Mate Sound the Pump...
  • Home
    • Copper transfer plates
    • Dixon partnerships
    • North Shields Pottery partnerships
    • Seaham Pottery ownerships
    • London impressed mark
    • Fake over-painted items
    • Reproductions
    • References
    • Links
    • Exchange
  • Early plaques (pre-1845)
    • C, C & Co
    • Carr
    • Dawson
    • Dixon, Austin & Co
    • Fell
    • Maling (c1830–1840)
    • Maling attr (c1840-45)
    • Moore & Co
    • Newbottle
    • Scott
    • Sheriff Hill
    • Staffordshire
    • Turpin
    • Tyneside
    • Wallace
    • Unidentified
    • Relief plaques
  • Religious
    • Prepare to meet thy god – 1
    • Prepare to meet thy god – 2
    • Thou god seest me
    • Praise ye the lord
    • Behold god...
    • For/But man dieth...
    • Rejoice in the lord
    • God is love
    • Other scripture verses
    • John Wesley
    • Adam Clarke
    • Charles Wesley hymns
  • Maritime
    • May peace and plenty
    • Common ships
    • Less common ships
    • Rare ships
    • Maritime verses
    • Mariner's arms/compass
    • Other maritime
  • Miscellaneous
    • Plaques with hand-painted text
    • Poetic verses
    • Emblems and armorials
    • Portraits
    • Cast iron bridge of the Wear
    • Landscapes
    • The Bottle
    • Our Dumb Companions
    • Other pictorial plaques
  • Blog
  • Home
    • Copper transfer plates
    • Dixon partnerships
    • North Shields Pottery partnerships
    • Seaham Pottery ownerships
    • London impressed mark
    • Fake over-painted items
    • Reproductions
    • References
    • Links
    • Exchange
  • Early plaques (pre-1845)
    • C, C & Co
    • Carr
    • Dawson
    • Dixon, Austin & Co
    • Fell
    • Maling (c1830–1840)
    • Maling attr (c1840-45)
    • Moore & Co
    • Newbottle
    • Scott
    • Sheriff Hill
    • Staffordshire
    • Turpin
    • Tyneside
    • Wallace
    • Unidentified
    • Relief plaques
  • Religious
    • Prepare to meet thy god – 1
    • Prepare to meet thy god – 2
    • Thou god seest me
    • Praise ye the lord
    • Behold god...
    • For/But man dieth...
    • Rejoice in the lord
    • God is love
    • Other scripture verses
    • John Wesley
    • Adam Clarke
    • Charles Wesley hymns
  • Maritime
    • May peace and plenty
    • Common ships
    • Less common ships
    • Rare ships
    • Maritime verses
    • Mariner's arms/compass
    • Other maritime
  • Miscellaneous
    • Plaques with hand-painted text
    • Poetic verses
    • Emblems and armorials
    • Portraits
    • Cast iron bridge of the Wear
    • Landscapes
    • The Bottle
    • Our Dumb Companions
    • Other pictorial plaques
  • Blog
Search by typing & pressing enter

YOUR CART

11/20/2016 0 Comments

Seaham Pottery: 'Byron' and 'Sunderland Bridge' transfers

The jug below is attributed to Seaham Pottery, and has very different decoration to the items I've written about so far.
It is attributed to Seaham on the basis of a similar jug, in the Sunderland Museum displays, with the inscription 'Margaret Davison', 'Seaham Harbour' and  the date 'July 1829'. That's not quite the end of the story though, because the Seaham Pottery wasn't built until 1836.  So: either the jug was made at another pottery in 1829 before the Seaham Pottery was built; or the jug was made by Seaham Pottery at a later date for Margaret, perhaps as a birthday gift.
The Byron transfer is after a painting of the poet, with his servant Robert Rushton, by George Sanders (1774–1846) in the Royal Collection.  There's a copy of the painting at Newstead Abbey, Lord Byron's home. (As discussed before, Byron was married in Seaham in 1815, so has a local connection.)  Please see Ian Holmes' site for two mugs with the transfer.
The Byron transfer is also found on items with a distinctive view of the Sunderland Bridge. In Baker it is listed as view number 5, with a note about the paddle steamer in the background.
The jug above is undecorated, and was likely sold as a factory second. Often these undecorated items have firing cracks or flaws. The items below are more typical with the elaborate lustre decoration associated with these Seaham-attributed jugs.
If you have a similarly decorated item, please get in touch.  If we could find another with a dated inscription, we might get a step closer to proving these items were made at Seaham Pottery after 1836.

P.S.

Norman Lowe has done some digging in the census records and made some interesting discoveries.
  • There is no trace of a Margaret Davison living around Seaham in 1829.
  • However, in the 1851 census there is a Margaret Davision, born 1829/30 in Wallsend, living at Dene Street, Seaham Harbour. 
  • Marriage records show that William Fairles Davison married a Margaret Penlington in the Easington district, which includes Seaham, in 1849.
  • Margaret Penlington was christened at St Peter's, Wallsend, on 24 January 1830.
So the jug must have been made after Margaret's marriage in 1849, because it bears her new name, Davison.  It is unlikely to be a marriage jug, because her husband's name isn't on the jug, and it has Margaret's date of birth. The latest the jug can be is the late 1850s, because it is contemporary with the jugs above with transfers of the old bridge – the New Bridge opened in 1859.

Taking all of that into account, it seems possible, perhaps even probable, that the jug was given to Margaret on her 21st birthday in 1850.  William Davison is recorded as being a dock pilot born in Monkwearmouth in 1826.  Aged 24 in 1850, he would have worked as a seaman, going out to meet incoming ships and navigating them into the harbour.

So perhaps neither William nor Margaret had much interest in the poetry of Byron. For them, the untitled image would have been of young William standing on the shore.  At this stage in their relationship, the other transfers on the jug, regarding the sailor's life, and young children playing, would also have had personal poignancy.
All this considered, the Seaham attribution now seems more secure. The jug would have been made around the time the pottery changed hands. Walker sold the premises at an auction on December 11th, 1850.  R.C. Wilson then ran the pottery from 1850 to 1852.  So my money is on the jug being made at the end of Walker's ownership.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Stephen Smith lives in London, and is always happy to hear from other collectors. If you have an interesting collection of plaques, and are based in the UK, he will photograph them for you. Free advice given regarding selling and dispersal of a collection, or to those wishing to start one. Just get in touch...

    matesoundthepump@yahoo.co.uk 
     

    Archives

    February 2022
    August 2020
    June 2020
    September 2018
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    October 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    April 2014
    February 2014
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010

    Acknowledgements

    This website is indebted to collectors, dealers and enthusiasts who have shared their knowledge or photos. In particular: Ian Holmes, Stephen Duckworth, Dick Henrywood, Norman Lowe, Keith Lovell, Donald H Ryan, Harold Crowder, Jack and Joyce Cockerill, Myrna Schkolne, Elinor Penna, Ian Sharp, Shauna Gregg at the Sunderland Museum, Keith Bell, Martyn Edgell, and Liz Denton.
Proudly powered by Weebly