THE EAGLE POTTERY

  The Market Street venture proved so profitable that before long James was hard at work on plans for the Eagle factory. 

  On its completion, in 1859, it became obvious that the brothers had created a manufactory of exceptional efficiency. Dinner and tea ware, made in White Granite of a strength eminently suitable for the export markets of those days, were the chief products. They soon won a wide popularity throughout North America and subsequently in South America. So rapidly did demand increase that extensions to the Eagle works became necessary: even so the brothers could not themselves satisfy all their customers and it became necessary during the “sixties” to commission work from other manufacturers.

  In course of time, however, the Eagle works were enlarged and refitted, and another complete factory was built alongside. With this additional productive capacity the business was for a time able to meet the heavy and increasing demand for its wares.

JAMES MEAKIN—MAN OF ACTION

“J” precedes “G” in the Meakin hierarchy and trade name not only for reasons of seniority but because James Meakin was the stronger character in the partnership. It was, in the main, his driving force that made the business pre-eminent among the earthenware manufactories of the day.

  James Meakin was the eldest son of a family of twelve children. On the death of his father—at the early age of forty-five—and when he himself was only twenty-one, he shouldered the burden of breadwinner-in-chief and vowed to his mother that he would not marry until his brothers and sisters had grown up. 

  This promise he kept, and he was therefore the last of the brothers to marry. His bride was Emily Ridgway, a daughter of a well-known potter and potting line, so that the marriage linked two of the leading manufacturers of the period. 

  From this union sprang the American agency of Meakin and Ridgway (of New York, and later also of Toronto), which was established by James' eldest son, Lionel, and John Ridgway, his nephew. 

  James Meakin had eight children, some of whom—including Bernard Meakin, the present chairman of the company—were younger than the grandchildren of his brothers and sister.

  It was chiefly due to James' vision and enterprise that the Eagle factory was built, that its planning incorporated the most advanced ideas in potting technique, that the firm soon won the esteem of merchants throughout the world and the loyalty of its workers. 

  Some measure of the regard in which he was held in North Staffordshire is afforded by the fact that his portrait, presented by the employees of J. and G. Meakin “as a mark of their esteem and respect”, hangs in the place of honour in the vestibule of Hanley Town Hall.

  In 1868, at another gathering of workpeople held at the Mechanics’ Institute in Hanley, he was presented with an illuminated address. This is reproduced [below].

  When he died, honoured and respected, in 1885, a remarkable tribute was paid to his character and ability by twenty-eight of the leading merchants of New York. 

  In an inscribed memorial addressed to his family they recorded his “sterling integrity, steadfast friendship and untiring benevolence”.

  One of the Eagle factory’s present employees—he represents the fourth generation of J. and G. Meakin workers in his family—retells a story that underlines the value of James Meakin’s contribution to the firm’s renown. A Yorkshireman came to the Potteries and obtained work at the Eagle factory. He was at a local store buying equipment for his new home, when the manager detected an alien accent, became suspicious and invited his “credit” customer to furnish details of his occupation and place of work. The Yorkshireman announced that he was employed by J. and G. Meakin, whereupon doubts disappeared and a smile of mercantile urbanity spread across the manager’s face. “Right”, he said, “then you have just what you want, without question”.

GEORGE MEAKIN—AMBASSADOR

  There can be few more human documents in existence than the Boston diary of George Meakin. Its closely written pages tell the story of a man bearing his self-inflicted exile with dignity and humour. [Above] a sample page from his diary is reproduced. It will be observed that the printed dates have been altered to give a year-old diary another year of service, a nice touch of Staffordshire economy—and that the space allotted to each day has been completely filled. 

"... took breakfast in 3 mins., and walked to my office in 4 mins..."

Moreover, the entries do not, as with so many mortals, become less detailed as the year proceeds. It needs no Sherlock Holmes to deduce from all this that George Meakin was a man of indefatigable application to duty, meticulous, persistent and level-headed.    He tells us that on Wednesday, January 3rd, 1855, he “copied a letter in twenty minutes, a long one; took breakfast in 3 min., and walked to my office in 4 mins., a distance of half a mile . . . received 2 orders from Canada . . . went to a lecture on Modern Chivalry which was very good, and retired about 9 o’clock”.    On January 5th he “received letters from Brother James, Pankhurst, Taylor and Pear and Maddock, sold Clark and Andrews 38 crates of wares . . . was very busy writing, etc., all day . . .”

  It would appear that he “cleaned out” his office every other day or so, wrote almost daily to his brother James, attended church every Sunday, took regular constitutionals on Boston Common, called regularly upon “several gentlemen” and retired at “about nine o’clock” every night. But he also found time to travel widely in the interior of the continent. 

  And here, perhaps, it is appropriate to recall that George became one of North Staffordshire’s most generous public benefactors. On his death in 1891, the Staffordshire Sentinel published a long obituary notice which contained this passage:

“By the death of Mr. George Meakin, Hanley has lost its most generous benefactor. Thousands of its inhabitants who probably never saw his face feel to-day that they have lost a friend. Quiet and unostentatious in his life, Mr. Meakin’s name was nevertheless a household word throughout the Potteries. With no aspirations leading him to take personally an active part in public life, he distributed freely of his wealth for the public advantage. He loved the people among whom his business life was spent, and he loaded them with benefactions wisely conceived and handsomely carried out. Sought by many for aid to many objects, and refusing no appeal founded on reason or in kind feeling, he sought nothing for himself, and refused the honours which others would have thrust upon him. His name will be perpetuated—though if he could he would have avoided publicity during his life and posthumous fame—by solid and enduring monuments to his kindness in connection, especially, with the Victoria Hall and the new parks . . . Among his numerous benefactions were a grant of £5,000 to the cost of Hanley Park, the provision of the Victoria Hall organ and the founding of the celebrated Meakin Concerts . . ."

EASTWOOD POTTERY

  The Eastwood Pottery, we may observe, had been established by Charles, another son of James the Elder. It was acquired by J. and G. Meakin in 1887 and thus became part of the largest pottery concern in the country. 

  Eastwood has always been recognised as a well-planned factory. Its three biscuit and four glost ovens are situated conveniently for potters’ shops, warehouses and decorating shops, and the whole is so designed as to facilitate even flow from one department to another without overlapping. Like Eagle Pottery, its position on the canal gives it the advantage of water transport.