23 
DON POTTERY. 
This pottery, closely adjoining the canal at Swinton on which 
it had a wharf, was established in a very small Way about 1790, 
and considerably increased in 1800 by John Green, of Newlrill. 
He was one of the Greens, of Leeds, of the same family as the 
proprietors of the Leeds Pottery, and a proprietor in the Swinton 
property and pottery. He is in fact stated to have been the 
manager of the Leeds and Swinton Potteries, and to have sustained 
considerable losses on the breaking out of the French war. 
About 1800 or a little later, he purchased a plot of almost waste 
and swampy ground at Swinton, and with the aid of partners set 
about the erection of the fine Don Works. At this time a man of 
the name of Newton had an enamel kiln at the back of his house 
at Swinton, where he used to burn such wares as he decorated. 
To this man for the first twelve months Green, of the Don Pottery 
brought his pattern pieces to be fired as he prepared them. In 
1807, other members of the family united with John Green, who 
also had partners named Clarke, the firm trading as Greens, 
Clarke and Co. In 1831 Mr. Green was proprietor of the Don 
Pottery. In 1834 the pottery passed by purchase to Mr. Samuel 
Barker, of the Mexborough Pottery, which latter works he closed 
in 1844, and confined his operations entirely to the Don manufac¬ 
tory. 
In 1851 the firm became “ Samuel Barker and Son," the pro¬ 
prietors being Mr. Henry Barker and Mr. Edward Barker. This 
business which had been worked by the Barker family for nearly 
fifty years was transferred in November, 1882, by the proprietor, 
Mr. Edward Barker, the youngest son of Samuel Barker, to 
M essrs. Smith, Adamson, Wilkinson and Scorah, who carried it 
on under the old style of “ Samuel Barker and Son." 
For some years after this a very large volume of trade was done, 
principally for the London and export markets. 
Messrs. Wilkinson and Scorah after about four years trading 
withdrew from the partnership, and Smith and Adamson continued 
alone, still trading as “ Samuel Barker and Son." At the end of 
the eighties however, the trade began to languish, and in 1893 the 
works were finally set down. The goods, material, engravings, 
and general stock-in-trade were sold off later in the year (under 
liquidation), and the pottery, the freehold of which was retained 
by the Barker family, remained closed and tenantless until March, 
