Royal Doulton

Manufacturing of circular ceramic sewage pipes began in 1846, and was highly successful; Henry Doulton set up his own company specializing in this, Henry Doulton and Co., the first business to make these. This merged with the main business in 1854.[5] His brother John Junior also later set up his own pipe-making business.[6] Previously sewers were just channels made of brick, which began to leak as they aged. The 1846–1860 cholera pandemic, and the tracing by Dr John Snow of the 1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak in London to a water supply contaminated by sewage led to a huge programme of improving sewage disposal, and other forms of drainage using pipes. These and an expanding range of builder's and sanitary wares remained a bedrock of Doulton into the 20th century. Metal plumbing items such as taps and cast iron baths were added to the range later. Kitchen stonewares such as storage jars and mixing bowls, and laboratory and manufacturing ceramics, were other long-standing specialities.[5] Further facilities were set up for making these in Paisley in Scotland, Smethwick, St Helens near Liverpool, and Rowley Regis in England, and eventually Paris.[7]

Lambeth salt-glazed stoneware by George Tinworth, 1876

By the 1860s Henry Doulton became interested in more artistic wares than the utilitarian ceramics which had grown the business enormously. British stoneware had languished somewhat in artistic terms, although Wedgwood and others continued to produce jasperware and some other stonewares in a very refined style, competing with porcelain. The Doulton wares went further back to earlier salt-glazed styles, with a varied glaze finish. This "gave stoneware an entirely new impetus, realizing the potential of the material".[8]

As the company became interested in diversifying from its utilitarian wares into more decorative objects, it developed a number of earthenware and stoneware bodies. The so-called "Lambeth faience" (from 1872) was "a somewhat heavily potted creamware much used in decorative plaques and vases",[2] often with underglaze painting.[9] Other bodies were called "Impasto" (1879); "Silicon" (1880), "a vitrified unglazed stoneware decorated with coloured clays"; "Carrara" (1887), white earthenware, also used as architectural terracotta; "Marquetrie" (1887), "marbled clays in checker work", then glazed; "Chine" impressed with fabrics to texture the clay, these burnt away in the kiln.[10]

By 1871, Henry Doulton, John's son, launched a studio at the Lambeth pottery, and offered work to designers and artists from the nearby Lambeth School of Art. The first to be engaged was George Tinworth followed by artists such as the Barlow family (Florence, Hannah, and Arthur), Frank Butler, Mark Marshall, Eliza Simmance and John Eyre. John Bennett was in charge of the "Lambeth faience" department until he emigrated to America in 1876, where he had success with his own pottery.

Doulton was rather unusual in that most of the Lambeth studio pieces were signed by the artist or artists, usually with initials or a monogram incised on the base. Many are also dated. Until 1882, "every piece of the company's art stoneware was a unique item" but after that some pieces were made in batches, as demand grew.[11]

There were initial technical difficulties in producing the "art" pieces; at first they were fired in the open kiln with other wares, but later saggars were used. They were not especially profitable, sometimes not profitable at all, but there were huge profits in other parts of the business. Like other manufacturers, Doulton took great trouble with the wares submitted to international exhibitions, where it was often a medal winner.[12] The period 1870–1900 saw "the great years of Doulton's art stoneware", which remains popular with collectors.[13]

In 1882, Doulton purchased the small factory of Pinder, Bourne & Co, at Nile Street in Burslem, Staffordshire, which placed Doulton in the region known as The Potteries.

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  Vase, 1869–72, salt-glazed Lambeth stoneware with incised and relief decoration.
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  Incised Lambeth stoneware by Hannah Barlow, 1874
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  Flask with Squirrels, 1875, Salt-glazed stoneware, Hannah Barlow, Lambeth
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  Moon flask, c. 1878 –82, Lead-glazed earthenware, transfer-printed and gilt
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  Lambeth stoneware vase, 1879, by Frank A. Butler
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  Three-handled tankard, Lambeth stoneware, 1884
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  Teapot in "Marquetrie ware", using different clays, stoneware, 1887-1900
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  Vase, c. 1893, part of the World's Columbian Exposition display in Chicago
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  Bone china vase, Burslem, c. 1890s, by William Hodkinson
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  "Laburnham" pattern transfer-printed plate. Typical of the middle market bone china tableware made at Burslem.
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  Burslem bone china plate from Captain Scott's first expedition, marked ""DISCOVERY" ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION 1901" around a penguin

Frieze and walls in Dunedin Railway Station, New Zealand, 1906.

Doulton also manufactured architectural terracotta (in fact usually stoneware), mainly at Lambeth, and would execute commissions for monumental sculpture in terracotta.[14] Their late Victorian catalogues contained a wide range of architectural elements with, for example, tall Tudor-style chimney pots in many different designs. The Tudor originals of these were built up in shaped brick, but Doultons supplied them in a single piece.[15] There were ranges of small Gothic arches, columns and capitals.

When the Anglican St. Alban's Church was built in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1887 with Alexandra, Princess of Wales as one of the driving forces, Doulton donated and manufactured an altarpiece, a pulpit and a font. They were executed in terracotta with glazed details to the design of Tinworth.[16]

The Hotel Russell in Russell Square (1900) has a large facade in buff terracotta, including life-size statues of "British queens" by Henry Charles Fehr, sculpted coats of arms and other large ornamental elements. This was somewhat old-fashioned for 1900, and the new taste for Art Nouveau favoured the glazed white "Carrara" material, which remained popular through to the Art Deco of the 1930s, often combined with bespoke decoration in bright colours, as at the Turkey Cafe in Leicester, also of 1900. William James Neatby was the Royal Doulton's chief designer from 1890 to 1901 and designed some of the finest Modern Style (British Art Nouveau style) architectural ceramics and sculptures. Everard's Printing Works is a leading surviving example of an exterior in Doulton's Carrara glazed architectural terra-cotta.[17][18]

One of the largest schemes they made is the Doulton Fountain, now in Glasgow Green, given by Sir Henry Doulton for the International Exhibition of 1888. When the over life-size statue at the top was destroyed in a lightning strike in 1901, Doulton paid for a second hand-made statue to be produced. Sir Henry's mausoleum is another fine example of Doulton's exterior terracottas, as are the pedimental sculptures for the department store Harrods (1880s).

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  Doulton's former headquarters in Lambeth, showing off their architectural terracottas
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  The Doulton Fountain, Glasgow Green, 1888
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  The pulpit in St. Alban's Anglican Church in Copenhagen, Denmark, donated and manufactured by Doulton
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  Sir Henry Doulton Mausoleum, West Norwood Cemetery, c. 1897
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  The "Maison Doulton" in Maisons-Laffitte near Paris, c. 1880
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  Hotel Russell on Russell Square, London, 1900
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  Putti on sculptural columns on the Hotel Russell facade.
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  The Turkey Cafe in Leicester, 1900, Art Nouveau in "Carrara" white glazed architectural terracotta.
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  Edward Everard printworks, Bristol, 1901, with "Carrara" white glazed architectural terracotta.
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  Detail of frieze Pottery through the Ages for the exterior of Doulton's Lambeth headquarters, 1939, now V&A Museum

By this time Doulton was popular for stoneware and ceramics, under the artistic direction of John Slater, who worked with figurines, vases, character jugs, and decorative pieces designed by the prolific Leslie Harradine. Lambeth continued to make studio pottery in small quantities per design, often in stoneware and typically ornamental forms like vases, while Burslem made larger quantities of more middle market bone china tablewares and figures. By 1904 over 1,200 people were employed at Burslem alone.[19]

The retirement and death of Sir Henry Doulton, both in 1897, led to the company going public at the start of 1899.

Plate in the "Maori Art" pattern, Burslem

In 1971, S. Pearson & Son Ltd, a subsidiary of the Pearson industrial conglomerate acquired Doulton & Co. Pearson & Son owned Allied English Potteries and merged operations into Doulton & Co. All brands from Allied English Potteries and Doulton & Co. Ltd. including Royal Doulton, Minton, Beswick, Dunn Bennett, Booths, Colclough, Royal Albert, Royal Crown Derby, Paragon, Ridgway, Queen Anne, Royal Adderley and Royal Adderley Floral were moved under the umbrella of Royal Doulton Tableware Ltd. Royal Doulton Tableware Ltd was a subsidiary of Doulton & Co. Ltd, itself a subsidiary of the Pearson Group Doulton & Co. became Royal Doulton plc in 1993. Pearson spun off Royal Doulton in 1993.[33] Waterford Wedgwood completed a takeover of Royal Doulton in 2005, acquiring all assets and brands.[4]

Parts of the business were progressively sold off. The sanitaryware division was bought by Stelrad. In 1983 David Edward Dunn Johnson bought the hotelware division of Royal Doulton, now renamed Steelite and, as of 2022, was still operating in Stoke-on-Trent.[34][35][36]

In 1995 Royal Doulton commissioned a new factory just outside Jakarta, Indonesia; this division is called PT Doulton.[37] By 2009 the factory employed 1,500 persons producing bone china under both Wedgwood and Royal Doulton brands. Annual production was reported to be 5 to 7 million pieces.[38] In order to reduce costs the majority of production of both brands has been transferred to Indonesia, with only a small number of high-end products continuing to be made in the UK.[39][40]

Derelict Royal Doulton factory on Nile Street, Burslem, UK

Royal Doulton Ltd., along with other Waterford Wedgwood companies, went into administration on 5 January 2009. Royal Doulton is now part of WWRD Holdings Limited. On 11 May 2015, Fiskars, a Finnish maker of home products, agreed to buy 100% of the holdings of WWRD.[41] On 2 July 2015 the acquisition of WWRD by Fiskars Corporation was completed including the brands Waterford, Wedgwood, Royal Doulton, Royal Albert and Rogaška. The acquisition was approved by the US antitrust authorities.[42]