Edwin Bennett (potter)
Edwin Bennett (March 6, 1818 – June 13, 1908), born in Newhall, Derbyshire, was an English American pioneer of the pottery industry and art in the United States,[1] and founder of the Edwin Bennett Pottery Company of Baltimore, Maryland. Producing a variety of wares from the everyday to the fine and artistic, his company, originally founded in the 1840s as the Edwin Bennett Queensware Manufactory,[2] continued in operation until forced to close during the Great Depression in 1936. Examples of Edwin Bennett pottery may be found in museums across the United States, including the Maryland Historical Society,[3] the Philadelphia Museum of Art,[4] the Metropolitan Museum of Art,[5][6][7] and the National Museum of American History,[8][9][10] as well as in private collections.
Arriving in 1841 Edwin first worked with his brothers James, William and Daniel in East Liverpool, Ohio and later Pittsburgh, after which he moved to Baltimore independently in 1846 and founded his own pottery with his own designs, the business growing to multiple kilns in little time.[2] He became a citizen of the United States in 1848,[1] in which year he was also joined by his brother William and the new partnership named E & W Bennett.[2] They soon added new lines in majolica and coloured stonewares, and in 1853 one of the company's most notable early accomplishments was the first industrial production of porcelain in America, a line of jugs of biscuit porcelain not unlike Parian although with some glazing and colored decoration.[11] The Bennetts also produced notable Rockingham-style ware,[12] including the famous "Rebekah at the Well" teapot, modeled by Charles Coxon in Baltimore following Edwin's inspiration.[13] It became the best and longest selling Rockingham-style ware pattern in history.[14] Following James' retirement William left to run the Pittsburg operation in 1856 and the Baltimore factory renamed to the Edwin Bennett Pottery.[2]
The first pitched battle of the American Civil War happened right in front of his business on April 19, 1861 and Edwin moved with his wife and children to Philadelphia, where in the next year or two he entered into a partnership with his friend the glassmaker William Gillinder, with Bennett contributing some new tableware designs.[2] In 1867, the year he sold his interests to Gillinder and his sons, it was the largest glass factory within the city limits.[15] Gillinder's son James also married Bennett's daughter Martha.
Having returned to Baltimore although with his factory continuing in production throughout the war and after, in 1869 Edwin introduced a general line of various earthenwares which were produced until 1890.[1] Malachite glaze ware was produced in the 1860s and 70s as an alternative to the era's yellows, browns and whites (which Bennett also continued to produce).[16] Among the later original styles his company became known for are the "Albion" and "Brubensul" wares,[1] both introduced in 1896 and with some rarer specimens bought by foreign governments for their national museums.[17] It was also by the 1890s that the company was now the largest single producer of pottery in the United States.[16] The Bennett Pottery Co. was much later also responsible for the design of the popular infuser-style "McCormick teapot".[18]
Edwin Bennett was a younger brother of James Bennett, who established the pottery industry in East Liverpool, Ohio. The Bennett brothers were long friendly with Andrew Carnegie and his family, who had lived in Ohio. Edwin once entertained Carnegie's mother Margaret, on her way to visit her son in Virginia during the Civil War, in his home on East Baltimore Street.[1]
Bennett first married Mary J. Huston, with whom he had eight daughters and one son. His second wife, Sarah Elizabeth Day, with whom he had one son, was a 1st cousin of writer Mary L. Day.
See also
- Staffordshire Potteries, where Edwin and his brothers apprenticed
- Arnold Bennett, also from the region
References
- Notes
- Baltimore, Vol. III
- Beem and Beem, 2012
- Holland 1973
- Edwin Bennett Pottery Company at the Philadelphia Museum of Art
- E. & W. Bennett Pottery, "Cup-Tosser" Pitcher 1847-57
- E. & W. Bennett Pottery, Pitcher 1850-57
- E. & W. Bennett Pottery, Pitcher 1885-87
- where also can be found the company records
- Edwin Bennett Pottery Company pitcher 1886-1890
- Edwin Bennett Pottery Company jar 1886-1890
- Beem and Beem, 2012; Campbell; Schneider, p.19
- The Bennett brothers produced a ware considered as good or even better than the classic Rockingham, which it was never technically classified as. They used the style name for marketing. Claney, pp. 42–3
- Holland, p. 6
- Claney, p. 81
- Beem and Beem, 2012; Museum of American Glass at Wheaton Arts
- Brooks
- Baltimore, Vol. III; Glass and Potter World Vol. XII No.1, p. 18
- Beem and Beem, 2009
- Bibliography
- Barber, Edwin Atlee, The Pottery and Porcelain of the United States: 3rd Edition. New York and London. 1909. pp. 192–200, 472–5; Haynes collaboration pp. 320–32
- Beem, Barbara and Ken, "Bennett Pottery". Baltimore. 1988.
- Beem, Barbara and Ken, "The McCormick Teapot: A Whodunnit?", in New England Antiques Journal, Sept. 2009. Archived 2011-07-07 at the Wayback Machine
- Beem, Barbara and Ken, "A History of Baltimore Porcelain", in Robert Hunter (ed.) Ceramics in America 2012. Photo Gallery
- Brooks, Lauren, "The Story of Baltimore Pottery", in Chesapeake Home, July/August 2005.
- Campbell, Gordon (ed.), The Grove Encyclopedia of Decorative Arts. Oxford. 2006. pg. 99 (one paragraph entry). online edition
- Claney, Jane Perkins, Rockingham Ware in American Culture, 1830–1930: Reading Historical Artifacts. New Hampshire: University Press of New England. 2004. pp. 46–8
- Goldberg, Arthur F., "Highlights in the Development of the Rockingham and Yellow Ware Industry in the United States - A Brief Review with Representative Examples", in Robert Hunter (ed.) Ceramics in America 2003. Photo Gallery
- Holland, Eugenia Calvert, Edwin Bennett and the Products of his Baltimore Pottery. Exhibition catalogue. Baltimore: Maryland Historical Society. Summer, 1973.
- Jervis, W. Percival, A Book of Pottery Marks. Newark. 1897. p. 74
- Museum of American Glass at Wheaton Arts, "Gillinder Glass: Story of a Company". 1994.
- Schneider, M., Majolica. Pennsylvania: Schiffer Publishing, Ltd. 3rd edition, revised & expanded. 1999.
- Stradling, J. G., "Puzzling Aspects of the Most Popular Piece of American Pottery Ever Made", in The Magazine ANTIQUES, February 1997.
- Various Contributors, Baltimore: Its History and its People. Volume III – Biography. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company. 1912. pp. 856–60
- Various Contributors, Glass and Pottery World. Vol. XII. No. 1. Chicago: Porter, Taylor & Co. January, 1904. pg. 18
- Various Contributors, Glass and Pottery World. Vol. XIV. No. 5. Chicago: Porter, Taylor & Co. May, 1906. pg. 20. James Bennett photograph with mention of Andrew Carnegie letter reminiscing to Edwin Vol. XIII. No. 6. pg. 34
- Company records
Further reading
- Charles Coxon of Staffordshire on the career of Bennett's colleague and senior modeller 1849-58