Felix Edward Pratt - Master Potters

PRATT (F. & R. PRATT & CO. LTD)

c.1818–1967?
Earthenware manufacturer at the Fenton Potteries, High St, Fenton (to c.1920?) and then at other factories in the Staffordshire Potteries. The business of brothers (?) Felix Edward Pratt (1813-1894) and Richard Pratt was founded in the early 19th century and the company was to become an important manufacturer of domestic earthenware and polychrome transfer printed pot lids. The company was acquired by H. T. Robinson, probably in 1916, and from 1920 it was a subsidiary of Robinson’s Cauldon Potteries Ltd operating from that company’s Cauldon Place Works.
F. & R. Pratt & Co. was one of the subsidiaries acquired by Harrison & Son (Hanley) Ltd when they purchased Cauldon Potteries Ltd from its bankruptcy in 1933. The F. & R. Pratt & Co. business operated from the Harrison’s Crescent Pottery (George Jones & Sons Ltd) from 1936 until 1958 when the Pratt name and intellectual property were acquired by E. Brain & Co. Ltd. In 1967 Wedgwood purchased the E. Brain & Co. Ltd business acquiring, in the process, the right to the Pratt name and patterns.
In the 19th century, the Pratt name was associated with the fine, usually multi-coloured, transfer printed engravings used to decorate the lids of earthenware pots used for food, pharmaceutical products and toiletries. The business also produced domestic earthenware including relief moulded earthenware (especially jugs) and tableware with underglaze, multi-coloured decoration (‘Prattware’). Terracotta and parian ware were other wares, and Godden (1988) notes that there are examples of mid-19th century porcelain printed with Pratt multi-colour underglaze prints, however, these may have been bought-in ware decorated by the company.
Whilst Felix Pratt was the commercial driving force behind the business, the artist was a Jesse Austin who joined Pratt in the early-1840. He was an accomplished watercolour artist and engraver and over nearly 40 years, the business produced over 550 poly chrome prints used to decorate the now well known pot lids. Pratt’s first under-glaze, polychrome pot lid was made in 1847 and was a scene ‘Grace before Meals’. Austin’s subject included royalty, famous people, city scenes – there are eleven views of London – and this portrayal of the life and times of Victorian England is one of the reasons for the lid’s popularity today. Austin also made minature watercolour copies of famous paintings and these too appear on pot lids and Prattware.