(Arthur)Stuart Johnson ⁴

   Another name for (Arthur)Stuart was Stuart Johnson.

  General Notes:

Known as Stuart, he was the fifth son and one of the middle children in a family that consisted of nine boys and two girls. His father had established the family firm of Johnson Brothers in the Potteries. It was a large business, making not only domestic earthenware but also basins, lavatories and tiles.

He was educated at Repton, unlike all his other brothers who went to Rugby. He did no work at school but created a wonderful butterfly and egg collection stored in a tall wooden cabinet with slim drawers. Caroline remembers this as one of the proud treasures at Henshall, home of Stuart and Marjorie. The collection was given after Marjorie's death to a museum (possibly in Hanley). His father, Lewis, bought Alfred Meakin Ltd for him and his younger brother Frank as the three eldest brothers, the fourth son Alfred went into farming like his grandfather, were already working in the family firm and there were no more positions available. Meakins at the time was a very run down pottery and distinctly unprosperous. He built this up with his brother Frank. It became well known for the 'Bleu de Roi" pattern and the factory received a Royal Warrant after a visit by George V. Stuart enjoyed saying to his elder brother that that was far more than Johnson Brothers had ever received!

Alfred Meakin Ltd was set up in 1875 and operated from the Royal Albert, Victoria and Highgate Potteries in Tunstall. Alfred Meakin was the brother of James and George Meakin who ran a large pottery company in Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent. In 1845 a James Meakin manufactured at Newtown Works, Uttoxeter Road, Longton. Of his sons, James and George founded J & G Meakin (Hanley), while in 1875 another son, Alfred, founded Alfred Meakin at Tunstall.

Meakin factories:

1875 - Royal Albert Pottery; Victoria Pottery (built 1858); Highgate Potteries, Parsonage Street, Tunstall (known collectively as Royal Albert, Victoria & Highgate Potteries).

1930 - Newfield Pottery (in addition to above); (by 1928, known collectively as Royal Albert, Victoria and Newfield Potteries).

1957 - c.1980 Victoria and Highgate Works (new).

c.1980- Alexander Works , Cobridge (built by Myott in 1902).

also (1949) owned the Furlong Mill as a subsidiary company preparing materials.

Alfred Meakin died in 1902 and was succeeded by his son Alfred John who died in 1908. Alfred Johns' aunt's husband Robert Johnson bought the company for his son Stuart Johnson and it stayed in the Johnson family's hands until 1976 when it became Myott-Meakin before becoming part of the Churchill Group.

The history of the company is as follows:

1875 - 1897 Alfred Meakin
1897 - 1913 Alfred Meakin Ltd. (in 1908 bought by members of the Johnson family)
1913 - 1976 Alfred Meakin (Tunstall) Ltd
1976 acquired by Myott, Son & Co. Ltd (Hampson refers to Interpace Corporation of Parsippany, New Jersey, owning both Myott (since 1969) and Alfred Meakin. Interpace were, at the time, the largest tableware manufacturer in the USA).
1976 -1991 Myott-Meakin
1989 acquired by Melton Modes (Nottingham) to become Myott-Meakin (Staffordshire) Ltd.
1991 management bought out Melton Modes. June 1991 acquired by Churchill Group.

According to an 1881 advertisement Alfred Meakin manufactured ironstone china and white granite ware suitable for export. Examples of their ironstone export wares are illustrated in the Wetherbee and Heaivilin collectors' guides. The company is reported to have set up their own methods of distribution in the USA and used the mail order catalogues of large US companies. Shapes such as Bamboo (1870's-80's), Fishhook (1880's) and Chelsea were the most common. Alfred Meakin was one of the most prolific manufacturers of the Tea Leaf design, exported by many other Staffordshire companies following its introduction as a motif in the mid 1850s. Together with other simple designs it supplemented the plain white ironstone which was in common use in America. The motif was normally produced in copper lustre although examples of gold lustre have been found - the design was consequently also known as Lustre Spray.

Production of the tea leaf design stopped in 1910.

In addition to wares for export, ordinary domestic and traditional table wares were made, such as the Bleu de Roi dinner ware presented to King George V and Queen Mary on their 1913 Royal Visit to the pottery (which resulted in the Royal Warrant).

Tiles were also manufactured by Alfred Meakin from the 1890s featuring art nouveau floral designs and the company were still reported as being involved in tile making in 1922.

In 1932 children's ware such as Peter Pan and other decorated wares became part of their staple. Art Deco designs were manufactured. A company promotional leaflet of 1949 states that they were famous for coloured banding. Their products were used on public transport such as the Flying Scotsman. At this time, there were over 1,200 employees and both bottle and tunnel ovens were in use.

After moving to a new factory in 1957 many new tableware shapes and patterns were introduced. Some designs from the 1950s and 1960s are similar to better known designs, such as Midwinter's 'Riviera' or 'Cannes' and Ridgway Potteries 'Homemaker' and are typical examples of what many firms of the period were producing.

The company employed 1,000 in 1973 and 2,000 in 1977.

The Pottery families of Meakin, Johnson, Ridgway and Pearson were all related and their activities, both business and personal, intertwined.

Myott-Meakin revived the use of the Alfred Meakin back stamp for bone china in 1985 but this range (some of which was manufactured in China) was discontinued late 1989/early 1990 to concentrate on earthenware production. The majority of Myott-Meakin production was exported.

Stuart was down to earth and practical and found his bother Frank a pain in the neck, very dumb and no help in the business. Stuart was never impressed by academic credentials, preferring to employ people who showed they could work. He loved fishing and often holidayed in Scotland to fish the Dee with one of his brothers.

His son Reginald joined him at Alfred Meakin. This was not an easy relationship as the two had never really seen eye to eye. Reginald did a lot of travelling and gained orders from overseas especially the USA. It was after a trip to the USA that Reginald had a heart attack in his office. This came as a great shock to Stuart who, aged about 80, returned to work to run the business.

Beryl was made a director to replace Reginald as both his sons were considered too young. Margaret (Reginald's wife) however felt that their son Robert, then aged about 21, was perfectly capable of taking on the responsibility with the elderly company secretary. The factory was sold to an American company. After the sale Beryl tried to keep in touch with Margaret but eventually lost touch with her and her sons.

Stuart and Marjorie lived at Henshall Hall, which had also previously been owned by the Meakins.

From the Congleton Newspaper, no date, Column titled 'Another Week' 1975?

A woman reader came dashing into the office last week (as they often do) with fire in her belly (as they often have) threatening that she was going to write us a scorching letter (which they never do, nine out of 10 times, because by the time they get round to it, the fire has gone out) because she had just heard that Henshall Hall, at Congleton, was about to be pulled down. Why, she asked, did she have to cart off her kids to Manchester or Liverpool to enable them to see some of our past history, when a beautiful example of it could be retained in our own area, complete with its tiles and marble and panelling and staircases and conservatory with waterfalls - in fact, a perfect example of what one section of life was like in the past, now reduced to small proportions and likely to become as extinct as the dodo by the time Mr. Denis ("Soak 'em," as the Daily Mail calls him) Healey has finished with them. We told her to go home and write us the letter, and at the same time-much as we sympathise and agree with her - to tell us who was going to pay for the hall's preservation, because obviously the ratepayers were already over-taxed, and obviously, to a private owner, this relic of much grander days was worth more dead than alive - in other words, its site is more valuable without it. Certainly, as a building it is irreplaceable, and when we had the chance to look round it again for the first time since well before the Johnsons (the last, owners) died, our main speculation was just how much it would cost to build today (assuming, of course, that you could find anyone who could build to that quality). In fact, no-one could afford to keep it up, let alone erect it, and we were amused to see in our files that when the whole estate was put up for sale in 1910, it was withdrawn because no-one would offer more than £9,500! How times have changed.

What we are really interested in is the hall's history and particularly how it got its name. In our files of 1937, a contributor wrote that what we now know as Dane-in-Shaw was called "Daneshenshall" in 1814, changing its name about 3O years later for no apparent reason, and he asked if it was from "Daneshenshall" that the hall got its name. Mr. Richard Biddulph, MA, author of the " History of Biddulph" (which has yet to be published anywhere except in instalments in the "Chronicle") was quick to reply that in the 1190's, a deed of gift referred to Dane-in-Shaw as "Davenhischell": in 1600, there was a reference to "Davenynsale"; and in 1790, we had " Dane-in-Schawe" (a "shaw" being a wood or thicket"). No, he said, Dane-in-Shaw had seen a change in the spelling of its name many times over the centuries and he was inclined to the view that the hall was named after the Henshalls (or, earlier, Henshawes, with or without the 'e') who were prominent in the history of both Congleton and Biddulph for centuries. Indeed, he pointed out, as early as the 18th and 17th centuries, they held official posts in Biddulph, while in Congleton they had held leading positions for 350 years. In 1567, a John Henshaw (or Henshall) was mentioned, while another of the same name was Mayor in 1642/3, and Josiah Henshaw was headmaster of Congleton Grammar School in 1702.

The peak of their power came later, however, for it was the Henshalls and Williamsons who developed the quarries and coal mines in the Biddulph area. The famous local canal builder, James Brindley, married Anne Henshall and the Clerk of Works on the Trent and Mersey Canal project was Hugh Henshall, her brother. When Brindley died, his widow married Robert Williamson (their daughter married a Spode, of the pottery family), and one of their two sons, Hugh, was given his mother's maiden name to become Hugh Henshall Williamson, and he, of course, lived at Greenway Bank, Biddulph, as did his uncle Hugh Henshall before him.

The other brother was Robert, who lived at Ramsdell (apparently then "Ramsdale" Hall), and they were big land and coal owners in the Potteries. Hugh had no children, but Robert had seven and one of them, John Henshall Williamson, continued the combination of the names of the two families.

Here we must stop, because one can go on about the Williamsons for ever, and we know of one Stoke-on-Trent school-teacher who will be in touch with us next week, as he always is when we mention the name of Williamson, because he has done a lot of research into the family.

Now, however, once and for all, we can end the argument about the hall's name. Thanks to the co-operation of Messrs. Seddon (who now own the estate) and their solicitors, who spent some time going through three bundles of deeds for us, we can confirm that the name came from a member of the Henshall Williamson family - John Henshall Williamson, to be precise. Furthermore, it wasn't always known as Henshall Hall - it was formerly Moss House.

The deeds show that up to 1797, what we now know as the Henshall Hall Estate comprised odd pieces of land and it seems that we have a Thomas Hockenhull largely to thank for buying them individually and putting them together, for his name features most frequently in the deeds. (One of the pieces of land he acquired was from William Malbon, which is a famous Congleton surname if ever there was one). It was Hockenhull who sold (presumably having built) Moss House - incidentally, it was described as being in Park Lane in those days - to John Henshall Williamson and some time afterwards he changed its name to Henshall Hall.

The inevitable question in matters such as this, of course, is "was there an earlier hall on the same site?" In this case, it would seem unlikely, because, as we have stated, the estate did not exist as such prior to about 1797. When we can find the time, we will see the deeds for ourselves and delve further into an interesting bit of Congleton history.

Stuart died on 21^st Sep 1970 at Henshall and Marjorie followed him two years later on 2^nd May 1972 both were buried at Astbury Church in Cheshire.

  Noted events in his life were:

• Occupation/Address: Worker on earthenware factory, 1901, Butterton Hall, Butterton, Staffordshire.

• Address: 1922, Copthorne, Congleton, Cheshire.

(Arthur)Stuart married Marjorie Settle, daughter of Joel Settle and Margaret Caroline Mellard, on 21 Apr 1915 in St Mary's Church, Alsager.⁸ (Marjorie Settle was born on 31 Aug 1893 in Old Hall, Madeley, Staffordshire,¹⁰ died on 2 May 1972 in Congleton, Cheshire ⁸ and was buried in Astbury Church, Cheshire.)