WEDGWOOD, JOSIAH, the creator of British pottery as an art, was b. at Burslem in Staffordshire, in the year 1730. His father was a potter, and very early he was set to work at the same business. His education seems to have been of the scantiest. After an abortive attempt to settle himself at Stoke' with a partner named Harrison, lie returned to his native place, and there commenced business as a potter. From the first, his ardor for the improvement of the manufacture was conspicuous. His first efforts were directed to the refining of the material, and soon he succeeded in producing a beau tiful cream-colored porcelain, which became popularly known as queen's ware, queen Charlotte having much admired it, and extended her patronage to the manufacturer. Subsequently other improved materials were produced. The attention of Wedgwood was not less assiduously directed to consideration of form and decoration; he busied himself in emulating the grace of the antique models; and the celebrated sculptor, Flax. man, was employed to furnish designs to him. In this way what he found a rude and barbarous manufacture, he raised to the level of a fine art; and he found his reward in the speedy amassing of an immense fortune. In 1771, he removed his works some little from Burslem; and to the new site lie gave the fanciful name Etruria, as that of t'a.. country of old most celebrated for the beauty of its ceramic products. Here he
uttilt himself a splendid mansion; and here, in 1795, he died.
Apart from his eminence in the art to which he devoted himself, Wedgwood 'was a man of considerable culture. Natural philosophy, in particular, he studied with much success. He a fellow of the Royal society, as also of the society of Anti quaries; and to the Philosophical Transactions he from time to time contributed papers. He likewise interested himself deeply in all matters of public concernment; and mainly through his influence it was that the Grand Trunk canal, uniting the waters of the Mer sey, the Trent, and the Severn, was carried out. He was a man of much benevolence of character, and the prosperity which flowed upon ,him through life, he distinguished by the exercise of an almost princely liberality.
Full particulars as regards this remarkable man may be found in two lives of him published in 1865, one by Eliza Meteyard, the otherby Llewellyn Jewett. See also Eliza Aletvyard's Memorials of Wedgwood (1875), and Wedgwood Handbook (1875).