Catalogue description Davenport Pottery Correspondence

According to J.F. Blacker, The ABC of Nineteenth Century English Ceramic Art, John Davenport acquired his factories at Longport in 1793 and retired in 1830. The business was then carried on by his second son Henry until his death in 1835, after which it passed to his brother William, the youngest son of John Davenport under whom it was very much extended. In 1851 the concern at Longport comprised a glass works and three potteries and William Davenport & Co. were the largest china and earthenware manufacturers and exporters in the United Kingdom, (see White, W. History, Gazeteer and Directory of Staffordshire, 1851).

The correspondence listed here covers the period 1812 - 1835. Prior to 1825 John Davenport was in partnership with James Davenport, apparently a cousin. On James Davenport's death he took into partnership his own son Henry, Mountford Fynney, who had been the firm's manager in Liverpool, and Henry Pontigny with whom they had a long-standing connection in London. The business then comprised the following firms: John Davenport, Son & Co. at Longport, Davenports, Fynney & Co. in Liverpool and Davenports, Pontigny & Co. in London. Henry Pontigny, whose share in the firm amounted to an eighth, left in 1827. In the same year Thomas Kinnersly, a banker at Newcastle under Lyme who was a sleeping partner, also withdrew selling his quarter of the concern to Henry Davenport. James Davenport junior, son of John Davenport's partner James, worked for the concern in England for a time, but in 1823 he was exploring the possibilities of setting up on the Continent. He visited both Brussels and Rotterdam with this end in view, but eventually set up in what seems to have been a branch house of the English concern in Hamburg with his brother Uriah and Joseph. John Davenport himself, although he became M.P. for Stoke-on-Trent in 1832, seems to have continued in business at least until 1834. His letters after 1830 give the impression that he was still taking a very active part in directing the firm from London.

During the period covered by the letters the Davenports were constantly endeavouring to maintain and expand their export trade. John Davenport had evidently had an agent in Messina for some years in 1822, and in 1823 he was expressing hopes of trade with Spain though not with France. In 1825 Henry Pontigny in London was competing with Spode for customers in the Netherlands and Paris, and evidently wishing to compete with Minton as well. It also seems that the firm had an agent in Rostock and letters of 1827 and 1828 refer to trade with Lima and Rio. In 1831 John Davenport was urging enquiry into the possibilities of trade with the United States remarking that it would bring in quicker returns than trade with South America or the East Indies. By 1835 trade with Spain and Italy alone amounted to over £1,000.

The products of the firm were evidently of a very high quality. They competed with Spode, Minton and Nason's the manufacturers of Ironstone China. The Duke of Clarence, later William IV, visited their factories in 1806, and on his accession ordered a dessert service for his Coronation banquet. He was clearly exceedingly pleased with the result and Davenports were appointed porcelain makers to King William IV and Queen Adelaide.

The firm's business administration does not seem to have been equal to the quality of their products. The letters from John Davenport are full of queries and complaints about the accounting and business correspondence and the supervision of staff. Financially well placed to stand surety for a loan of £80,000 from the Bank of England to Kinnersley, but in the late eighteen twenties they appear to have been in debt. Under William Davenport the firm appears to have flourished and expanded and was taken over on his death in 1869 by his son Henry. It closed down in 1886.