Royal Worcester was established in 1751 and is believed to be the oldest or second oldest remaining English brand still in existence today this is disputed by , which claims 1750 as its year of establishment. Part of the since 2009, Royal Worcester remains in the luxury tableware and giftware market, although production in itself has ended. Royal Worcester Tea canister, about 1768, Worcester porcelain factory no. Technically, the Worcester Royal Porcelain Co. The enterprise has followed the pattern of other leading English porcelain brands, with increasing success during the 18th and 19th centuries, then a gradual decline during the 20th century, especially the latter half. Prior to 1751, , a physician, and William Davis, an , attempted to develop a method of making porcelain that could then be used to boost prosperity and employment in Worcester. The success of their early experimentation is unknown, but they clearly came into contact around 1750-1751 with the Bristol manufactory of Lund and Miller, who were using soaprock as a prime raw material in their porcelain production. This appears to be a then-unique method for producing porcelain. Holdship personally bought from Benjamin Lund, a fellow Quaker, the soaprock licence that ensured the mining of 20 tons p. The early wares were with bodies that contained soaprock, commonly called in most ceramic circles as. The chemical analyses of these wares closely correlates to those of the Bristol manufactory. This places Worcester in a group of early English potteries including Caughley and factories in Liverpool. Soft-paste plate with the coat of arms of the Duke of Clarence, future , 1789, Flight factory, Diameter: 9. He let his two sons run the concern, with John Flight taking the lead role till his death in 1791. Knowledge of this period is largely a result of the excellent diary that John Flight kept from 1785—1791. During this period, the factory was in poor repair. Production was limited to low-end patterns of mostly Blue and White porcelains after designs of the period. Female side of Aesthetic teapot designed by R. Binns and modeled by James Hadley, 1881. Thomas Flight died in 1800, leaving the factory in the hands of his son Joseph Flight and Martin Barr. In addition to the warrant granted by George III, royal warrants were also issued by the in 1807, and the in 1808. Chamberlain's Factory, which was very high quality and in 1811 received its own royal warrant from the , had begun to manufacture by 1791. Grainger's Factory was making porcelain from 1807, though not of quite the highest quality. Under a succession of partnership and company names the Grainger family retained significant shares until the death of the last member in 1889, when Royal Worcester took them over. Some Grainger moulds remained in use in the 21st century. Main article: The factory's former site includes the independent formerly known as the 'Dyson Perrins Museum' and 'Worcester Porcelain Museum' owned by the Dyson Perrins Museum Trust. The collections date back to 1751 and the gallery, the ceramic collections, archives and records of factory production, form the primary resource for the study of Worcester porcelain and its history. Site of Worcester Porcelain Works - geograph. After the 1976 with , and due to heavy competition from overseas, the production was switched to factories in Stoke and abroad. Fifteen porcelain painters left the Severn Street factory on Friday 29 September 2006, together with 100 other workers. The last trading date for Royal Worcester was 14 June 2009. The company went into administration on 6 November 2008 and on 23 April 2009, the brand name and intellectual property were acquired by Group — a pottery and homewares company based in. As Portmeirion Group has a factory in Stoke-on-Trent, the purchase did not include the Royal Worcester and Spode manufacturing facilities. Dish: 813 Colorful, Wonderful Dinner Plates pp256ff. The Illustrated Guide to Worcester Porcelain 1751—1793. In Search of James Giles. Worcester Porcelain: The Klepser Collection. Alan Wofsy Fine Arts. Worcester Porcelain, The Wall Period and its Antecedents. Coloured Worcester Porcelain of the First Period 1751—1783. Ceramic Book Company, 1954. Worcester Porcelain: Marshall Collection Ashmolean Handbooks. Worcester Porcelain 1751—1790, The Zorensky Collection. First Glance Books, 1996. Flight and Barr Worcester Porcelain 1783—1840. An Exhibition of Porcelain Manufactured by E. Royal Worcester Porcelain 1862 to the Present Day. The Sandon guide to Royal Worcester figures: 1900—1970. Worcester China: A Record of the Work of Forty-five Years, 1852—1897. Adamant Media Corporation, 1897. A Guide to the Dating of Royal Worcester — Porcelain Marks from 1862. Mid Wales Litho Ltd. The Charlton Standard Catalogue of Royal Worcester Figurines. The Charlton Press, 2005. Royal Worcester Porcelain and the Dyson Perrins Collection. The Art of Worcester Porcelain, 1751—1788: Masterpieces from the British Museum Collection. Porcelain in Worcester 1751—1951, An Illustrated Social History.
