(23) Various English Porcelain Pieces. Cups, saucers, and plates. Several marked Spode, one marked Worcester on the underside.
Largest Size: 7 1/4 x 7 1/4 x 1 1/2 in.
In 1770 Josiah Spode (1733-1797), who had trained under Thomas Whieldon, founded his own pottery company in Stoke-on-Trent, England, and is credited with having perfected two important techniques crucial to the boom in the English pottery and porcelain industry in the 19th Century: transfer printing on earthenware, and bone china. By 1784 Spode had set up a rapid-transfer system to print blue underglaze, launching the Blue Italian range of products in 1816 which has remained in production ever since. In 1790 he developed the formula for bone china, which his son, Josiah Spode II, successfully marketed after his father passed away seven years later, leaving him in control of the company. The company remained family-run until 1833 when it was purchased by a London alderman named William Taylor Copeland, who put his business partner Thomas Garrett in charge but retained the Spode name due to its already widespread popularity. In 1847 Garrett left the company, which was restructured as W.T. Copeland and Sons, and although a fire at Alexandra Palace in 1873 tragically destroyed thousands of specimens of early Josiah Spode work that had been on temporary exhibition, this also generated renewed interest in the origins of the famous manufacturer, and the company was renamed Copeland Spode to capitalize on this. Like most European companies they saw a significant decline in the 20th Century due to the World Wars and economic downturns, and in 1970 absorbed several companies to become Spode Ltd., but in 2006 Spode merged with Royal Worcester, one of their main remaining competitors in England only to be acquired two years later by Portmeirion Group, which transferred all Worcester production overseas and significantly consolidated the remaining manufacturing of Spode in Stoke-on-Trent.
In 1751 two British apothecaries named John Wall and William Davis bought out a Bristol porcelain company that was using steatite and soapstone as their raw material and brought the enterprise to Waterford, and eventually the company was reformed as The Royal Worcester Porcelain Co. in 1862. It is believed to be the oldest remaining English porcelain brand still in existence today, although Royal Crown Derby disputes this by asserting that they first formed in 1750. Artists and designers who worked for the factory included Thomas Baxter, William Billingsley, John Stinton, David Bates, and Christopher Dresser. A gradual decline during the 20th Century amidst two World Wars and economic downturns, however, eventually led to a merger with the Stoke-on-Trent-based Spode company in 1976, and the Worcester facility was eventually shuttered as most workers were gradually transferred to Stoke or let go over the next thirty years, with the factory’s former site now housing the independent Museum of Royal Worcester. The last official trading date for Royal Worcester was June 14th, 2009, and the brand name and property were acquired by Portmeirion Pottery Group, who officially ended all production in Worcester itself as of that day, transferring all manufacturing overseas.
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