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| WILLIAM KETTLE JUG |
£1200 |
A very large and important jug by Elsmore & Forster, inscribed WILLIAM KETTLE 1865, the OVENMEN's ARMS.
The pottery museum Stoke has a remarkable vase presented by Thomas Edwards in 1908 who as active union member of the ovenmen society was involved in the strike which helped to bring about the practice of annual hiring in the pottery industry in 1865. We have found a record of a public house called the Ovenmen Arms on the Burslem / Wolstarton border, but possibly was this jug used during "the strike" bringing the Ovenmen to arms.
It would appear William was born in about 1845 to Thomas & Fanny in Burslum and was working in the potteries by the age of 12. In 1881 he is recorded as married with 2 children and working as a Potters Placer these were the "ovenmen" who worked in the bottle kiln either placing the pots in the saggar, or the saggar into the kiln . They experienced massive temperature fluctuations when bottle ovens were open often having to empty them when still hot, a very dangerous employment and one of the conditions of the strike. He died aged only 47 in 1896. |
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