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Royal Doulton Collectors Message Board
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The Royal
Doulton Company is one of the world-renowned English companies producing
tableware and collectables, with a history dating back to 1815.
Operating originally in London, its reputation grew in the area known as
The Potteries, where it was a relative latecomer compared to other
leading names such as Spode, Wedgwood and Minton. Today, its products
include dinnerware, giftware, cookware, porcelain, glassware,
collectables, jewellery, linens, curtains, and lighting, among other
items.
Its three key brands are Royal Doulton, Royal Albert, and Minton.
Together, the three brands make up Doulton Home, which is now part of
the Waterford Wedgwood group. Most of the pieces in these three brands
are manufactured outside the United Kingdom, in the Far East and
Indonesia.
The Royal Doulton Company began as a partnership between John Doulton,
Martha Jones, and John Watts, with a factory at Vauxhall Walk, Lambeth,
London. The business specialised in making stoneware articles, including
decorative bottles and salt glaze sewer pipes. The company took the name
Doulton in 1853.
By 1871, Henry Doulton, John’s son, had launched a studio at the Lambeth
pottery, and offered work to designers and artists from a local art
school. Their names included the Barlow family (Florence, Hannah, and
Arthur), Frank Butler, Mark Marshall, Eliza Simmance, and George
Tinworth. Then in 1882, Doulton purchased the small factory of Pinder,
Bourne & Co, at Nile Street in Burslem, Staffordshire, which placed
Doulton in the region known as The Potteries.
By this time Doulton had become one of the most popular brands of
stoneware and
ceramics, under the artistic direction of John Slater, who worked across
a wide variety of figurines, vases, character jugs, and decorative
pieces. Doulton products also came to the attention of the Royal family.
In 1901 King Edward VII granted the Burslem factory the Royal Warrant,
which allowed the business to adopt new markings and a new name, Royal
Doulton. The company continued to add products during the first half of
the 20th century while retaining its reputation as a prime manufacturer
of fashionable and high-quality bone china.
The Lambeth factory closed in 1956 due to new clean air regulations that
prevented the production of saltglaze in the urban environment.
Following closure, all work was transferred to The Potteries.
On September 30, 2005, the Nile Street factory closed after being sold
to developers. Higher-quality items are now made at the home of parent
company Waterford Wedgwood in Barlaston, in the countryside south of the
Potteries Conurbation. Almost all other Doulton pieces are made in
Indonesia, although there is a move to return production to England.
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