WEDGWOOD, JOSIAH (173o-1795), was born on July 12, 1730, and died on Jan. 3, 1795. He was the youngest child of Thomas Wedgwood, a potter, of Burslem, and came of a family of which many members had been notable potters in Staf fordshire in the 17th century. Soon after the death of his father in 1739 Josiah learned, and became extraordinarily skilful in, the art of shaping pottery on the wheel.
In 1744 he was apprenticed to his eldest brother, and in 1752 became manager of a small pottery at Stoke-upon-Trent, known as Alder's. Within a year or two he became junior partner with Thomas Whieldon of Fenton, then the cleverest master-potter in Staffordshire, many of whose apprentices afterwards became noted potters. In 1759 he began work on his own account at the Ivy House pottery in Burslem. Salt-glaze and green and yellow glaze seem to have been his first staples. In 1762 he also leased the Brick House, alias "Bell" works, at Burslem. The fine white English earthenware was just reaching perfection, and Wedg wood became one of its best-known makers. He was most active in his efforts for the improvement of turnpike roads, the con struction of a canal (the Trent and Mersey) and the founding of schools and chapels. He presented a service of his improved cream-coloured earthenware (to which he gave the name of Queen's Ware) to Queen Charlotte in 1762, and was appointed potter to the queen and afterwards to the king. Next he turned
his attention to artistic pottery and found his inspiration in the European renaissance of classic art, fostered by the discov ery of Pompeii and the recovery of Greek painted vases from the ancient graves in Campania and other parts of Italy. Wedgwood was particularly successful in this direction, for his "dry" bodies —some of which, like the black and cane bodies, had long been known in the district, while others, such as the famous Jasper bodies, he invented after years of laborious effort—lent themselves particularly well to the reproduction of designs based on the later phases of Greek art. The most famous of Wedgwood's artists was John Flaxman. His works at Hanley were called -"Etruria" where his descendants have carried on the business and established a Wedgwood museum of great interest. (See CERAMICS.) BIBLIOGRAPHY.-For detailed accounts of his life see Eliza Metyeard, Life of Wedgwood (1865-66); L. Dewitt, Life of Wedgwood (1865) ; F. Rathbone, Old Wedgwood (1893) ; A. H. Church, Josiah Wedg wood: Master-Potter (1894; new ed., 1903) ; W. Burton, History and Description of English Earthenware and Stoneware (1904); J. C. Wedgwood, A History of the Wedgwood Family (1909) ; F. J. Wedg wood, The Personal Life of Josiah Wedgwood (1915).