Wilton Ware, a brand of English

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. The place where such wares are made by a ''potter'' is al ...

, was the brand name of A.G.Harley-Jones factory. Wilton Ware was produced in Fenton,

Stoke on Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England. It has an estimated population of 259,965 as of 2022, making it the largest settlement in Staffordshire and one of the largest cities of ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

from 1904 to 1934. Horace Wain left

Carlton Ware Carlton Ware was a pottery manufacturer based in Stoke-on-Trent. The company is known for its tableware, often in the form of highly decorated leaves or fruit, and the ceramic toucans it made as promotional items for Guinness. It produced hand- ...

and became the designer for the factory in the early 1920s.

Trade marks

A.G. Harley Jones's pottery was sold under the trade names "Wilton Ware" and "Fentonia Ware", among others. The pottery is usually marked with the initials "HJ" or "AGHJ".

Designs

The following registered designs are recorded at UK Public Records Office. 1925 711819 711820 711821 1926 723362 723363 723364 1927 726366 726367 726368 726369 726366 726367 Mikado (1927)

History

The firm of A. G. Harley Jones was founded in 1901 by Arthur George Harley Jones. The company manufactured ornamental pottery. William Percival Jervis, a contemporary potter in the

Arts and Crafts movement The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and America. Initiat ...

, noted Harley Jones's expertise in using

underglaze Underglaze is a method of decorating pottery in which painted decoration is applied to the surface before it is covered with a transparent ceramic glaze and fired in a kiln. Because the glaze subsequently covers it, such decoration is completely ...

colors. Jervis also lauded the firm's work in

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 ...

of photographs onto pottery. Around 1920, Harley Jones's firm began to manufacture practical

earthenware Earthenware is glazed or unglazed Vitrification#Ceramics, nonvitreous pottery that has normally been fired below . Basic earthenware, often called terracotta, absorbs liquids such as water. However, earthenware can be made impervious to liquids ...

in addition to ornamental pieces. The firm went bankrupt in 1934, having switched its focus to manufacturing fireplace tiles a year earlier.

References

Staffordshire pottery {{Ceramics-stub