William Moorcroft

Who was William Moorcroft?

William Moorcroft was an English potter who founded the Moorcroft pottery business.

He was born in Burslem, Staffordshire. He studied art at Burslem then in London and Paris. He experimented with his own pottery designs around 1896 while working for James Macintyre & Co Ltd. and produced Aurelian Ware which was partly decorated with transfers and partly painted by hand. Moorcroft developed highly lustred glazes and used oriental shapes and decorations. Some of his techniques were closely guarded trade secrets. He then developed his famous Florian Ware, with heavy slip and a translucent glaze which produces brilliance of colour.

He married Florence Nora Fleay Lovibond in 1913. They had a daughter, Beatrice and a son, Walter.

In 1913, William Moorcroft set up his own factory at Cobridge with staff from Macintyres, and backed by a financial arrangement with Liberty & Co of London, The business succeeded. Much of the output was sold through Liberty & Co. and Tiffany in New York. In 1928 Queen Mary made him "Potter to the Queen," which was stamped on the pottery. His son, Walter joined the company when he was twenty, and took over the management of the pottery in 1945 just before William's death.