William Bloor
William Bloor immigrated to America on November 5, 1842, from Loines Square in Staffordshire, England. After landing in New Orleans, Bloor briefly worked in Henderson’s Jersey City Pottery as a potter, making yellow ware and cream-colored ware. Although it is not known exactly how long Bloor worked at Henderson’s pottery, he appeared in East Liverpool in the early 1840s. He acquired his first job in East Liverpool as a turner in the Etruria Pottery Works, the second pottery established in East Liverpool in 1840 by George Harker.
By June of 1846, Bloor, in partnership with James Gilson and Thomas Ball, bought property from James Cocher. Construction of the pottery’s physical plant consisted of a ten-foot kiln, a slip house, a glaze house, and a clay mill. This establishment, known as the Union Pottery, produced only one kiln of quarry and bricks before the partnership was dissolved leaving Mr. Ball in full possession.
Bloor married Miss Elizabeth Brunt. This proved to be a good business move, as well as a personal one, for Elizabeth was the daughter of William Brunt, Sr., an immigrant potter from England. Throughout Bloor’s life, he would form advantageous business partnerships with his father-in-law and brother-in-law, William Brunt, Jr.
Three years after the failure of the Union Pottery, Bloor, in partnership with his father-in-law, broke ground for a new pottery. They had the intention of making Rockingham and yellow ware, but after only a few kiln firings, they began experimenting with making doorknobs. Their plant was much better adapted for making knobs than household ceramics due to the small size of the plant. This was the foundation of the Riverside Knob Works, which would stay in operation until 1910.
It was at the Knob Works that Bloor first experimented with white earthen ware by producing white doorknobs and white door plates. He also produced “dapple ware” which was a white earthen ware with a blue stain applied. Bloor left the Knob Works in the early 1850s. He then traveled to California with his brother-in-law in search of gold. Their goldmining activities proved to be successful and gave Bloor the ability to finance a pottery venture in Trenton, New Jersey.
While still in East Liverpool, Bloor, James Taylor, and Henry Speeler were invited to a meeting with C. Hattersley. Hattersley expounded on the advantages that Trenton, New Jersey had to offer for the manufacture of pottery such as its site between the two large markets of New York and Philadelphia and the abundance of fine clays. The three men present were duly impressed. Taylor immediately built the first pottery in Trenton in July 1852 using funds provided by William Bloor. This was the start of a new industry in Trenton that would grow to become one of the major pottery centers of the United States. Jabez Vodrey, one of the East Liverpool pottery owners, wrote of the Trenton product in this diary, “If it is all as it looks now Liverpool will stand a chance against the Eastern plates in the art of porcelain.” Speeler joined Taylor shortly after Taylor settled in Trenton and Bloor joined the firm in 1855.
Taylor, Speeler, and Bloor produced mostly yellow ware and Rockingham ware, but did make limited white granite and dapple ware. The firm gained recognition in 1856 by being awarded a silver medal by the Franklin Institute in the category of Glass and China. The Franklin Institute initiated the expositions in 1834 to encourage domestic manufacturing and to promote their sale and use. The 1856 Exposition report recorded that the ware exhibited by Taylor, Speeler, and Bloor: “‘is fully equal to the best heretofore exhibited; the granite is the best we have seen of American production, the body equal to standard manufactures abroad, and a little more care in finish would place them in high rank.’ A First-Class Premium.”
Although the sale of his interest in Taylor and Speeler was not formalized until 1860, Bloor retired from this partnership in 1859 and returned to East Liverpool. The Woodward and Blakely Pottery was being sold at a sheriff’s sale to settle a dispute between the owners and Bloor and William Brunt, Jr. bought the pottery. They divided the building so that the facility could house two separate potteries. Bloor retained the southern half which became known as the “Phoenix Pottery” and Brunt received the “Lincoln Pottery Works.”
After the purchase, Bloor transformed the warehouse and general store into a pottery by adding a new engine house and installing a large engine and a double firing kiln. The kiln was a unique feature of Bloor’s plant since it fired the gloss ware below and the bisque ware above, saving both energy and money. With these improvements completed, Bloor was able to manufacture the first “French” China west of the Alleghenies. Prior to this time, whiteware had been produced in East Liverpool at the Goodwin Pottery, but only in an experimental fashion and not commercially. Bloor produced whiteware in his plant for three years and steadily placed it on the market, thus proving that he did manufacture it in a commercial manner.
Before Bloor began production of whiteware, yellowware and Rockingham were made because the clay needed was found in the local soil. To produce whiteware, the materials had to be transported from overseas or from the South. Bloor’s whiteware received favorable comments from the East Liverpool Mercury in 1861: “We find in the list of premiums of our county agricultural society, the following flattering reference to the Porcelain and Parian China ware on exhibition from the works of our estimable fellow citizen, Wm. Bloor, Esq. This ware may well challenge competition, come from what quarter it may, and the location of these works in our midst is a circumstance in regard to which every citizen of East Liverpool should feel justly proud.”
In addition to whiteware, Bloor also produced Parian Ware, a bisque porcelain. Most was left unglazed on the outside with a thin layer of glaze on the interior. On some of the ware he added a distinctive color scheme of a light blue background that was hand painted and left the relief in white. This ware was quite unusual in that it was only made at a few potteries in the United States and his special flair with it makes his work easy to recognize. Bloor also produced a fine hotel ware. He created a ware that was two to three times thicker than normal table wares, thereby accommodating the heavy usage of pottery used in a hotel or on a ship. Bloor was ahead of his time in making whiteware. Other potteries continued producing the yellow ware and Rockingham ware and did not make the conversion to whiteware until the 1870s.
One of Bloor’s promotions of his pottery was “at home days,” when women in the community could visit the pottery, see the ware that he was producing and receive a free souvenir piece of pottery. The open houses were immensely popular and reached the point where women were coming back time and time again for the free souvenir. Finally, the local newspaper, The Mercury, commented on the fact that if the women of East Liverpool wanted a new table service they should “pay” Mr. Bloor a visit instead of making continuous visits to his open houses.
Bloor remained in business until 1862 when he was forced to sell to William Brunt, Jr. There are several explanations for the failure of Bloor’s pottery: an unstable economy due to the Civil War, failure of his ware to be accepted, or simply the Civil War. Until the war started, people would buy china but the war changed people’s needs. They no longer needed china but rather more practical things such as tin pans and cups. The war also closed the southern market for Bloor, which greatly cut into the quantity of ware that he sold. In another time, Bloor would have completely revolutionized the industry in the East Liverpool area. Instead, Bloor went out of business and moved to Trenton, and Rockingham and yellow ware continued to be made in East Liverpool.
In 1863, Bloor moved back to Trenton. Upon his return, Bloor enlisted the help of past acquaintances, Joseph Ott and Thomas Booth, to start a new pottery on the outskirts of Trenton called the Etruria Pottery. At the Etruria Pottery, they produced cream-colored ware and white granite, but also produced some Parian ware such as a bust of General Ulysses Simpson Grant and a bust of President Lincoln. This partnership did not remain intact for long before Booth sold his third of the pottery to Garrett Burroughs in 1864. The name of the pottery owners would change again in 1865 when Burroughs, due to ill health, sold his share of the pottery to Ott’s nephew, John Hart Brewer.
In the initial partnership and through the changes, Bloor was the dominant figure. Not only was he the only experienced potter, but he made a financial contribution as well. Ott and the other three partners were businessmen and looked upon this as a money-making project and not as a way to help advance the pottery industry. Brewer did learn the pottery industry after he joined the firm by serving as an apprentice to Bloor for six years.
Bloor sold his shares to the other two partners in 1871, and the pottery was renamed Ott and Brewer. In the twenty-two years after the sale, it would develop into one of the best known and highly regarded manufacturers of pottery in the history of American pottery making. The success of Ott and Brewer after Bloor left the firm often eclipses the contributions that Bloor made to the company.
During the period Bloor was in Trenton, he was helping East Liverpool in its transition to whiteware by selling his formula for it to Colonel H.R. Hill and Captain William Brunt. Having established a pottery after the war, they did not want to make the traditional wares; they wrote to Bloor and asked for his assistance. He sent them the formula for $100.
When Bloor moved back to East Liverpool in 1872, he did not have the intention of starting a new pottery, but wanted to sell the materials needed for whiteware production to the potteries there. He had extra incentive for this new venture since he owned most of the mines from which the materials came. Bloor only stayed on the supply side of the business for a short time before he was back in business.
In June of 1875, Bloor, William Brunt, Jr., and George Martin purchased the Dresden Pottery. The pottery had been a failure for years because of its poor location for shipping and poor management. The first kiln of ware was drawn on March 9, 1876 and was supervised by Bloor. To celebrate, Brunt, Bloor, and Martin held a supper and dance at the City Hotel. The concept of rewarding workers was a new practice and was praised by The East Liverpool Tribune:
“The firm has inaugurated a system we hope to see adopted by others – that of giving their workmen a treat once in a while. The cost is small and it promotes a general good will throughout, making everybody happy.”
At the Dresden Pottery, they produced an excellent grade of whiteware and ironstone china. The designs and patterns for the pottery were furnished by Jess Chetwynd, who went on to be a successful pottery owner. The ware won high praise in the local paper and won an award at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. It was at this high point that while in Philadelphia William Bloor had a stroke that left him partially paralyzed. He recuperated a short time in Trenton and eventually came back to East Liverpool where he became well enough to visit the pottery for short periods of time, although Bloor never fully recovered and died from a second stroke on May 27, 1877.