China and Majolica manufacturers at the Florence Works, High Street, Longton, Stoke-on-Trent

• Many sources give the foundation date as 1867 - Jewitt's book 'Ceramic Art of Great Britain 1800-1900' states "Messrs. Taylor & Kent were established at the Florence Works in 1867" - however the date on the frontage of the works is clearly '1876', so perhaps there was a typo in Jewitt's book which has been continued by others.  

• Although the company retained the name 'Taylor & Kent' it was controlled by the Kent family from an early age. 

• The company closed temporarily from 1941 for the duration of the Second World War. 

• In 1947 it was purchased by two brothers - Oswald and Derek Shufflebottom, the company name 'Taylor & Kent' was unchanged. 

• 1961 the company used the trade name 'Elizabethan China'

• In 1982 the company became 'Elizabethan Fine Bone China Ltd'

See more on the Shufflebottom family

Crested china collecting became a craze in Victorian and Edwardian times when day trippers bought small porcelain ornaments decorated with the coat of arms of the locality to take home as a souvenir.

Elizabethan
Fine Bone China
by Taylor & Kent
England

c.1961+

c.1880 - 1906 

the registration number 219806 shows the pattern was registered 
6th October 1893 

c.1906+ 
this mark was still in use in the 1950s

c.1912+ 

variations of this style of mark occur

c.1912+ 

4939 is the pattern number

this style of mark was in use in the 1930s

Bone China
Taylor & Kent
Longton
England

c.1939+

Kent China
T & KL
ongton
England

probably 1939+

c.1950+

c.1950+