Tag Archives: Matthew Boulton

250 Years of Wedgwood

Carlton Hobbs Wedgwood 3Josiah Wedgwood (1730-1795) is perhaps the most distinguished English potter, whose work spread throughout Europe and to the United States and Canada. Wedgwood was the youngest son in a family of potters of Burslem, Staffordshire. By 1749 he completed his apprenticeship with the family pottery works and went on to form partnerships with John Harrison and Thomas Alders at Cliff Bank, Stoke, between 1752 to 1754, and with Thomas Whieldon, another notable Staffordshire potter, from 1754-1759. In 1759, Wedgwood terminated this partnership in order to found his own pottery works, making this year the 250th anniversary of the celebrated factory!