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| Soup tureen, cover & stand, pattern 4033, Spode c1825-1833 |
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| Soup tureen, cover & stand - bird's-eye view |
It is really lovely to find much of a large dinner service still together, rather than just the odd item or two long since split from the original order.
This Spode dinner service is in pattern 4033 which was first recorded in c1825. It is in the
collections of the V&A.
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| Soup tureen cover, gilding detail |
It has to be one of the best designed and beautifully made dinner services to ever come out of the factory in Stoke in the early 1800s because the Spodes owned it and, of course, would want the best wares their company could produce. What a wonderful sight it would have been laid out for guests to marvel at as they ate their meal and the floral pattern was gradually revealed.
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| Large serving dish (platter) Felspar Porcelain, Spode c1825-1833 |
In this service, on Gadroon shape, some pieces are bone china, others Felspar Porcelain. Some are marked Spode dating from c1825 to 1833; others Copeland & Garrett dating from 1833-1847.
The pattern is gorgeous with a gilded border accented in red. The centres of floral groups are handpainted. Every piece of this huge service has a different group of flowers painted in the centre but always following the same style of arrangement.
I have never been able to find out exactly when it was ordered or exactly which member of the family ordered it during my research. Evidence points to it being a Josiah Spode. But which one?
Working backwards then, this service was part of several hundred Spode pieces presented to the V&A by Helen Gulson (c1835-1910) between about 1898 and 1902. It was partly gifted and partly sold. She was the niece of Josiah Spode IV (1823-1893) and went to live with him after the death of his wife Helen Heywood.
Helen Gulson inherited the items from Uncle Josiah Spode IV at his death. She had lived with him for many years at Hawkesyard Hall/Park (later Priory), Armitage, Staffordshire. Great grandson of Josiah Spode I (1733-1797), founder of the Spode pottery company, Josiah Spode IV was only 6 when his father Josiah Spode III died in 1829. Unlike Spodes I, II and III he was never involved with the Spode factory.
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| Hawkesyard Hall/Park (later Priory). Also known as Armitage Park and Spode House |
Correspondence between Helen Gulson and the V&A describes the Spode pieces as being inherited by her from her Uncle Josiah [Spode IV] '
in whose possession they have always been, & in that of his father & mother'. His mother was Mary Williamson*, married to his father, Spode III (1777-1829), in 1815. She died in 1860 with Spode IV as the only child who would have been her heir.
So it would seem this service was originally from Spode II or Spode III. According to Miss Gulson the service was '
frequently used' and added to at later dates as needed from the Spode factory under
Copeland & Garrett.
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| Josiah Spode IV (1823-1893) |
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| Large serving dish (platter) Felspar Porcelain, Spode c1825-1833 |
Here are some more pieces from the service from the
V&A collections online.
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| Cover Dish, or Vegetable Dish, and Cover, Copeland & Garrett 1833-1847 |
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| Cover Dish, or Vegetable Dish, and Cover, looking down. |
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| Plate, Spode c1825-1833 |
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| Plate, Spode c1825-1833 |
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| Plate, Spode c1825-1833 |
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| Plate, Copeland & Garrett 1833-1847 |
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| Sauce tureen, cover and stand, Spode c1825-1833 |
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| Soup Plate, Spode c1825-1833 |
There is also another beautiful dinner service at the V&A, from the same source, in pattern 5061 first recorded in about 1832. This one features groups of fruits and flowers for its centres. Again fully handpainted with lots of gilding and a strong blue border. A few years ago it was displayed in the British Galleries at the V&A... and may still be so in 2019.
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| Cover Dish, or Vegetable Dish, Amherst shape, pattern 5061, Spode c1832-1833 |
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*
Mary Williamson was sister to Hugh Henshall Williamson. He was close friend and confidante of the Spode family as well as solicitor, executor of wills and trustee of the Spode company at the death of Spode III in 1829 and more... Incidentally, Mary's mother, Anne, had a rather important first husband, James Brindley (1716-1772) the famous canal builder. Hugh Henshall Williamson was uncle to Spode IV.
Researched by Pam Woolliscroft with acknowledgements and thanks to: Peter Roden for his in-depth Spode family research and to The V&A Collections Online.
