Christopher Potter (1750–1817) was an English manufacturer and contractor, best known for introducing into France the method of printing on
porcelain
Porcelain (), also called china, is a ceramic material made by heating Industrial mineral, raw materials, generally including kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The greater strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to oth ...
and glass.
Early life
Christopher Potter was born in 1750 the first son of George and Betty Potter. He was baptised on 1 January 1751; his elder sister, Philliss, was baptised in 1749 and buried in 1751; his younger sister, Mary, baptised in February 1752; and a brother, George baptised in November of the same year. Nothing is known of Christopher's education. His father George was a maker of
Archel dye at the Falcon Steps,
Southwark
Southwark ( ) is a district of Central London situated on the south bank of the River Thames, forming the north-western part of the wider modern London Borough of Southwark. The district, which is the oldest part of South London, developed ...
between 1749 and 1755. When Christopher was four years old his father purchased the White House, Bethnal Green, a madhouse, from Eleanor Wright the widow of the original owner.
[Tower Hamlets Archives – Land Tax records] The family appear to have moved to live there since George and Betty appear in various records in day-to-day management of the madhouse. There was a later suggestion that, in addition to running the madhouse, Betty Potter kept "a common boarding house, on Bethnal Green" and that their son Christopher "usually" ran "Errands, for" his "Mother's Boarders, for hire." It is possible that one of the adjacent properties was used in this way for part of the Potter's occupation of the madhouse. His father also, at some time, set up an archel dye factory on adjacent land. Trade directories list him as an Archel maker at Bethnal Green from 1768 and going into partnership with Joseph Dent from 1771. In the year after Christopher's mother Betty's death in August 1762, his father took a partner, James Stratton, in the madhouse business. Following his father's death in October 1771 it appears that Christopher sold his interest in the madhouse to Stratton but retained his partnership in the Archel dye factory.
He married Sarah Mills on 16 January 1773 and settled in Bethnal Green at some distance removed from both madhouse and factory. Whilst at Bethnal Green, the couple had two children, Sarah Maria, born November 1774, and Thomas Mills, born January 1776. His Bethnal Green house was put up for sale in July 1778 but by then the family had already moved to their new home, Great Barns, an estate near Ely, Cambridgeshire, nine hundred acres of which he devoted to growing
woad
''Isatis tinctoria'', also called woad (), dyer's woad, dyer's-weed, or glastum, is a flowering plant in the family Brassicaceae (the mustard family) with a documented history of use as a blue dye and medicinal plant.
Its genus name, ''Isati ...
. At first his property was cultivated by "woadmen", who were accustomed to hiring fields for two years; but then he employed his own agricultural labourers, which he considered an innovation.
In 1780 the family took a house in Parliament Street, Westminster where, on 29 March 1782, their third child George Thomas was born.
Political career
He was appointed
Sheriff of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire
This is an ''incomplete'' list of sheriffs of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire in England from 1154 until the abolition of the office in 1965.
Exceptionally, the two counties shared a single sheriff. Sheriffs had a one-year term of office, bei ...
in 1778. On 10 January 1778,
Lord North
Frederick North, 2nd Earl of Guilford (13 April 17325 August 1792), better known by his courtesy title Lord North, which he used from 1752 to 1790, was Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1770 to 1782. He led Great Britain through most of the ...
, the
Prime Minister
A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
wrote to
John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich
John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich, Privy Council of Great Britain, PC, Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (13 November 1718 – 30 April 1792) was a British politician, statesman who succeeded his grandfather Edward Montagu, 3rd Earl of Sandwic ...
,
First Lord of the Admiralty
First Lord of the Admiralty, or formally the Office of the First Lord of the Admiralty, was the title of the political head of the English and later British Royal Navy. He was the government's senior adviser on all naval affairs, responsible f ...
, describing Christopher Potter as “… a gentleman of business and of very fair character in the City, and a good friend to Government upon all occasions…”
In 1780, he unsuccessfully contested the parliamentary representation of
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...
. In 1781, he was returned for
Colchester
Colchester ( ) is a city in northeastern Essex, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the county, with a population of 130,245 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census. The demonym is ''Colcestrian''.
Colchester occupies the ...
but on petition was unseated for corrupt practices.
During the final years of the
American War of Independence
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...
, Potter was one of the principal victualling contractors for the British Army
and the principal supplier of Ship's bisket (bread), flour and many other provisions to the British Navy. Together with his partner Aaron Moody, he established the first steam-powered corn mill and bakery in the world in 1781 at Chapel Mill, Southampton.
In 1783, at the end of the war, Potter set up a chain of bakeries in London to supply the city with cheap bread, much to the consternation of the Baker's Company. He must have overstretched himself for on 15 April 1783, he was declared bankrupt, and all of his properties were sold off to help clear his debts
In 1784 Potter had the support of
Richard Rigby
Richard Rigby PC (February 1722 – 8 April 1788), was an English civil servant and politician who sat in the British House of Commons for 43 years from 1745 to 1788. He served as Chief Secretary for Ireland and Paymaster of the Forces. Rigby ...
, and he was again returned for the Colchester seat, but the election was declared void, and had to be re-run. Potter then lost. It has been suggested that his candidature seems to have laid the ground for the passing of an act disqualifying government contractors,
but that seems unlikely as Clerks Act, which restricted anyone holding a government contract from sitting as an MP, was passed in 1782.
In France
In 1788 Potter left England to make a new career in France. Settling in Paris, Potter in 1789 established potteries there, and assumed credit for the introduction of
transfer printing
Transfer printing is a method of decorating pottery or other materials using an engraved copper or steel plate from which a monochrome print on paper is taken which is then transferred by pressing onto the ceramic piece.John Fleming (art histori ...
on
porcelain
Porcelain (), also called china, is a ceramic material made by heating Industrial mineral, raw materials, generally including kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The greater strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to oth ...
and glass to France, acknowledging that the discovery of the technique had been made in England some 20 years before. Backed by a favourable report from two members of the
Academy of Sciences and by Sylvan Bailly, the mayor of Paris, he petitioned the
National Assembly
In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repr ...
for a seven years' patent, promising to give a fourth of the profits to the poor, and to teach his process to French apprentices. No action was taken on his petition, but he enjoyed for years a virtual monopoly. He also reopened the
Chantilly porcelain
Chantilly porcelain is French soft-paste porcelain produced between 1730 and 1800 by the manufactory of Chantilly, Oise, Chantilly in Oise, France. The wares are usually divided into three periods, 1730–1751, 1751–1760, and a gradual declin ...
works, which had been closed through the emigration of the Condé family; he there employed five hundred men, and produced nine thousand dozen plates a month. He opened further potteries at
Montereau and
Forges-les-Eaux
Forges-les-Eaux () is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region in northern France. On 1 January 2016, the former commune of Le Fossé was merged into Forges-les-Eaux.
Geography
A farming and spa town, with considerabl ...
. In the autumn of 1793, when the English in France were arrested as hostages for
Toulon
Toulon (, , ; , , ) is a city in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region of southeastern France. Located on the French Riviera and the historical Provence, it is the prefecture of the Var (department), Var department.
The Commune of Toulon h ...
, he was imprisoned at
Beauvais
Beauvais ( , ; ) is a town and Communes of France, commune in northern France, and prefecture of the Oise Departments of France, département, in the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, north of Paris.
The Communes of France, commune o ...
and Chantilly.
In 1796 he was the bearer to
Lord Malmesbury at Paris of an offer from
Barras to conclude peace, for a bribe of £500,000. At the
industrial exhibition of 1798 on the
Champ de Mars
Champ, CHAMP or The Champ may refer to:
Arts and entertainment Fictional characters
* Champ (cartoon character), an animated dog introduced in 1960
* The Champ, played on radio and created by Jake Edwards (radio personality), Jake Edwards
* Champ ...
, the first held in Paris, he was awarded one of the twelve major prizes for white pottery. At the exhibition of 1802 he was one of the twenty-five gold medallists who dined with
Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...
. By this time he had given up all his factories except that at Montereau, which lasted through the 19th century.
John Goldworth Alger
John Goldworth Alger (1836–1907) was an English journalist and author.
Life
Born at Diss, Norfolk, Diss, Norfolk, and baptised on 7 August 1836, he was the only son of John Alger, a corn merchant there, by his wife Jemima, daughter of Salem Gold ...
, writing in the ''
Dictionary of National Biography
The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...
'', stated that no specimen remains of Potter's ordinary ware. The
Victoria and Albert Museum
The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...
, however, has Chantilly porcelain it identifies with the Potter period. In the
Sèvres Museum
Sèvres (, ) is a French Communes of France, commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris. It is located from the Kilometre zero, centre of Paris, in the Hauts-de-Seine department of the Île-de-France region. The commune, which had a populatio ...
there was a cup, ornamented with designs of flowers and butterflies, with his initials, surmounted by
Prince of Wales's feathers
The Prince of Wales's feathers are the heraldic badge of the Prince of Wales, the heir to the British throne. The badge consists of three white ostrich feathers encircled by a gold coronet. A ribbon below the coronet bears the German motto (, ...
. In 1811 he advocated the cultivation of woad in France, citing his Cambridgeshire experience, and between 1794 and 1812 he took out five patents for agricultural and manufacturing processes, some of them in association with his son, Thomas Mille Potter.
Death
In March 1815, when Napoleon Bonaparte returned from the island of
Elba
Elba (, ; ) is a Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean island in Tuscany, Italy, from the coastal town of Piombino on the Italian mainland, and the largest island of the Tuscan Archipelago. It is also part of the Arcipelago Toscano National Park, a ...
, Potter, already weakened by age and infirmities, wanted to leave France temporarily. He retired to England, where his infirmities only increased. His eldest son Thomas Mills Potter, with whom he had collaborated on his later French patents, died on 19 December 1815 at
Nonsuch Park
Nonsuch Park is a public park between Stoneleigh, Surrey, Stoneleigh, Cheam, and Ewell in the borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England. It borders the London Borough of Sutton. It is the last surviving part of the Little Park of Nonsuch, ...
, the home of their family friend Samuel Farmer.
On 16 June 1817 Potter failed to attend Westminster court for a Lawsuit initiated by Charles Brunsdon, a London merchant, for a debt of £1,200. He was arrested by the sheriff and held in Westminster Gaol. On 14 July at a Hearing at the
Court of Common Pleas
A court of common pleas is a common kind of court structure found in various common law jurisdictions. The form originated with the Court of Common Pleas at Westminster, which was created to permit individuals to press civil grievances against one ...
he was committed to the
Fleet Prison
Fleet Prison was a notorious London prison by the side of the River Fleet. The prison was built in 1197, was rebuilt several times, and was in use until 1844. It was demolished in 1846.
History
The prison was built in 1197 off what is now ...
where he died on 18 November 1817.
He was buried at
St Matthew's, Bethnal Green on
24 November 1817 Obituaries noted that 'he could calculate by memory alone with a promptitude that astonished the beholder, and at the same time with a degree of precision, that could only be equalled by the slow and painful operations of the counting-house' and 'He possessed an extensive memory .... His researches in mechanical and chemical science, if not profound, rendered the common powers of both prompt and useful for various purposes to which he skilfully applied them. He was too eccentric and speculative to hoard a fortune; and in that respect may be likened to the man who heapeth up riches and cannot tell who shall gather them.'
[The Gentleman’s Magazine, December 1818, 87/2:p569]
References
Sources
{{DEFAULTSORT:Potter, Christopher
1817 deaths
English businesspeople
Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies
British MPs 1780–1784
British MPs 1784–1790
1750 births