Josiah wedgwood net worth

Josiah Wedgwood

English potter and founder of the Wedgwood company (1730–1795)

This article is about the eldest Josiah Wedgwood. For his descendants with the same name, see Josiah Wedgwood (disambiguation).

Josiah Wedgwood

FRS

Josiah Wedgwood by George Stubbs, 1780, enamel on a Wedgwood ceramic tablet

Born(1730-07-12)12 July 1730

Burslem, Staffordshire, England

Died3 January 1795(1795-01-03) (aged 64)

Etruria, Staffordshire, England

Resting placeStoke Minster
Occupation(s)Potter, entrepreneur
Known forFounding Wedgwood, devising a number of sales methods

Josiah WedgwoodFRS (12 July 1730 – 3 January 1795)[1] was an English potter, entrepreneur and abolitionist. Founding the Wedgwood company in 1759, he developed improved pottery bodies by systematic experimentation, and was the leader in the industrialisation of the manufacture of European pottery.[2]

The renewed classical enthusiasms of the late 1760s and early 1770s were of major importance to his sales promotion.[3] His expensive goods we

Josiah Wedgwood (1730 - 1795)

Josiah Wedgwood  ©Wedgwood was an innovative designer, a manufacturer of high-quality pottery and a campaigner for social reform.

Josiah Wedgwood was born into a family of potters on 12 July 1730, at Burslem, Staffordshire. His father's death in 1739 led him to an early start working as a 'thrower' in the pottery of his eldest brother, Thomas, to whom he was later apprenticed. An attack of smallpox seriously weakened Josiah, and in 1768 he had to have his right leg amputated. This meant he was forced to abandon throwing, but he subsequently gained a wider insight into the potter's craft - for example the work of the 'modeller' - and this encouraged his love of experimentation.

Thomas refused Josiah a partnership in the business, so the younger man moved first to a small pottery run by John Harrison, then more happily to the firm of Thomas Wheildon of Fenton. From there, he opened works of his own, first at his cousin's Ivy House and later at the Brick House factory. At these works, Wedgwood made many models himself, and also prepared clay mi

Josiah Wedgwood (July 12, 1730 - January 3, 1795) was a fourth generation Englishpotter, who became the most well-respected pottery designer and manufacturer in England and Europe. Innovative, forward thinking, and precise, he utilized a scientific approach to pottery-making, and made detailed and lengthy research into the use of various materials. He created a more efficient process of pottery making through the logical deployment of labor, and had a great sense of organization in his business, often utilizing the greater talents of others.

Wedgwood is credited with the industrialization of the manufacture of pottery. He perfected a cream-colored earthenware that, with the sanction of Queen Charlotte in 1765, was called Queen’s ware. He also invented Jasperware and black basalt ware in imitation of Greek red-figure vases. He also created the pyrometer, a device for measuring high temperatures—invaluable for gauging oven heats for firings, which earned him commendation as a fellow of the Royal Society. Wedgwood's technique of quality mass production, coupled with his uni

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