Lawleys (1921) Ltd
Lawleys Ltd
Lawleys Group Ltd
Allied English Potteries Ltd






 

Period of operation:

Lawleys (1921) Ltd

1921

1929

Lawleys Ltd

1929

1948

Lawley Group Ltd

1948

1964

Allied English Potteries Ltd

June 1964

1971

 

Lawleys Ltd was an important retailer of glassware and ceramics and, following the Second World War, also the owner of numerous pottery manufacturers.
  • About 1884 Edgar H. Lawley founded a jewellery retail business in Birmingham.

  • 1908 - the first of Lawleys china and glassware shops was opened - "considerable expansion took place so that at the outbreak of war in 1939 retail branches had been established in many of the larger provincial towns from Dundee to Penzance"


Lawleys (1921) Ltd

  • In 1921 the business was incorporated as Lawleys (1921) Ltd.

  • 1929 - Edgar Lawley's sons Thomas H. and Edgar E. Lawley were appointed as joint managing directors and the company was renamed Lawleys Ltd.


Lawleys Ltd

  • The two brothers ran the retail business together until 1936 when Edgar purchased his brother's shareholding and Thomas left to develop interests in pottery manufacture. 

  • Lawleys Ltd continued under the direction of Edgar E. Lawley and at the end of the Second World War acquired the assets of a number of pottery companies that had closed under the wartime concentration scheme

  • Between 1945 and 1947 five factories were re-opened to service the Lawleys retail shops, including..

  • The Lawley-controlled companies were known collectively as the 'Adderley Group'


Lawleys Group Ltd


Allied English Potteries Ltd

  • Also in 1964 the Pearson Group, the Lawley Group's ultimate owner, purchased Thomas C. Wild & Sons Ltd and the Lawley Group was renamed Allied English Potteries Ltd with Ridgway Potteries Ltd, Royal Crown Derby Ltd and Thomas Wild & Sons Ltd as independently operating subsidiaries. 

  • From June 1964 the much enlarged Lawley Group changed its name to Allied English Potteries. Although the LAWLEY name continued to appear on some ware.

  • Allied English Potteries Ltd's manufacturing subsidiaries included..

  • In 1966 the businesses of Shore & Coggins Ltd and Chapmans (Longton) Ltd - both subsidiaries of Thomas C. Wild and Sons Ltd - were closed to allow expansion of the Royal Albert and Paragon brands.

  • In November 1971 the Pearson Group purchased Doulton & Co. Ltd ('Royal Doulton') and in the consequent restructuring of ownership and shareholdings, Allied English Potteries Ltd became a subsidiary of Royal Doulton.

  • From the 1st January 1973 the many Allied English Potteries businesses came under the banner of Royal Roulton Tableware Ltd. 

much of this information courtesy of... Michael Perry 'A Handbook of British Pottery Manufacturers 1900-2010' 


Philips 

Phillips were London retailers of china and glass ware - their advertisments state that they were established in 1760. They were retailers of Staffordshire pottery, amongst others. 

At sometime the Phillips name was acquired by Lawleys and some ware produced in the Lawley Group was sold with a Lawleys/Philips mark.

   
Lawleys
Regent Street
Philips's
Estd
1760
 

- more on Phillips -



The Times Newspaper
16th September 1948
 




 


Questions, comments, contributions? email: Steve Birks