Shorter and Son Ltd

Arthur Shorter had earlier been a partner in Shorter, Bettelley, Millward & Co. In 1878 Bettelley and Millward withdrew and Shorter was in partnership with James Boulton (the '& Co').
Arthur had two sons - the youngest John Guy Shorter (usually known as Guy) and the older Arthur Colley Austin Shorter (usually known as Colley)
In 1900 Guy Shorter became manager - the partnership of Shorter and Son probably dates from this time. It is not certain when James Boulton withdrew from the business but by 1906 the company was Shorter & Son.
The Shorter family had interests in and later acquired the pottery companies of A. J. Wilkinson and Newport Pottery
1926 - The father Arthur Shorter died. Over the next few years his two sons, Guy and Colley, developed their products along more adventurous lines.
1932 - After various others, Harry L. Steele was appointed manager, a position he was to hold for the next 30 years.
In 1933 the business was incorporated as Shorter and Son Ltd with the brothers Guy and Colley as directors and Harry L. Steele as the Director-in-Charge.
WWII Shorter and Son Ltd. remained in production throughout the war
1940 - After the death of his first wife, Colley married Clarice Cliff who became Artistic Director of the group of potteries.
1950 - John B. Shorter, son of Guy Shorter, joined the company and was soon appointed as sales director.
Shorters flourished through the following decade, producing popular new lines and reintroducing some of their old ones.
The 1960s saw stiffer competition which, together with Colley’s ill-health in 1961, caused the firm to falter.
In 1963 part of the Copeland Street factory was demolished for the A500 road development scheme.
This, plus the expense of conversion to smokeless firing, led the directors to accept an offer for the business from S. Fielding and Co. the owners of the Crown Devon name.
Shorter & Son then operated from Fielding’s Sutherland Street factory under the management of John B. Shorter who continued with the new owners until his retirement in 1972. Shorter & Son Ltd. was still listed as a subsidiary of Crown Devon Ltd. in 1971
In 1964 Colley Shorter died. Clarice Cliff-Shorter disposed of the family shares in Wilkinsons and Newport to the neighbouring Midwinter Co. who wanted to expand production.

Shorter and Clarice Cliff

"The pottery firm which later became Shorter and Son was first set up by Arthur Shorter in 1878 with a partner James Boulton in Stoke on Trent. Their products were solidly in the main-stream of Victorian taste - majolica wares of all types: jugs, bowls, flower pots and tableware, predominated.

In 1891 Arthur’s brother-in-law A. J. Wilkinson died in an accident. Arthur Shorter was asked to manage the pottery Wilkinson had established in Burslem in 1885. A few years later he bought the firm and in 1898 Arthur’s son Colley joined him. His younger son Guy, who became manager at Shorter's in 1900, joined his father and Colley at Wilkinson's in 1905. The two factories worked in close co-operation, advertising and exhibiting jointly.

Colley and Guy were made directors of Wilkinsons in 1916, the same year that Clarice Cliff, aged 17, started work there as a decorator. In 1920 the family acquired the Newport Pottery, also in Burslem, later famous for its production of Clarice Cliff’s "Bizarre" ware.

In 1925 Colley Shorter, much impressed by Clarice’s work, provided her with her own studio next to his office. He also sent her on a modern design course at the Royal College of Art and a trip to Paris to observe the arts scene there. Allowed to experiment with old Newport Pottery shapes, she produced her new bold geometric designs, so expressive of the Art Deco age. Colley was a consummate salesman and it was he who conceived the idea of personalising her designs with her signature, thus launching one of the 20th century’s design legends.

In 1926 Arthur Shorter died and over the next few years his sons felt freer to develop their firms’ products along more adventurous lines. The Shorter factory itself, still the most traditional in its output, felt the wind of change. In their book ‘The Shorter Connection’, Gordon and Irene Hopwood explore in detail the extent to which the creativity of Clarice Cliff was channelled into Shorter products in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s.

Shorter’s received a further creative boost in the 1930’s from the employment of the designer Mabel Leigh, who in two short years with them produced an extensive and exciting range of ‘ Period Pottery’. This was based on ethnic designs from around the Mediterranean, Africa and Central America. Even though she left the firm in 1935, the designs had such appeal they continued to be produced for years afterwards.

In 1940, after the death of his first wife, Colley married Clarice Cliff who became Artistic Director of the group of potteries. Shorter’s flourished through the following two decades, producing popular new lines and re-producing some of their old ones. Running into stiffer competition in the 1960’s and with the loss of Colley’s participation, retiring due to ill-health in 1961, to die in 1963, the firm began to falter.

Clarice Cliff-Shorter disposed of the family shares in Wilkinson and Newport and so control passed to the Midwinter Company. Shorter’s were effectively taken over by Crown Devon in 1964 and their distinctive identity was finally lost with the retirement of the last family member John, Guy’s son in 1972."

Ref: ‘The Shorter Connection’ by Gordon & Irene Hopwood, published by Richard Dennis

Pre-1920 Shorter ware was typical Edwardian majolica ware, jardinieres, plant stands, umbrella holders, bulb bowls, jugs, vases, etc and undistinguished domestic earthenware, novelty lines and ornamental earthenware.

From the 1920s onward, Shorter & Sons specialized in the manufacture of ornamental and novelty earthenware.

To quote an article in the Pottery Gazette (March 1941):

‘There are literally thousands of high-quality earthenware novelty lines covering all table adjuncts and every conceivable household pottery novelty—cleverly modelled and effectively decorated’.

The novelties included Toby Jugs, tobacco jars, ash trays, sugars, creams, cruets, butter dishes, posy holders , and a host of other household items and many of these, especially the Toby Jugs, were still in production in the 1960s.

this example produced by Shorter & Son pre 1963
Toby Jug ware continued to be made when the
company became a subsidiary of Crown Devon in 1963

Matt glazed vase in design number 649

White matt glaze exterior with the inside a pastel shade of turquoise green. The moulded supports are of stylised acanthus leaves.

photos courtesy: Deborah Champion

Shorter & Son
Stoke-on-Trent
England

cast-in pattern number 649 S/S

NOTE: The S/S indicates small size, as apposed to large size, - a number of designs were produced in S/S and L/S alternatives.

Forties Matt Glazed Ware

"One of the most significant Shorter designs of the 1940s appeared at the end of the decade when a series of of elegantly styled vases in matt glazes, numbered from 645 to 650 was created.

The simplicity of each piece is enhanced by the modelling which forms and integral part of the design. The shapes are gently moulded and curved to form either vertical or horizontal bands, the shadows thus formed providing a subtle decorative effect.

Each of the five (sic) vases bears a a pair of moulded handles or decorative supports in and abstract leaf design.

A matching bowl, number 651, together with wall pockets, shape numbers 668 and 672, complete the range.

Matt glazes in pastel shades including turquoise green, soft yellows and browns were most widely used. At a later date, a series of the vases in a white matt glaze with a pink exterior, proved to be and effective alternative to a set issued in deep ruby red."

The Shorter Connection - Irene and Gordon Hopwood

figurines in the style of what is known as a “Pew Group”

Probably produced in the 1930-50 period.

Shorter produced Toby jugs, character jugs and figurines
throughout most of their existence.

This example imitates 18th/19th C Staffordshire figurines (hence the “Old Staffordshire”), often produced with a flat back to stand on the mantelpiece or hung on the wall.

Wikipedia article on Pew Group

Genuine Old Staffordshire
Shorter
England

cast in number 738

Serving dish & spoon in the daffodil pattern

"Post-war revival..

"DAFFODIL, looking to the past for inspiration, was the forerunner of the range of decorative floral tableware that was to extend from the 1940s, throughout the 1950s and well into the 1960s"

"The sinuous outline of the shape and embossment are reminiscent of the Art Nouveau style of the beginning of the century. Leaves, stems and daffodils trail across a pale yellow background"

The Shorter Connection - Irene and Gordon Hopwood

Shorter & Son Ltd
Staffordshire
Made in England

It was in the late 1920s that Shorters introduced on of their most consistently best-selling lines, Fish Ware. Early sets comprised of a large serving plate and six medium sized plates which were matt glazed in deep cream or ivory, sometimes with the tail and fins emphasised in pale green or turquoise. The range was gradually extended.
A reference in the Pottery Gazette in 1935 records that a Fish Set in "matt grey glaze, ornamented in brown" was purchased by the Queen Mother, then the Duchess of York. The following year the range was extended to include a sauce boat with stand, a cover dish and an extra-large platter known as a "Pike".
The Fish Ware range was extended considerable and, by 1950, included a curved crescent salad dish, and circular plates in two sizes. A salad bowl with servers, a wavy-edged hors d'oeuvre dish with a fish-shaped sauce pot were later additions, to be followed in 1957 by a double serving dish in which two fish confront each other nose to nose and a pair of comical fish on a wavy tray dispense salt and pepper.
The latest addition to the range was a double dish in which the fish swim side by side.
A high glaze and unusual colour combinations in turquoise, mauve, grey, green or yellow, sometimes striped, are typical of the 1950s Fish Ware.

The Shorter Connection - Irene and Gordon Hopwood

Shorter & Son Ltd trade names include ’Batavia Ware’ and ‘Sunray Pottery’.
Most of the Shorter marks are utilitarian - virtually all ware was marked with
a printed ‘Shorter & Son Ltd, Stoke-on-Trent, England’ or similar wording.

the original company of
Shorter, Bettelley, Millward & Co
was recorded as being at the
Batavia Works

Toby Jugs continued to be made when the
company became a subsidiary of Crown Devon in 1963

As well as Crown Devon continued production of the Shorter Fish Ware and some of their character/Toby jugs. Another manufacturer - Sherwood China also purchased some of Shorter & Son moulds.

A number of Gilbert & Sullivan figurines were produced during the mid to late 1980s. Because these were made in china and not earthenware the figures are slightly smaller than the original.

Shorter & Son Limited
England

Sherwood
England

Sherwood adopted the style of their mark (a double circle enclosing and oak tree)
for use of ware produced from the original shorter moulds