Minton

Stoke-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, England · Pottery And Porcelain · also recorded as Thomas Minton, Herbert Minton, Minton, Hollins & Co

Marks

The page transcribed for this entry records no mark for this factory. That is stated rather than filled in — a mark is not asserted here because the source does not give one.

What the source records

• Thomas Minton came to Stoke in 1788, bought land belonging to a Mr Hassall, and built a house and works on the site.Chaffers 1891 · p.663
• He entered into partnership in 1790 with Joseph Poulson, who had been manager at Mr Spode's works — at that time the principal works in Staffordshire.Chaffers 1891 · p.663
• The firm was joined in 1793 by Mr Pownall, who quitted it in 1800; Poulson died in 1809, leaving Thomas Minton alone to conduct the business.Chaffers 1891 · p.663
• Herbert Minton, his second son, was born on 4 February 1793 in his father's house, then on the banks of the Trent.Chaffers 1891 · p.663
• Up to 1798 earthenware alone was made at the Stoke works; the staple of the business was white ware ornamented with blue in imitation of common Nankin.Chaffers 1891 · p.663
• Semi-transparent china was commenced in 1798, abandoned as unprofitable in 1811, and resumed about 1821.Chaffers 1891 · p.663
• About 1825 a marked improvement was effected in printed earthenware, both in the body, which was made whiter and purer, and in the glaze, in which borax to a great extent took the place of lead.Chaffers 1891 · p.663
• Herbert Minton succeeded to the business on his father's death in 1836, and shortly after admitted Mr John Boyle as a partner; Boyle remained about five years and then joined the firm of Wedgwoods.Chaffers 1891 · p.663
• Boyle's place at Stoke was taken by Mr Michael Daintry Hollins; the last phase of the firm consisted of Mr Minton with his nephews M. D. Hollins and Colin Minton Campbell.Chaffers 1891 · p.663
• Herbert Minton died at Belmont, Torquay, in 1858, in the sixty-sixth year of his age.Chaffers 1891 · p.663
• Thomas Minton's establishment employed about fifty hands fifty years earlier; at his son's death upwards of 1,500 were in active occupation.Chaffers 1891 · p.663
• The branches Herbert Minton most strenuously aided were earthenware and ordinary soft porcelain, hard porcelain, parian, encaustic tiles, azulejos or coloured enamel tiles, mosaics, Della Robbia ware, majolica and Palissy ware.Chaffers 1891 · p.663

Why this differs from other listings

This page carries no mark at all — it is the corporate chronology, and that is what makes it useful for dating. The partnership changes are precisely dated (Poulson 1790, Pownall 1793–1800, Poulson's death 1809, Boyle 1836 for about five years, then Hollins), as are the production changes: earthenware only to 1798, china 1798–1811, resumed about 1821, the borax glaze from about 1825. A Minton mark naming a partnership can be placed against this list.

The source page