Royal Doulton
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Royal Doulton Company is a quintessentially English name in tableware and collectables with a history dating back to 1815. Today, its products include dinnerware, giftware, cookware, porcelain, glassware, collectables, jewellery, linens, curtains, lighting, and more.
Its three key brands are: Royal Doulton for British quality, Royal Albert for English romanticism, and Minton for contemporary cosmopolitan style. Together, the three brands make up Doulton Home, now part of the wider Waterford Wedgwood group, with the bulk of pieces being manufactured outside the United Kingdom in the Far East and Indonesia.
[edit] History of the Royal Doulton Company
It started with a factory at Vauxhall Walk, Lambeth, London, as a partnership between John Doulton, Martha Jones, and John Watts. The business specialised in making stoneware articles, such as decorative bottles and salt glaze sewer pipes.
The company took on the Doulton name in 1853. John and his son Henry established themselves as makers of fine English stoneware. During the reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901) a revolution occurred in personal sanitation. Consequently, Doulton's lead in domestic and industrial stoneware helped make it Britain's top manufacturer of sanitary ware.
By 1871, Henry had launched a studio at the Lambeth pottery, and offered work to designers and artists from a local art school. It was a great success. Their names included the Barlow family (Florence, Hannah, and Arthur), Frank Butler, Mark Marshall, Eliza Simmance, and George Tinworth.
Then in 1882, Doulton purchased the small factory of Pinder, Bourne & Co, at Nile Street in Burslem, Staffordshire – bringing Doulton right to the heart of The Potteries.
Doulton proved increasingly popular. It had much to do with the artistic direction of John Slater, who worked across a wide variety of figurines, vases, character jugs, and decorative pieces.
What's more, the popularity of Doulton products came to the attention of the Royal family. In 1901. the Burslem factory was granted the Royal Warrant by King Edward VII. Which enabled the business to adopt bold new markings and a new name: Royal Doulton. Leslie Harradine was Royal Doulton's most prolific figure maker, focussing on character studies, such as 'The Old Balloon Seller' and 'Silks and Ribbons' from his London series.
Other important character figure makers include Margaret Davies (Peggy) from the 1950s and Mary Nicoll in the 1960s and 1970s. In addition to the character studies, Royal Doulton in Burslem produced vast numbers of 'crinolene ladies', early examples of which can fetch high sums of money at auction.
Between the wars, Royal Doulton became synonymous with the finest English china, worldwide. The name and reputation continued to grow with flambé ware, Titanian ware, and bone china.
The Lambeth factory closed in 1956, new clean air regulations prevented the saltglaze production in the urban environment. A special piece was fired to record the factory's closure. Agnete Hoy was the final head of the Doulton Lambeth Studio. Her work is highly regarded by collectors today. Following closure, all work was transferred to The Potteries.
In 1960, Royal Doulton introduced a new product – English Translucent China. It was developed over several years by Technical Director Richard Bailey. It effectively removed the cost of bone china, but offered fine translucent work. In short, it had all the right qualities at the right price. It became known as Royal Doulton Fine China and proved an outstanding success. And, in 1966, it attained one of the first Queen's Award for Enterprise in the field of Innovation.
Today, Lambethware (produced in Burslem and more recently Barlaston) draws on a rich inheritance. It carefully blends tough, quartz-like compounds with feldspathic Cornish stone for a robust appearance. Modern ceramic technology adds a refined glaze and colour to all this.
On September 30, 2005, the Nile Street factory, which had been sold to developers, closed. Prestige items are now made at the home of parent company Waterford Wedgwood in Barlaston, in the countryside, south of the Potteries Connurbation. Almost all other Doulton pieces, including the ubiquitous mugs and figurines, are made in Indonesia, although there is a move to return production to England.
The company as part of Wedgwood still produces figurines, the 2006 collection includes another batch of the ubiquitous crinolene ladies modelled by Nada Pedley, and character studies of 'The Pioneers', currently of Isambard Kingdom Brunel and Leonardo da Vinci both modelled by the company's main character figure modeller, Alan Maslankowski who has worked for Royal Doulton since the late 1970s.
[edit] Trivia
An ongoing gag in the British sitcom Keeping up Appearances involves character Hyacinth Bucket constantly making reference to her Royal Doulton china.
[edit] External links
- Royal Doulton website
- Photo gallery of Royal Doulton plates
