A Brief History of Wedgwood China

The story of the line begins in 1730 with the birth of Josiah Wedgwood to a family who manufactured pottery. At the age of six years old, Josiah was an apprentice and 14 he had suffered an attack of smallpox that weakened his right knee. 1760, Josiah had his own factory and had been experimenting with various formulas of porcelain, clay and glazes and technological advances in the art of transferring designs to the finished product. In 1765 he produced a complete set for Queen Charlotte, advertised himself as a "potter to the Queen" and the business took off.

Josiah crowning achievement is his creation of Jasperware. Jasper is translucent clay that marries basalt and Josiah's original formulas to produce dense, homogeneously colored stoneware. After more than 10,000 failed experiments with various clays and glazes, Jasperware launched in 1775 an abundance of success, especially to customers in the new democracy the United States. Josiah stated shortly thereafter, "There is no item too rich or too expensive for Americans."

Wedgwood died in 1795 and left the business to his son, who had grown up rich, really not interested in running it. Job fell to a nephew, Tom Byerly who struggled greatly with the burden of running the business he had little love for. The next 25 years proved difficult for the company and Josiah II took over to turn things around by restoring the formulas and business standards set by his father. Needless to say, constant economic turmoil, wars and growing competition made the 1800s very difficult and it was not until the 20th century, under the leadership of Josiah V that things began to improve.

With the new production facilities, efficient, aggressive worldwide marketing especially in America, and exclusive designs, Wedgwood China products began gaining prominence in the industry. In 1966, Wedgwood shares were introduced to the London Stock Exchange and since then, the company has been involved in aggressive expansion. Assets of Susie Cooper, Royal Tuscan, William Adams, Franciscan, Masons Ironstone, Waterford, and Rosenthal have been merged with Wedgwood to form the Wedgwood group. Josiah Wedgwood I would be proud.