Josiah Wedgwood

12 July 1730 – 3 January 1795

Josiah Wedgwood was an English potter and entrepreneur who industrialized the manufacture of pottery and founded the Wedgwood company. Famed for his creamware and jasperware, he was also a pioneer of modern marketing, a Fellow of the Royal Society, and a prominent abolitionist.

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Life events

Born in Burslem, Staffordshire, England
12 July 1730

Josiah Wedgwood was baptised on 12 July 1730 in Burslem, the youngest child of a long-established family of potters.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Birth ✓
Apprenticed as a potter to his elder brother Thomas
1744

In 1744 Wedgwood was formally apprenticed in the family pottery; a childhood bout of smallpox left him with a weakened knee that turned him from throwing toward design and experimentation.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Education ✓
Entered partnership with master potter Thomas Whieldon
1754 – 1759

From 1754 to 1759 Wedgwood worked with Thomas Whieldon, one of the leading potters of the day, conducting systematic experiments in glazes and clay bodies.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Career ✓
Founded his own pottery business in Burslem
1759

In 1759 Wedgwood set up independently at the Ivy House Works in Burslem, the beginning of the Wedgwood firm.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Career ✓
Married his cousin Sarah Wedgwood
25 January 1764

Josiah married Sarah Wedgwood on 25 January 1764; their children included Susannah, mother of Charles Darwin.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Relationship ✓
His creamware won royal patronage as Queen's Ware
1765

In 1765 Queen Charlotte's approval of Wedgwood's refined creamware allowed him to market it as Queen's Ware, bringing international fame.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Achievement ✓
Opened the Etruria factory
13 June 1769

In 1769 Wedgwood and his partner Thomas Bentley opened the purpose-built Etruria works near Stoke-on-Trent, a model of industrial organization.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Achievement ✓
Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society
1783

Wedgwood was elected to the Royal Society in 1783 for his invention of the pyrometer, a device for measuring high kiln temperatures.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Achievement ✓
Produced the anti-slavery medallion 'Am I Not a Man and a Brother?'
1787

In 1787 Wedgwood mass-produced his famous abolitionist medallion for the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade, distributing it widely at his own expense.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Achievement ✓
Died at Etruria Hall, Staffordshire
3 January 1795

Josiah Wedgwood died on 3 January 1795 at his home Etruria Hall, probably of cancer of the jaw.

Source: en.wikipedia.org
Death ✓