June 1, 2015

Finest Hour 108, Autumn 2000

Page 46

By DOUGLAS J. HALL

British potteries were prohibited under wartime regulations from producing decorated china for the home market. Making a virtue out of necessity, designers added interest to plain white “utility” tableware through the use of shape and form. They were permitted, indeed encouraged, to use a standard sepia portrait transfer of the Prime Minister. They were also permitted to add a gold rim line (usually, in fact, relatively inexpensive gold lustre) which, whilst decorative, was reckoned to have the functional purpose of protecting the vulnerable edges of the piece against chipping. And they were allowed to use a limited range of tinted clay bodies, normally cream or pale green, in place of the standard whiteware.

Apart from those three very modest concessions to colour decoration it was the pottery designers’ bold use of innovative shapes which saved the wartime British dining table from becoming a plain and drab board. Many different potteries were involved in the production of “utility” tableware bearing the ap. proved Churchill portrait transfer. In most cases the individual pieces were unmarked but the following backstamps can be found: Gray’s Pottery, Stoke-onTrent; Lancaster’s, Hanley; Newhall, Hanley; Paragon China; Skerrett’s, Hanley; Sutherland China; and Wellington China, Longton.

Many potteries had wholly or partly been given over to the production of industrial ceramics needed for the war effort. There was a huge demand for all clay products—bricks, tiles, sanitary fittings, drainpipes and conduits—for the construction of factories, barracks, aerodromes, hospitals and other essential premises, as well as for the repair of bomb-damaged buildings. In addition, the potteries were called upon to supply highly specialised ceramic items such as laboratory porcelain, electrolytic cells, sparking plugs, insulators, filters and chemical stoneware.

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The Times estimated that up until 1939 the potteries had been supplying 100 million pieces of tableware per year simply to replace normal day-to-day breakages in British households. From 1940, that requirement was substantially increased by the demand for crockery for the armed forces, factory canteens and the newly established British Restaurants,* as well as the need to replace domestic tableware smashed by the Luftwaffe. The potteries met the challenge in spite of significantly reduced resources for the production of tableware—their labour force had been reduced to less than half the prewar figure—and the difficulties caused by bombing and restrictions on the use of fuel for firing the kilns. The potteries clearly shaped up.

These wartime “utility” pieces are often found at the antiques fairs. The commonplace items can be purchased for £20/$30 or less but the more unusual designs may cost much, much more. For example the pale green Paragon China cup and saucer set with the Churchill portrait transfer inside the cup (far right in top lefthand photo), has been seen in a well-known London Wl emporium at £225/$335.

Mr. Hall is FHs Features Editor. He may be reached at Somerby House, 183A Somerby Hill, Granthan, Lines., England NG3 17HA.

*A hastily established nationwide chain of premises serving basic meals which were styled by Prime Ministerial decree. In The Second World War, Volume 3, Churchill reproduced his memorandum of 21 March 1941 to the Minister of Food, Lord Woolton: “I hope the term ‘Communal Feeding Centres’ is not going to be adopted. It is an odious expression, suggestive of Communism and the workhouse. I suggest you call them ‘British Restaurants.’ Everybody associates the word ‘restaurant’ with a good meal, and they may as well have the name if they cannot get anything else. WSC.”