John Tams

 

TAMS, John(1837-1919), pottery manufacturer, Longton. 

See also record for John Tams Pottery and an 1886 advertisement of John Tams 

John Tams was born in Stafford Street, Longton in 1837, the son of John Tams and Ann nee Procter. The family had been established in Shelton by about 1620. 

John Tams was apprenticed to a working potter. About 1865 he entered into partnership with Lowe, manufacturing in St. Gregory's Pottery, High Street, Longton. The partnership was dissolved about 1873 and in 1874 John Tams bought the Crown pottery, on the corner of Commerce Street and High Street. At first he specialised in the manufacture of imperial measured ware, mugs, jugs, etc., for hotels and public houses. The increasing use of glass and further government regulations forced him to develop new lines of production, including ornamental and general earthenware. 

John Tams  retired from business in 1918. The firm continued until 2000. 

He married Mary, daughter of Charles Kent, a draper, of Red Bank Cottage, Dresden, where John Tams and his wife were living in 1881. Later they lived at St. Edmund's Villa, Ricardo Street, and from 1898 at The Hayes, Stone. 

There were four children. John Tams died on 17 May 1919. 

 

1881 census:

Dwelling: 14 Red Bank, 
Census Place: Trentham, Staffordshire, England

Sources: G. Cope-Cartledge, Pedigree of Tams and article in Six Towns Magazine, November1971; Jewitt; M and H; VCH viii. Sentinel Newspaper, 1881 census.

updated: 20/07/2002