This article by Kathy Niblett appeared in the Journal of the Northern Ceramic Society, volume 12, 1995.

The author has asserted and given notice of her right under section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this article.

Reproduced here by kind permission of Kathy's husband Paul Niblett.

Kathy was the Senior Assistant Keeper of Ceramics at Stoke-on-Trent City Museum and Art Gallery. 

References - PGGTR: The Pottery and Glass Trade Review; P & G: Pottery & Glass.

The text is faithful to the original article, some reformatting has been carried out in an effort to make it more readable on screen

During the period between the two world wars the pottery industry in Britain produced three main types
of ceramics - the staple bone china and earthenware product which was traditional in manner; the outrageous conical shapes with brash colouring which we have come to know as 'Art Deco' and the suave and sophisticated 'International Modern' style with streamlined outline and pastel shading. 

The industry had survived the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and the Depression of the early 1930s but the outbreak of war in September 1939 brought about irrevocable change. 

By 1942 the pottery industry had been obliged to change its emphasis. The home market was to be content with plain white or ivory coloured ware so that decorated ware could be sold abroad to earn foreign currency, especially US dollars, for the war effort (Figure 1). Decoration needs at least a third firing, often more. Decoration therefore needs greater investment from workers and in fuel. The added expense of decorated ware was a luxury which the country could not afford but which the country needed to use to its advantage in the market place

Figure 1

Jug, earthenware, W T Copeland & Sons Ltd., Stoke-upon-Trent, 1942-1952

The industry was subjected to change in the form of concentration. Factories were closed to release people for war work in the Armed Forces or in munitions factories. Workers left in the potteries were amalgamated into the reduced number of works licensed by the Board of Trade to produce pots.

One of three things happened to pottery companies: 

1) a company was designated a Nucleus firm, these companies remained open to produce utility and export ware, other companies were sent to the works of the nucleus firms to continue their production [Appendix 1]

2) a company was designated a Concentrated firm and was allowed to continue in production as a separate entity but in the works of a nucleus firm. Some concentrated firms were able to maintain their offices and showrooms but others changed their address to that of the nucleus firm. 
[Appendix 2, Appendix 3]

3) a company was designated a Closed-down firm for the duration of the Board of Trade Concentration Scheme and was not allowed to operate. [Appendix 4]

Two Associations were formed after the Concentration Scheme was implemented - The Nucleus Potters' Association and the Non-Nucleus Potters' Association. It was to the latter group that the concentrated and closed down firms belonged, [PGGTR, October 1942, p 588].

The Board of Trade controlled the pottery industry through-out the war and until all regulations were lifted in 1952. Pottery could only be made by those manufacturers licensed by the Board. Any infringement led to a court appearance and fines, [PGGTR, August 1944, p 446]. It dictated which items could be made, their quantity, price levels and by whom. At the onset of hostilities undecorated ware was freely available at home and decorated ware was allowed, on a quota system, but it soon became clear that there was such a grave shortage of useful wares, especially cups, that more stringent control was needed. On 18 June 1942 new regulations ushered in the age of plain utility for the home trade. Both bone china and earthenware with decoration were banned. The quota-free allowance of ware in coloured bodies and glazes or with edge line or band decorations was also stopped. Instead there was to be quota free, earthenware or bone china in plain white or ivory utility ware, stoneware in brown or the natural colour of the clay, in restricted shapes, [PGGTR, July 1942, p 409]:   

The following articles made-

(a) from white or light ivory body, glazed with a colourless or white glaze,

(b) from stoneware made in the natural colour of the clay and glazed with a colourless or brown glaze, or with a brown glaze on the outside and a white or colourless glaze on the inside, or

(c) from a natural clay body with a brown glaze or colourless glaze inside and outside, or with a brown glaze on the outside and either a white glaze or a colourless glaze on the inside.

That is to say:-

cups; teapots; cooking ware - including pie dishes; chambers, hot water bottles and stoppers; 
egg cups; coffee pots; mugs; jugs; beakers; meat dishes and vegetable dishes; bowls; rolling pins;
plates; ewers; saucers; sauce boats; basins

The only exception was teapots and jugs in brown. All other items of domestic pottery and art pottery were banned from manufacture.

The term 'decoration' was very strictly defined, even the backstamp could be regarded as decoration. Backstamps should comprise only the company name, the registered trade mark, for example a crown, and the letter indicating the price group A B or C. The backstamp should be in a self-colour under the glaze (Figure 2). Any other elaboration would be deemed decoration and therefore banned. [PGGTR, October 1942, p 590]

The results of these regulations were that shapes designed before the war were used without decoration and that new design was stifled (Figure 3). Very few new designs emerged during hostilities since manufacturers had neither time nor manpower to devote to designing new shapes and surface patterns. The emphasis on export markets led to a strengthening of design in traditional styles, a situation which continued until well after hostilities had ceased. It was customary for new products to be designed with the home market in mind. Successful items were then tried abroad. With the ending of utility regulations in August 1952 potters were given a wonderful opportunity to again be in touch with the home market for which so little had been designed in more than ten years.

Figure 3

Teapot and lid, earthenware, Wood & Sons Ltd., Burslem. 1942-1952; may have been designed by Susie Cooper during the 1930s.

At a press conference on 2 June 1942 [PGGTR, July 1942, p 411] the reasons for the additional controls over pottery making were given.

The shortage of pottery could be attributed to the reduction in the number of workers available to make pots and in the increased demand for pots. It was estimated that about half of the 42,000 potters had been diverted to war work of one type or another. Sufficient crockery was needed for use at home, in industrial canteens, the British Restaurants, in hospitals and the Services. 

Breakages accounted for a massive demand. 90 million cups were broken each year in the home. There was a much higher breakage rate where crockery did not belong to those using it, such as in restaurants. 

These new, stricter controls had become necessary when it was obvious that regulations issued in December 1941 were not making the best use of the labour and materials available. The aim of the Board of Trade was to increase the supply of essential items to satisfy the replacement market and first-time buying of recently married persons. People were to be discouraged from buying more than they really needed.

Decorated pots for export were made continuously through-out the war but the extreme shortage of utility ware for home consumption forced the Board of Trade to implement a restriction policy. One method of meeting the crisis in 1942 was a temporary ban on the exportation of decorated ware to some colonies. The North American market was not affected, [PGGTR, June 1942, p 364]. A second method to curb export production was to cut the percentage of decorated ware produced, thus releasing capacity to make utility ware for the home market, [PGGTR, April 1942, p 252].

Prices were controlled by the Board of Trade, in consultation with the nucleus pottery manufacturers. At all stages, from manufacture through to customer, an upper price limit was placed on each item. All pots were to be indelibly marked, under the glaze, to indicate these price bands. Ware was graded by price as A B or C. Group I potters were to mark wares C, Group II with B and Group III with A. A few companies, producing a variety of items were allocated two letters. 

The regulations for earthenware were ready for implementation by 1 June 1942. The rules about decoration for bone china coincided with those for earthenware but the price control was delayed. [Appendix 5]

There was one scare throughout the industry in 1942 based on rumour and not on one of the many regulations of the Board of Trade. A daily newspaper set off the red herring of 'handleless cups' (Figure 4). It appeared that the Board had issued orders for all cups to be released without handles. This was a false premise based upon an urgent request from the Board that as many cups as possible be put on to the home market. A suggestion was made that surplus cups without handles also be released thus easing a serious shortage. 

These could then be used for cooler beverages, as in the case of beakers, and could also be utilised to serve several other purposes, such as that of a sugar bowl and a honey pot, [PGGTR, June 1942, p 364].

The Board of Trade assured Pottery Gazette that there was no intention to prevent handles being applied to cups so far as could be currently seen.

 

Figure 4

Possibly a handleless cup, earthenware, unmarked.

Throughout the war many societies held discussions about post-war reconstruction, the improvement of working conditions, the introduction of new equipment and techniques and design in the industry. 

The National Council of the Pottery industry made many suggestions and demands, a notable one being a request for the use of flint to be stopped since it was so injurious to health, [PGGTR, March 1942, p 169].

Lectures to the Pottery Managers Association encouraged the idea of future developments in all aspects of the industry, [PGGTR, April 1942, pp 241-243].  Designers maintained their freshness by meetings and lectures, planning for The Post-War Home', [PGGTR, April 1942, pp 233-39] and 'Planning for Prosperity, [PGGTR, May 1944, p262-66]  The famous art critic Herbert Read lectured on 'Industrial Design' in Stoke-on-Trent, at Burslem School of Art, [PGGTR, December 1943, pp 641-64].

The Board of Trade relaxed some of the utility regulations in 1945, allowing a few firms to make 'fancies' for the home market. [Appendix 6]

The basic regulations remained in force, but after repeated rejected requests for decorated ware to be released for the home market, in August 1947 Sir Stafford Cripps, President of the Board of Trade, began to look at the idea of coloured bodies being used, [PGGTR, August 1947, p 652].

A new order was issued reallocating potters to maximum price groups, changing the letters to be used in marking maximum prices and introducing three new groups. 

Group I ware was to be marked with C, 

Group I with B, 

Group III with BY, 

Group IV with A. 

Jugs were classed as Group V to be marked CY and 

pudding bowls were Group VI and marked CZ. 

Again some manufacturers were allocated within two groups according to product. [Appendix 7]

The 'concentration' of the industry was unravelled slowly. It sounded the death knell of some firms. Several did not reopen after the war. Those licensed to reopen met numerous problems. Potters involved in active service were released in small numbers over many months, running into years, [PGGTR, October 1948, p 918]. Raw materials were scarce. There was a shortage of coal for firing bottle ovens, the main means of firing at the time. There was an acute shortage of lithographic transfer prints wanted urgently for decoration to boost the export market. Manufacturers were therefore unable to produce at their maximum. Frustration was common and questions were asked repeatedly in Parliament.

But optimism was also visible. A Working Party for the Potteries' was set up by Sir Stafford Cripps to discuss reconstruction, [PGGTR, October 1945, p 567]. It soon earned the name 'CRIPPS & CROCKS', [PGGTR, November 1945, pp 635-37].

Pottery owners took the chance to update their works. Several demolished their bottle ovens and replaced them with tunnel ovens, [PGGTR, November 1946, p 737].

Extensions were added incorporating the latest facilities..

Royal Albert St. Mary's Works were extended, [PGGTR, September 1946, p 575].

Belt tunnel kilns were installed by Birlec Ltd, [PGGTR, December 1946, p 818].

Making machines incorporating driers and conveyors, and infra-red drying on glaze dipping stations, [PGGTR, February 1947, p 180-82].

By September 1947 31 electric kilns were in use [PGGTR, September 1947, p 738], and by November 1948 120 gas kilns in use in the 'smokeless Potteries', [PGGTR, November 1948, p 1012].

"the old familiar ovens and kilns are giving way to continuous tunnel-ovens which bake the ware very much as the London Underground deals with its passengers" [PGGTR, September 1947, p 742].

Facilities in workshops were improved, with additions like dust extractor fans, [PGGTR, August 1946, p 542]. Thus catching up with those potters who had pioneered enhanced factory conditions earlier in the century. In 1913 William Moorcroft had built a model factory in Cobridge and Wedgwood had the all electric Barlaston Works in use from 1940. 

Improvements in the decorating shop at the Royal Overhouse Pottery of Barratt's of Burslem included air conditioning, a dustless floor, good natural daylight and modern fluorescent lighting, [PGGTR, January 1948, p 48].

Several owners added new welfare provisions like works canteens. It was reported in June 1943 that at Crescent Potteries, Stoke-upon-Trent a new canteen had been opened. The walls had been painted with murals by artists, [PGGTR, June 1943, p 333]. 

Anew canteen was built at John Tams's Crown Pottery, Longton in 1947. The management believed that 'the comfort of the workers is of primary importance in the production of good pottery', [PGGTR, April 1947, p 326; June 1947 p 493].

In 1948 it was reported that T G. Green's Church Gresley Pottery near Burton-on-Trent had opened a new welfare block, [PGGTR, February 1948, p 142].

The fruits of this optimism were summed up by Gerald F. Wood of Arthur Wood and Son (Longport) Limited in a letter to the Editor of the Pottery Gazette and Glass Trade Review in April 1952:

What is Prosperity
"The last five years have been an example of prosperity in this City. Factories are working at maximum output producing profits which have enabled employers to pay good wages and extend and modernise their factories so resulting in better working conditions, more economic production, full employment and a fortnight's holiday with pay, no bankruptcies. The export returns speak for themselves" [PGGTR, April 1952, p 594].