James Sadler and Sons Ltd facts for kids
| Industry | Pottery |
|---|---|
| Fate | Went into receivership; rights purchased by Churchill China |
| Founded | 1882 in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, England |
| Founder | James Sadler |
| Defunct | 2000 |
| Products | Teapots |
James Sadler and Sons Ltd was a company that made pottery. It was started in 1882 by James Sadler in Burslem, a town in Stoke-on-Trent, United Kingdom.
Contents
History of Sadler Pottery
Making "Brown Betty" Teapots
The company was well-known for making a special kind of teapot called the "Brown Betty". These teapots were very popular.
At first, these teapots were made from terracotta, which is a reddish-brown clay. They had a clear, shiny coating called a glaze. They were shaped using special pottery methods like jiggering, jolleying, and slipcasting.
Later, the "Brown Betty" teapots were made from white earthenware. They were covered with a shiny brown glaze called Rockingham brown. By then, they were shaped entirely by slipcasting, which is a way of pouring liquid clay into a mold.
Fun and Novelty Teapots
In the 1930s, James Sadler and Sons started making teapots in fun and unusual shapes. They made teapots shaped like "Crinoline ladies" and even a Father Christmas.
A very famous teapot they made was the racing car teapot, which came out in 1938. After World War II, in 1947, they made a teapot shaped like a tank with a character called "Old Bill" as the lid.
The early racing car teapots, made before the war, often had a shiny silver decoration. They were marked "Made In England" on the bottom. They also had a special design number, 820236, pressed into the base. These teapots came in many colors, including green, yellow, cream, black, blue, grey, pink, and maroon. The license plate on the car teapot read "OKT42". There was even a version decorated with cartoon characters by the artist Mabel Lucie Attwell.
Changes and Closure
By 1999, the company decided to make fewer types of teapots. They cut their product list from 850 different items to just 340. Some of their teapots were then made in other countries.
In April 2000, James Sadler and Sons Ltd faced financial difficulties and had to close down. Another company called Churchill China bought the right to use the Sadler brand name and its teapot designs.
