George Woolliscroft
1825 - 1906

• George Woolliscroft (the founder of Woolliscroft Tiles) was the son of Jesse and Elizabeth (Bentley) Woolliscroft.
  He was born in Fulford in about 1825, was christened there on the 13 March 1825. He died in 1906.

• George married Elizabeth Colclough in Westminster, London, on the 7 October 1851 and, with her, had a son and three daughters: George, Florence Elizabeth, Ellen and Lillian.

• George Woolliscroft first appears in the trade directories in 1865 as a beerseller and brick & tile manufacturer at the Eagle and Child Inn in Chesterton. 

• By 1868 he was also listed as a builder and manufacturer of blue bricks, chimney tops, drain pipes, roofing ridge & pressed floor tiles. 

• Apparently he had expanded his interests by 1878 to include grocer and draper shops.

• In 1879 there was the appearance of George Woolliscroft and Son at Etruria. 

• The Chesterton side of the business had been added by 1884 and in 1889 the firm is listed as having premises at Canal Tileries, Etruria, Patent Tile Works Hanley and Joiners Square. 

• In 1904 the business is listed as George Woolliscroft & Son Limited, Melville St, Hanley; Chesterton; & Canal Tileries Etruria. 

• They started to concentrate on floor tiles from 1910.

• The Melville Street premises continued in use producing tiles until c.2000 and was demolished in 2009.

• In 2000 Pilkington’s Tiles took the Woolliscrofts over and the floor tile range became Dorset Woolliscroft,  bringing together two names which had symbolised high quality, hard wearing porcelain tiling.

• The Dorset Woolliscroft brand was acquired from Pilkington’s Tiles by Original Style in 2010

sources: 

portrait & family details - Woolliscroft Net

business details - 'tarboat' pages on flickriver  /  1907 Staffordshire Sentinel 'Business Reference Guide to The Potteries, Newcastle & District'

adverts - Graces Guide

Melville Street 

George Woolliscroft & Sons, tileworks on Melville Street, Hanley
running along the top of the works is the Caldon Canal

Bing Maps - c.2009

1898 map showing the 'Encaustic Tile Works' on Melville Street
the Caldon Canal is highlighted in blue

the area between Bucknall New Road and the Caldon Canal, Hanley, 1937

Caldon canal runs horizontally across the centre

Woolliscroft's tile works to the centre
Brittain's Ivy House paper mill to the left and Waterloo Pottery Works to the right

The Melville Street tileworks of George Woolliscroft & Sons
photo taken from Botteslow Street

photos: May 2008

tileworks to the right and former terrace houses to the left

these terrace houses in Melville Street lead up to the Woolliscroft tile works 
- they eventually were knocked through to form small business units

Melville Street, Hanley 
Woolliscroft, G. and Sons, Ltd., tile manufacturers

Nelson Road, Hanley 
Woolliscroft, G. and Sons, Ltd., tile and sanitary 
ware manufacturers, Waterloo Works

Humbert Street, Etruria 
Woolliscroft, G. and Son, Ltd., brick and tile manufacturers

from..... 1907 Staffordshire Sentinel 
'Business Reference Guide to The Potteries, Newcastle & District'

Woolliscroft tiles were used extensively on the London Underground system 

This wall capping brick was a popular design and can be found 
on top of the walls outside many houses around Stoke-on-Trent

photo courtesy of 'Tarboat -Flickr'

1945 advert for Woolliscroft's 'FIRECLAYTE'  

February 1962 advert for Woolliscroft's Fireplaces  

adverts from: Graces Guide