John Dwight c.1671-1703
A brief history of John Dwight
(Further more detailed pages will be added about each factory over time).
John Dwight 1671 - 1703:
"The ingenious Mr Dwight."
John Dwight was originally from Oxfordshire, he sat an Oxford degree in 1661, and embarked upon experimentation with clays and minerals with the aim of producing stonewares and porcelains. In 1671 he set up a factory in Fulham, at which he produced stonewares in imitation of German "Cologne Wares," and he even obtained the agreement of London merchants to buy his produce and to refuse to accept the imported German originals! He also filed a patent for his discoveries in which he claimed to have:
"discovered the mistery of transparent earthenware comonly knowne by the name of porcelaine or China and Persian ware, as alsoe the misterie of the Stone ware vulgarly called Cologne ware."
With reference to the porcelain production, modern excavations have recovered porcellaneous material which would seem to confirm the claims made in the original patent. There are also further contemporary references made to John Dwights attempts at porcelain production. In 1693 an article in a periodical work states:
"This sort of clay, as I hinted formerly, is used to clay sugar and the best sort of mugs are made with it, and the ingenious Mr. Dwight of Fulham tells me that 'tis the same earth China-ware is made of, and 'tis made not by lying long in the earth but in the fire; and if it were worth while, we may make as good China here as any is in the world. And so for this time farewell clay."
Then again in a letter dated 1695:
'Tis a curious manufacture and deserves to be encourag'd here, which without doubt money would do, and Mr. Dwoit of Fulham has done it, and can again in anything that is flat. But the difficulty is that if a hollow dish be made, it must be burnt so much, that the heat of the fire will make the sides fall. He tells me that our clay will very well do it, the main skill is in managing the fire. By my consent, the man that would bring it to perfection should have for his encouragement 1,000 Pounds from the Publick, tho' I help'd to pay a tax towards it.
Although it seems clear that John Dwight experimented with porcelain production, and even had some success at producing some type of porcellaineous material, it seems unlikely that he ever produced porcelain commercially, his business instead focussing on the manufacture of stoneware as discussed earlier.
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