Earthenware manufacturers at the Unicorn Pottery and Pinnox Works in Tunstall, Stoke-on-Trent, England

NOTE: 
The ware of Wegwood & Co are sometimes confused with those of Josiah Wedgwood & Sons Ltd. However the inclusion of "& Co" or "& Co Ltd" in the name always differentiates between the two companies as Josiah Wedgwood never used "& Co". 

• Enoch Wedgwood (a distant cousin of Josiah Wedgwood) became a partner in Podmore, Walker & Co. in 1835 and in 1856 the business was renamed Podmore, Walker, Wedgwood & Co. 

• Following the death of Thomas Podmore in 1860, Enoch Wedgwood inherited shares in the interests of the business left to him by Podmore, the partnership was dissolved and became Wedgwood & Co.

• Enoch Wedgwood took his younger brother Jabez into partnership.

• By the 1870's the company was employing between 600 and 700 people. 

• Enoch died in 1879 and was succeeded by his sons Edmund and Alfred Enoch Wedgwood who ran the business until 1900 when family control ceased. 

• The company did not have the same drive under the two sons and in 1890 Hollinshead and Kirkham took over the Unicorn Works.

• In 1900 the firm became a limited company and effective control passed out of the hands of the Wedgwood family. The new money and management put new life into the company and up to 1950 great efforts were put into regaining their former markets, largely by playing to the company's strengths in producing high quality goods.

• Wedgwood & Co remained open during the Second World War under the Wartime Concentration Scheme - they were permitted to produce undecorated domestic ware. They also produced canteen ware for the British armed forces. 

• In June 1945 Wedgwood & Co were granted a licence to produce 'fancies' for the home market. 

• In 1965 the company was sold to Semart Importing Co. based in New Jersey, USA and refloated as Enoch Wedgwood (Tunstall) Ltd. Semart was an importer of tableware and at the same time as buying Wedgwood & Co. purchased Crown Staffordshire China Co. 

• In 1969 Enoch Wedgwood (Tunstall) Ltd. purchased the Furnivals name together with the rights to a number of patterns which were marked under the Furnivals name. 

•  In order to expand production facilities the business of A G Richardson was purchased in 1974. Although A G Richardson ceased to exist, the use of their Crown Ducal name and some patterns was continued by Enoch Wedgwood for a few years.

• In 1980 Josiah Wedgwood & Sons Ltd (who, up to this point had nothing to do with Wedgwood & Co.) purchased Enoch Wedgwood and it operated within the Wedgwood Group as the 'Unicorn Pottery'. 

Unicorn Pottery and Pinnox Works

"These were large and important manufactories of general earthenware, situated in Amicable Street and Great Woodland Street,  ..... they were succeeded by Wedgwood & Co, the head of the firm being Enoch Wedgwood. 
The works were very extensive and gave employment to six or seven hundred persons, occupied an area of about an acre of ground and were among the most substantially built and best arranged in the pottery district. 

The goods produced were the higher classes of earthenware, in which dinner, tea, breakfast, desert, toilet and other services, and all the usual miscellaneous articles were made to a very considerable extent, for the home, Colonial, Continental and American markets.
The quality of the "Imperial Ironstone China" - the staple production of the firm - was of remarkable excellence, both in body and glaze...... They also supplied large quantities of Ironstone china, specially made for the use of ships.

The Unicorn Works were entirely devoted to the production of plain white graniteware for the American trade.

Messrs. Wedgwood & Co. became a limited company in 1900 and continued to use this old title until 1965, when the new style Enoch Wedgwood (Tunstall) Ltd. was adopted to avoid the confusion which often arose between the old title (and marks) and that of Josiah Wedgwood & Sons Ltd."

 Jewitt's - Ceramic Art of Great Britain 1800-1900

The pattern name 'Woronzoff' commemorates the Tsarist governor of the Ukraine, Prince Mikhail Vorontsov (1782-1856), whose statue forms the centre of the design. 
Vorontsov was governor of New Russia from 1823 to 1844 having fought with distinction in the resistance to the invasion by Napoleon. His statue was erected in 1863 in Cathedral Square [later Soviet Army Square] in Odessa, where it still stands.

The registration diamond gives a date for the registration of the pattern as 17the September 1867

This mark incorporates the Royal Arms

A number of potters produced a pattern called CHUSAN, based on a, 'oriental' style. Probably first produced by Joseph Clementson as a flow-blue pattern.

Chusan is the main island of an archipelago of islands of the same name off the Chinese coast. It was regarded as the key to China.   

c. 1860-90

jug in the Blossom pattern - decorated in deep blue with 
orange and green floral sprigs and gilt accents 

typical colours of the Imari style

Royal Semi Porcelain
Wedgwood & Co Ltd
England

c.1900-06

'LD' was added after c.1900

the marks shown appear on various pieces in the same set

photos courtesy: Robert Tree

this style of printed mark was introduced in around 1908

'IVORY' is the style of the body
the impressed mark  1034 is the month/year of manufacture - in this case October 1934

The other impressed number is probably a workman's mark

the impressed mark  736 is the month/year of manufacture - in this case July 1936

The other impressed number is probably a workman's mark and the hand painted mark is a decorators mark

Earl, Order of St. Patrick
pattern 775

photo courtesy:  Gordon Sutcliffe

Wedgwood & Co produced a range of good quality, hand painted Toby Jugs (more correctly Character Jugs).

Some were grouped into a series - either 'Ye Olde Town Hall' or 'Ye Olde Village Inn', others stood alone or were obviously part of a series (such as Tinker, Tailor, Soldier...) but not specifically named as a group. 

The jugs were produced in two different sizes: around 5in (13cm) which were marked with a /1 after the pattern number and around 7in (18cm) which were marked with a /3.

The overwhelming majority were jugs although examples are found where the character was also produced as a wall pocket.

Occasionally the same piece would be produced with variations in the colour scheme. 

There were also some variations in the actual character, for example the Town Crier has two variations in the manner that the hand bell was moulded - this was probably to cut down on breakages during manufacture.

Earlier examples of some of the characters didn't have a name printed on the bottom and so this has given rise to alternative (guessed) names - so the Beadle is sometimes called the Jailer and the Town Clerk is called the Tax Assessor.

To add to the confusion occasionally the wrong name has been printed on the bottom so there are examples of the Town Crier erroneously marked as 'Town Clerk' and the Pedlar marked as 'Shepherd' 

750 - Town Crier 
753 - Lord Mayor
754 - Night Watchman 
755 - Town Clerk
756 - Beadle 

Ye Old Village Inn series:

757 - Coachman
761 - Pedlar 
762 - Innkeeper
763 - Squire
764 - Vicar
765 - School Master
766 - Shepherd

Unclassified series:

775 - Earl, Order of St. Patrick
778 - Archbishop

780 - Tinker
781 - Tailor
782 - Soldier
783 - Sailor
784 - Poacher
795 - Beggar
796 - Rich Man
798 - Poor Man

Courtesy: Hansons Auctioneers

Standard name-mark used alone or incorporated in printed marks. Used alone - impressed.

c.1860-90

STONE GRANITE 
WEDGWOOD & Co.
(impressed) 

This mark incorporates 
the Royal Arms

c.1860-90

Wedgwood & Co

c.1860+

Semi-Porcelain
Wedgwood & Co
England

marks with ENGLAND are 
generally after 1891 

this mark on a Willow pattern plate with impressed Wedgwood & Co Ltd together with the manufacturing month/year of April 1913 

c.1890-1900

c.1900-1906

'LD' was added c.1900 

c.1906+

with or without 
'Imperial porcelain' 

c.1908+

often the name of the pattern is included

c.1908+

the unicorn mark was registered as a trade mark in 1910 (although it was used prior to this) 

c.1925+

note: the introduction of "Estab 1835" 

It was the earlier company of Podmore, Walker & Co which was established around 1835 and are generally acknowledged as being the first producers of the 'Asiatic Pheasants' pattern

c.1925+

c.1936+

The mark shown indicates that the ware was produced for and supplied to the British Government; it was ultimately property of the Crown/Government, hence the GR-VI Cypher.

This mark is there to distinguish the piece from being normal ‘utilitarian’ ware for public sale during the period surrounding the Second World War. 

Wedgwood & Co (and others) were given government contracts throughout the late 1930s and into the 1940s (WWII) and produced canteen ware - most likely for the armed services.

The year of manufacturer is generally included.

c.1951+

EVERWARE
Wedgwood & Co Ltd
England
Reg Trade Mark
No 547269

c.1952+

c.1956+

"These initials, AMS occur in a bow knot type outline, on a dinner service made by Wedgwood & Co of Tunstall. This service bears the registration mark for June 1880. The initials probably relate to the retailer."

Geoffrey A. Godden ' Encyclopedia of British Pottery and Porcelain Marks'

NOTE: the AMS mark denotes the retailer 'Silber & Fleming' - a number of North Staffordshire pottery companies produced ware for them.

It is unclear when Josiah Wedgwood & Sons Ltd stopped producing ware under the Unicorn Tableware name.