William Ridgway and Co
of Stoke-on-Tent
Manufacturers of earthenware at the Bell Works in Shelton and also the Church Works in Hanley. c.1830-54. From c.1838-48 the firm of William Ridgway, Son & Co worked the Church Works and (c.1841-6) the Cobden Works. [1]
1841 'Application of Machinery to the Manufacture of China and Earthenware. — We understand that a machine — the second or third already finished under the direction of the inventor — is now completed, and about to be sent from the works of Messrs. Whitworth and Co., machine makers, of Manchester, to the Staffordshire Potteries. This machine, by the application of a power hardly equal to the strength of a boy, will mould and prepare for reception in the pot-house, six pieces of ware in one minute, or upwards of 4,500 in a day of twelve hours ! The work is exceedingly beautiful, and the machine appears fully to answer the purpose of the inventor, Mr. George Wall, who, in connection with Ridgway, of the Potteries, has obtained a patent for the invention.' [2]
1873 Ridgway Sparks and Ridgway established