Moorcroft

W. Moorcroft Ltd

Industry	Pottery
Predecessor	William Moorcroft Walter Moorcroft, John Moorcroft, The Roper Brothers
Successor	Hugh and Maureen Edwards (1986)
Founded	1897 (independent in 1913)
Founder	William Moorcroft
Headquarters	Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England
Area served	Global
Key people	William Moorcroft Hugh Edwards Rachel Bishop Sally Tuffin Emma Bossons Kerry Goodwin Vicky Lovatt Nicola Slaney
Products	Art pottery
Owner	Hugh and Maureen Edwards
Number of employees	120
Website	www.moorcroft.com

W. Moorcroft Ltd, trading as Moorcroft is a British art pottery manufacturer based in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, which was founded by William Moorcroft in 1913.

In 1897 Staffordshire pottery manufacturers James Macintyre & Co. Ltd employed 24-year-old William Moorcroft as a designer, and within a year he was put in full charge of the company's art pottery studio. Moorcroft's first innovative range of pottery, called Florian Ware, was a great success and won him a gold medal at the World's fair, the St. Louis International Exhibition in 1904. Unusually at that time, he adopted the practice of signing his name, or his initials, on nearly all the pottery he designed, the production of which he personally oversaw. In due course the extent to which his success had overshadowed Macintyre's other manufacturing activities resulted in resentment on the part of his employers, culminating in their decision in 1912 to close down his studio. He then set up his own company and the following year production of his pottery was transferred to a brand new factory nearby.

The Moorcroft factory produced an extensive array of moderately-priced domestic tableware items in addition to its famous tubelined, hand-painted art pottery. Moorcroft's reputation was enhanced when Queen Mary, a keen collector of his works, granted him a royal warrant in 1928. Shortly before the death of William in 1945, his elder son, Walter Moorcroft, took control of the business, which he continued to develop. The company's royal warrant was re-issued in his name in 1946.

Between its founding and its leadership under Walter Moorcroft, the company had been financed in collaboration with the famous London store, Liberty. The Liberty store's interest was bought out by Moorcroft in 1962.