founded 1751 headquarters stoke on trent england parent portmeirion group website http www.royalworcester.co.uk tea canister about 1768 worcester porcelain factory v & a museum no. 1448 & a 1853 . royal worcester is believed to be the oldest or second oldest remaining english porcelain brand still in existence today established in 1751 this is disputed by royal crown derby which claims 1750 as its year of establishment . since 2009 part of the portmeirion group royal worcester remains in the luxury tableware and giftware market although production in worcester itself has ended . technically the worcester royal porcelain co. ltd. known as royal worcester was formed in 1862 and wares produced before this are known as worcester porcelain although the company had a royal warrant from 1788 . the enterprise has followed the pattern of other leading english porcelain brands with increasing success during the 18th and 19th centuries and a gradual decline during the 20th century especially the latter half . contents 1 early history 2 the flight and barr partnerships 3 worcester porcelain museum 4 porcelain painters 5 modern history 6 references 7 further reading 8 external links early history edit worcester royal porcelain company 1751 present . slipper ca. 1875 . brooklyn museum dr john wall a physician and william davis an apothecary developed a unique method for producing porcelain and in 1751 persuaded a group of 13 businessmen to invest in a new factory at warmstry house worcester england on the banks of the river severn . dr wall secured the sum of 4500 from the partners to establish the factory known then as the worcester tonquin manufactory ; the original partnership deeds are still housed in the museum of worcester porcelain . 1 2 the early wares were soft paste porcelain with bodies that contained soapstone . this places worcester in a group of early english potteries including caughley and factories in liverpool . 3 the flight and barr partnerships edit soft paste armorial porcelain plate with the coat of arms of the duke of clarence future william iv 1789 flight factory diameter 9.7 inches in 1783 the factory was purchased by thomas flight the former london sales agent for the concern for 3 000 . he let his two sons run the concern with john flight taking the lead role till his death in 1791 . in 1788 george iii following a visit to the company granted it a royal warrant and it became known as the royal porcelain works . 4 knowledge of this period is largely a result of the excellent diary that john flight kept from 1785 1791 . this is discussed in detail in appendix iii of flight & barr worcester porcelain by henry sandon . during this period the factory was in poor repair . production was limited to low end patterns of mostly blue and white porcelains after chinese porcelain designs of the period . it was also pressured by competition from inexpensive chinese export porcelain and from thomas turner s caughley pronounced calf ley factory . female side of aesthetic teapot designed by r. w. binns and modeled by james hadley 1881 . martin barr joined the firm as a partner in 1792 ; porcelains of this period are often identified by an incised capital b and later by more elaborate printed and impressed marks . thomas flight died in 1800 leaving the factory in the hands of his son joseph flight and martin barr . barr s sons martin barr jr. and george barr were being prepared at that time to run the factory . in addition to the warrant granted by george iii royal warrants were also issued by the prince of wales in 1807 and the princess of wales in 1808 . worcester porcelain museum edit pair of japonist vases 1873 indianapolis museum of art main article worcester porcelain museum the factory s former site includes the independent museum of royal worcester formerly known as the dyson perrins museum and worcester porcelain museum owned by the dyson perrins museum trust . 5 the museum houses the world s largest collection of worcester porcelain . the collections date back to 1751 and the victorian gallery the ceramic collections archives and records of factory production form the primary resource for the study of worcester porcelain and its history . porcelain painters edit artists and designers who worked for the factory included thomas baxter william billingsley john stinton david bates james hadley christopher dresser.charles baldwin modern history edit in the 20th century royal worcester s most popular pattern has been evesham gold first offered in 1961 depicting the autumnal fruits of the vale of evesham with fine gold banding on an oven to table body . 6 after the 1976 merger with spode 7 and due to heavy competition from overseas the production was switched to factories in stoke and abroad . 100 staff were made redundant in 2003 and another 100 went in 2005 . fifteen porcelain painters left the severn street factory on friday 29 september 2006 together with 100 other workers . 8 the last trading date for royal worcester was 14 june 2009 . the company went into administration on 6 november 2008 and on 23 april 2009 the brand name and intellectual property were acquired by portmeirion pottery group a pottery and homewares company based in stoke on trent . as portmeirion group has a factory in stoke on trent the purchase did not include royal worcester and spode manufacturing facilities . 7 references edit dr. wall and the first worcester factory worcester porcelain museum 31 dec 2010 . jervis william percival . a pottery primer pp. 104 6 new york the o gorman publishing co. 1911 . osborne harold ed the oxford companion to the decorative arts p. 141 1975 oup isbn 0198661134 royal porcelain works . a guide through the royal porcelain work 1895 p37 . charity commission . dyson perrins museum trust registered charity no. 223753 . evesham gold is no. 17 in appendix a 100 most popular patterns listed from the records of replacements.com and illustrated in shax riegler . 2011 . dish 813 colorful wonderful dinner plates pp256ff . a b porcelain maker royal worcester & spode goes bust . associated press . 2008 11 07 . retrieved 2008 11 07 . dead link china firm quits after 250 years . bbc news . 2006 09 30 . retrieved 2010 05 22 . further reading edit richard william binns . a century of potting in the city of worcester being the history of the royal porcelain works from 1751 to 1851 b. quaritch 1865 . royal porcelain works . a guide through the royal porcelain work 1895 . henry sandon . the illustrated guide to worcester porcelain 1751 1793 . praeger new york . 1969 . lawrence branyan neal french john sandon . worcester blue & white porcelain 1751 1790 . vintage ebury a division of random house group . 1981 . isbn 978 0 09 144060 2 gerald coke . in search of james giles . micawber . saint paul . 1983 . simon spero . worcester porcelain the klepser collection . alan wofsy fine arts . isbn 978 0 8390 0342 7 . franklin allen barrett . worcester porcelain & lund s bristol . faber & faber . 1966 . geoffrey a. godden . caughley & worcester porcelains 1775 1800 . barrie & jenkins 1969 . isbn 978 0 257 65022 7 . f. severne mackenna . worcester porcelain the wall period and its antecedents . f. lewis 1950 . h. rissik marshall . coloured worcester porcelain of the first period 1751 1783 . ceramic book company 1954 . dinah reynolds . worcester porcelain marshall collection ashmolean handbooks . ashmolean museum 2006 . isbn 978 1 85444 127 0 simon spero john sandon . worcester porcelain 1751 1790 the zorensky collection . antique collectors club dist a c 2007 . isbn 978 1 85149 228 2 geoffrey a. godden . chamberlain worcester porcelain 1788 1852 . first glance books 1996 . isbn 978 1 85422 303 6 henry sandon . flight and barr worcester porcelain 1783 1840 . acc distribution 1993 . isbn 978 0 902028 75 3 peter woodger . james hadley & sons artist potters worcester . woodger great britain 2003 . isbn 978 0 9546058 0 3 henry sandon john sandon . grainger s worcester porcelain . david & charles 1990 . isbn 978 0 7126 2052 9 harris & willis . an exhibition of porcelain manufactured by e. locke & co. worcester . 1989 . henry sandon . royal worcester porcelain 1862 to the present day . clarkson n. potter 1973 . h. j. david sandon . the sandon guide to royal worcester figures 1900 1970 . alderman press 1987 . isbn 978 0 946619 18 4 richard william binns . worcester china a record of the work of forty five years 1852 1897 . adamant media corporation 1897 . isbn 978 1 4021 6005 9 derek shirley . a guide to the dating of royal worcester porcelain marks from 1862 . mid wales litho ltd. griffithstown 1987 . john edwards . the charlton standard catalogue of royal worcester figurines . the charlton press 2005 . isbn 978 0 88968 271 9 harry frost . royal worcester porcelain and the dyson perrins collection . pitkin 1993 . isbn 978 0 85372 553 4 aileen dawson . the art of worcester porcelain 1751 1788 masterpieces from the british museum collection . upne 2009 . isbn 978 1 58465 752 1 ray jones . porcelain in worcester 1751 1951 an illustrated social history . parkbarn 1993 . isbn 978 1 898097 00 6 s. fisher . worcester porcelain . 1968 . richard william binns . a century of potting in the city of worcester 1751 1851 . bernard quaritch 1877 . tony horsley . distinguished extinguishers . 1999 . external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to royal worcester . royal worcester website worcester porcelain museum website v t e porcelain china general chinese porcelain chinese export porcelain chinese influences on islamic pottery types proto celadon 16th century bce celadon 1st century yue 2nd century ding 10th century qingbai 12th century jingdezhen 11th century on blue and white 14th century on blanc de chine 14th century on kraak 16th century swatow 16th century tianqi 17th century kangxi 17th century famille jaune noire rose verte 17th century canton 18th century korea general korean porcelain types goryeo 10th century joseon 14th century japan general japanese porcelain types arita imari nabeshima kakiemon kutani europe general french porcelain chinese porcelain in european painting armorial ware types fonthill vase 1338 royal tichelaar 1572 medici 1575 rouen 1673 nevers saint cloud 1693 meissen 1710 r rstrand 1726 chantilly 1730 doccia 1735 vincennes 1740 chelsea 1743 capodimonte 1743 oranienbaum 1744 mennecy 1745 bow 1747 nymphenburg porcelain manufactory 1747 plymouth 1748 worcester 1751 frankenthal porcelain factory 1755 s vres 1756 derby 1757 weesp porselein 1759 wedgwood 1759 wallendorf 1764 etiolles 1770 limoges 1771 loosdrechts porselein 1774 royal copenhagen 1775 clignancourt 1775 revol 1789 herend porcelain manufactory 1826 bing & gr ndahl 1853 zsolnay 1853 wagner & apel porzellan 1877 porsgrund 1885 technologies soft paste porcelain hard paste porcelain bone china china painting factory mark people chinamen ehrenfried walther von tschirnhaus johann friedrich b ttger fran ois xavier d entrecolles dmitry vinogradov collections british museum london asia department percival david foundation the david collection copenhagen dresden porcelain collection gardiner museum toronto kuskovo state museum of ceramics moscow s vres cit de la c ramique paris mus e des arts d coratifs paris palace museum beijing topkap palace istanbul victoria and albert museum london museum of royal worcester walters art museum baltimore retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title royal worcester & oldid 740375269 categories 1751 establishmentscompanies based in worcesterceramics manufacturers of englandenglish potteryhistory of worcesterbritish porcelainpurveyors to the imperial and royal courtbritish royal warrant holdershidden categories all articles with dead external