A E Gray and Co Ltd






 

Location and period of operation:

A E Gray and Co (Ltd)

Hanley and Stoke

1907

1961

 

This pottery decorating company was started by Albert Edward Gray in 1907 at Stoke and then moved to the larger Glebe Works in Mayer Street, Hanley and then in 1933 to works in Whieldon Road, Stoke; Stoke-on-Trent, England.

A. E. Gray & Co were a decorating firm, buying in white-ware shapes from other manufacturers. They never made ware of their own. 

  • Albert Edward Gray had over twenty years' experience as a pottery salesman with the Manchester firm of H. G. Stephenson Ltd. In 1907 he moved to premises in Back Glebe Street, Stoke to start his own pottery wholesale business.

  • By 1907 Gray started his own business in Stoke, decorating plain white ware produced by others. Growing demand required larger premises and he moved to the Glebe Works in Mayer Street, Hanley.

  • In 1912 the business was incorporated as a limited company - 
    "A. E. Gray 8c Co., Ltd. - This private company has been registered with a capital of £3,000 in £1 shares, to take over the business of porcelain and earthenware manufacturers carried on by A. E. Gray and J. Wilkinson at Glebe Works, Mayer-st, Hanley. 
    The first directors are A. E. Gray, J. Wilkinson, and A. Royle. Registered office. Glebe Works, Mayer-st, Hanley." Pottery Gazette, 1 November 1912

  • John Guildford, a British ceramic designer,  began his career at Gray’s Pottery in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, where he served as the Design and Decorating Manager until 1922. 
    During his time at Gray’s, Guildford's work was featured in the 1920 Studio Yearbook of Decorative Art and the British Institute of Industrial Art Exhibition.     In 1922, Guildford joined Barker Brothers in Longton, Stoke-on-Trent, as a decorator and designer.

  • In 1922 a fledgling designer, Susie Cooper, joined A. E. Gray. She was to become an innovative designer - on her 27th birthday in 1929 Cooper left Gray's to start her own business: Susie Cooper Pottery Ltd.

  • In 1923, his son, Robin, joined the firm and he had also engaged Sam C. Talbot as his designer. 

  • In 1933 the growing business moved to works in Whieldon Road, Stoke.

 

Relationship with Kirkland & Co: 

 

  • The 1951 Pottery Gazette directory lists A. E. Gray and R. E. Gray as joint managing directors and S. C. Talbot as sales manager. 
    By 1956 the business was run by R. E. Gray and S. C. Talbot as joint managing directors. A. E. Gray was chairman but in semi-retirement; he was a Fellow of The Royal Society of Arts and a Justice of the Peace. 

  • The founder Albert E Gray died in 1959. The business was sold and on the 1st January 1960 to Susan Williams-Ellis and her husband, Euan Cooper-Willis. 

  • Susan Williams-Ellis wanted her own manufacturing pottery and in February 1961 acquired Kirkhams Ltd. of London Road, Stoke. 

  • In December 1961 A. E. Gray & Co. Ltd. and Kirkhams Ltd. combined under the new name of Portmeirion Potteries Ltd at the London Road site.      

 

| see: 1956 article on Gray's Pottery |

| visit: www.grayspottery.co.uk for more information on Grays Pottery |

 

 

Examples of decorated ware produced:

".. it can be estimated that Gray’s Pottery produced of the order of 19,000 different patterns. Many are easily identified as being unique but some are variations of a specific theme: perhaps using subtly different colourways, using a different edge-line or using a matt rather than a shiny glaze. Occasionally a pattern was re-launched many years after the initial offering and the same design can then have two numbers.

Few patterns had names. Of those that did, some were included as part of the marks within or alongside the backstamp.. "

P & K Niblett; Gray's Pottery web site. 


 

 


1911 Coronation June 22nd

souvenir beaker commemorating the coronation of 
King George V & Queen Mary - this was given to all school children by the then mayor of Portsmouth. 
Ald. T. Scott Foster J.P.
Mayor
Portsmouth


A. E. Gray & Co
Glebe Works
Stoke-on-Trent 



 


miniature Southampton FC vase  


Runners Up English Cup
1889-1900 & 1901-2

Champions Southern League
1896-7 1897-8 1898-9
1900-1 1902-3 & 1903-4

 


Gray's Sports China

the registration number 588114 shows that the design was registered in 1911 


The Sports China range (sometimes marked Sports Pottery) are typically bone china miniature vases or jugs with print of a footballer in a team strip. The team’s achievements are printed on the opposite side.

Gray's produced two groups of small bone china souvenir items in the first few years of the company's existence, up to 1913 - towns and/or buildings  and football clubs.

Although none of the items recorded so far has a maker's backstamp, many of the shapes have been attributed to the Vine Pottery, Stoke. 

 

 


condiment set with characters and verses from Florence K Upton's stories

 design based on one of the Florence Kate Upton books
showing the typical "penny wooden" dolls featured in her stories
A. E. Gray & Co Ltd
Hanley  England

 c.1914-1918 


 

 

 


Toby jug produced by Gray for sale by William Whiteley 


Made expressly for William Whiteley Ltd
Universal Provider London W

A. E. Gray & Co Ltd
Hanley England

Claiming that he could provide anything from a pin to an elephant, William Whiteley dubbed himself "The Universal Provider" 

- see Wikipedia article for William Whiteley Ltd - 


 

 

 


silver luster coffee set 
A. E. Gray & Co Ltd
Hanley England 


 

 

 


'Mountains & Moon' design hand painted on a Paris-shape jug

Lancaster & Sons supplied the Paris jug to Gray's 
as a white-ware blank  


Hand Painted
Gray's Pottery
Hanley England 

The Gray's clipper mark printed over a 
Lancaster & Sons backstamp 


 

 


 

 

 


 

 


Marks used on ware for identification:



A. E. Gray & Co
Glebe Works
Stoke-on-Trent 

 

 


Gray's Sports Pottery

"New Trade Marks advertised for registration during November include : 

336,196. China ware and earthenware pottery included in Class 16. A. E. Gray & Co, Glebe Works, Mayer-street, Hanley. Staffordshire."

The Pottery Gazette - 1 Dec 1911


Gray's Sports China

the registration number 588114 shows that the design was registered in 1911 


 

  

all black galleon mark

this mark used c.1914-18 
(note that the 'o' of 'Co' is within the letter 'C') 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Suppliers of white-ware to Gray's: 

A. E. Gray & Co were a decorating firm, buying in white-ware shapes from other manufacturers. They never made ware of their own. 

When the ware was made specifically for an order from Gray then there were generally no manufacturers marks and only the Gray backstamp is used. However when the ware was from a surplus of ware the manufacturers mark often appears and the Gray's backstamp was applied over the original stamp. 

Gray purchased ware from over 20 suppliers. However the main suppliers of earthenware blanks were Johnson Brothers, Lancaster & Sons (from 1944 Lancaster & Sandland) and Kirkland & Co. - in 1936 A. E. Gray purchased an interest in Kirklands pottery to help ensure consistency of supply. In 1938 Kirklands was renamed to Kirklands (Etruria) Ltd.

- for more detained information see Gray's Pottery list of of white-ware suppliers - 

 


Hand Painted
Gray's Pottery
Hanley England 

The Gray's clipper mark printed over a 
Lancaster & Sons backstamp 


Made in England
L & Sons Ltd
Hanley Eng

typical Lancaster & Sons mark
used from around 1920 to 1945 


 


Hand Painted
Gray's Pottery
Hanley England 

The Gray's clipper mark printed over a 
Kirklands backstamp 



Kilrklands
Etruria
Embassy Ware

typical Kirklands mark
from 1938+ 


 

 

 

 

Questions, comments, contributions? email: Steve Birks

 

Dec 1 1909

A. E. Gray & Co., Stoke-on-Trent, showed a variety of dinner ware tea ware, and sundries in semi-porcelain, and a selection of tea ware and sundries in china. 



THE LEADLESS.QLAZE EXHIBITION.
(BY our own representative.)
S Exhibition of Leadless-Glazed China and Earthen¬ ware was held at Caxton Hall, Westminster, on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, of last week.

The preface to the official catalogue states that the object of the Exhibition is to make known to the public at large the variety and beauty of many kinds of china and earthenware which can now be successfully finished with leadless-glaze — a glaze which the pottery wTorker can handle without risk of injury to life or health.



1 April 1910
The Metropolitan Asylums Board has accepted the tenders of the following for annual supplies in bulk to -all their institutions : — China, A. E. Gray & Co. ; glass, J. Defries & Co., Ltd., and W. Huntsman.

1 March 1911
The Metropolitan Asylums Board have accepted the following tenders for supplies to the Central Stores : — Earthenware, W. Adams & Co., the British Anchor Pottery Co., Ltd., Mintons, Ltd., G. Jones & Sons, Ltd., J. Defries & Sons, R. H. & S. L. Plant, E. Coaney & Co., Ltd., Doulton & Co., Ltd., ; china, A. E. Gray & Co., J. Wilson & Sons, R. H. & S. L. Plant ; glass, E. Coaney & Co., Molineaux, Webb & Co., Ltd., Burtles, Tate & Co., Robin¬ son, Son & Co., Ltd.



2 Oct 1911
588.114. — A. E. Gray & Co., Glebe Works, Hanley 




1 June 1912
For the Metropolitan Asylums Board : — Molineaux, Webb & Co., Kirby-street, Ancoats, Manchester, glass (central stores) ; A, E. Gray & Co., Glebe Works, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, china (central stores).




1 Jan 1913
610,383. — A. E. Gray & Co., Ltd., Glebe Works, Mayer-st. HanlejL