Coalport China Co Ltd
(with
Royal Cauldon), Stoke-on-Trent
NOTE: This article which follows originally appeared in a 1956 book 'British Potters and Pottery Today', is based mainly upon accounts provided mainly by the firms themselves. The headings in bold have been added for clarity. The dates given relate to a manufacturing period. Link to more on Coalport in Stoke-on-Trent Caughley c. 1750+ To trace the early history of this well-known company we must bring into the picture names and places which are important and familiar to every connoisseur of old English china. This is not only because for its genesis we must look back to the mid-eighteenth century, but also because it brings within our survey the epoch-making contributions of Salopian Caughley, as well as Swansea and Nantgarw. Caughley owes its inception to Edward Browne of Caughley Hall, near Broseley, Shropshire, a man of some substance, who set up a small pottery about 1750, thus sowing a seed which was to grow into a stalwart tree, still flourishing after more than two hundred years.
Thomas Turner 1772-1799 The first important event in the history of the works was the advent of Thomas Turner, who came from Worcester in 1772. At that date he had been with the Worcester factory of Dr.Wall about seven years, as an apprentice of Robert Hancock the famous engraver. In every way his advent proved of the greatest importance to Caughley and, as events were to prove, to the future Coalport concern. For, although obviously he came to be in partnership with Gallimore, who had already achieved considerable success on his own account, the latter could have played no more than second fiddle to the leadership of Turner. Almost immediately Turner began the building of new premises, which were completed in 1775. A newspaper account, quoted by Compton Mackenzie in his monograph on Coalport, states: 'The porcelain manufactory erected near Bridgnorth, in this county, is now quite completed and the proprietors have received and supplied orders to a very large amount. Lately we saw some of their productions which in colour and fineness are truly elegant and beautiful, and have the bright and lively white of the so much extolled Oriental.'
He certainly induced several French artists and craftsmen to come to England, whose work supplemented that of several talented native artists who worked for him. Most important among the latter was John Rose, an articled pupil of Turner, who is, one may say, the vital link between Caughley and Coalport.
At this time, up to 1790 in fact, Caughley was sending large quantities of undecorated wares to be painted at Worcester, for the Chamberlains were at first only decorators, and many of the Worcester patterns were reproduced. On the other hand Worcester later reciprocated by sending white wares to be printed at Caughley, where there were no less than four printing presses.
John Rose 1799 A year to be remembered is 1799, when Turner retired and Caughley was bought by John Rose. But Turner's influence lived on for over a quarter of a century and in fact, the Caughley factory was kept in operation until 1814, during which period its output was almost exclusively in the white, for decorating at Coalport. It was in 1820 that John Rose and Co., of Coalport, took over the Swansea works and transferred them 'lock, stock and barrel' to Coalport. This year was further memorable as being that in which John Rose contracted with the two notorious potters Billingsley and Walker (who, it will be remembered, had wrongly left Flight and Barr of Worcester and set up at Nantgarw and Swansea) to make the superior kind of porcelain which they had been producing.
Billingsley's paste was very superior, fine in texture, translucent and of delicate waxy hue; and there is little doubt that Rose's anxiety to secure with Billingsley the secret of his paste led him to buy up Swansea and subsequently Nantgarw. Here we have the events which brought Coalport into comparable equality with the great manufacturers of their day. In 1820 Rose was awarded the Society of Arts gold medal for a leadless glaze and, incidentally, we are here at a period when Coalport was at the height of its reputation and flourishing exceedingly, continuing in spite of a strike by the workmen in 1833 over their right to form a trade union.
John Rose died in 1841 and the works, still under the name of John Rose and Company, were carried on by several partners, chief of whom were William Pugh and William Frederick Rose. The 1851 Exhibition brought the firm two distinct triumphs, one of which was the making, to the order of Queen Victoria, of a dessert service to be presented to the Tsar Nicholas I of Russia. When exhibited it caused quite a sensation, as also did another dessert service in rose-du-Barri. Their exhibits at Hyde Park earned them a gold medal and earned them further commissions for de luxe sets, including one for the Emperor of the French, as well as for many wealthy English patrons.
Brough family and Coalport China Company 1889 - 1925 Its rise once more to prosperity followed the purchase of the firm by Peter S. Bruff, an engineer who knew nothing of the technical side of the business, but who perceived that, if properly managed, it was a good proposition. However it was not until 1889, when his son came home from Indian Army service, that its fortunes took a favorable turn. Charles Bruff was a young man of imagination and unbounded enthusiasm and saw the possibilities of the works, as his father had done. Moreover he had the 'drive' and business acumen to get things done. Under the title of the Coalport China Company he, with his father, launched a private limited liability company with Charles Bruff as Managing Director.
Peter S. Bruff died in 1900, leaving Charles Bruff and his brother-in-law, A. N. Garrett as Directors. The firm had by then made a successful recovery and was producing as fine china as sever it did in the early nineteenth century. In the present century the first World War. and subsequent slump had an adverse effect upon the firm's turnover, as it did in many another case,...
Acquisition by Cauldon Potteries and move to Stoke-on-Trent 1925+ ... and in 1923 Charles Bruff faced a thirteen-week's strike of his workers, following upon a 5% cut in wages, forced upon him by his losses. The balance sheets of successive years were seriously against him and, temporarily under a financial cloud, the grand old firm was only saved, in 1925, by being acquired by the Cauldon Potteries Ltd. The business was then removed to Shelton.
The associated Royal Cauldon (Pratt and Co.) produces fine bone china of quite distinctive types so that the two never clash in the market. The founder, Felix E. Pratt (who died in 1894) and his Chief Designer and Master Engraver Jessie Austin (died 1879) were the powers behind its early success, which, in effect, were due to an unique process of colour printing.
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NOTE: This article which
originally appeared in a 1956 book 'British Potters and Pottery Today',
is based
mainly upon accounts provided mainly by the firms themselves.
Questions, comments, contributions? email: Steve Birks