Josiah Wedgwood (1730 - 1795)

Josiah Wedgwood I was the twelfth and youngest child of Thomas and Mary Wedgwood of the Churchyard Works in Burslem. From humble beginnings and overcoming frequent bouts of ill health, including smallpox at the age of 12, he ultimately became a renowned and successful businessman whose name is revered worldwide.

That he perfected a number of ceramic bodies and developed the unique Jasper ware, which is now synonymous with his name, is well known. Equally famous is his outstanding achievement of recreating the cameo-glass Portland vase in this celebrated ware. The outline of this vase has become the symbol of Wedgwood around the world and is today incorporated into the company logo. However, there was a great deal more to this complex man, as you will discover.

The Young Josiah

Josiah began his education at the age of six, walking seven miles a day to attend school at Newcastle-under-Lyme, but three years later his father died and he was apprenticed to his eldest brother at the Churchyard Pottery to learn ‘the Art, Mistery, Occupation or Imployment of Throwing and Handleing’. Then disaster struck in 1742 when Josiah fell victim to the smallpox epidemic that had reached Burslem. Confined to his bed for many months, the boy spent his time reading avidly to improve his education. The serious disease had left him with a permanently weakened right knee so that he could not operate the foot pedal on the wheel. Instead, Josiah learned other pottery skills, such as modelling.

At the end of his apprenticeship he went on to have a business relationship with two potters John Harrison and Thomas Alders of Stoke. Two years later, in 1754, Josiah was taken into junior partnership with the finest English potter of the time, Thomas Whieldon. Here he was encouraged to experiment with glazes, bodies, colours and shapes, and from 1759 he began keeping his detailed Experiment Books. Having been given such freedom to experiment, as well as opportunities to visit the bustling industrial city of Birmingham, Josiah began dreaming of having his own business. In 1759 his chance came when two relatives, Thomas and John Wedgwood, agreed to lease him the Ivy House works in Burslem, the ‘mother town’ of the Potteries. And so it was, on May Day, Wedgwood company came into being.

The Business Flourished

In 1762, on one of his many visits to Liverpool, Josiah met Thomas Bentley, with whom he formed a lifelong friendship. Bentley’s taste, knowledge of the arts and social contacts were of inestimable value to Wedgwood and his influence was paramount in the success of the firm during their later partnership.

In January 1764, Josiah married Sarah Wedgwood, a distant cousin and the other important influence in Josiah’s life. Sarah, or ‘Sally’ as she was known, was the daughter of a prosperous cheese merchant. There is no doubt that it was a marriage of love. Wedgwood described their relationship to Bentley as ‘two married Lovers, happy as this world can make them’.

The following year saw the birth of Susannah, also known as Sukey, the Wedgwoods’ first child, ‘so like her father!’ exclaimed Josiah. Of the eight children of the marriage, the eldest, Susannah, became the mother of the naturalist, Charles Darwin FRS, author of ‘The Origin of Species;’ John, the eldest son, was a co-founder of the Royal Horticultural Society; and another son Thomas became famous after his death as one of the inventors of photography.

The year 1764 also saw Josiah securing the first of many important patrons in the shape of Sir William Meredith, MP for Liverpool. In 1765 he sought a commission from Her Majesty Queen Charlotte and provided a tea and coffee service in his newly evolved earthenware body, thus gaining Royal assent for the name Queen’s Ware – a name we still use today, and Queen Charlotte graciously allowed Wedgwood to style himself as ‘Potter to Her Majesty’.

The year of 1765 was a busy one indeed for Josiah for he also threw his energies into promoting a canal to join the Trent and Mersey rivers. Also known as the Grand Navigation, the canal took eleven years, from 1766 to 1777 to complete. Wedgwood not only travelled widely to gain support for the venture, but also corresponded with Erasmus Darwin on the subject. Celebrated engineer James Brindley worked on the venture before his death due to diabetes in 1772. Josiah’s energy was a vital factor in the completion of the canal, which opened up the continental trade through Liverpool and reduced transport costs from 10d to 1½d per ton mile.