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WILLIAM
BROWNFIELD
1837-1900
The ceramic factory run by William
Brownfield was one of the
big six Staffordshire pottery manufacturers in the second half of the
nineteenth century. This placed it alongside Copeland, Davenport, Minton,
Ridgway (Brown Westhead-More), and Wedgwood. The Cobridge pottery
factory went into final voluntary liquidation in 1900 and has long been
forgotten.
The table below outlines a brief history
of the Brownfield Factory.
|
1837-37
|
William Brownfield was probably sales and marketing manager for
Robinson, Wood & Brownfield. Noah Robinson died prematurely,
aged thirty seven. |
|
1837-1850
|
William Brownfield ran the factory jointly with John Wood. |
|
1850-71
|
William Brownfield was manager, initially on his own, then joined by
his son. Porcelain and majolica production began in 1871. |
|
1873
|
William Brownfield died; William Etches, his eldest son, took over
the running of the firm. |
|
1883
|
Arthur, the younger son, replaced William Etches. |
|
1892
|
The
factory went into voluntary liquidation. |
|
1892 - 1897 |
It was
replaced by the Brownfield Co-Operative Guild. |
|
1898-1900 |
Brownfield Pottery Ltd. |
|
1900 |
The
factory went into final liquidation in August. |
In the nineteenth century Brownfield's
employed over 500 workers and played a prominent
role in the export market. It
exhibited at international exhibitions
all over the world:
 |
Paris (1867) |
|
London (1871) |
|
Philadelphia (1876) |
|
Paris (1878) |
|
Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide (1879-80-81) |
|
Crystal Palace (1884) |
|
Calcutta (1884) |
|
London (1889) |
The Pottery Gazette (1879) described
Brownfield's as
"a trend setter in dinner service design"
and it had the distinction of an order for a full dinner service from the
royal house of Persia.
From 1872
until the mid 1890s, its technical director
was Louis Jahn (formerly at Mintons). He
supervised the manufacture of the largest porcelain piece the world had ever
known - the eleven foot high
'Earth Vase', displayed
at Crystal Palace in 1884. Over 25,000 people went to see it during a one-day
display at the factory. |
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