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Wedgwood

founded 1759

Famous English porcelain and ceramics manufactory, founded by Josiah Wedgwood in 1759.

The Wedgwood company owed its success to a host of technical innovations, on the basis of which Josiah Wedgwood developed and produced a stream of new ceramic products (creamware, jasperware, basaltware, bone china). On the strength of these new products, British ceramic manufacturers were able to compete for the first time with Chinese porcelain (chinaware) and the ceramics coming from continental Europe (Fayence, Delftware). Wedgwood’s ceramics were instrumental in defining neo-classicism at the end of the 18th century.

The firm continued to operate in the 19th century under Josiah Wedgwood’s sons and descendants and it was incorporated as a limited company in 1895 as Josiah Wedgwood and Sons Ltd. In 1987 it merged with Waterford Crystal to become Waterford Wedgwood plc. It passed into the possession of the Finnish Fiskars Group in 2015 under the name WWRD Holdings Limited.

See location: Etruria Works.

Traveljournal 1814

Traveljournal 1845

  • Henderson, W. O.: J. C. Fischers Reisen durch die Industriegebiete Englands 1814–1851. In: Tradition - Zeitschrift für Firmengeschichte und Unternehmensbiographie 1964, S. 120f.
  • Henderson, W. O.: J. C. Fischer and his Diary of Industrial England 1814–1851. London 1966, S. 61f, 134f.

Cite as: Wedgwood. In: Travel Reports of a Pioneer: Digital Edition of the Travel Journals of Johann Conrad Fischer 1794–1851. Published by Franziska Eggimann. Edited by Franziska Eggimann, Nicolau Lutz, Valerija Rukavina und Christopher Zoller-Blundell. Schlatt 2023, Version 1.2, https://johannconradfischer.com/en/names/gfa-actors-7566, viewed on 6 June 2025.

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Wedgwood’s Manufactory in Etruria (wood-engraving after Frederick William Hulme, c. 1850)