PARTNERSHIP WITH WHIELDON. 109 



of his mixtures to a workman, and these two first works 

 soon became a general manufacture in the neighbourhood." 



In 1754, then, Josiah Wedgwood became the partner of 

 Thomas Whieldon, at whose works at Fenton Low the two 

 carried on their business, bringing to bear on the concern 

 their united skill and united taste. Whieldon at that time 

 was a man of substance, and had been in business as a potter 

 for many years. " In 1740," says Shaw, " Mr. Thomas 

 Whieldon's manufactory at Little Fenton consisted of a 

 small range of low buildings, all thatched. His early pro- 

 ductions were knife hafts for the Sheffield cutlers, and 

 snuff-boxes for the Birmingham hardwaremen to finish with 

 hoops, hinges, and springs, which himself usually carried in 

 a basket to the tradesmen, and, being much like agate, they 

 were greatly in request. He also made toys and chimney 

 ornaments, coloured in either the clay state or biscuit, by 

 zaffre, manganese, copper, &c., and glazed with black, red, or 

 white lead. He also made black glazed tea and coffee-pots, 

 tortoiseshell and melon table plates (with ornamented edge 

 and six scollops, as in the specimens kept by Andrew Boon, 

 of the Honey wall, Stoke), and other useful articles. Mr. A. 

 Wood made models and moulds of these articles ; also pickle 

 leaves, crab stock handles, and cabbage-leave spouts for tea 

 and coffee-pots, which utensils, with candlesticks, chocolate- 

 cups, and tea-ware, were much improved, and his connec- 

 tions extended subsequently, when Mr. J. Wedgwood became 

 his managing partner. He was a shrewd and careful person. 

 To prevent his productions being imitated in quality or 

 shape, he always buried the broken articles, and a few 

 months ago we witnessed the unexpected exposure of some 

 of these by some miners attempting to get marl in the road 

 at Little Fenton. The fortune he acquired by his industry 

 enabled him to erect a very elegant mansion near Stoke, 

 where he long enjoyed, in the bosom of his family, the fruits 

 of his early economy. He was also sheriff of the county in 

 the twenty-sixth year of the late reign. The benevolence 

 of his disposition, and his integrity, are honourable traits 



