Edward Radford: Father and Son Potters by Roland Head

Ceramics An attractive selection of good quality, pre-1948 E. Two Radford ‘Scraffiato’ vases, showing incised A selection of E Radford ‘Tree’ vases, painted by Radford vases, featuring handpainted patterns. patterns on hand thrown bodies and dating c1930s. James Harrison pre-1948. Image courtesy of www.e-radford.info. Image courtesy of www.e-radford.info. Image courtesy of www.e-radford.info. Edward Radford: Father and Son Potters By Roland Head ike many traditional enterprises, the nineteenth and twentieth century British pottery industry had Lits fair share of family businesses, where two or more members of the same family worked in leading roles in the industry. A few examples whose work I have mentioned in these pages before are the Martin brothers, William and Walter Moorcroft, Frederick and Charlotte Rhead, Walter and Eric Slater at Shelley, and Hannah, Florence and Arthur Barlow at Doulton Lambeth. There were many more in the lower ranks of the pottery industry, men and women whose work was essential and arduous but by its A rare and unusual Radford art nature anonymous. In this article, I’m going to look at the work of Edward Thomas Radford (E.T.R.), deco-style posy bowl, c1930. Image one of the most talented throwers of his generation, and his son Edward Thomas Brown Radford, who courtesy of www.decorativearts.net. worked with his father before surviving the trenches of the First World War and returning to develop his own pottery business. E. T. R. Edward Thomas Radford trained at Wedgwood before being employed as a thrower at Pilkington’s Royal Lancastrian pottery in Manchester, which he joined in 1903 and where he remained until his retirement in 1936. Radford was the pottery’s main thrower and was also involved in the design of some shapes. The classical yet timeless appeal of these shapes remains impressive today, providing a superb canvas for the innovative glazes that were used on these wares, most notably the pottery’s lustre glazes. Radford was responsible for designing shapes as well as throwing those of the pottery’s designers and his shapes are usually marked ‘E.T.R.’ Radford’s son Edward Thomas Brown Radford joined his father The E Radford signature was applied at Pilkington’s in 1905, but was destined not to follow his footsteps directly. War intervened and Radford underglaze on the reverse of this junior was awarded the Military Cross for his actions at Passchendaele in 1917. When he returned to 1930s art deco posy bowl. Image civilian life, he headed for Stoke-on-Trent, the heart of Britain’s pottery industry. courtesy of www.decorativearts.net. Lustre Royal Lancastrian’s finest were undoubtedly its lustre wares, which regularly change hands for four- figure sums. Royal Lancastrian’s founder was Pilkington’s technical director, William Buxton. A chemist by training, he was fascinated by the potential of glazes at a time when they were still relatively new. He pioneered a glaze formulation and firing approach that used copper and silver to create a thin film of metal over sections of a ceramic body - with stunning results. Buxton’s persistence paid off and resulted in the launch of the Lancastrian pottery in 1903. Success came fast and in 1913 the pottery gained its royal warrant, thanks to the combined efforts of Buxton, art director Gordon Forsyth, thrower Edward Radford and Forsyth’s team of artists. Royal Lancastrian wares normally have an artist’s mark on the base and pieces thrown by Edward Radford have an additional ‘E.T.R.’ marking. Amongst the most collectable artists are William Mycock, Richard Joyce and Gordon Forsyth, all of whom were responsible for many fine pieces of lustre ware and who developed their own design themes. For example Richard Joyce is particularly known for his fish. E. Radford: Beginnings After he returned to the pottery industry, Edward Radford junior started out by working as an agent for other potteries and possibly as a freelance designer, before establishing a connection with H. J. Wood’s. This resulted in the creation of the Radford Handcraft Pottery in around 1930; Radford’s pottery was then produced in H. J. Wood’s Alexandra Pottery in Burslem. Although the work all bears his name, historical records suggest that he may have been as much a salesman as a designer. Radford certainly spent a lot of time in the early years travelling the UK and drumming up orders for his pottery. It’s unclear how much of a creative contribution he made to individual designs, although he was certainly instrumental in creating the pottery’s recognisable style. Much of the actual design work appears to have An example of a late, post-1948 H. J. been carried out by Mabel Hodgkiss, a designer who had been trained by Gordon Forsyth at the Burslem Wood - produced Radford vase with School of Art. Interestingly, Gordon Forsyth was the artistic director at Royal Lancastrian from 1906 moulded body, white ground and until the early 1920s, so he would have known both Radford and his father and may have personally simple painted decoration. Image recommended Hodgkiss to Radford for this task. courtesy of www.perfectpieces.co.uk. ANTIQUES INFO - January/February 13 Ceramics Early Radford Pottery Radford pottery falls broadly into two categories, pre and post- 1948. Wares produced before the Second World War are the most desirable and offer the most artistic interest. The shapes used tended, with a few exceptions, to be quite conservative and were most commonly vases, jugs and bowls. Designs included floral and art deco styles, but two particularly attractive and distinctive themes were the pottery’s stylised landscape designs and the scraffiato Royal Lancastrian Lapis Ware bowl, range. The landscapes were usually dominated by trees and were all thrown by Edward Radford and decorated by Gwladys Rodgers painted by an artist called James Harrison, giving them great consis- c1928-36. Note the rolled over lip of tency and relative scarcity. The scraffiato wares are similarly rare the bowl, which was hand thrown. today and are possibly amongst the most collectable Radford Image courtesy of www.sciarts.co.uk. pottery. They featured incised designs, often picked out in green but occasionally in multiple colours. A matt glaze was normally used and colours tended to be slightly muted when set alongside the A Radford pottery ‘Butterfly Ware’ jug, c1939. Image courtesy of bolder creations of contemporaries such as Susie Cooper and www.premierantiques.co.uk. Clarice Cliff, although Radford did produce some of his own offerings in similar styles to both designers, such as the ashtray pictured alongside this article. Such pieces were dramatically different to ‘normal’ Radford pottery and are very rare today. After 1948 Edward Radford did manage to continue production of his pottery through the Second World War, but decided to retire in 1948. Despite this, H. J. Wood continued to produce Radford pottery, but it was more geared to low cost, volume production. Shapes tended Royal Lancastrian base markings, showing the E.T.R. stamp used on to be moulded rather than thrown, and the range of shapes gradually pieces thrown by Edward Radford. expanded to include many types of table ware with simple floral Image courtesy of www.sciarts.co.uk. designs on white grounds. These later Radford pieces are perhaps defined by the ubiquitous posy vases and condiment sets that can be found for a few pounds at almost any village hall collectors fair. That’s not to say there is anything wrong with these later Radford wares - but don’t confuse them with their pre-war ancestors and don’t consider paying a lot of money for them. Dating and Buying Radford Pottery My comments above naturally beg the question of how to correctly date Radford pottery. This is fairly straightforward once you become familiar with the pottery, and pieces were quite consis- tently marked. The differences between pre and post-1948 pieces become obvious when the two are compared alongside each other. Here are a few pointers: This Radford vase is almost certainly 1. A sponged, coloured background is usually indicative of a pre- The E Radford England Handpainted post-1948, made by H.J. Wood after war piece, as are complex hand-painted patterns and art deco styles. pottery mark remained in use after Edward Radford retired. Image Edward Radford retired - this is courtesy of www.perfectpieces.co.uk. 2. H. J. Wood commonly used the E Radford, England, hand almost certainly one such example, painted backstamp on its post-1948 wares, although this may also dating post-1948. Image courtesy of have been used on earlier wares. Other backstamps more definitely www.perfectpieces.co.uk. associated with earlier pieces include ‘E Radford Made In Great Britain’, ‘E Radford Burslem’ and ‘E Radford’. 3. Post-1948, Wood’s switched to a semi-china body which was usually coloured white. Where sponged background colours were used, they tended to be much paler than on earlier wares. Radford pottery is not really in fashion and even good pieces can be had for relatively low prices, making this an affordable route into ceramic collecting, although not necessarily a strong investment. Further Reading The websites www.e-radford.info and www.radfordcollect.com are both good sources of information about Radford Handcraft Pottery and Edward Radford junior, albeit they conflict on some minor details! An excellent but obscure book for learning about Royal Lancastrian Pottery is Royal Lancastrian Pottery, 1900-1938 its achievements and its makers, which was written by the pottery’s chemist, Abraham Lomax, and published in 1957. A Pilkington’s Royal Lancastrian lustre vase, thrown by Radford and decorated by William Mycock, A Radford pottery 'Ranunculus' wall c1930.

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