East View of the Iron Bridge... – bridge 20
Bridge 20
There are two layers of garlands below the transfer, and statistics about the weight of the iron used to make the bridge. It is very similar to the 'like bridge 20 items' below except they are signed 'Edwd Barker', whereas this mug is signed 'Edward Barker'. The areas to both the right and left of the bridge are drawn differently. The right side is something of a mystery (see detail below). It is almost as if the engraver had started drawing something else on the copper plate and changed his mind.
The script might one day help identify the pottery. See the early North Hylton or Sunderland page for two marriage jugs with the same date.
The mug below, also from the Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens, Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums collection, is the bridge 20 mug shown in Baker.
Attributed to Scott's Southwick Pottery – like bridge 20
Photo John Howard
This bridge transfer (very similar to Baker's bridge 20) is attributed to Scott's on the basis of the distinctive frog in the mugs below. See this page for more details about the attribution of this frog.
The two jugs below are from the Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens, Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums collection. The first has the transfer paired with the 'view of the cast iron bridge to be erected over the River Thames'. Parliament passed the Bill for the Southwark Bridge to be built in 1811, and the bridge wasn't opened until 1819. So the jug was likely made sometime between those dates. These jugs are listed in the Museum catalogue as Dawson, but neither has a Dawson printed mark.
A mug with an inscription Thomas Thompson. Norman Lowe has tracked down a Thomas Thompson born 13/7/1820 to Thomas Thompson (snr) and Mary Wardell, so this could be a Christening present made in 1820. Interestingly, Thomas Thompson (jnr) by 1841 is recorded as living in the same house as William Barker, believed to be the son of Edward Barker, an engraver who received payments from Scott's Southwick Pottery between 1796 and 1800 (see his mark in the last detail below). For 40 years Edward Barker was foreman at Scott's Pottery, dying in first quarter 1841.
Unlike the other items on this page, this mug does not have the motto 'Nil Desperandum Auspice Deo' under the transfer, nor the bridge dimensions. It is possible that they were trimmed off to make space for the inscription.
Unlike the other items on this page, this mug does not have the motto 'Nil Desperandum Auspice Deo' under the transfer, nor the bridge dimensions. It is possible that they were trimmed off to make space for the inscription.
