6 replies to this topic

[potter]

Hi All,
If you think you have family in the pottery trade from Prescot, I may have them listed.Even though your not sure of pottery connection, try the surname your interested in and see if they have any pottery connections. Best wishes Nutgrover.

[potter]

There is an interesting sequence of events with families in both St. Helens and Prescot as both have a lot of families that interchange between the two towns.The only difference being in St. Helens the men moved from agricultural workers to work in pottery but also glass, railways or the mines.In Prescot, they went from agriculture to pottery,to watchmaking and file industry and then the BICC.The surnames run through the industries generation after generation.Sadly the era of father to son in trade has largely died out and so it's much more difficult to track down family members if they do all kinds of different jobs and trades and move around more. Nutgrover.

[stephen nulty]

When I transcribed the 1901 census for Prescot, I did an analysis of the number of people employed, how many were in the watch trade and how many were coal miners. I don't have the figures to hand (they're on my laptop at home) but I will post them later, and I'll have a look at how many are working in Pottery.

I intend to do the same for the 1911 census, but my Roll fo Honour work for my website is occupying most of my time. My initial trawl through the 1911 census has identified about a third of "my" men and I;m beginning to see more and more working at the BI (as most of my family did, including me for 13 years).

[stephen nulty]

Well, I looked back though the 1901 census and found that there wasn't a single person recorded as working in the Pottery trade.

[RATTY]

I think it may have been earlier than that.

Quote

Tokens were issued by Prescot tradesmen in 1666 and 1669. (fn. 3) The town has long been celebrated for the manufacture of various parts of watches, (fn. 4) for files, and for pottery. (fn. 5)
The cotton manufacture was early introduced here, but has died out; there was formerly a sail-cloth factory, while coal mines, now closed, were worked within the township last century. Samuel Derrick, writing from Liverpool, gives the following account of the town's appearance in 1760: 'About eight miles off is a very pleasant market town called Prescot. In riding to this place travellers are often incommoded by the number of colliers' carts and horses which fill the road all the way to Liverpool. It stands finely upon an eminence having an extensive command. The houses are well built and here are two inns in which attendance and accommodation are cheap and excellent.' (fn. 6)
Pennant, in 1773, recorded that 'the town abounds in manufactures of certain branches of hardware, particularly the best and almost all the watch movements used in England, and the best files in Europe. Here is, besides, a manufacture of coarse earthen mugs, and of late another of sail-cloth.' (fn. 7) About 1840 it was said the district 'has long been noted for the superior construction of watch tools and motion work. The drawing of pinion wire, extending to fifty different sizes … originated here; and small files, considered to be of unparalleled excellence, are made and exported in large quantities. The manufacture of coarse earthenware, especially sugar-moulds, has also been established for a very long period, the clay of the neighbourhood being peculiarly adapted to that purpose; and a few persons are employed in the cotton business: the manufacture of glass bottles is likewise carried on.' (fn. 8)
Thomas Eyres was a printer here in 1779, and Thomas Taylor in 1790.
From'Townships: Prescot', A History of the County of Lancaster: Volume 3 (1907), pp. 353-354.

Quote from this site http://www.british-h...compid=41345#n7

[potter]

Sorry folks! I should have given more precise dates earlier.Stephen, your right you won't find any references to your men being potters.The last pottery closed in Prescot in 1898, although one at Eccleston lane ends lasted till about 1910.But the links are there,if you look at the fathers and sons working in the B.I..Just after the 1st World War, alot of their Granfathers would have been potters aswell as miners,watchmakers,filemakers and railworkers.Cheers Nutgrover.

[RATTY]

Heres a good list of jobs that you may not necessarily link to a pottery.


http://www.thepotteries.org/jobs/