The ovens were circular updraught kilns which have no hovel (the bottle shaped brick structure built to fully enclose the oven). 

No doubt the design of the factory was influenced by the fact that in 1913, the same year the factory was built, William married Florence Lovibond, a local Factory Inspector. 

The initial small factory was completed for production in ten weeks. Due to interruptions from the First World War, construction was in three stages: the core, including one bottle oven in 1913, and two surrounding structures, with more ovens, in 1915 and 1919-20. 

Moorcroft chose a site that overlooked Cobridge Park and was alongside the North Staffordshire Potteries Loop Line Railway.

 


 


Only one of the original five bottle kilns remains - which is a listed building

details of the Moorcroft factory
in Cobridge

advert and article from a 1947 Stoke-on-Trent handbook

- click the small photos for more details -  

 


 


Moorcroft Nile Street collectors' shop and manufacturing unit 

    

 

 

Sentinel Newspaper article, 17th April 2001 - Business reporter David Elks

180 new jobs at pottery

An expanding pottery firm is to create 180 new jobs and double production over the next four years after building a £3 million factory to target America.

Burslem-based Moorcroft, which currently employs 250 staff, expects the purpose-built 30,000 sq ft plant in Nile Street to supply its branded products to the US and Canadian markets.

Chairman Hugh Edwards today said the investment could lead to even greater things as it will only satisfy a fraction of foreign demand for the company's brand.

Mr Edwards said: 

"Our research shows that there is potential for us to sell up to three or four times the amount in the United States that we sell in the UK.

"That means that even if we got the new factory up to capacity within four years, we could expand our operation yet further. And we have the space to do that."

Work on the site, which will double the company's existing 28,000 sq ft manufacturing space, started last March.

The firm received £634,000 from the Government's Single Regeneration Budget (SRB) in addition to its own investment.
However, the development needed the transformation of the brownfield site, which was blighted by three mineshafts.
Now the plant is complete, Moorcroft plan to recruit new staff in a "controlled programme" to ensure the success of the venture.

Moorcroft produces a unique product by applying glazes directly on to wet clay, rather than after a first firing.

He said: 

"It takes between 12 and 18 months to train up our painters and tubeliners — who pipe wet clay on to the wares to guide the metallic paints — so we will be effectively drawing workers from our domestic production.

"It's therefore important that we control our expansion.

"Over the years we have built up our customer base in the UK while having absolutely zero exports.

"We have got to the point now where it is now time to find new markets in the US and Canada.

"This year we made a forecast of volume to export £500,000 of products in the first 12 months, we have surpassed that in three months."

Moorcroft has relied on the methods devised by its founder William Moorcroft for the last century. William first developed the designs that have become famous world-wide when he worked at the Washington Works owned by James Macintyre in Burslem.
Using a tubelining technique, he applied designs from a hand-held bag. Then, using metallic oxide paints he decorated the raw clay before firing it twice.

By 1900, William was producing his own designs which after 1912, when the Liberty Chain bought the company, received global exposure. The company moved to the Sandbach Road works at Cobridge the same year.

He stayed in control of the company until his death in 1945 when the firm passed to his son, Walter.
Walter bought outright control of the firm from Liberty in 1962, running the firm until 1984 when it was sold to the Roper brothers of Churchill China.

But attempts to drag the small art pottery into mass production failed and two years later the firm faced liquidation.
London lawyer Hugh Edwards, who was then working on a book about Moorcroft, together with Richard Dennis and their wives then stepped in to save the firm.

They appointed John Moorcroft as managing director to act as an ambassador for the company and boosted annual turnover from around £245,000 to the current five million pounds plus.

In 1992, Hugh Edwards become chairman, a year later appointing Rachel Bishop as its new designer.



Questions, comments, contributions? email: Steve Birks