Royal Staffordshire Pottery

Out of all the pottery producers in the Staffordshire region, Royal Staffordshire ceramics are among the most celebrated. Originating in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England, Royal Staffordshire grew out of the initial company run by Arthur J. Wilkinson.

First debuting in 1894, the Royal Staffordshire brand was the reincarnation of a pottery company that had changed hands and names several times in its prior years of production. Wilkinson put Colley Shorter in charge of managing the company, and it was the effective team of these two gentlemen that transformed the Royal Staffordshire brand into a raging success.

Among the varied Royal Staffordshire ceramics created, the tonquin blue dinnerware was one of their most successful. As a sign of their popularity, Wilkinson was able to expand the business in 1920 to include another pottery facility in the area eventually known as Newport Pottery.

Quick Facts

• Famed ceramic designer Clarice Cliff worked for Wilkinson as a teenager. It was her early work there that led to her eventual enrollment at the Royal College of Art in London
• Around the turn of the century, Royal Staffordshire added Ltd to their markings
• Though Wilkinson's company shuttered in the early '60s, another Royal Staffordshire emerged in 2006. They are known for their decorative figurines of important historical figures, including a recent rendition of Queen Elizabeth II in her coronation robes