Josiah Wedgwood

  Research Notes:

source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/wedgwood_josiah.shtml
Where it is noted
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 mixes. In June 1769, he opened a new factory at Etruria, near Stoke-on-Trent, in partnership with Thomas Bentley. Attached to the factory was a village where Wedgwood's workmen and their families could live in decent surroundings.
Wedgwood greatly improved the clumsy ordinary crockery of the day, introducing durable, simple and regular wares. His cream coloured earthenware was christened 'Queen's Ware' after Queen Charlotte, who appointed him queen's potter in 1762. Other eminent patrons included Empress Catherine II of Russia, who ordered 952 such pieces in 1774.
Wedgwood experimented with barium sulphate (caulk), and from it produced jasper, in 1773. Jasperware, which is used for a whole host of ornaments, blends metallic oxides, often blue, with separately moulded reliefs, generally white. Some such reliefs were designed for Wedgwood by John Flaxman. Other wares included black basaltes, frequently enhanced by 'encaustic' colours like red, to imitate Greek vases.
Wedgwood was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1783, primarily for inventing the pyrometer to measure oven temperatures. He took a keen interest, too, in efficient factory organisation, and in improving the transport of raw materials and finished wares by canals, such as the Grand Trunk Canal, and by road.
In 1780, when Wedgwood's long-term business partner died, he asked his friend Erasmus Darwin for help. Darwin's son would later marry Wedgwood's daughter, and they were the parents of Charles Darwin, the naturalist who formulated the theory of evolution. Charles would himself, in turn, marry a Wedgwood.
When Wedgwood died on 3rd January 1795 he left a thriving business and a fortune to his children.

  Noted events in his life were:

• source. Mary-Ann Cook

• connection. Josiah Wedgwood (1730)'s connection to Robert is as follows:

Josiah Wedgwood (1730)
His father was Thomas Wedwood (1687) & he also had Catherine Wedgwood (1726) who married William Sillets (1697)
They had Mary Willets (1768) who married Peter Holland (1766)
They had Henry Holland (1788) who married Margaret Caldwell (1792)
Her father was James Caldwell (1759) & he also had Anne Caldwell (1791) who married Arthur Marsh (1786)
His father was William Marsh (1755)
His father was George Marsh (1722)
His father was George Marsh (1683) & he also had Milbourne Marsh (1709)
He had John Marsh (1746)
He had John Marsh (1787)
He had Frances Marsh (who died in 1889) who married George Wise (1814)
Her father was Edward Wise (1787) & he also had Emily Wise (1815) who married William Manning (1811)
They had Frances Manning (1837) who married James Corlette (1837)
They had Cyril Corlette (1868)
He had Ewan Corlette (1908) who married Mary Manning (1912)
Her father was Guy Manning (1881)
His father was Charles Manning (1841)
His father was John Edye Manning (1807)
His father was John Edye Manning (1783) & he also had Arthur Manning (1819)
He had Frances Manning (1841) who married Walter McClintock (1836)
They had Frances McClintock (1867) who married Francis Ridley (1860)
They had Grace Ridley (1897) who married Andrew Badgery (1888)
His father was Andrew Badgery (1838)
His father was Henry Badgery (1803) & he also had Francis Badgery (1852)
He had Ruby Badgery (1885) who married Thomas Yeo (1889)
His father was James Yeo (1857) who married Mary Yeo (1860)
Her father was George Yeo (1833) & he also had George Yeo (1861)
He had Frederick Yeo (1900) who married Ruby Guiver (1903)
Her father was Henry Guiver (1854)
His father was Joseph Guiver (1815) who married Eliza Rich (1819)
Her father was John Rich (1791) & he also had Charles Rich (1817)
He had Matilda Rich (1856) who married Martin Kenny (1849)
They had Catherine Kenny (1893) who married Charles Cook (1889)
His father was William Cook (1845)
His father was John Cook (c1812)
His father was Samuel Cook (c1776) & he also had Benjamin Cook (c1808)
He had Samuel Cook (1851)
He had Carolyn Cook (c1875) who married Thomas Eavis (c1874)
His father was Jacob Eavis (c1840)
His father was Thomas Eavis (c1797) & he also had Henry Eavis (c1826)
He had John Eavis (c1867)
He had Lilian Eavis (c1899) who married Percy Bailey (c1897)
They had Pamela Bailey (1925) who married Stanley Ward (1921)
His father was John Ward (1882) who married Ethel Bowen (1891)
Her father was George Bowen (1855)
His father was James Bowden (1819) who married Hannah Loveday (c1813)
Her father was Thomas Loveday (c1779) who married Elizabeth Blackburn (1776)
Her father was Henry Blackburn (c1744) and he also had Barnabus Blackburn (1786)
He had Sarah Blackburn (1820) who married William Aldous (1820)
His father was Zephania Aldous (1778) & he also had Amelia Aldous (1818) who married James Peck (1820)
They had Charlotte Peck (1843) who married James Dawes (1843)
They had Annie Florence Dawes (1873) who married Arthur Augustus Bray (1869)
They had Albert Alan Bray (1896)
He had Robert Alfred (1920)
He had Robert Arthur (1947) who married me - Robyn Bray (nee Davies) (1950)

Josiah married Sarah Wedgwood, daughter of Richard Wedgwood and Susan Irlam, on 25 Jan 1764. (Sarah Wedgwood was born in 1734 in Astbury, Cheshire England and died in 1815 in Barlaston, Lancashire England.)