DWIGHT, JOHN (d. 1703), the first distinguished English potter. The date of his birth has been variously given from 1637 to 164o, and he died at Fulham in 1703. He took the degree of B.C.L. of Christ Church, Oxford, in 166i, and was appointed in that year registrar and scribe to the diocese of Chester. At Chester he was secretary to four successive bishops. He seems also to have resided at Wigan where three of his children were baptized between 1667 and 1671. He was granted in 1671 his first patent for the "blistery of transparent earthenware, com monly known by the names of porcelain or china, and of stone ware, vulgarly called Cologne ware." He probably moved to Fulham about that time. His name appears on the rate books for a house in Bear street in 1674. It has been claimed, though with out proof, that Dwight made the first porcelain in England. It has, however, been proved that he preceded John and David Elers in the manufacture of that fine red stoneware which these foreign potters were supposed to have first made in Great Britain. The British and Victoria and Albert Museums contain a number of his pieces, of which the finest is the bust of Prince Rupert.
See Sir A. H. Church, The Family of John Dwight, B.C.L., Potter (reprinted from The Genealogist, 191o) .