A Biography of William B. Johnson
Art Director for A.G. Richardson & Co. Ltd
As an enthusiastic collector I enjoy being able to use this blog to post information about Crown Ducal and Charlotte Rhead pottery. Predictably it will be mostly to report on new discoveries, to share previously unpublished information and any ideas or observations that add to the documented history of A. G. Richardson & Co. Ltd.
This post is different because it is not so much about pottery, but about a person, Mr William Borer Johnson who held the post of art director at A. G. Richardson & Co. Ltd from 1918 until he retired in 1938.
Little is known about the company and the people who worked there. We have the books by Bernard Bumpus focusing on Charlotte Rhead and the dissertation by Gerrard Shaw from 1993 on the Crown Ducal tableware production during 1920-1940, (hopefully soon to be published as a book). Apart from those sources we are left with searching through fragments in trade journals and other publications of the period. The Potteries Museum and Library in Stoke on Trent are custodians of the some surviving Crown Ducal pattern books but these are not easily accessible to most, and they do not contain much helpful information about the company itself or the people who worked there.
So it was quite a thrill to be contacted by Douglas Johnson, the grandson of William. He has kindly made available the documentation, newspaper cuttings and family history to be able to compile this biography. All the important content has been provided by Douglas and I am just happy to have been able to help publish this piece Crown Ducal history.
So it was quite a thrill to be contacted by Douglas Johnson, the grandson of William. He has kindly made available the documentation, newspaper cuttings and family history to be able to compile this biography. All the important content has been provided by Douglas and I am just happy to have been able to help publish this piece Crown Ducal history.
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| William Borer Johnson |
A grandfather remembered
Will Johnson was not born of artistic parents. He was the third child of John Johnson, a tailor of Longton, Stoke-on-Trent and Frances Turner, a farmer's daughter from Alfold in
As a boy I used to wonder where Grandpa got his "funny" middle name from. In fact it came from Frances Turner whose grandfather was William Borer, an apothecary and surgeon from Rusper in Sussex . He was a kind and gentle man who once gave me a book of Omar Khayam's poems inscribed "the pen is mightier than the sword".
He married in 1884 Eliza Ann Copestake, (who descended from a long line of potters). He was described as a china flower painter and she a paintress. They had four children, Frances, Adelaide , Mabel and Frank, (my father). He was a keen bowls player, and a past captain of Wolstanton Bowls club.
He loved story telling and used to talk about his days as an apprentice. One evening working late with a colleague clearing up the mess in the decorating shop and tipping the various waste into a drum containing slip, they decided to have a joke on a policeman who was having a quiet smoke beneath their first floor window and pour a sample of the slime over him. Just as they thought they had got away with it, the multi coloured bobby appeared and arrested the pair of them which proved to be very costly.
He told me that as a student at Stoke Art School he would walk both ways from Longton until what was eventually called the main route through the six Potteries towns was served by horse buses.
He had a quiet but mischievous side to him and when sitting in his favourite arm chair smoking one of his many pipes and reading a newspaper he would feign deafness with a wink of an eye as Grandma shrieked "Will".
Will Johnson was a modest self effacing man whose life was his work and it doesn't surprise me that he didn't leave much evidence around of his 58 years continuous service to the pottery industry. As well as being a fine artist he was an accomplished water colourist, occasionally giving paintings to his friends, generous to a fault and a lovely man to have as a grandfather. His favourite colour was vermillion, and when he gave me his old paint box it was the one tablet almost gone!
Douglas Johnson 2013
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| The two sides of WBJs "apprentice piece" probably dating to 1882 |
William B. Johnson 1861-1943
1861 28th February. Birth of William Borer Johnson at 65 Caroline Street, Longton. He lived there until his marriage in 1884.
1875 Apprenticed to William Slater at Harvey, Adams & Co, Longton and a student at Stoke-on-Trent Art School
1882 Joins Doulton to work under John Slater as a flower painter at Nile Street works, Burslem, and progresses to have charge of one of the decorative departments at Doulton & Co. Ltd.
1884 Marriage to Eliza Ann Copestake
1885 Residing in Church Street, Fenton
1900 Residing in Lorne Street, Burslem
1911 Residing at Vale View, Porthill, Wolstanton
1925 Residing at 23 Albert terrace, Wolstanton
1918 Joins A.G. Richardson as Art Director
1931 Residing at 22 Marsh Avenue, Wolstanton
1931 William is honoured with 70th birthday celebration by the company and his work colleagues
1938 Retirement
1931 Residing at 22 Marsh Avenue, Wolstanton
1931 William is honoured with 70th birthday celebration by the company and his work colleagues
1938 Retirement
1943 Dies at the family home in Maybank, Newcastle under Lyme
To demonstrate the high esteem in which William Johnson was held by his employers and work colleagues, the Tunstall town hall was hired for his 70th birthday party. Entertainments included whist drive, catering and dance orchestra.
The event was recorded in the local paper, The Evening Sentinel edition of 30 March 1931 and The Pottery Gazette and Glass Trades Review, May edition. The following text in italics is how the Pottery Gazette described the event.
One of the most frustrating aspects with having so little AGR company documentation is that we do not really know who designed what. We attribute all the tube-lined designs to Charlotte and also give her credit when the same motifs turn up in plain enamels. But what of WBJs contribution? It is difficult, we know he was an accomplished flower painter, but Richardsons did not produce expensive hand painted items, their stock in trade was print and enamel, lithographs and relatively simple freehand floral and band and line decoration.
Pottery art director honoured
To demonstrate the high esteem in which William Johnson was held by his employers and work colleagues, the Tunstall town hall was hired for his 70th birthday party. Entertainments included whist drive, catering and dance orchestra.
The event was recorded in the local paper, The Evening Sentinel edition of 30 March 1931 and The Pottery Gazette and Glass Trades Review, May edition. The following text in italics is how the Pottery Gazette described the event.
POTTERY ART DIRECTOR HONOURED.—At Tunstall Town Hall on March 28, to mark the attainment of the seventieth birthday of Mr. W. B. Johnson, art director to the Gordon Pottery of A. G. Richardson & Co., Ltd., a whist drive and dance was held, at which two notable birthday gifts were presented to Mr. Johnson. These gifts took the form of an all-mains wireless set presented to Mr. Johnson on behalf of the principals of the concern (Mr. John Rushton and Mr. J. Harrison), and an easy chair, the gift of the employees. Several speakers took part in expressions of warm affection for Mr. Johnson, numerous references being made to the pronounced ability which he has brought to bear upon his work at the Gordon Pottery over a long period of years. Mr. Rushton said it was a great joy to him when he learned that the staff had decided upon making a presentation of their own, for this showed that not only were Mr. Johnson's qualities and abilities recognised by the directors and administrative staff, but by the employees throughout the factory. They all knew the difficulty of bringing out new patterns and designs, and in this connection Mr. Johnson had, no doubt, had disappointments as well as successes, but by the latter he had helped to place the Gordon Pottery in the high position that it now occupies in the estimation of the whole industry. Mr. J. Harrison, supporting, said that there was only one regret that he entertained that evening, and that was that he had not been brought into contact with Mr. Johnson earlier than he was. Mr. Johnson, returning thanks for the gifts, said he could safely say that the last ten years had been the happiest of his life. If a man at the age of seventy had the affection of his fellow-workers and the confidence of his employers, he could hardly wish for more.
It is interesting to recall in connection with an event of this kind that Mr. Johnson, the recipient of the gifts above referred to, who was apprenticed to painting in his early days at Longton with Mr. William Slater, was subsequently in charge of one of the decorative departments at the famous Nile-St. Works of Doulton & Co., Ltd., where he came into close and personal contact with many famous artists, amongst whom may be mentioned Mr. C. J. Noke, John Slater, Edward Raby, Robert Allen, David Dewsbury, John Hugh Plant, George White, William Hodkinson, Herbert Betteley, and Joseph Hancock. It is good to be able to look back upon such associations and all that is implied thereby. It only remains to be said that Mr. Johnson is not retiring. This was no valedictory function; its purpose was to enable Mr. Johnson's friends and colleagues to show to him, whilst he remains in full harness, what a lot they think of him.
An example of WBJs work at Richardsons
One of the most frustrating aspects with having so little AGR company documentation is that we do not really know who designed what. We attribute all the tube-lined designs to Charlotte and also give her credit when the same motifs turn up in plain enamels. But what of WBJs contribution? It is difficult, we know he was an accomplished flower painter, but Richardsons did not produce expensive hand painted items, their stock in trade was print and enamel, lithographs and relatively simple freehand floral and band and line decoration.
We do have one design element that we can definitely attribute to William Johnson and that is a lithograph that the company refers to as "Roma".
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| The "Roma" lithograph with W B Johnson signature |
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| Detail of signature on "Roma" lithograph |
The lithograph centre incorporates the signature of WB Johnson and so it is beyond doubt that William painted the original artwork of this floral arrangement in a basket. The painting would then be made into a lithographic design for the company to use for its various patterns. At least thirty Crown Ducal designs are known to have incorporated this particular lithograph which was named “Roma” by the company.
Collectors will actually find more than thirty different styles using this centre transfer because the Crown Ducal fashion at this time was to produce each design in several colours for their Avon tableware shape. So, one of the more common patterns, 5080 can be found in solid colours blue or green and in the powder colours blue or green. It would not be a surprise if examples appear in solid maroon, ivory and powder pink as well as these were all used for similar tableware patterns.
Collectors will actually find more than thirty different styles using this centre transfer because the Crown Ducal fashion at this time was to produce each design in several colours for their Avon tableware shape. So, one of the more common patterns, 5080 can be found in solid colours blue or green and in the powder colours blue or green. It would not be a surprise if examples appear in solid maroon, ivory and powder pink as well as these were all used for similar tableware patterns.
The lithos, or transfers were not made by the Richardson’s but by specialist companies such as UTC, Ratauds, Butchers and Chromo. The Crown Ducal pattern books record that WBJ’s floral painting was made into a lithograph by the Universal Transfer Company Ltd. and given the number 8864. The documents refer to the litho as either UTC 8864 or the name Roma. As the Richardson’s art director, WBJ would probably have been responsible for working with these external companies to oversee the production of proprietary Crown Ducal lithographs as well as selecting “off the shelf” non-proprietary transfers.
The pattern number is either 4951 or 5313, they are both the same design and are recorded as duplicates in the Crown Ducal pattern books.
4951 is annotated with:
This design is known to have been produced in at least three colours, blue, maroon and green. The plates are 101∕2” in diameter with 41∕16” diameter lithograph centres. Several sizes of the transfer would have been made, large ones for plates down to the smallest for the centre of a saucer. Although for this particular design only service plates were made, but they may have different size lithographs, some have a smaller centre with a diameter of 31∕8”.
The design dates for 4951 and 5313 would be around November 1936 and February 1937 respectively. However, the earliest known pattern incorporating the lithograph is 4830, (a design with Charlottes snow glaze), from about August 1936 and so WBJ’s original artwork must have been painted in the early summer of 1936 or sometime before then.
The patterns 4951 and 5313 are applied to “service plates”. These were attractive place setting pieces to decorate the table at its best before dining, they were not intended to be eaten from. Crown Ducal is earthenware, not fine china, but the finish of these plates is higher quality than their standard tableware so it is quite possible that the company used this design to show off how close to fine china they could make their earthenware. This idea is supported by the base markings on the pair of examples shown which both have inscriptions in gold indicating they were made as souvenirs for dignitaries when the factory was visited by a member of parliament. It should be recognised that WBJ’s own artwork is to be found onRichardson
Hopefully, one day, it will be possible to document more of Williams designs because from the tribute at his 70th birthday party he must have made a significant contribution to "bringing out new patterns and designs" from the Gordon Pottery.
Bernard Bumpus in his books on Charlotte Rhead rather skims over the relationship between William Johnson and Charlotte Rhead as if this might be an awkward subject. He being the elder, in post, art director and Charlotte being the prize catch designer of tube-lined ware.
William Johnson retired from A. G. Richardson & Co. Ltd in 1938 and we have evidence that there was an enduring friendship between William and Charlotte after he had left the company. We know this because Charlotte made at least two personalised tube-lined gifts to William. The gifts are not dated but they both have unique stylistic characteristics which can be dated from known Crown Ducal designs.
The first is a pestle and mortar with W B JOHNSON tube-lined around the interior. The text style is exactly the same as that used for the lithographed commemorative design created for the royal visit of George VI and Elizabeth to Canada during May-June 1939. (Crown Ducal pattern 5814). That text style is not used on any other Crown Ducal pattern and the commemorative ware would have to be produced and shipped to Canada prior to the visit. This would have been around the same time as Williams birthday at the end of February 1939.
The second gift is tube-lined smokers set of a lidded box and four ash trays. The design is a modified version of pattern 6010 to incorporate the WBJ monogram and with a border in gold. The other gold embellishments of dots around the lid edge and the line on the ashtrays are also modifications to the original design. The pattern 6010 has a design date of around Christmas 1939 or New Year 1940, and this would be the best estimate for when the idea for this gift was conceived. To tube-line the slip to form the whole design, (rather than use lustres and enamels), was a method that Charlotte used for many of her designs, especially her early years at Richardson’s around 1933/4 for USA salad bowls and platters. Later, in 1937, she experimented further with techniques such as sponging the coloured slip clay. This design for this gift appears to be crafted with a blend of both these techniques and was probably made for Williams birthday in February 1940.
Although the focus of this post is to acknowledge William as the art director for Richardson & Co. and the decorating manager of the Gordon Pottery we should be mindful of his work from many years at Royal Doulton and his output of watercolours for his own satisfaction. So if you happen to find this blog whilst researching the WBJ mark on your item of Royal Doulton, or have found the signature of W B Johnson on a watercolour, you will now know more about the man who painted it.
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| Service plate in pattern 5313, maroon |
The pattern number is either 4951 or 5313, they are both the same design and are recorded as duplicates in the Crown Ducal pattern books.
4951 is annotated with:
- Blue band underglaze
- Best gold bands & line
- 41∕16” - litho
- Gold print
- Service plate
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| Service plate in pattern 5313, blue |
This design is known to have been produced in at least three colours, blue, maroon and green. The plates are 101∕2” in diameter with 41∕16” diameter lithograph centres. Several sizes of the transfer would have been made, large ones for plates down to the smallest for the centre of a saucer. Although for this particular design only service plates were made, but they may have different size lithographs, some have a smaller centre with a diameter of 31∕8”.
The design dates for 4951 and 5313 would be around November 1936 and February 1937 respectively. However, the earliest known pattern incorporating the lithograph is 4830, (a design with Charlottes snow glaze), from about August 1936 and so WBJ’s original artwork must have been painted in the early summer of 1936 or sometime before then.
The patterns 4951 and 5313 are applied to “service plates”. These were attractive place setting pieces to decorate the table at its best before dining, they were not intended to be eaten from. Crown Ducal is earthenware, not fine china, but the finish of these plates is higher quality than their standard tableware so it is quite possible that the company used this design to show off how close to fine china they could make their earthenware. This idea is supported by the base markings on the pair of examples shown which both have inscriptions in gold indicating they were made as souvenirs for dignitaries when the factory was visited by a member of parliament. It should be recognised that WBJ’s own artwork is to be found on
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| Base markings of blue service plate |
Hopefully, one day, it will be possible to document more of Williams designs because from the tribute at his 70th birthday party he must have made a significant contribution to "bringing out new patterns and designs" from the Gordon Pottery.
The friendship between William and Charlotte Rhead
Bernard Bumpus in his books on Charlotte Rhead rather skims over the relationship between William Johnson and Charlotte Rhead as if this might be an awkward subject. He being the elder, in post, art director and Charlotte being the prize catch designer of tube-lined ware.
What we now know is that WBJ knew both Frederick and Charlotte Rhead very well and that Charlotte was a close friend of Mabel, (WBJs daughter), who always referred to her as Cissy Rhead. Their association went back many years, long before Charlotte joined Richardsons. The families lived a few doors from each other in Marsh Avenue, Wolstanton. In fact the Rheads moved to Marsh Avenue in the same year that WBJ started work at Richardsons in 1918. WBJ was present at Frederick Rheads funeral in 1933 as Richardsons company representative, but he was also there surely because he was a family friend.
Obviously when Charlotte joined Richardsons after her break with Burgess & Leigh Ltd, it was a huge boost to the company's decorating department and WBJ probably had a hand in guiding her towards the company. Mabel is remembered as being quite sure that WBJ was involved in securing Charlottes appointment.
Obviously when Charlotte joined Richardsons after her break with Burgess & Leigh Ltd, it was a huge boost to the company's decorating department and WBJ probably had a hand in guiding her towards the company. Mabel is remembered as being quite sure that WBJ was involved in securing Charlottes appointment.
The first is a pestle and mortar with W B JOHNSON tube-lined around the interior. The text style is exactly the same as that used for the lithographed commemorative design created for the royal visit of George VI and Elizabeth to Canada during May-June 1939. (Crown Ducal pattern 5814). That text style is not used on any other Crown Ducal pattern and the commemorative ware would have to be produced and shipped to Canada prior to the visit. This would have been around the same time as Williams birthday at the end of February 1939.
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| Personal gift from Charlotte to William probably for his birthday in February 1939 |
The second gift is tube-lined smokers set of a lidded box and four ash trays. The design is a modified version of pattern 6010 to incorporate the WBJ monogram and with a border in gold. The other gold embellishments of dots around the lid edge and the line on the ashtrays are also modifications to the original design. The pattern 6010 has a design date of around Christmas 1939 or New Year 1940, and this would be the best estimate for when the idea for this gift was conceived. To tube-line the slip to form the whole design, (rather than use lustres and enamels), was a method that Charlotte used for many of her designs, especially her early years at Richardson’s around 1933/4 for USA salad bowls and platters. Later, in 1937, she experimented further with techniques such as sponging the coloured slip clay. This design for this gift appears to be crafted with a blend of both these techniques and was probably made for Williams birthday in February 1940.
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| Personal gift from Charlotte to William probably for his birthday in February 1940 |
Other work by the artist William B. Johnson
Although the focus of this post is to acknowledge William as the art director for Richardson & Co. and the decorating manager of the Gordon Pottery we should be mindful of his work from many years at Royal Doulton and his output of watercolours for his own satisfaction. So if you happen to find this blog whilst researching the WBJ mark on your item of Royal Doulton, or have found the signature of W B Johnson on a watercolour, you will now know more about the man who painted it.
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| A pair of Doulton vases marked with WBJ Picture courtesy of 1818 Auctioneers http://www.1818auctioneers.co.uk/sales/lot/47423/96/162 |
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| Watercolour by William B. Johnson |