Shelley Potteries, situated in Staffordshire, was earlier known as Wileman & Co. which had also traded as The Foley Potteries. The first Shelley to join the company was Joseph Ball Shelley in 1862 and in 1896 his son Percy Shelley became the sole proprietor, after which it remained a Shelley family business until 1966 when it was taken over by Allied English Potteries. Its china and earthenware products were many and varied although the major output was table ware. In the late Victorian period the Art Nouveau style pottery and Intarsio ranges designed by art director Frederick Alfred Rhead were extremely popular but Shelley is probably best known for its fine bone china “Art Deco” ware of the inter-war years and post-war fashionable tea ware.
Wileman refers to a backstamped version of which predates Shelley-branded porcelain. The factory that manufactured this brand of porcelain was located in Longton, Staffordshire, England.
Early history
The origins of Shelley pottery were in the district known as Foley in the potteries. By the beginning of the nineteenth century, although the district was relatively poor, the manufacture of earthenware was being developed and a number of pottery companies had been established. One of these was the factory of Messrs. Elkin, Knight & Bridgwood which by 1829 had a powerful steam engine and flint Mill.
Knight became sole proprietor of the business in 1853 but shortly afterwards took Henry Wileman as a partner, trading as Knight & Wileman. Three years later Knight retired and Henry Wileman continued the business in his own name. In 1862 Henry Wileman employed Joseph Shelley (whose family had at one time produced pottery on the site now occupied by the Gladstone Museum) as a travelling salesman. In 1864 Henry Wileman died and his two sons James F and Charles J took over the business. Two years later the business was split, James managed the earthenware factory whilst Charles managed the china factory. Charles Wileman retired in 1870 from the earthenware factory and James became sole proprietor of this factory. Joseph Shelley was taken into partnership with James Wileman in 1872, but only for the china factory. The company became known as Wileman & Co and used the backstamp "Foley".
Developments to 1910
In 1881 Joseph's son Percy Shelley joined the company. In 1884 James Wileman retired from the china factory to manage the earthenware factory before retiring altogether in 1892 when the earthenware factory closed. Wileman & Co were starting to produce ware to the public's taste and in 1896 had appointed agents in Australia, USA & Canada and had a showroom in London, describing themselves as "Manufacturers of Art Porcelain".
Joseph Shelley died in June 1896, leaving Percy in sole control of the company. Percy wanted to enhance the company and in 1896 he employed Rowland Morris. Morris was a ceramic designer and went on to design the Dainty cup shape. This shape became very popular, especially in the USA after the 2nd World War and it continued in production until the takeover in 1966.
Frederick Alfred Rhead was employed in 1896, as the Arts Director. Rhead brought his own kind of skills to the company and introduced several ranges of china and earthenware and with this, enhanced the company's reputation further. In 1899 the journal 'Artist' produced an article entitled "Some Beautiful English Pottery" this was completely devoted to what was then being termed Foley Art Pottery, one of the main fashion setters of that time, Liberty's of Regent Street, London was exhibiting a selection of the wares. A decorative range of earthenware called "Intarsio" was one of Rhead's major contributions to the pottery. He left the company in 1905.
Walter Slater then took over as Arts Director. The Slater name was another well known family name in the pottery industry. Walter was an apprentice at Mintons in the late 1870s before moving to Doulton's, at Nile Street, Burslem under the direction of his uncle John Slater. Slater had joined Wileman & Co at a time when there was an economic depression, so in his first years he found himself supervising the more popular ware which Wileman had become well known for.