ROCKINGHAM OR SWINTON POTTERY. 
85 
In 1813 the sons of the old proprietors succeeded to the concern 
on the death of William Brameld, and many improvements were 
made. In 1825 the firm succumbed to the strain of financial 
difficulties, but Earl Fitzwilliam the owner of the property at 
Swinton came to the rescue, and the Swinton works were hence¬ 
forth known as the Rockingham Works, and began to use the 
crest (a griffin) of the Fitzwilliam family as the mark of the firm. 
Although under the Bramelds the Rockingham works were emin¬ 
ently successful from an artistic point of view, they were not so 
commercially, and in 1842 were closed after involving not only their 
noble owner, but also the Bramelds in a loss of many thousands of 
pounds. The chef-d'oeuvre of the Rockingham china works, the 
gorgeous dessert service made for William IV., for which ^*5,000 
was paid, but which cost the producers considerably more, had 
much to do with the embarrassments that caused the final stoppage 
of the works. 
After the stock was sold, Isaac Baguley, who was manager of 
the gilding department under the Bramelds, commenced business 
for himself on a small portion of the works by decorating and 
gilding goods purchased from other potteries. This he continued 
for eleven years to 1855, when his son, Alfred Baguley, succeeded 
him. Alfred Baguley continued the business on the old premises 
till the year 1865. when he removed to Mexborough and opened 
a china shop in High Street, about one hundred yards from the 
Mexborough Rock Pottery. In the yard at the rear of his house 
and shop he had a workshop and an enamelling kiln, in which he 
fired the finished goods after they had been decorated, etc. He 
carried on business here to the time of his death on March 7th, 
1891. Neither of the Baguleys mentioned really manufactured 
any goods, they simply glazed and decorated them. Mr. Bowman 
Heald, of the Kilnhurst Pottery, tells me that he can speak from 
nearly twenty years knowledge of Mr. Alfred Baguley, as from 
1872 to his death all his Rockingham ware was fired under Mr. 
Heald’s direction at the “ Mexborough Rock Pottery ” and the 
Kilnhurst Pottery ” respectively. He purchased the best Stafford¬ 
shire china and earthenware in pure white from Minton's, Brown- 
Westhead, Moore and Co., and Powell, Bishop and Stonier ; also 
at the Rock Pottery, Mexborough, Mr. Bowman Heald, from 
time to time made him quantities of jugs, coffee pots, beakers, etc., 
in white earthenware. All this ware, both china and earthenware, 
was in the “glost” finished state. Mr. A. Baguley never decorated 
