Industry | Ceramic Manufacturing |
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Predecessor | Jones, Watts & Doulton (1815), Doulton & Watts (1820), Doulton & Co. (1853) |
Successor | WWRD Holdings Ltd. |
Founded | 1815 |
Founder | John Doulton, Martha Jones & John Watts |
Headquarters | Stoke-on-Trent, England |
Key people
|
Henry Doulton |
Owner | WWRD Group Holdings |
Parent | Fiskars Corporation |
Website | www |
Royal Doulton was an English company producing tableware and collectables, dating from 1815. Operating originally in London, its reputation grew in The Potteries, where it was a latecomer compared to Royal Crown Derby, Royal Worcester, Wedgwood, Spode and Mintons. Its products include dinnerware, giftware, cookware, porcelain, glassware, collectables, jewellery, linens, curtains and lighting.
Three of its brands were Royal Doulton, Royal Albert and Mintons. These brands are now owned by WWRD Holdings Ltd (Waterford Crystal, Wedgwood, Royal Doulton), based in Barlaston near Stoke-on-Trent. On 2 July 2015 the acquisition of WWRD by the Fiskars Corporation was completed.
The Royal Doulton company began as a partnership between John Doulton, Martha Jones, and John Watts, with a factory at Vauxhall Walk, Lambeth, London trading as Jones, Watts & Doulton in 1815. After Martha Jones left the partnership in 1820, the trade name was changed to Doulton & Watts. The business specialised in making stoneware articles, including decorative bottles and salt glaze sewer pipes. The company took the name Doulton & Co. in 1853 after the retirement of John Watts.
By 1871, Henry Doulton, John's son, launched a studio at the Lambeth pottery, and offered work to designers and artists from the nearby Lambeth School of Art. The first to be engaged was George Tinworth followed by artists such as the Barlow family (Florence, Hannah, and Arthur), Frank Butler, Mark Marshall and Eliza Simmance. In 1882, Doulton purchased the small factory of Pinder, Bourne & Co, at Nile Street in Burslem, Staffordshire, which placed Doulton in the region known as The Potteries.