George Albert Wade | |
|---|---|
| Born | 19 July 1891 Burslem, England |
| Died | 27 January 1986 (aged 94) |
| Known for | Wade Ceramics |
| Title | Sir |
| Spouse | Florrie Johnson |
George Albert Wade (19 July 1891 – 27 January 1986) was an English pottery manufacturer. Born in Burslem to a family who ran a pottery business, he was knighted in 1955 for political and public services.[1]
Wade was a pupil at Newcastle High School, which has been amalgamated into the Newcastle-under-Lyme School, and left at age 15 to work at the family's pottery factory.[1] He was a soldier between 1914 and 1919 in World War I, first as a private with the North Staffordshire Regiment, and then as a lieutenant with the South Staffordshire Regiment in the Machine Gun Corps, and he served in France and Egypt.[1] He married Florrie Johnson in 1915.[1]
Wade became chairman of the family's pottery business, Wade Ceramics Ltd, a manufacturer of porcelain and earthenware, whose main factory was in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent.[2] In the 1950s, Wade Ceramics created and manufactured "Whimsies", small cheap solid porcelain animal figures, which became popular and collectable in Britain and America.[2]
Wade never fully stopped working, but in the early 1980s, he gave the routine running of the business to his son George Anthony (Tony) Johnson Wade.[1] His hobbies included painting and ornithology.[1]