Between 1890 and the end of the First World War the pottery industry suffered severely from cyclic fluctuations in trade. This was a period of intense competition between potter and potter, nation and nation.

  Years of boom, full employment and profit were followed by years of depression, cut-throat prices and loss: the pottery industry moved by fits and starts and many businesses failed to stay the course. The worst sufferers were, as always, those firms that devoted most of their energy to the export trade, for in a slump the overseas markets are the first to shut their doors and cancel orders. 

  Pre-eminent among exporting pottery businesses, the firm of J. and G. Meakin could not avoid many hard knocks during these years, but it was always strong and resilient enough to weather its crises. When old markets were temporarily lost, new ones were speedily cultivated by energetic directors and representatives who travelled the world with their samples.

  George Meakin's example has been followed throughout the firm's history: the journeys undertaken by the present directors and staff are no longer pioneering missions—"Sol" brand pottery is already world famous—but the firm's policy of fostering trade connections by personal contact between Hanley and its merchant customers overseas remains unaltered.

  Throughout these difficult years the firm's progress was guided by the wise hand of George Elliot Meakin. He was born in 1864, at Northwood House, Hanley, was educated at Rugby and studied for a career in the army; but at the age of nineteen he changed his mind and returned to the Potteries to join the family business.

  Under his father (George) and his uncle James he began a long apprenticeship at the Eagle Pottery. From this he emerged a sound and practical potter and was taken into partnership. On his father's death in 1891, he succeeded to the chairmanship of the business which had in the previous year been converted into a limited liability company under the name of J. and G. Meakin Ltd., and in this capacity he served the firm faithfully and well for thirty-six years. 

  For some years he was assisted in the management of the business by his brother James and cousin Kenneth, and subsequently by Bernard Meakin and H. Leonard Jones.George Elliot Meakin joined the business at a time when the export markets were developing new tastes in pottery shapes and decorations. 

  In addition to White Granite with its simple embossment and graceful, utilitarian shapes, they became interested in pattern and colour. Accordingly J. and G. Meakin set to work to produce a semi-porcelain body which would provide an appropriate setting for their prints. 

At first the prints were plain transfers from engravings—and very handsome many of these old patterns were. Then the prints were coloured by hand, by the skilled brushwork of the North Staffordshire "paintress". 

Finally, as the demand for colour increased, the lithographic process of reproduction was introduced, and this method—greatly improved in recent years—has remained the principal form of decoration at the Eagle and Eastwood factories down to the present day.

  The Staffordshire Sentinel said of George Elliot Meakin, 

"He was both an accomplished master potter and an able business man. Under his auspices everybody in the factories worked their best, proud of their chief, of the works and of the firm's products. The workpeople were devoted to him, for he was a model employer who understood processes, human nature and markets alike . . . His goodfellowship, which supported and did not detract from his quiet dignity, was an asset to the business as to all the public and social affairs in which he was concerned". 

In 1918 he had the distinction of being appointed High Sheriff of Staffordshire, and for many years he was an Alderman of the City of Stoke-on-Trent.

  Two sons of "G" were in turn succeeded by two sons of "J". 

  The elder, Kenneth, who joined the firm in 1899 and did much valuable work until the First World War started, unfortunately was killed in action with the Fifth North Staffords in May, 1915, to the great loss of the firm. 

The younger, Bernard Meakin, joined the firm in 1908 and soon made his mark as a skilled administrator. To the people of North Staffordshire his name is closely associated with cricket, for in his day he was an attractive and highly successful batsman and a captain of uncommon skill and resource. 
He led the County XI in some of its golden years when its playing strength—with the great S. F. Barnes as maestro—was probably the equal of many of the first class county sides. 

Bernard Meakin has had a long innings both with his firm, of which he has been Chairman since 1927, and with the County Club of which he is now president. And just as he was fortunate on the field to captain a team "of all the talents", so he now commands a board of directors whose several abilities ensure the maintenance of the Meakin tradition.

Present Directors of J. and G. Meakin Ltd.:
Bernard Meakin (Chairman),
H. Leonard Jones, Percy E. Jones, James F. Meakin,
Rodney Meakin and T. H. Breeze.

"   the daily work of potting... is also a family business"

It is interesting to note that among the present directors history is repeating itself. James F. Meakin, who is in charge of the reconstruction of the works, is the son of Lionel, James' eldest son, while Rodney Meakin, who directs the engineering policy, is the son of Bernard, James' youngest son. Thus the grandsons of the founder are carrying on the tradition of progress established a century ago.

In this short chronicle mention has been been made of only the principals of the firm, but there have been others—managers, travellers, designers, modellers and operatives—who have made notable contributions to its success. 

  It is not possible, however, to compile a complete list of their names and to do less would be invidious. No firm in the pottery industry has had the services of more loyal and competent employees than the thousands who have potted over the past hundred years for J. and G. Meakin. 

If the firm is a "family affair", then it can, with equal justice, be claimed that the daily work of potting— jolleying, dipping, placing, decorating and so on—is also a family business, for the present operatives at the Eagle and Eastwood works are in many instances the sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters of those who potted with "J" and "G".