Robert Chamberlain (c. 1736-98) is reputed to have been the first apprentice taken on by the founder of Worcester porcelain, Dr. John Wall, in 1751. Chamberlain rose to become head of the decorating department but soon after Thomas Flight bought the factory in 1783 he left to set up his own porcelain decorating studio in Worcester.

Assisted by sons Humphrey and Robert, Chamberlain at first purchased blank undecorated porcelain from Thomas Turner’s Caughley Porcelain Works in Shropshire. Some were decorated and resold at Chamberlain’s retail shop in Worcester, while others were decorated for Caughley and forwarded to Turner’s London warehouse.

In 1788 Chamberlain moved from a rented workshop to his own factory at Severn Street in Diglis, a Worcester suburb on the banks of the River Severn. In his book Chamberlain-Worcester Porcelain 1788-1852, Geoffrey Godden states that Chamberlain began making his own porcelain at the factory in 1791. This was the same year that Parliament approved construction of a canal between Worcester and Birmingham, starting at Diglis. Godden states that Chamberlain stopped decorating Caughley blanks in 1793.

Chamberlain quickly gained a reputation for finely painted porcelain. The Prince of Orange placed orders in 1796, and in August 1802, the factory was visited by Admiral Lord Nelson and his mistress Lady Hamilton who ordered a breakfast, dinner and dessert service in ‘Fine Old Japan’ pattern. Only the breakfast wares were completed before Nelson’s death at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.

In 1807, Chamberlain was granted the Royal Warrant by the Prince Regent, who later ordered a dessert service in which every piece had a different design.

Vast sums of money were spent on such large services, which could take several years to produce.

‘The Chamberlain porcelains of the 1810-30 period are really superb, rivalling any manufacturer of the period,’ Godden wrote in his New Guide to English Porcelain. ‘In quantity the output seemingly exceeded that of the Flight, Barr & Barr partnership at the old Dr. Wall Worcester factory, and in body and decoration the Chamberlain wares were superior to the contemporary Derby productions.’

In 1813, Chamberlain opened a London showroom at 63 Piccadilly, moving to 155 New Bond Street in 1816. Further premises were acquired at 1 Coventry Street in 1840.

Chamberlain appeared to be riding high. In 1840, it bought out rivals Flight, Barr & Barr at the original Worcester factory. The two companies merged to form Chamberlain & Co. ‘In effect, the firm established by a mere apprentice had taken over and absorbed the former great Worcester porcelain factory, which had been founded 90 years earlier,’ Godden commented.

The merger was defensive, however. Godden notes ‘something of a decline’ in the 1830s, with Minton and Spode (Copeland & Garrett after 1833) taking market share.

By 1852, when Richard William Binns and William Henry Kerr took over the Chamberlain business, both the product line and the Severn Street factory were outdated. One of their first moves was to abandon Chamberlain’s hybrid hard-paste porcelain in favour of the bone china body.

 

© Cotswold Antiques 2018