William Moorcroft (1872-1945) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

potter who founded the

Moorcroft W. Moorcroft Limited (trading as W Moorcroft Ltd) is a British art pottery manufacturer based at Burslem in Stoke-on-Trent, England. The company was founded by William Moorcroft in 1913. History In 1897, Staffordshire pottery manufacturers ...

pottery business.

Personal details

He was born in

Burslem Burslem ( ) is one of the six towns that along with Hanley, Tunstall, Fenton, Longton and Stoke-upon-Trent form part of the city of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England. It is often referred to as the "mother town" of Stoke on Trent. T ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

. He studied art at Burslem then in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. He married Florence Nora Fleay Lovibond (1879-1926) in 1913. They had a daughter, Beatrice (1914) and a son, Walter (1917). He then married, in 1928, Marian Lasenby, who was related to the

Lasenby Liberty Sir Arthur Lasenby Liberty (13 August 1843 – 11 May 1917) was a London-based merchant, and the founder of Liberty & Co. Early life Arthur Liberty was born on 13 August 1843 in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, England, the son of a draper. He b ...

family who owned the popular department store in London. Miss Lasenby decided not to wear white when she married: her husband was a widower and 27 years her senior. Instead she ordered a dress with a hat and matching reversible coat from Liberty's.

Career

In 1897 Staffordshire pottery manufacturers James Macintyre & Co. Ltd employed 24-year-old William Moorcroft as a designer, and within a year he was put in full charge of the company's art pottery

studio A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial design ...

. Early in his employment at Macintyre's, William Moorcroft created designs for the company's Aurelian Ware range of high-Victorian pottery, which had transfer-printed and enamelled decoration in bold red, blue and gold colours. Moorcroft developed highly lustred glazes and used oriental shapes and decorations. Some of his techniques were closely guarded trade secrets. He then developed his famous Florian Ware, with heavy

slip Slip or SLIP may refer to: Science and technology Biology * Slip (fish), also known as Black Sole * Slip (horticulture), a small cutting of a plant as a specimen or for grafting * Muscle slip, a branching of a muscle, in anatomy Computing and ...

and a translucent glaze which produces brilliance of colour. Florian Ware was influenced by

art nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...

. It was decorated entirely by hand, with the design outlined in trailed slip using a technique known as tubelining. Florian Ware was a great success and won him a

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

at the

World's fair A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition or an expo, is a large international exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specif ...

, the

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International Exhibition A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition or an expo, is a large international exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specif ...

in 1904. Unusually at that time, he adopted the practice of signing his name, or his initials, on nearly all the pottery he designed, the production of which he personally oversaw. In due course the extent to which his success had overshadowed Macintyre's other manufacturing activities resulted in resentment on the part of his employers, culminating in their decision in 1912 to close down his studio. In 1913, William Moorcroft then set up his own factory at

Cobridge Cobridge is an area of Stoke-on-Trent, in the City of Stoke-on-Trent district, in the county of Staffordshire, England. Cobridge was marked on the 1775 Yates map as 'Cow Bridge' and was recorded in Ward records (1843) as Cobridge Gate. Cobrid ...

with staff from Macintyres, and backed by a financial arrangement with

Liberty & Co Liberty, commonly known as Liberty's, is a luxury department store in London, England. It is located on Great Marlborough Street in the West End of London. The building spans from Carnaby Street on the East to Kingly Street on the West, where ...

of London, The business succeeded. Much of the output was sold through Liberty & Co.Information at David Barby's site
/ref> and Tiffany in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. In 1928 Queen Mary made him "Potter to the Queen" through a Royal Warrant, which was stamped on the pottery. His son, Walter joined the company when he was twenty, and took over the management of the pottery in 1945 just before William's death.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moorcroft, William English potters People from Burslem 1872 births 1945 deaths

Personal details

Career

See also

References