Royal Doulton

We chart the story of the ceramics company that had a well-placed fan in Queen Victoria

- Rose Bateman

The year 1815 was a momentous one for Britain: the Duke of Wellington led his troops to victory at the Battle of Waterloo, Lord Byron published She Walks in Beauty, and one of the country’s most eminent potteries, Royal Doulton, was fired into existence.

Today, Royal Doulton is one of the most recognisable and quintessentially British brands – its name uttered in the same breath as Wedgwood, Spode, Mintons and Royal Crown Derby. However, its nascent days were a far cry from such heady company.

John Doulton, the man who lends his name to the venerable company, might never have been associated with the operation had it not been for one lesser-known Martha Jones, owner of a humble pottery on the banks of the River Thames.

In her widowhood, Jones was in need of a business partner to join her and her foreman, John Watts; as luck would have it, word had got out about a talented young thrower by the name of John Doulton, who had lately completed his apprenticeship at Fulham Pottery in 1812. Happily, in addition to his artistic aptitude, Doulton had guts in spades – so much so that when Jones asked him to invest his life’s savings into the business (the princely sum of £100) he duly did so. Thus, Jones, Watts & Doulton was born. Doulton’s faith had not been misplaced. The newly formed company met with much early success, the cultural culmination of which was to be featured at Henry Cole and Prince Albert’s Great Exhibition of 1851 – a grand celebration of the country’s finest manufactured products (much of which formed the basis of the first collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum).