Who was Josiah Wedgwood?
Josiah Wedgwood ; Robin Reilly – Macmillan, … But Reilly is the first to combine technological precision (already exhibited in his magisterial history of Wedgwood ware) with a wide-ranging sweep which displays this innovative potter as a phenomenon of the Enlightenment no less than of the Industrial Revolution.
Master Potter and Unitarian Idealist. Date and Place of Birth: 12th July 1730, Burslem, Staffordshire, England. Family Background: Family were all potters. He was the thirteenth and youngest son. Education: Dame school in Burslem and elementary school in Newcastle-under-Lyme. Chronology/Biography of Josiah Wedgwood: 1730: At the age of nine he left school and was apprenticed to the family firm at Churchyard Works. 1737: Death of his father. Wedgwood now worked for his older brother. 1741: He had an attack of smallpox and work as a potter became difficult. The disease effected his right leg which eventually had to be amputated. Unable to work for some time he spent his time reading and researching about pottery. 1754: He went into a partnership with Thomas Whieldon. Later on he dissolved the partnership and started his own firm based at Burslem. In the early years he experimented quite a lot and his most notable triumph from this period was the green glaze. 1763: He patented his cream c
