Josiah Wedgwood

English inventor, industrialist, and artist

• Born: July 12, 1730
• Birthplace: Burslem (now Stoke-on-Trent), Staffordshire, England
• Died: January 3, 1795
• Place of death: Etruria, Staffordshire, England

Wedgwood’s genius and innovations helped not only to convert pottery making from a peasant’s craft to a major industry but also to bring about the Industrial Revolution in England.

Early Life

Josiah Wedgwood was presumably the last of twelve children born to Thomas and Mary Wedgwood. Thomas, of the Churchyard Pottery in North Staffordshire, England, was a fourth-generation potter. His wife, née Mary Stringer, was the daughter of a Unitarian minister of Newcastle-under-Lyme. Until age nine, Josiah walked seven miles each day to attend school at Newcastle-under-Lyme, where he showed an aptitude for mathematics and writing. His formal education abruptly ended when, in 1739, his father died, but as he had an insatiable thirst for knowledge, he became a self-educated man.

For the next five years, Josiah worked for Thomas, his brother, who had taken over the family business. At twelve, Josiah fell victim to smallpox and was left with an infection which settled in his right leg. He was to grow to be a small man with a homely appearance. He had a broad, friendly, yet pockmarked face, and he was a kind, strong, and dynamic individual. At fourteen, Josiah became his brother’s apprentice, but because of his bad leg, he was unable to perform such laborious tasks as throwing pottery clay. Instead, he spent much of his time keeping records, modeling, designing, and experimenting. Consequently, he often considered his leg infection as a happy accident. In 1749, his apprenticeship ended. He continued working with his brother for three more years. When Thomas refused to offer him a partnership, however, presumably because he considered Josiah too ambitious and experimental, Josiah left the family business. In 1752, he formed a partnership with John Harrison and Thomas Alders. This was a short-lived association, as Wedgwood and Harrison clashed over manufacturing ideas.

In 1754, a five-year partnership began with Thomas Whieldon of Fenton Hall, an outstanding potter of that time. This partnership seemed ideal: Both men loved to experiment, were highly motivated, and had compatible temperaments. They agreed that Wedgwood’s discoveries and methods, while benefiting both, would remain Wedgwood’s secret. Thus, in 1759, Wedgwood began keeping his “Experiment Book.” In the opening pages, he expressed concern over the declining pottery business and stated that it was time something be done to revive it. Therefore, his early experiments concentrated on improving the body of the pieces regarding glazes and form. In his book he carefully listed measurements and ingredients using a numbered code that only he understood. He was almost paranoid about the need for secrecy, even though at times he was quite verbose about his findings. On March 23, 1759, he recorded his first distinctive achievement, listed as experiment number seven. It was the invention of a green glaze. This discovery whetted his appetite for success and innovation.

Life’s Work

On May 1, 1759, nearly twenty-nine years old, Josiah Wedgwood had accumulated enough capital to establish himself as an independent potter. He rented the Ivy House and pots works in Burslem. Soon after, he introduced an improved agate body that had a marbled effect achieved by wedging together different colored clays. His almost immediate success was extraordinary. It was then that Wedgwood turned his attention to organizing factory operations.

Wedgwood’s most important innovations were specialization and the use of machinery in manufacturing. Prior to Wedgwood’s changes, all production in the industry was done by one person on each piece. Now tasks were divided into categories such as mixing clays, throwing, and decorating. This work required that a worker be skilled in only one area. By this reorganization, Wedgwood eliminated the journeyman and apprenticeship system and exacted new, higher standards of workmanship. At first, the workers resisted the idea, but then they saw the potential for greater productivity and, thus, increased wealth. (They also saw the possibility of greater monotony and loss of independence.) The introduction of steam power, engine turning, and tools such as lathes also revolutionized the industry. Production became more efficient. These innovations were indicative of the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in England.

The transportation system in England was inadequate in the mid-1700’s, and the pottery district was isolated. Clays from Dorset and Devon as well as flint and other materials had to be shipped to Chester or Liverpool, then carried to North Staffordshire by horse and transferred to the district by river. Wedgwood helped organize regional and national efforts to build better roads and more canals. This civic involvement helped establish Wedgwood as the spokesman for the pottery industry in both political and legal matters. He soon took an active role in the promotion and construction of turnpikes. He was prominently involved in a proposal for the construction of the Trent and Mersey Canal to link Hull, the Potteries, and Liverpool. In 1766, after a long battle with Parliament, he was appointed treasurer to the newly formed company of proprietors, and by 1777, the ninety-four-mile system was completed. Such improvements in the transportation system also helped spur the Industrial Revolution.

In 1762, Wedgwood’s leg forced him to bed for several weeks in Liverpool. A friend, Dr. Matthew Turner, introduced him to Thomas Bentley, who would have a profound effect on Wedgwood’s future career. The firm of Bentley and Turner became Wedgwood’s Liverpool agent. Bentley’s classical training and knowledge of various languages made him invaluable to Wedgwood, who repeatedly sought his advice and approval.

In that same year, Wedgwood moved to the Brick House Works in Burslem (referred to as the Bell Works because men were summoned to work by a ringing bell rather than by a blowing horn) for production of useful wares. It was in this area of manufacturing that Wedgwood made his name. He now devoted much of his time to the production of a cream-colored, fine earthenware. By 1763, he had successfully created an earthenware for the dinner table.

In 1764, Wedgwood married his third cousin, Sarah Wedgwood of Spen Green, Cheshire. Sarah was exceptionally competent and shared in her husband’s interests. He relied heavily upon her and his home life to provide an escape from the pressures of success. On January 3, 1765, their first child, Susannah (Sukey), was born. She would later marry Robert Darwin and give birth to Charles Darwin. In all, the Wedgwoods had eight children. Josiah was a devoted husband and father.

In June, 1765, Wedgwood received his first royal order, which proved to be a tremendous boost to his career. Queen Charlotte ordered a caudle (a hot mulled drink set) and was so pleased with his work that she referred to him as the potter to the queen. By 1767, he began to advertise his wares as Queen’s Ware. In July, 1766, Wedgwood bought the Ridgehouse Estate, which contained 350 acres lying between Hanley, Burslem, and Newcastle. Here he built a factory for ornamental wares. The new factory, Etruria, opened on June 13, 1769.

In May, 1768, Wedgwood and Thomas Bentley officially formed their very successful partnership. Bentley was the source of stimulation for Wedgwood’s creative genius. The two men were partners, but more important, they were close friends. Bentley introduced Wedgwood to such notable men as Joseph Priestley (who for a while was Wedgwood’s chemist), Benjamin Franklin, and Sir Joshua Reynolds. Later, in 1772, a group of these prominent men, including Wedgwood, would form the Lunar Society, an elite forum for intellectual discussion. This unofficial organization was one of the greatest influences on his life.

On May 28, 1768, Wedgwood once again fell ill from an infection in his leg. This time, however, it was determined that the leg had to be amputated just above the knee. While it was very painful without anesthetics, Wedgwood insisted upon watching the operation. Afterward, he often sensed the presence of his leg in the area he referred to as his no-leg, but Wedgwood did not allow his personal crisis to interfere with his work.

In 1769, Wedgwood took out his first and only patent. It was for an encaustic painting process that entailed firing a dull, red enamel on a black basalt body. In 1770, Humphrey Palmer of Hanley infringed upon this patent. Outraged, Wedgwood began legal proceedings against Palmer. In 1771, Wedgwood withdrew the suit after realizing that a costly lawsuit, even if successful, would make the patent unprofitable. Later, Palmer compensated Wedgwood, and they shared the patent. After this incident, Wedgwood began marking his wares with a large and a small stamp in an attempt to protect his ideas.

By 1771, the industry was suffering from falling prices brought on by economic depression. Wedgwood, therefore, formed a local potters’ association, whose main objective was to maintain prices during this troubled time. The bad economic conditions in England prompted Wedgwood to lower production costs and to find new markets both at home and abroad.

The year 1773 was a landmark for Wedgwood, for in that year he achieved some of his greatest successes. First, Wedgwood and Bentley published their first catalog of ornamental wares. Then, Wedgwood received an order from Empress Catherine the Great of Russia for a cream-colored dinner and dessert service. It was his largest and most famous commission. Often referred to as the Frog Service because each piece had a frog on it, the service contained 952 pieces and had 1,244 different English scenes. Perhaps Wedgwood’s greatest success that year, however, came as a result of his experimentations. He combined spar (a lustrous crystalline mineral) with clay and flint and a small amount of barium carbonate in a mineral form. The resulting stoneware he named jasper. He had conducted more than five thousand experiments, each carefully recorded in his notebook, before it could be made consistently uniform. By 1775, jasper was used for producing ornamental pieces. Wedgwood then employed John Flaxman, a sculptor, to model and design the durable jasperware, which was decorated with delicate white figures of the Roman imperial period. The jasper body was considered the first important innovation in ceramic history for thousands of years.

Early in 1780, Wedgwood bought Churchyard Works Pottery from his nephew, Thomas Wedgwood, Then, tragically, in November, Bentley died at age fifty. Bentley’s death came as a shock to Wedgwood. To a degree, the void in his life was filled by Erasmus Darwin, but this association could not compensate for Bentley’s death. An important force in Wedgwood’s life was now gone forever.

On May 9, 1782, Wedgwood delivered his first paper to the Royal Society. The paper dealt with another of Wedgwood’s inventions—a pyrometer, or thermometer. This new device could measure degrees of heat above the capacity of existing mercurial thermometers. Nearly twenty years would pass before anything more accurate would be invented. The principle of his pyrometer was based upon the contraction of clay when heated. The invention was acknowledged by the entire scientific community. Consequently, on January 16, 1783, Wedgwood was elected a fellow of the Royal Society. He delivered several more papers to the society over the next three years.

In 1783, Wedgwood also published two pamphlets, An Address to the Young Inhabitants of the Pottery and An Address to the Workmen in the Pottery on the Subject of Entering into Service of Foreign Manufacturers. In these pamphlets, he warned young men against leaving England in search of better jobs in the industry in the United States. While he earlier had favored colonial independence, Wedgwood did not desire an increase in foreign competition.

During the 1780’s, Wedgwood became very active in national politics as it concerned commerce. For example, he represented the potters in negotiations for a trade treaty with the newly independent American states in 1783. He was also an active promoter of the short-lived General Chamber of Manufacturers of Great Britain (from 1785 to 1787), was concerned with the drafting of the Irish Trade Treaty of 1785 and the French Commercial Treaty of 1787, and actively participated in the Society for the Suppression of the Slave Trade, founded in 1787.

From 1790 onward, Wedgwood began to retire gradually from the partnership named Wedgwood, Sons, and Byerley. His son, Josiah, and nephew, Tom Byerley, now ran the business while his attention turned to the problems of the poor, the promotion of friendly societies, and the search for a leadless glaze. On January 3, 1795, Wedgwood died at Etruria after three weeks of illness. At the time of his death, Wedgwood was one of England’s wealthiest men. He was buried in the churchyard of Stoke Parish Church.

Significance

Josiah Wedgwood lived in England during an exciting time of change. While he had little formal education, he associated with some of the greatest minds of his century. These associations, coupled with his own creative genius and his desire to improve the pottery industry, led him to great success and enabled him to play an important role in the birth of the Industrial Revolution.

Wedgwood’s innovations in the pottery industry enabled him to meet some of Europe’s sociocultural needs in the eighteenth century. For example, prior to Wedgwood’s innovation, a dinner was served using one communal bowl or trencher made of wood, pewter, porcelain, or silver. Wedgwood’s manufacture of an inexpensive plate, however, made it affordable to buy individual dinner settings. Also, as society paid more attention to table etiquette, and with the growing popularity of tea and coffee, there was a greater need for more pots, creamers, sugar bowls, cups, and saucers. Yet Wedgwood was not content to make simple pottery. Instead, he linked art with industry by concentrating on elegance of form and by paying attention to detail. Because of this, Wedgwood was the first English potter to achieve a European reputation and, in fact, was often imitated throughout Europe.

Nevertheless, Wedgwood was not an artist so much as he was a scientist and businessman, for he blended science with industry. He applied the scientific approach not only to his experiments and inventions but also to industrial problems. He organized his factory efficiently and introduced entirely new concepts and practices into the manufacturing of pottery. Thus, Wedgwood kept the price down and production high. He helped develop many principles of mass production and applied them to pottery making.

In his approach to art, science, and industry, Wedgwood reflected the trends of his age: He capitalized on the fervor of the new classicism in England in the 1700’s; he represented upright morality and independent thought; he was amiable and just, loved and honored; he attracted devotion as well as esteem, for he was without pretensions. Wedgwood brought about a union of beauty and productivity, which was perhaps the touchstone of his success.

Bibliography

Burton, Anthony. Josiah Wedgwood: A Biography. New York: Stein and Day, 1976. Traces the life of Josiah Wedgwood from birth to death, including his legacy. Presents more personal data than most sources; very well written with interesting quotations and excerpts from Wedgwood’s correspondence.

Dolan, Brian. Wedgwood: The First Tycoon. New York: Viking Press, 2004. Comprehensive biography. Describes Wedgwood’s experiments aimed at perfecting pottery making, his business and personal relationship with Thomas Bentley, the establishment of his factory, and his creation of new sales and business techniques.

Honey, W. B. English Pottery and Porcelain. London: A. and C. Black, 1933. This concise history of British ceramic art contains a chapter on Wedgwood’s life and career. Honey defends Wedgwood as a great businessman but points out his weaknesses as an individual who seemed more interested in seeking the acceptance of the wealthy than in perfecting his craft. Also discusses Wedgwood in relation to his contemporaries and his impact upon later British potters.

Kelly, Allison, comp. The Story of Wedgwood. New York: Viking Press, 1962. Presents a sketchy yet informative account of Wedgwood and his firm from his birth in 1730 through eleven generations to the 1960’s. Extremely brief chapters; straight presentation of the facts with little or no literary flair.

Koehn, Nancy F. Brand New: How Entrepreneurs Earned Customers’ Trust from Wedgwood to Dell. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2001. Profiles of Wedgwood and five other entrepreneurs who understood how economic and social change would create demands for new consumer products. The profile of Wedgwood describes how the popularity of his tableware coincided with the Industrial Revolution and the rise of the middle class.

Meteyard, Eliza. The Life of Josiah Wedgwood: From His Private Correspondences and Family Papers. 2 vols. London: Hurst and Blackett, 1865. An excellent two-volume biography. Begins with England’s Celtic pottery and period, continues through the Roman period and the Middle Ages. Makes for absorbing reading, although it is written in a somewhat dated style. Volume 2 continues through Wedgwood’s death.

Smiles, Samuel. Josiah Wedgwood: His Personal History. London: John Murray, 1894. An in-depth look at Wedgwood’s personal and professional life. Includes substantial character analysis. Draws on sources such as diaries, letters, and notes on experiments not used in earlier biographies.

Uglow, Jenny. The Lunar Men: Five Friends Whose Curiosity Changed the World. New York: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 2002. Wedgwood, James Watt, and scientist Joseph Priestley were among the founders of the Lunar Society of Birmingham. Uglow’s book describes how the organization invented new products, advanced science, and worked on other projects that ushered in the Industrial Revolution.

Wedgwood, Barbara, and Hensleigh Wedgwood. The Wedgwood Circle, 1730-1897: Four Generations of a Family and Their Friends. Westfield, N.J.: Eastview Editions, 1980. A well-written account of four generations of the Wedgwood family, beginning with Josiah Wedgwood. Even though it is a family history, it is not as biased as one might expect.

Wedgwood, Josiah. The Selected Letters of Josiah Wedgwood. Edited by Ann Finer and George Savage. London: Cory, Adams, and Mackay, 1965. A collection of sorted letters illustrating Wedgwood’s personality, accomplishments, influences, and motivations. The introduction contains a biographical sketch. In addition, each section of the book is prefaced with a short explanation of the contents of letters to follow, with relevant biographical data about Wedgwood. Excellent source.

Wills, Geoffrey. Wedgwood. Harmondsworth, England: Country Life Books, 1980. Traces the development of Wedgwood’s career and his lasting legacy. The first four chapters offer informative data about Wedgwood’s work; chapter 5 discusses the Wedgwood company after Josiah’s death, and the sixth chapter provides information for collectors. Excellent and concise account of Wedgwood’s life for the history buff or Wedgwood collector.