• In 1882 John Henry Weatherby was a junior partner in the earthenware company of Whittaker, Edge & Co. at the Hall Fields pottery which was newly built in Hanley. 

• In 1891 John Henry Weatherby left the Whittaker partnership and for a year operated on his own account from part of the Pinnox Works in the nearby town of Tunstall. 

• Between August 1891 and April 1892 Weatherby registered four pattern designs while they were at the Pinnox Works in Tunstall.

• Early 1892 Weatherby transferred his business was to the existing Falcon Works in the High Street, Hanley - this works was adjacent to the Hall Fields pottery where he had previously been a partner.  

• The first pattern design registered at the Falcon Pottery was in November 1892. 

• In 1892 the works had 4 kilns and one in the process of being built, by 1900 there were 8 kilns and in 1906 a large entrance range was built to the works with 3 stories and 23 bays. From 1925 to 1961 there were 5 bottle kilns, these were replace by electric kilns following the Clean Air Acts of 1956 and 1968.  One of the coal fired kilns was retained, having being last fired in 1965, and in 1989 this became a listed building. By 2012 the outside brickwork of this remaining kiln had collapsed.  

• The works remained operational during the Second World War under the Domestic Pottery (Manufacture and Supply) Order. In 1947 John H Weatherby was the Managing Director and J. S. Weatherby the Sales Manager. 

• Weatherby first made domestic ware such as basins and ewers, later moving into tableware and giftware.

• In the 1950s a number of pottery companies began to make a range of animals hoping that people would go on to collect several in a set. Weatherby produced a series of sturdy comical animals which they called Zookies. An advertising leaflet from 1957 read "People who buy one, buy another and another and buy them for their friends too!". Weatherby made Zookies into the 1960s, but by 1970 production had ceased.

• They also produced such items as 'Chuckleheads' (cups and saucers shaped like animals), 'Beasties' (dinosaurs), commemorative items, dwarf figurines and tableware (including a range of small trays) often decorated with 1960s favourite images such as gonks and daleks. 

• In 1960 John S. Weatherby and John L. Weatherby were listed as Joint Managing Directors and J. S. Weatherby as the Sales Manager. 

• The company also entered the market for hotel ware – which eventually contributed ultimately to its downfall from tough competition from home and abroad.

• Weatherby were prolific manufacturers producing 1000s of patterns ranging from white ironstone, collectables and dinner ware through to souvenir ware and Fortnum & Mason pudding bowls.  

• From 1975 to 2000 Weatherby also produced ware for the American importers JONROTH. The pieces are mostly not marked Weatherby, but carry the JONROTH mark alone. JONROTH took the last order produced by J. H. Weatherby & Sons in April 2000

• In April 2000 the company chairman, Christopher Weatherby, the great-great grandson of company founder John Henry Weatherby, announced the winding up of the company. At its height the company employed 200, but the figure was down to 50 in 1999 and stood at 10 at the time of closure. 

• After the closure of J.H.Weatherby in 2000 Jonathan Weatherby took over producing for JONROTH, working with a very limited staff at the Falcon Pottery - operating as a decorator under the name of Jonathan Weatherby at Falcon Pottery. 

Durability
J. H. W. & Sons
England
Semi Porcelain 

the registration number 227959 shows that the pattern was registered on the 
23rd February 1894 

fragment of ware in the Edgevale pattern found (2024) on the beach on the coast of Maine, USA

 courtesy: McKenna Varney

Wheat: J.H. Weatherby and Sons Limited

"The Wheat pattern is today [1985] manufactured by J.H. Weatherby and Sons at its Falcon Pottery in Hanley. The firm began producing the pattern in 1970, taking over from Arthur J. Wilkinson Limited of Burslem. Since Weatherby and Sons acquired the blocks, cases and master moulds from Wilkinson, there is likely very little difference between the patterns produced by both companies.

The manufacturing materials were actually purchased by a New York-based firm, Crownford Gifts (hence the ROYAL CROWNFORD IRONSTONE in the mark), when Wilkinson ceased operation, and Weatherby and Sons was then requested to produce the pattern. 

In Canada the distributor of the pattern is Frederick Dickson and Company Limited, which, prior to 1970, supplied the Wilkinson-made Wheat pattern to Canadian stores."

Lynne Sussman, The Wheat Pattern - Studies in Archaeology Architecture and History National Historic Parks and Sites Branch Parks Canada, 1985 (Link)

 

See details of Crownford China/Giftware

Reproduced from genuine hand engravings, and Made In Staffordshire, the home of fine English pottery

London Pride were a series of blue & white transferware souvenir ware pieces of London landmarks

some pieces have the London Pride mark overstamped on the regular Weatherby mark

on this example the "2-76" is the date of manufacture - Feb 1976

"1 68" is the date of manufacture - Jan 1968

"1 92" is the date of manufacture - Jan 1992

Article from the Sentinel Newspaper April 27th 2000 
By Business Reporter Stephen Houghton

One of the last remaining family-owned pottery firms is to close after more than a century.

J H Weatherby and Sons in Hanley is currently being run down and is will soon cease trading after 109 years.

Its chairman, Christopher Weatherby, the great-great grandson of company founder John Henry Weatherby, today blamed cut-throat competition in the hotelware business for the firm's decline.

At its height the company employed 200, but the figure was down to 50 at the turn of the year and now stands at 10.

Mr Weatherby said: ‘‘We have decided to cease trading and are in the process of finishing off stock and things like that. Basically we've decided to close down before someone else forced us to – while we are solvent rather than insolvent."

‘‘It's really upsetting. One of the main reasons is for the employees who work here.
We have had two or three generations of people working here and one of the things I've found warming is their reaction to this.‘‘They have been very sympathetic and understanding. Everyone who works here has been very happy here.''

The company was founded in Tunstall in 1891 and moved to Hanley the following year.

It first made domestic ware such as basins and ewers, later moving into tableware and giftware.

The firm also entered the market for hotelware – leading ultimately to its downfall. Mr Weatherby pointed to tough competition from home and abroad for the company's current problems.
These included pressure on prices owing to ‘‘block production'' and the concentration of the business in relatively few hands.

The 59-year-old added: ‘‘The hotel part of it was more fragmented. That has been changing and it's relying on more standard patterns.''

Mr Weatherby admitted the firm had even considered importing cheaper products from abroad, but was deterred because of the high volumes needed to make the operation profitable.

This route was controversially followed by another failed family firm, James Sadler and Sons.
Although the Burslem-based family firm went under earlier this year with the loss of 140 jobs, James Sadler Imports Limited continues to trade.

Mr Weatherby also partly blamed a planning issue dating back to the early 1970s, which ‘‘blighted'' the family firm and restricted investment in it.