Henry Peter Brougham, 1st Baron of Brougham and Vaux –1778–1868
The transfers on this page likely originate from a portrait of Lord Brougham by James Lonsdale (1777–1839). Shown right is an engraving by Thomas Goff Lupton after the original. Henry Peter Brougham was Lord High Chancellor, and an important figure in passing both the Reform Act in 1832 and the Slavery Abolition Act in 1833. He became a popular subject for both the Staffordshire and North East Potteries. The items on this page are very hard to come by, and I'm indebted to Ian Holmes for his help. |
Lord Brougham and Vaux, Lord High Chancellor – Sunderland transfers
Attributed to Dixon, Austin & Co, Sunderland Pottery
The transfer on a typical Dixon-Austin frog mug from the early 1830s. The frog has red eyes and mouth. This transfer appears to be a naively drawn copy of the Chesworth & Robinson / Chetworth & Robinson version below found on Staffordshire items.
Attributed to A Scott & Sons, Southwick Pottery, Sunderland
The asymmetrical lustre motif on the spout and the decoration of the handle are features associated with Scott's Southwick Pottery, The second jug, shown for comparison, is from the 1840s.
Baron Brougham, Tyne transfers
Attributed to Robert Maling Ouseburn Bridge Pottery, Newcastle
Unidentified Tyne pottery
The Earl Grey transfer is very similar to those found on North Shields plaques with the C, C & Co impress, for Cornfoot, Colville & Co. However, on the plaques, the subtitle 'First Lord of the Treasury' is in italic script.
A similar mug with brick red and olive green enamels.
This spectacular jug appears to be from the same copper plate as the mug above. The 'Tom and Jerry' transfer is exceptionally rare. You can read more about it here. A variation of the 'British Slavery' transfer appears with a Newcastle Pottery printed mark, but this jug is unmarked.
Lord Brougham and Vaux, Lord High Chancellor – Staffordshire transfers
Chesworth and Robinson / Chetham and Robinson
The Fitzwilliam Museum catalogue states of the mug below: 'This is one of three similar pink lustre mugs in the Fitzwilliam Collection. They have the same shape, similar decoration including the inscription ‘REFORM’, and the same mark, which is probably that of Chetham & Robinson, although a ‘C&R’mark was also used by a neighbouring pottery, Chesworth & Robinson. Staffordshire potters were the first, and remained the largest , producers of lustreware, though it was also made in other regions, and is often associated with Sunderland. The engraved images on all three mugs are by ‘Kennedy’, probably James Kennedy of Burslem who made engravings and copper plates for factories as far afield as the Herculaneum Pottery in Liverpool.'
C&R used at least two different transfer plates on these pink-lustre items. The second shown below has sprigs with the English rose, Scottish thistle and Irish shamrock on either side of the portrait. These elements appear to have been copied by the North East potters.
A composite photo of the second transfer as it wraps around a moulded pink-lustre jug.