William Adams (potter)

Depiction of William Adams (leaning against fireplace) with a cousin of the same name, at the former's house in Greengates
The Greengates Pottery, ca. 1780

William Adams (baptised 1746; died 1805)[1] was an English potter, a maker of fine jasperware shortly after its development and introduction to the English market by Wedgwood.[2]

Adams was one of three north Staffordshire William Adamses who were potters working at the time: all were cousins in an extended Adams family of potters of very many generations. This Adams founded the Greengates Pottery in 1779, producing fine jasperware table sets, plaques, medallions and other products stamped Adams & Co.[3] He is said to have been a friend and confidant of Josiah Wedgwood during their entire lives, including the time when both were experimenting with jasperware. Adams has often been credited with improving on Josiah's original formula in colour, design, and stability while he worked at the Etruria Factory. This influence is said to have directly contributed to Wedgwood's success, before the period when Adams was working independently at Greengates.[4]

  1. ^ Kelly, Alison (September 2004). "Adams, William (bap. 1746, d. 1805), potter". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 16 November 2009.
  2. ^ Wood, 31
  3. ^ "The Adams family of Potters". thepotteries.org - the local history of Stoke-on-Trent, England. Retrieved 16 November 2009.
  4. ^ William Turner, William Adams, an old English potter, 1904, Chapman & Hall