Shorter and Son Ltd

Arthur Shorter had earlier been a partner in Shorter, Bettelley, Millward & Co., in 1878 Bettelley and Millward withdrew and Shorter was in partnership with James Boulton (the '& Co').
Arthur had two sons - the youngest John Guy Shorter (usually known as Guy) and the older Arthur Colley Austin Shorter (usually known as Colley)
In 1900 Guy Shorter became manager - the partnership of Shorter and Son probably dates from this time. It is not certain when James Boulton withdrew from the business but by 1906 the company was Shorter & Son.
The Shorter family had interests in and later acquired the pottery companies of A. J. Wilkinson and Newport Pottery
1926 - The father Arthur Shorter died. Over the next few years his two sons, Guy and Colley, developed their products along more adventurous lines.
1932 - After various others, Harry L. Steele was appointed manager, a position he was to hold for the next 30 years.
In 1933 the business was incorporated as Shorter and Son Ltd with the brothers Guy and Colley as directors and Harry L. Steele as the Director-in-Charge.
WWII Shorter and Son Ltd. remained in production throughout the war
1940 - After the death of his first wife, Colley married Clarice Cliff who became Artistic Director of the group of potteries.
1950 - John B. Shorter, son of Guy Shorter, joined the company and was soon appointed as sales director.
Shorters flourished through the following decade, producing popular new lines and reintroducing some of their old ones.
The1960s saw stiffer competition which, together with Colley’s ill-health in 1961, caused the firm to falter.
In 1963 part of the Copeland Street factory was demolished for the A500 road development scheme.
This, plus the expense of conversion to smokeless firing, led the directors to accept an offer for the business from S. Fielding and Co. the owners of the Crown Devon name.
Shorter & Son then operated from Fielding’s Sutherland Street factory under the management of John B. Shorter who continued with the new owners until his retirement in 1972. Shorter & Son Ltd. was still listed as a subsidiary of Crown Devon Ltd. in 1971
In 1964 Colley Shorter died. Clarice Cliff-Shorter disposed of the family shares in Wilkinsons and Newport to the neighbouring Midwinter Co. who wanted to expand production.

Shorter and Clarice Cliff

"The pottery firm which later became Shorter and Son was first set up by Arthur Shorter in 1878 with a partner James Boulton in Stoke on Trent. Their products were solidly in the main-stream of Victorian taste - majolica wares of all types: jugs, bowls, flower pots and tableware, predominated.

In 1891 Arthur’s brother-in-law A. J. Wilkinson died in an accident. Arthur Shorter was asked to manage the pottery Wilkinson had established in Burslem in 1885. A few years later he bought the firm and in 1898 Arthur’s son Colley joined him. His younger son Guy, who became manager at Shorter's in 1900, joined his father and Colley at Wilkinson's in 1905. The two factories worked in close co-operation, advertising and exhibiting jointly.

Colley and Guy were made directors of Wilkinsons in 1916, the same year that Clarice Cliff, aged 17, started work there as a decorator. In 1920 the family acquired the Newport Pottery, also in Burslem, later famous for its production of Clarice Cliff’s "Bizarre" ware.

In 1925 Colley Shorter, much impressed by Clarice’s work, provided her with her own studio next to his office. He also sent her on a modern design course at the Royal College of Art and a trip to Paris to observe the arts scene there. Allowed to experiment with old Newport Pottery shapes, she produced her new bold geometric designs, so expressive of the Art Deco age. Colley was a consummate salesman and it was he who conceived the idea of personalising her designs with her signature, thus launching one of the 20th century’s design legends.

In 1926 Arthur Shorter died and over the next few years his sons felt freer to develop their firms’ products along more adventurous lines. The Shorter factory itself, still the most traditional in its output, felt the wind of change. In their book ‘The Shorter Connection’, Gordon and Irene Hopwood explore in detail the extent to which the creativity of Clarice Cliff was channelled into Shorter products in the late 1920’s and early 1930’s.

Shorter’s received a further creative boost in the 1930’s from the employment of the designer Mabel Leigh, who in two short years with them produced an extensive and exciting range of ‘ Period Pottery’. This was based on ethnic designs from around the Mediterranean, Africa and Central America. Even though she left the firm in 1935, the designs had such appeal they continued to be produced for years afterwards.

In 1940, after the death of his first wife, Colley married Clarice Cliff who became Artistic Director of the group of potteries. Shorter’s flourished through the following two decades, producing popular new lines and re-producing some of their old ones. Running into stiffer competition in the 1960’s and with the loss of Colley’s participation, retiring due to ill-health in 1961, to die in 1963, the firm began to falter.

Clarice Cliff-Shorter disposed of the family shares in Wilkinson and Newport and so control passed to the Midwinter Company. Shorter’s were effectively taken over by Crown Devon in 1964 and their distinctive identity was finally lost with the retirement of the last family member John, Guy’s son in 1972."

Ref: ‘The Shorter Connection’ by Gordon & Irene Hopwood, published by Richard Dennis

Pre-1920 Shorter ware was typical Edwardian majolica ware, jardinieres, plant stands, umbrella holders, bulb bowls, jugs, vases, etc and undistinguished domestic earthenware, novelty lines and ornamental earthenware.

From the 1920s onward, Shorter & Sons specialized in the manufacture of ornamental and novelty earthenware.

To quote an article in the Pottery Gazette (March 1941):

‘There are literally thousands of high-quality earthenware novelty lines covering all table adjuncts and every conceivable household pottery novelty—cleverly modelled and effectively decorated’.

The novelties included Toby Jugs, tobacco jars, ash trays, sugars, creams, cruets, butter dishes, posy holders , and a host of other household items and many of these, especially the Toby Jugs, were still in production in the 1960s.

this example produced by Shorter & Son pre 1963
Toby Jug ware continued to be made when the
company became a subsidiary of Crown Devon in 1963

figurines in the style of what is known as a “Pew Group”

Probably produced in the 1930-50 period.

Shorter produced Toby jugs, character jugs and figurines
throughout most of their existence.

This example imitates 18th/19th C Staffordshire figurines (hence the “Old Staffordshire”), often produced with a flat back to stand on the mantlepiece or hung on the wall.

Wikipedia article on Pew Group

Genuine Old Staffordshire
Shorter
England

cast in number 738

Shorter & Son Ltd trade names include ’Batavia Ware’ and ‘Sunray Pottery’.
Most of the Shorter marks are utilitarian - virtually all ware was marked with
a printed ‘Shorter & Son Ltd, Stoke-on-Trent, England’ or similar wording.

the original company of
Shorter, Bettelley, Millward & Co
was recorded as being at the
Batavia Works

Toby Jug ware continued to be made when the
company became a subsidiary of Crown Devon in 1963