Spode, Josiah

SUBJECT AREA: Domestic appliances and interiors

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b. 1754 Stoke-on-Trent, England

d. 16 July 1827 Penkhull, Staffordshire, England

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English pottery inventor of bone china and ironstone.

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After learning the potter's trade in his father's works, Spode set up in business on his own. He especially favoured blue-printed ware, in particular willow-pattern. He also improved the jasper, Egyptian black and cream ware that were produced by a number of potters at the time. He employed William Copeland, a traveller in the trade, to market his products and together they established a base in London. He later took Copeland into partnership to manage the London end of the business. In 1800 Spode began to make porcelain and introduced bone ash and feldspar into the paste, increasing the transparency of the ware; it came to be known as that most characteristically English of ware, bone china. In 1805 he introduced an opaque ware under the name of ironstone, much of which was exported to France, where it supplanted faience ware.

The Prince of Wales visited Spode's pottery in 1806 and he was appointed a potter to the King. In 1812 Spode installed a steam-engine in his works and effected many other improvements. Spode was called "the most successful china manufacturer of his time"; this seems fair, for he won both fame and fortune.

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Further Reading

A.Hayden, 1925, Spode and His Successors: A History of the Pottery 1765–2865, London.

LRD