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The development of the Pottery Industry in Stoke-on-Trent

English stoneware was made on a large scale only after the late 17th century. The best of Staffordshire white salt-glazed stoneware was made between 1720 and 1760. Staffordshire was also a centre for creamware, a popular lead-glazed earthenware made of Devonshire white clay mixed with calcined flint. In 1754 the English ceramist Josiah Wedgwood began to experiment with coloured creamware. He established his own factory.

In Stoke, in 1800, Josiah Spode began the manufacture of porcelain ornamented with designs inspired by eastern art, and his son, also Josiah, later mixed kaolin, feldspar, and bone ash to make "bone" china.

The successful development of bone china by the Spode factory at Stoke-on-Trent (1776-present), for wares of outstanding beauty and economy in the Regency style of the early 1800s, ensured its preeminence among commercial producers. Spode's nearest rival was Minton (1796-present), outstanding in the Victorian period for its "art" porcelains. Among Spode's chief followers in producing bone china for the mass market were Davenport (c. 1793-1887); Wedgwood for a short period between 1812 and 1822; Ridgway, New Hall, and Rockingham. A host of lesser concerns served the expanding middle-class market.

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