Wedgwood, Josiah
Wedgwood, Josiah (1730–95). Potter, industrialist, and social reformer, Wedgwood was born into a Staffordshire family of potters and was at work by the age of 9. Shrewd and innovative in manufacture, design, and marketing, he capitalized on 18th-cent. fashion and snobbery, setting up on his own in 1758, and opening the great Etruria factory in 1769. Aware that ‘a name has a wonderful effect’, he presented his newly improved creamware to Queen Charlotte and obtained her permission to call it Queen's Ware, multiplying his sales in Britain and Europe. A notable commission came from Catherine the Great in 1774: a 952-piece service, now in the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg, decorated with exquisite and accurate detail of 18th-cent. houses and countryside.
Wedgwood was keenly interested in the social and political problems of his day, much involved in road and canal development, and constantly reviewed the working and living conditions of his employees. His views were liberal/radical, he was sympathetic towards American independence in the 1770s, welcomed the French Revolution, and was a fervent supporter of the abolition of slavery.
Wedgwood was keenly interested in the social and political problems of his day, much involved in road and canal development, and constantly reviewed the working and living conditions of his employees. His views were liberal/radical, he was sympathetic towards American independence in the 1770s, welcomed the French Revolution, and was a fervent supporter of the abolition of slavery.
June Cochrane
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Wedgwood, Josiah
