A HISTORY OF SURREY 



there were employed at Lambeth about 600 

 men, whilst the factories consumed annually 

 over 10,000 tons of coal. 



At the present time the factories and 

 studios of Messrs. Doulton & Co. at Lambeth 

 cover some 7 or 8 acres of ground. As the 

 business has increased, fresh sites have one by 

 one been acquired for the erection of new 

 factories. Some have river frontages, the 

 wharves communicating with the river by 

 means of tunnels running under the wide 

 embankment which in recent years has been 

 constructed along the side of the river. For 

 the most part the buildings are found along 

 either side of the narrow thoroughfare called 

 High Street, Lambeth. The two large build- 

 ings which stand in full view of the river 

 consist, the one of the Art Show Room and 

 the Sanitary Engineering Department, the 

 other of the architectural terra-cotta factory. 

 There are separate buildings for the manu- 

 facture of drain pipes and other sanitary 

 stoneware, for the manufacture of plumbago 

 or blacklcad crucibles (an uncommon indus- 

 try), and for all sorts of bottles, jars, pots and 

 pans in stoneware and enamelled wares, for 

 the manufacture of the Lambeth art wares, 

 for fireclay stoves, water filters and the like. 



The total number of employes ot all 

 grades at all the various works of the com- 

 pany is about 4,500 ; the engines at these 

 works exert about 3,750 horse power. The 

 amount of clay and coal used weekly by the 

 Messrs. Doulton at the present time in their 

 various works in London, Staffordshire and 

 Lancashire has been already mentioned. Of 

 the total length of all the pipes made every 

 week at these works, which has also been 

 given, it may be added that about 40,000 

 feet of all diameters, from 4 inches upwards, 

 are turned out in the same period of time at 

 the Lambeth factory. 



The list of honours which have been 

 awarded to this company is a long one, and 

 includes over 220 gold medals and other 

 awards. At the Paris Exhibition of 1900 

 Messrs. Doulton & Co. were honoured by 

 being requested to act on the jury, their ex- 

 hibits being consequently 'hors concours.' It 

 is the present proud boast of the company 

 that it has never remained stationary ; " no 

 sooner has one method been feirly launched 

 than another quite different is being developed 

 with all its fresh technical difiiculties to con- 

 quer.' 



Vauxhall. — The Vauxhall Pottery is said 

 to have been established as early as the mid- 

 dle of the seventeenth century by two Dutch- 

 men, Grassenbergh and De Wilde, for the 

 manufacture of delft ware, but on what 



authority the statement is made is not evident. 

 In an account of the pottery published in 

 1850 it is claimed to be probably the oldest 

 in England and the origin of all our existing 

 potteries.' Mr. Jewett quotes a passage from 

 Thomas Houghton's Husbandry and Trade 

 Improved, where writing on 1 3 March 1 695-6, 

 and speaking of imports in 1694, he says 'of 

 tea-pots there came but ten and those from 

 Holland. To our credit, be it spoken, we 

 have about Faux-Hall (as I have been in- 

 formed) made a great many and I cannot 

 gainsay but they are as good as any come 

 from abroad.' In 17 14 Thoresby, also 

 quoted by Mr. Jewett, describes a party by 

 water to Fox Hall and the Spring Gardens : 

 ' after dinner we viewed the pottery and 

 various apartments there. Was most pleased 

 with that where they were painting divers 

 colours which yet appear more beautiful and 

 of divers colours when baked.' ^ 



Towards the close of the eighteenth cen- 

 tury the Vauxhall Pottery, which then pro- 

 duced stoneware similar to that at Lambeth, 

 was carried on by Mr. WagstafFe, who on 

 his death about the year 1803 was succeeded 

 in the business by his nephew Mr. John 

 Wisker.' Wisker appears in 1833 as the 

 patentee of an invention of machinery for 

 grinding covers or stoppers for jars, bottles 

 and other vessels made of china, stone or 

 other earthenware.* On his death in 1838 

 the works were purchased of his executors by 

 Mr. Alfred Singer, who shortly before the 

 year 1850 introduced into them in conjunc- 

 tion with Mr. Henry Pether the manufacture 

 of small tiles or tesserse for mosaic pavements, 

 the designs being described as beautiful and 

 chaste. These pavements were used in the 

 decoration of Blenheim House, the Reform 

 Club house, the new Royal Exchange and 

 other public and private buildings. In 1850 

 about sixty men and boys are said to have 

 been employed at these works. The pro- 

 ductions in addition to the ornamental pave- 

 ments included brown stoneware, chemical 

 retorts and crucibles, water pipes and jars, and 

 white and coloured tiles. The annual con- 

 sumption of coal was about 800 tons, of clay 

 1, 000 tons." The works were discontinued 

 and pulled down some time previously to 

 1878. 



Mr. Jewett mentions another pottery at 

 Vauxhall where coarse red or brown ware 



' Brayley and Britton, Hist, of Surrey, v. App. 



37- 



^ Jewett, Ceramic Art, i. 156. 

 * Pat. of Inventions, No. 6523. 

 5 Brayley and Britton, loc. cit. 



Ibid. 



292 



