• George Howson, born 1818 in Burslem. In 1865 he set up a business as a sanitary ware manufacturer in the Eastwood district of Hanley. The works were off Paxton Street and likely associated with the Eastwood Brick & Marl works.

• c.1879 the business traded under the name George Howson & Sons. 

• 1881 - by the time of the 1881 census at the age of 63, George Howson was employing 42 men, 4 boys and 4 women. 

• In January 1893 the father George Howson retired and the three sons continued the business as George Howson & Sons.  The sons were James Taylor Howson, Bernard Howson and Richard George Howson. 

• 1896 - George died April 1896, age 78.

• By 1924 the business had grown and a second works (also called the Eastwood Sanitary Works) was developed on the site of a former flint & stone mill - alongside the Cauldon Canal and Clifford Street (which adjoined the earlier works). 

• By 1951 the second factory had expanded to take over the works belonging to the Mousecroft firebrick & marl works. 

• 1966 - the business was aquired by Armitage Ware Ltd (also a manufacturer of sanitary ware since 1817) - subsequently, in 1969, Armitage Ware Ltd merged with Shanks and Co to create Armitage Shanks who by then had 8 factories with its headquaters in Stoke-on-Trent, including Howson & Sons Ltd, who retained their name. 

• In December 1984 liquidators were appointed. 

George Howson was a Chartist sympathiser and philanthropist

photo courtesy: Staffordshire Past Track