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Copeland & Garrett
manufactured at the Spode Works from 1833 to 1847 -
the works continues to thrive today under the
original Spode name. |
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Alderman Copeland and his partner Garrett took over
the business in Church Street, Stoke after the death
of Josiah Spode III.
William Taylor Copeland
was Lord Mayor of London in 1835-6 and was MP for
Stoke-upon-Trent from 1837 to 1852 and 1857 to 1865. |
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part of the
Spode factory - c.1927
In 1840 a
Government Inspector named Samuel Scriven visited 173
pottery factories in Stoke-on-Trent.
He placed
Messer's Copeland & Garrett in the second class of works:
"The second
class form by far the most numerous, and are of greater or
less extent, having from 50 to 800 hands engaged; most of
them have been erected many years, and as the trade has
increased, so the rooms appear to have increased m a
corresponding ratio. Some here and there, upon, around, and
about the first premises, so that there is neither order;
regularity, nor proportion; the consequence of this is, that
men, women, and children are to be seen passing in and out,
to and fro, to their respective departments all hours of the
say, no matter what the weather, warm, cold, wet, or dry;
the rooms, with very few exceptions. are either low, damp,
close, small, dark, hot, dirty, ill ventilated, or
unwholesome, or have all these disadvantages."
Testimony of Richard Herley
age 24 who worked at Copeland & Garrett in 1840:
"I am the clerk in this department (Scouring Room); have
but one room, which is used only for drying the ware. I have
been in the works 5 years, in this room 3 months; have the
management of the men and settle their wages; they are paid
by the piece, I am paid by the week. My duty is to examine
and place the ware.
They come at 6½ and remain till 9, Mondays to Saturdays
excepted, when they come at 6½ and stay till 6; they go home
to their dinners.
The room is damp from the steam of the ware, but should not
say the employment was either unhealthy or laborious. We
have one boy in the room between 9 and 10 years old; he
carries the broken ware out, sweeps the room, looks after
the fire, and cleans the engine turning-house: the machinery
is distant from the engine; he has nothing to do with the
machinery, the men attend to that"
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