Wednesday 31 August 2016

Doulton & Co.



This post came about from Kris contacting me asking for info on bricks made by Doulton & Co. Much has been written about Doulton's salt-glazed pipes, bottles, jars & chinaware etc, but very little about the making of their bricks. So with some information previously found & with digging a little deeper into the web, I have now been able to put this post together.

I first start with a little bit of background information on how Doulton & Co. began. If you wish to read a more detailed account of the company I have pasted six links at the end of the post.

John Doulton established the beginnings of the Doulton empire in 1815 when together with his life savings of £100 pounds he became a partner in a pottery owned by Martha Jones & John Watts situated on Vauxhall Walk, London & this partnership operated under the style of Jones, Watts & Doulton producing stoneware, stoneware bottles & salt glazed sewer pipes. Mrs Jones left the company in 1820 & the company continued as Doulton & Watts. 1826 sees the move to High Street, Lambeth & by 1834 the company was employing 12 men & operating 2 kilns per week. There is as yet no reference to the company making bricks in the information found for Lambeth, but the option of them doing so cannot be ruled out. An air brick made at Lambeth can be seen at this link.
http://www.penmorfa.com/bricks/england6.html & scroll down to Doulton Lambeth.

Added 8.4.21. With Laura Thew sending her Lambeth brick image to the Old Bricks website it now confirms bricks were made at Lambeth.

 Photo by Laura Thew reproduced courtesy of the Old Bricks website.

Five of John's six sons join him at the works, with his eldest John junior & second son Henry being the main players in the running of the Company at a later date. Henry joins as an apprentice in 1835 & it was to be Henry who would be the driving force at a later date in taking the company forward in producing artistic pottery, commemorative & ornamental table ware as well as being the head of the company.

In 1846 & while still having some connection in helping to run his father's company Doulton & Watts, Henry sees the potential in exploiting the extra need to produce salt-glazed sanitary pipes & wares to replace London's crumbling sewers & in doing so forms his own company on land which was to become Albert Embankment to produce these salt-glazed wares.

Further expansion by Doulton & Watts under the guidance of Henry Doulton saw the opening of new works in Rowley Regis in 1849, St. Helens run by his elder brother John junior also in 1849 & Smethwick in 1850 to produce salt-glazed pipes & associated wares. Industrial stoneware & ceramics & terracotta tiles were also made at Rowley Regis. The Smethwick works only ever produced salt glazed pipes & from a web article the Brasshouse Lane (now Pottery Lane) works was on the north bank of the Birmingham Canal & closed in 1919, but I have a trade directory entry still listing this works in 1921. 

Back to 1853 & John Watts retires from D & W & the company changed it's name to Doulton & Co. At some unknown point in time the three business of Doulton & Watts (Lambeth, Rowley Regis & Smethwick works), John Doulton junior's St. Helens works & Henry Doulton's Albert Embankment pipeworks all came together & trade as one company, Doulton & Co. Ltd.

It is now that we find in trade directories starting in 1872 that blue bricks are recorded as being made in Rowley Regis. A 1876 advert records Staffordshire blue bricks are for sale from the St. Helens works & then in a 1895 trade directory entry for the St. Helens works it lists that red / blue / ornamental & glazed bricks plus tiles are made, again I believe the blue bricks were being made at Rowley Regis because the type of clay needed to make blue bricks is chiefly found in the West Midlands. I have to note that bricks may have been made at Rowley Regis & St. Helens before the dates found, if so the new dates will be added to the post at a later date.


Seven examples of blue bricks made at the Rowley Regis works near Dudley. The Doulton one may have been made during the time when John senior was running the company & the H. Doulton ones when Henry was in charge. 


Photo taken at the Bursledon Brick Museum. 

Photo by Frank Lawson.

Photo taken at the Black Country Living Museum. 


Photo by Michael Mounter.

Trade directory entries in the brick & tile makers section for the Rowley Regis works all record blue in brackets for blue bricks, but there are various names used for the name of the works & there was a company name change in 1908. 
So theses are listings :-
Kelly's 1872 & 76 - Henry Doulton & Co. Knowle Pottery, Rowley Regis & at Smethwick (pipes). 
Kelly's 1880 edition has the addition of - & Birmingham & chief office Lambeth Pottery, London SE.
Kelly's 1884 to 1904 editions - Henry Doulton & Co. Birmingham Pottery, Rowley Regis & at Smethwick & Birmingham, chief office, Lambeth Pottery, London SE.
Kelly's 1908 - Doulton & Co. Ltd, Birmingham Pottery, Rowley Regis & Granville Wharf, Granville Street, Birmingham, chief office, Royal Doulton Pottery, London SE.
Kelly's 1912 - Doulton & Co. Ltd, Rowley Regis Pottery, Springfield, Dudley; Granville Wharf, Granville Street & Paradise Street, Birmingham; chief office, Royal Doulton Pottery, London SE.
Kelly's 1916 - Doulton & Co. Ltd, Rowley Regis Pottery, Springfield Pottery, Dudley & Granville Street, Birmingham; chief office, Royal Doulton Pottery, London SE.
Kelly's 1921 -  Doulton & Co. Ltd, Springfield, Dudley & Smethwick & Granville Wharf, Granville Street, Birmingham; chief office, Royal Doulton Pottery, London SE.

There are no more trade directory entries in the Brick & Tile Makers section after 1921 for the company. 

So the names of Knowle Pottery, Birmingham Pottery, Rowley Regis Pottery & Springfield Pottery have been used to describe this vast works complex. As you will see from the several maps that I have used below, the 1881 map shows that there were originally two brick works on this site, one was at the side of Springfield Colliery & the other one was next to the pipe works & this part of the site is shown as the Birmingham Pottery. From the 1901 map it only shows one brickworks in operation. From different web articles the consensus on the name of the works where blue bricks & terracotta tiles were made is Springfield Brick & Tile Works. The different departments on this vast site made use of the Dudley No.2 Canal to bring clay in & transport their finished produces out with the Company having it's own wharfs. Although these maps show many clay pits, clay was also brought in to the works by barge using the canal from the Company's own clay pits near Saltwells Wood, Netherton to produce sanitary ware in 1906. The canal continued to be used via the Lappel Tunnel by the company until 1917 when stretches of the canal became unnavigable. The canal was finally abandoned in 1953, but today it is in the process of slowly being restored.

I have used the following 4 maps to show how the works changed between 1881 & 1938 & the maps show the various names for the works. I have to note that the areas which I have coloured yellow may not be exact to the land owned by the Company & have been coloured only to indicate the size of this vast works complex.

 © Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1881.

 © Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1901.

 © Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1914.

 © Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1938.

Doulton's Rowley Regis Works had closed by 1979 & today this vast site is a mixture of housing & industrial units.



I now move on to the St. Helens works & my first reference in 1853 comes from Grace's Guide which records John Doulton junior as setting up the Liverpool Pottery at St. Helens on Boundary Road, producing earthenware & with offices at 70 Soho Street, Liverpool.
1867 sees John junior together his brothers Henry & John Duneau Doulton purchase lands in Windle, Lancs. from David Gamble. Then further lands where purchased in 1874 & 1879 in St. Helens. The acquisition of these lands I believe was to supplement the works with clay as this works was in a built up area & the site could not be expanded. I then take it that the clay was then delivered to the works via the railway with the company having it's own railway siding. See maps below. The advantage of the works location being in an built up area was it's workers would have lived close by.

Photo by Frank Lawson.

Photo by Frank Lawson.

My first trade directory entry for John junior, trading as John Doulton, Brothers & Co. is in Worrall's 1871 edition, but it is not for bricks, but it is for glazed stoneware pipes & terracotta chimney pots at the Liverpool Pottery with offices/depot now at 100 Soho Street & a wharf at Canal Bank.

Then my next reference comes in the form of an advert dated 1876 shown below again from Worrall's directory & it advertises Staffordshire blue bricks made at the company's Rowley Regis Works.



My first listing of bricks being made at St. Helens is recorded in Slater's 1883 edition as Doulton & Co., branch offices & depot, 100 Soho Street - Red pressed & moulded bricks for shipment from Liverpool, Garston or Widnes. Then in an entry on another page under Brick Manufacturers - Blue, is Doulton & Co. depot 100 Soho Street, Liverpool, works Rowley Regis, Staffordshire. Thus backing up my theory that the Rowley Regis works made blue & red bricks & the St. Helens works only produced red bricks.

In the Brick Manufacturers section of Slater's 1895 edition it lists Doulton & Co. (pressed, plain, ornamental red & blue : glazed bricks, tiles & c. Boundary Road Brickworks, St Helens. (previously recorded as The Liverpool Pottery in the advert). Again the blue brick reference I believe is that they could supply blue bricks from the St. Helens works which had been made at Rowley Regis. Then in an entry on another page in Slater's 1895 edition, Doulton & Co are listed as brick, glazed stoneware, sanitary pipe & c. manufacturers, Canal Bank west & Boundary Road, St. Helens.  


A red brick variation photographed at Cawarden Reclamation, Rugeley.


The brick above was found on Crosby beach & like the rest of the bricks which can be seen on this beach are well worn by the tide coming in & out.

Two maps dated 1900 & 1925 showing the location of the Boundary Road brickworks in St. Helens. The 1925 map actually records the brick & pipe works as Liverpool Pottery same as the 1876 advert. As previously written, with the location of the works being in a built up area, I believe the clay was brought in by railway wagons right into the works via it's own railway siding.


 © Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1900.


 © Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1925.

The year the St. Helens works closed is unknown, but could have been in 1969 when Doulton's sold it's pipe interests to Hepworth Pipe, but it may have been earlier. If I do find out, I will update the post.


Sir Henry Doulton's Surrey home, built in 1885 with bricks & terra cotta made at the Lambeth works.

https://www.jamesfortune.co.uk/woolpit-school/


Updated 15.2.20 & 8.10.20.
Chris Tilney has just found these two Victoria Park examples & "Love London" has sent me a link to a London Insurance map dated 1891 which shows the location of Doulton's Lime & Fire Clay Goods Works which was situated between the Hertford Union Canal & Wennington Road, Victoria Park. Then I have added the 1893 OS map showing the works (coloured yellow) closer up.
https://britishlibrary.georeferencer.com/maps/984b515d-f419-546a-bad5-d0b3b49bc8b9/  


Photos by Chris Tilney.

© Crown Copyright. Reproduced with permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1893.


Links to more information about the many sides of the Doulton empire (except it's bricks).

http://www.potteryhistories.com/doultonhistory.html

http://www.daltondatabank.org/Chronicles/Royal_Doulton.htm

http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Henry_Doulton

http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Doulton_and_Co

http://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Doulton_and_Watts

Photos of Doulton's Lambeth Works & showroom.
http://www.victorianweb.org/art/architecture/london/150.html


I wish to thank the following people for the use of their information & maps in bringing this story of the Doulton Company to the web.

Grace's Guide. 

Black Country Bugle.

Wikipedia 

Vauxhall Society

Dalton Databank

National Library of Scotland & Ordnance Survey - maps.










Sunday 3 January 2016

Cawarden 2

After finding a great selection of named bricks at Cawarden Reclamation on my last visit, a second trip to Rugeley was always on the cards. So in April 2015 on a glorious day, I revisited the yard & here are some of the finds from that day.


A brickworks called Bradwell Wood Tileries, Stoke on Trent previously owned by Joseph Timmis & Sons was operated by Bentley Tileries Limited from the 1st of January 1927. In the 1960's the works consisted of around ten beehive kilns. In 1963/4 the works produced roof tiles, red floor tiles, garden tiles & air bricks. The works closed in 1966 & a London Gazette Notice records that on the 18th of February 1966 at a special Members meeting, the Company was voluntarily wound up & this notice was signed by Chairman, T. Bentley. By 1968 the site had been cleared of all buildings. BCM stands for British Commercial Monomarks, a company formed in 1925 to provide manufacturers with a London address & mail forwarding services.

  © Crown Copyright. Reproduced by permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1937.

1937 OS map showing the location of Bentley Tileries Limited's works called Bradwell Wood Tileries. 



Around 1867, William Shepherd is recorded as Coal Merchant at Union Wharf, Bilston Road, Wolverhampton. He then started manufacturing bricks around 1892 on Granville Street, Wolverhampton with him then moving to the Elm Farm Brickworks on Dudley Road in 1896. Two years later he opened a second works called the Phoenix Brickworks, also on Dudley Road. William was well regarded & respected by the local business community & he went on to build 500 houses around Wolverhampton, providing them for the working classes. William also established a cycle manufacturing business in the town. William is recorded in Kelly’s 1892 edition as brick manufacturer on Granville Street & living on Bilston Road. Then from 1896 to the 1908 editions he is listed at Elm Tree Farm Brick Works, Wolverhampton. With this brick being stamped JHS Elm Farm, I can only suppose that these are the initials of his son or brother ? I have found a reference to J.H. Shepherd, deceased in 1908 & the disposal of the Elm Farm Brickworks, his home & estate on the National Archives web site. I have two other photos of bricks from this company, one is marked Phoenix & the other William Shepherd, Phoenix Brickworks.

 © Crown Copyright. Reproduced by permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1900.  

On this 1900 map I have marked the Phoenix Works in green & this works was accessed via Phoenix Street from Dudley Road. I am not 100% sure of the exact location of the Elm Farm Works, but it could have been in the area which I have coloured yellow. Today's Elm Farm Road now runs from Dudley Road into this yellow area. Another option for the Elm Farm Works is the one which I coloured blue. 



H. Warrington & Sons works at Berry Hill, Fenton, Stoke on Trent is recorded in Kelly's T. D. from 1896 to 1908 editions. Henry was born 1838 in Cheadle & left school at the age of 13 in 1851 to work for William Bowers who operated Berry Hill Colliery. An associated brickworks had been established by 1870. Henry worked his way up the company eventually succeeding Bowers as the owner of the business some time not long after Bower's death in 1880. The business also included an iron works at Berry Hill but the forges closed around 1900. Henry Warrington employed 1000 men, farmed 400 acres & lived at Fenton Manor House. Henry tragically shot himself on the 2nd of March 1907. After Henry's death the colliery & brickworks are recorded as being owned by John Slater in 1914 with John then forming John Slater Limited in 1918 & this new company also included another colliery at New Haden. Slater's company is next recorded as Berry Hill Collieries Ltd. in the 1920's. I have two entries in Kelly's T.D. in 1928 & 1932 for Berry Hill Collieries Ltd, Berry Hill Brickworks, Stoke. In 1947 the brickworks became a separate company & was renamed Berry Hill Brickworks Ltd. with the colliery being nationalised in that year. This new company expanded in the 1960's & was operating four brickworks. The Berry Hill works closed in the 1970's thus completing 100 years of brick production at the works. The site of the former brickworks is now Fenton Industrial site.

 © Crown Copyright. Reproduced by permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1900.



The Oswestry Coal & Brick Co. operated the Drill Colliery & Brickworks at Morda, Oswestry & in the early 1870's the company owned by Stanley Leighton acquired nearby Sweeney Colliery & it's brickworks. On the O.S. map below I have coloured Drill B/W's in yellow & Sweeney B/W's in green. 
Brick production appears to have then been moved from the Drill brickworks to the Sweeney site & this works was then expanded. O. C. & B. Co. then became the Sweeney Brick Co. around 1880. 
The lease & the name of the works changed many more times before the works finally closed in 1926. 
These were :-
Kelly's 1891 edition, Kay & Hindle Ltd. Sweeney Brick & Terra Cotta Works. 
Kelly's 1895 edition, Oswestry Brick, Tile & Terra Cotta Co. Lim. 
1899 to 1907, Sweeney Blue Brick & Terra Cotta Ltd.  
1907 to 1909, New Sweeney Blue Brick & Terra Cotta Ltd.
1911 to 1915, Sweeney (Oswestry) Brick Co. Lim. In Kelly's 1913 edition there is an entry for the company with C.E. Williams as secretary & managing director.
Then the name of the works at it's closure was the New Sweeney Brick & Tile Co. Ltd.
Today houses are built on both brickwork sites.

 © Crown Copyright. Reproduced by permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1900.



George Grubb Dalton, Brick Manufacturer, Builder & Contractor, Linthorpe, Middlesbrough is recorded in the London Gazette as giving Notice of Intended Dividends on the 13th November 1888. In this Notice George is listed as residence at Cambridge Road, Linthorpe & trading in Linthorpe, in Middlesbrough & all of Yorkshire.



George Ball is listed as owner of the Star Brick Works in Linthorpe, Middlesbrough in Bulmer's 1890 edition.

 © Crown Copyright. Reproduced by permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1900.

This 1900 O.S.map has two brickworks marked in Linthorpe, Middlesbrough of which one could have been owned by G.G. Dalton & the other by George Ball, owner of the Star Brick Works.



Barlow, Wednesbury, no info found for this company.



The Greengate Brick & Tile Co. was in St. Hellens, Lancs. with the company also owning Greengate Colliery. The O.S. map below shows the location of the works in 1900 & was situated close to the vast Ravenshead glass works owned by Pilkingtons. The brickworks was to later become part of Pilkingtons. This link contains an ariel photograph of the works in 1923. http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/image/epw009300 

 © Crown Copyright. Reproduced by permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1900.



The Leamore Brick Co. was on Green Lane, Leamore, Walsall & was situated on a 6.5 acre site adjacent to the Wyrley & Essington Canal as shown on the 1900 O.S. map below. The company is listed in Kelly's 1908 & 1912 editions at Birchills, Walsall.

 © Crown Copyright. Reproduced by permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1900.

Also marked next to Leamore  B/W's on this map is Castle Brick Works which I wrote about in my first Cawarden post & can be read at this link.



Richard Mason & Sons, Toll End, Tipton are first recorded in Kelly’s 1884 edition, then the entry from the 1896 edition to the 1916 edition is Mason Ltd, (blue & red), Toll End, Tipton. Marked Crown Brickworks on this 1900 map below, the site is now occupied by Western Power Ltd. on Toll End Road & the former clay pit has now been transformed into Bayley's Pool.

 © Crown Copyright. Reproduced by permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1900.



The Queen Red Facing Brick Co. Ltd is listed in Kelly's 1901 trade directory at Rishton, Blackburn & is shown on the 1900 O.S. Map below. This company appears to have been an unsuccessful venture & was reformed in 1907 by George Knowles as the Queen Brick Co. (Blackburn 1907) Ltd. This set up also failed & went into liquidation in 1909. Today the former brickworks next to the Leeds & Liverpool Canal is open fields with the Whitebirk Industrial Estate situated close by (in the area between the two marked Old Shafts on the 1900 map). The Great Harwood Loop railway line marked on the map also no longer exists. If you check out Google maps you can see that some houses & industrial buildings now occupy the land near to the bottom of the former tramway which ran up the hill to the clay pit & these buildings are accessed via Side Beet Lane.

© Crown Copyright. Reproduced by permission of NLS/Ordnance Survey 1900.