Dixon partnership dates

Some time ago Norman Lowe contacted me with some new evidence regarding the dates of the Dixon partnerships.  According to Baker the chronology of partnerships is:

1807 to 1812, John Phillips
1813 to 1819, Phillips & Co and/or Dixon & Co
1820 to 1826, Dixon, Austin & Co
1827 to c1834–39, Dixon, Austin, Phillips & Co
c1834–39 to 1865, Dixon, Phillips & Co

Norman has discovered a notice in the London Gazette, December 24, 1818, as follows:

Notice is hereby given, that the Partnership heretofore subsisting between us, John Phillips, Robert Dixon, William Austin, and Thomas Henderson, as Manufacturers of Earthenware, at Sunderland near the Sea, in the County of Durham, under the stile or firm of Dixon, Austin, Phillips and Co, the Sunderland Pottery, is this day dissolved by mutual consent, so far as regards the said John Phillips;  and that the business will in future be carried on by us the undersigned, Robert Dixon, William Austin, and Thomas Henderson alone, in Partnership, at Sunderland aforesaid, under the stile or firm of Dixon, Austin, and Co. the Sunderland Pottery.

As witness our hands this 17th day of December 1818.

Norman suggests that we can now improve the dates to the following:

1807 to 1812, John Phillips
1813 to 1818, Dixon, Austin, Phillips & Co (marks would include Dixon & Co 1813, and Phillips & Co 1813)
1819 to c1834-1839, Dixon, Austin & Co
c1834-1839 to 1865, Dixon, Phillips & Co

I can't disagree with his logic. Look out for Norman's article on early Sunderland Pottery in the Northern Ceramic Society newsletter, which should be out in March.

I'll finish with a rare pink lustre plaque with the Dixon, Austin & Co impress that I recently bought on eBay.

Huge thanks to Norman Lowe for sharing his discovery.