Burmantofts Pottery Company
Other names: Wilcock & Co (c.1845-88), Burmantofts Works (1900), Leeds Fire Clay Co. Lim. (1904 onwards)
Foundation date: 1845
Active: 1888 - 1904
Function: Art pottery manufacturer, manufacturer of architectural wares
History or description: The name Burmantofts is associated with the period that the company produced art pottery between 1888 and 1904. At this date the company was owned and managed by James Holroyd who started making wares such as vases and jardinieres in the early 1880s. It was the success of these and the increased market for art pottery that led to the development of the new name. By about 1904 the market for these items had declined and the company went back to the production of architectural pieces. Production finally ceased in 1957.
There are five examples of Burmantofts' art pottery in the Victoria and Albert Museum of which the earliest, a jardiniere, dates from c.1885. (see http://collections.vam.ac.uk/search/?slug=burmantofts-pottery&name=6796 accessed 20 August 2010)
Works
Dates are usually the year a work was exhibited so may differ from date of production.
New entries have been made each time a work was exhibited due to a lack of evidence about the state, medium or edition shown.
Lent Day
Lent Night
Associated People
Employed Edward Caldwell Spruce
1893 (Circa)
Principal designer, duration of employment unconfirmed
Descriptions of Business or Institution
Listed in Post Office London Directory, 1900 Post Office/Kelly London Directories
1900
p.1780
Listed as 'Art Pottery Manufacturer'
Sources
Catalogue of the Spring Exhibition, The City Art Gallery, Leeds 1896
1896
Cat. Nos. 551, 552, p. 50
Post Office London Directory, 1900 Post Office/Kelly London Directories
1900
p.1780
Citing this record
'Burmantofts Pottery Company', Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011 [http://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/organization.php?id=msib5_1207822280, accessed 04 Jun 2023]
