Group    From 1815  To 2009

Royal Doulton / Doulton Potteries

Categories: Craft / Design, Industry

Ceramic manufacturing company. Began with a factory at Vauxhall Walk, Lambeth. Initially a partnership of John Doulton, Martha Jones, and John Watts, Jones left in 1820 leaving the company name as Doulton & Watts. John Watts retired and in 1853 the company became Doulton & Co. It was Henry Doulton who introduced art ceramics into the business.

In 1907/8 Mary Watts asked Royal Doulton to make tiles for the Postman's Park memorial. We wondered if this indicated that John Watts was related to G. F. Watts and that explained the commission but we think not. By this time G. F. Watts was dead and Mary Watts was forced to find another maker because De Morgan had ceased making tiles. She never liked Doulton's tiles nor, apparently, her husband's family so it seems unlikely that she chose Doultons for any familial reason.

The brand still exists, owned by a conglomerate, but the company folded in 2009.

We cannot discover whether the John Watts of Doulton & Watts was related in any way to G. F. Watts.

Other work in London includes: A corridor in St Thomas's Hospital is decorated with a number of lovely large Doulton panels depicting nursery rhymes, presumably saved when a children's ward was demolished. Some of the decorative elements on the nearby Beaufoy Institute are probably by Doulton.

This section lists the memorials created by the subject on this page:
Royal Doulton / Doulton Potteries

Creations i

Apollo Inn

An information board near an entrance to the gardens informs: "Euterpe the M...

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Doulton drinking fountain - Henry Fawcett

{It's highly probable that the fountain had a plaque commemorating Henry Fawc...

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Henry Doulton's pottery

Vauxhall History gives: "Doulton worked closely with the renowned Lambeth Sch...

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PP - 2A - Smith

This is a lovely plaque but the fireman's helmet on a plaque for a police con...

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PP - 2E - Ricketts

PC Harold Frank Ricketts, Metropolitan Police, drowned at Teignmouth whilst t...

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Other Subjects

St Dunstan

St Dunstan

Born near Glastonbury. Active around 930 - 960. Patron saint of armourers, goldsmiths, locksmiths, and jewellers. His feast day is May 19th.

Person, Craft / Design, Religion

1 memorial
John Arnold

John Arnold

Watchmaker and inventor. Probably born in Bodmin, Cornwall (his birth year is approximate). After being apprenticed to his clockmaker father, he worked in the Netherlands. He was the first to desig...

Person, Craft / Design, Netherlands

1 memorial
Penfold pillar boxes

Penfold pillar boxes

Designed by John Penfold. They are distinguished by their hexagonal shape, with an acanthus bud on top. The originals were made by Cochrane & Co of Dudley, Worcestershire, and later replicas by...

Place, Craft / Design

1 memorial
James Radley Young

James Radley Young

From Tessellations: "James Radley Young was a major designer for Carter Tiles during the early part of the 20th century. In addition to single tiles he also designed a number of major tile panels f...

Person, Art, Craft / Design

1 memorial
Laura Ashley

Laura Ashley

Dress designer and interior decorator. Born Laura Mountney at 31 Station Terrace, Dowlais, near Merthyr Tydfil. She married Bernard Ashley in 1949 and they began designing and printing tea towels a...

Person, Craft / Design, Wales

1 memorial