company industry pottery predecessor wade potteries ltd founded 1867 headquarters etruria stoke on trent england area served worldwide key people sir george wade chairman and 20th century entrepreneur products porcelain and earthenware pottery parent wade allied holdings ltd website http www.wade.co.uk wade ceramics ltd are manufacturers of porcelain and earthenware including animal figures for their collectors club whisky flagons and a variety of industrial ceramics . a selection of wade whimsies on display . in the 1950s the wade potteries created whimsies small solid porcelain animal figures first developed by sir george wade which became popular and collectable in britain and america 1 2 following their retail launch in 1954 3 and were widely available in shops throughout the 1950s 1960s 1970s and 1980s . their other brand names of inexpensive collectable porcelain include tv pets whoppas and minikins . 2 over the years wade has produced many licensed pieces based on popular tv shows comic books disney films 2 and more recently the mr. men books and pok mon and has won numerous awards . contents 1 history 2 further reading 3 references 4 external links history edit wade ceramics was established in 1867 . 4 it was originally made up of a number of different companies founded by various members of the wade family and was only finally united as wade potteries limited in 1958 . the original companies were wade & myatt later became george wade & son who made industrial ceramics and wade whimsies . established 1867 . john wade & co later wade heath & co who made decorative ware particularly art deco vases in the 1930s . established 1867 . j & w wade later aj wade ltd who made tiles notably the original tiles for the london underground . established 1891 . in 1905 george wade & son took over rival company henry hallen . as the hallen firm was owned by a distant relation and was founded in 1810 wade ceramics through this claim to have been established in 1810 . in the 1930s colonel sir george wade gained control of the wade companies that had previously been run by his father and uncles . he also started further wade factories including wade ulster ltd in portadown . 4 following the death of sir george wade in 1986 at the age of 94 years and the death of his innovative son george anthony tony wade of leukaemia in 1987 the wade potteries were taken over by beauford plc in 1998 and were renamed wade ceramics ltd. 4 in early 1990s the irish pottery factory was renamed seagoe ceramics and was closed down . 4 5 beauford plc s pottery factories were taken over by a management buyout in 1999 becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of wade allied holdings ltd. edward duke former ceo of beauford became the major shareholder of wade allied holdings and chairman of wade ceramics . his partner paul farmer became managing director of wade . in 2009 wade allied holdings invested 7.9 m in a new factory with the latest robotic manufacturing equipment to make ceramic flagons for the whisky industry . the last wade factory in burslem was closed in 2010 and sold for housing development . 6 further reading edit the wade dynasty dave lee 1996 references edit edward duke . welcome to wade ceramics ltd . wade ceramics ltd. retrieved 22 october 2007 . a b c people of stoke on trent george wade . thepotteries.org . 2005 11 15 . retrieved 22 october 2007 . whimsies launch on wade ceramics timeline . a b c d pat murray . 1998 . whimsical wades the wades story . retrieved 22 october 2007 . about wade ireland . retrieved 22 october 2007 . edward duke 2005 03 21 . wade ceramics about us . wade ceramics ltd. retrieved 22 october 2007 . external links edit official website of wade ceramics ltd. retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title wade ceramics & oldid 744487989 categories ceramics manufacturers of englandstaffordshire potterycompanies established in 18671867 establishments in englandcompanies based in stoke on trent navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 15 october 2016 at 15 15 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view