INDUSTRIES 



by his unremitting researches and their practical 

 application, he not only found the means of 

 supplying in large quantities the daily wants of 

 the people with an article superior to anything 

 that had ever been known before, but besides, 

 by the exercise of his refined taste and uncom- 

 mon skill, he raised his craft to a high level ; 

 nothing among the masterpieces of cera- 

 mic art of all other countries can excel the 

 beauty of Dwight's brown stone-ware figures, 

 either of design, modelling, or fineness of 

 nwerial.' 



Very little is known of Dwight's personal 

 history ; the facts are few and somewhat ob- 

 scure. Professor Church 13 conjectures 1637 or 

 1638 as the year of his birth, and states that 

 his eldest child John was born at Chester in 

 1662. In the patent which he obtained in 

 1671 Dwight states that he has set up at Ful- 

 ham a manufactory, but in 1683 when his son 

 George matriculated at Oxford he is described 

 as ' of the city of Chester.' The year fol- 

 lowing, his second patent describes him as a 

 manufacturer at Fulham, whilst in 1687 and 

 1689 in the matriculation entries of his sons 

 Samuel and Philip he is styled John Dwight 

 of Wigan. It is not till the matriculation of 

 his son Edmund in 1692 that the university 

 register gives his address as Fulham. Professor 

 Church u states that this child was born at 

 Fulham in 1676. He also says that 'until 

 1665 Dwight lived at Chester, but before the 

 end of 1668 he moved to Wigan; some time 

 between March 1671 and August 1676 he 

 settled at Fulham.' 



This does not, however, agree with the 

 statements in the matriculation registers. A 

 more probable explanation is that Dwight 

 opened his factory at Fulham before he left 

 Chester and carried it on whilst still living 

 there and at Wigan. He may have had 

 friends or relatives in Middlesex, as a family of 

 that name was living at Sudbury near Harrow 

 in 1637. Lysons states ls that Mr. William 

 Dwight in that year gave 40*. per annum out 

 of his lands at Sudbury to the poor of Harrow. 

 John Dwight died 16 at Fulham in 1703, and 

 was buried there on 13 October. His widow 

 Lydia was buried at Fulham on 3 November 

 1709. 



Dwight had the habit of hiding money, 

 and left memoranda in his note-books of places, 

 such as holes in the fireplace, holes in the fur- 

 nace, &c., where packets of guineas were con- 

 cealed. He also buried specimens of his stone- 

 ware which were found during some excava- 



11 A. H. Churcn, op. cit. 46. " Ibid. 44.. 

 14 Environs ofLind. (1795), ii, 582-3. 

 u Church, op. cit. 47. 



tions for new buildings at the Fulham factory 

 in a vaulted chamber or cellar which had been 

 firmly walled up. The objects thus discovered 

 were chiefly bellarmines and ale-jugs, identical 

 in form with those imported from Cologne. 

 Another authentic collection of examples from 

 the Fulham works, which had been kept by 

 the family, was sold to Mr. Baylis of Prior's 

 Bank about the year 1862. These pieces were 

 shortly afterwards disposed of to Mr. C. W. 

 Reynolds, and finally dispersed by auction at 

 Christie's in 1871. 



The two collections have afforded valuable 

 criteria for assigning to the Fulham factory 

 specimens of stoneware about which collec- 

 tors previously were in considerable doubt. 

 The Baylis-Reynolds collection also revealed 

 the high artistic merit of Dwight's pottery, 

 the variety of his productions, and the 

 great perfection to which he had brought 

 the potter's art, both in the manipulation and 

 in the employment of enamel colours for 

 decoration. The collection contained twenty- 

 eight specimens which had been carefully 

 preserved by members of the Dwight family, 

 and kept as heirlooms from the time of their 

 manufacture. The most interesting piece, and 

 probably the earliest in date, is a beautiful half- 

 length figure in hard stoneware of the artist's 

 little daughter, inscribed 'Lydia Dwight, dyd 

 March the 3rd, 1762.' The child lies upon 

 a pillow with eyes closed, her hands clasping 

 to her breast a bouquet of flowers, and a broad 

 lace band over her forehead. The figure, 

 evidently modelled after death, exhibits, as 

 Mr. Solon well remarks, 'the loving care of a 

 bereaved father in the reproduction of the 

 features and the minute perfection with which 

 the accessories, such as flowers and lace, are 

 treated.' This beautiful work was purchased 

 for .150 at the Reynolds sale, and is now n 

 the Victoria and Albert Museum. Another 

 figure, also at South Kensington, was bought 

 at the Reynolds sale for 30, and is believed 

 to represent Lydia Dwight ; she is figured 

 standing, wrapped in a shroud, with a skull at 

 her feet. The fine life-size statue of Prince 

 Rupert, now in the British Museum, was 

 bought at the Reynolds sale for thirty-eight 

 guineas, and is a magnificent specimen of model- 

 ling. The ' Meleager,' also in the British 

 Museum, and the 'Jupiter' in the Liverpool 

 Museum, are declared by Mr. Solon to be 

 worthy of an Italian artist of the Renaissance. 

 Other specimens in the collection 17 were a life- 

 size bust of Charles II, smaller bustsof Charles II 



17 An account of his collection before its pur- 

 chase by Mr. Reynolds was contributed by Mr. 

 Baylis to the Art Journ. Oct. 1862, p. 204. 



143 



