Josiah Wedgwood (1730-1795), potter and industrialist, became an apprentice to his potter brother, Thomas, at an early age. Disabled by smallpox, he came to specialise in design rather than manufacture. His collaboration with the prominent potter Thomas Whieldon led to the establishment of the first pottery factory, in Burslem, Staffordshire with Thomas Bentley (1730-1780) as his business partner. In the 1770s Wedgwood and Bentley established the Etruria works near Stoke-on-Trent. Jasperware, granularly textured stoneware with white bas relief, was introduced in 1774. In later life Wedgwood was a prominent advocate of the abolition of slavery, from 1787 using his Wedgwood Jasperware as a means to publicise the cause in Britain and America.
Updated 2020
