• William Pratt (1753-1799) was a master potter at Lane Delph (Fenton) who operated from around 1783 until his death in 1799. 

• The business was continued by his widow (Ellen Pratt née Edwards (1760-1815) with the help of her sons who eventually started up separate businesses in Fenton. 

• William & Ellen had eight children:

  • William Pratt (1776-1828)

  • Thomas Heath Pratt (1778-1794)

  • Felix Pratt (1780-1859)

  • John Pratt (1783-1860) 

  • Samuel Robinson Pratt (1784-1839)

  • Richard Pratt (1786-1866)

  • Myra Pratt (1788-1857)

  • Mary Heath Pratt (1788-1857) 

The following partnerships are recorded:

Felix & Richard Pratt

John & William (jnr) Pratt 

impressed mark

'Pratt' type:

"Wares made at the end of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth centuries, decorated with a distinctive palette of high temperature colours, including a drab blue, yellow, ochre, dirty orange, dull green, brown, etc. Relief decorations are common. Figures also were decorated in this range of pigments.

The type is usually associated with Felix Pratt of Fenton, and the name 'PRATT' is occasionally found on them, but it is unlikely that the earlier pieces were made by Felix Pratt, who was not born until 1780 and died in 1859. William Pratt (1753-99) and his wife Ellen Edwards (1760-1815) who succeeded him, may have been responsible for some of these wares which are, however, known to have been made by potters in other parts of England and Scotland over a long period of time." 

The Concise Encyclopedia of English Pottery & Porcelain; 1957, Mankowitz & Haggar