THOMAS AND JOHN WEDGWOOD. 161 



Thomas and John Wedgwood, the builders of the Big 

 House, and Aaron Wedgwood, the first maker, with Littler, 

 of china at Longton, being brothers of Richard Wedgwood, 

 of Smallwood, were uncles to Sarah, the wife of the great 

 Josiah. 



Thomas was, it appears, born in 1703, and married his 

 cousin Mary, daughter of Dr. Thomas Wedgwood. He died 

 without issue, in 1776, and the following somewhat curious 

 epitaph to his memory for it is not often that an inscrip- 

 tion of " brother of" so and so is to be found is still to be 

 seen on the floor of the vestry : 



" Here lies the body of Thomas, brother of John "Wedgwood, who 

 died April 8, 1776, aged 73. Also Mary "Wedgwood, wife of the 

 above Thomas Wedgwood, who departed the 6th of July, 1781." 



John Wedgwood, who was born in 1705, married Mary 

 Alsop, by whom he had issue, and died in 1779. 



At the time of his marriage, and for some time pre- 

 viously, Josiah Wedgwood had, besides the business of his 

 manufactory, been actively engaged in many schemes for 

 the benefit of his native town, for the furtherance of its 

 commercial interest, and for the good of its inhabitants 

 generally. Accordingly, we find him, in 1760, signing a 

 petition to the lords of the manor, praying for a grant of 

 " a small piece of land lying in Burslem, where the May- 

 pole did formerly stand, in order to erect a piece of Building 

 for a Schoole, as there is but one Schoole in the Town, and 

 for want of an other, two parts of the children out of three 

 are put to Work without any learning, by reason the other 

 Schoole is not sufficient to instruct them." To this peti- 

 tion, which went on to say " so we humbly beg of your 

 Honours that you will be pleas'd to be aiding and assisting 

 in this, and consider that it is a great piece of charity done 

 by your Honours, which will be in memory of you and your 

 posterity for ever, and the prayers of the Poor will always 

 be with you, so we hope your Honours will be agreeable to 

 this charitable request," were appended a number of names, 



M 



