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Royal Winton

Royal Winton History

Leonard Lumsden Grimwade, born in Ipswich in 1864, was the driving force behind Grimwades Royal Winton pottery.

At age 16 he moved to Hanley in North Staffordshire to work as a decorator and modeler in the potteries, however, by the age of 20 and with dynamic enthusiasm and energy now apparent, he opened his own business.

He was jointed the following year (1885) by his elder brother Sidney Richard Grimwade, who was a potter, and hence the firm of Grimwade Brothers was born.

Business was so brisk, and with company turnover doubling year by year, a new Winton Pottery was built in 1982 to cope with this developing trade.

Grimwade Brothers acquired the Stoke Pottery in 1900 with the owner James Plant joining the Grimwades board.

The three potteries were then amalgamated under the title of Grimwades Limited, with Leonard Grimwade as the chairman.

Over the next dozen years, and with business booming, Grimwades Limited added another four potteries to the company.

In 1913 King George V and Queen Mary visited the potteries touring numerous factories, but had no objection to Grimwades using the word “Royal” as a prefix (eg. Royal Winton, Royal Hampton and Royal Dorset) even though Grimwades had never applied for, or received, permission to do so. Queen Mary happily purchased a Winton teaset in the new Queen Mary Chintz. In time Royal Winton was regarded as the “rolls Royce” of Chintz.

In 1931 Leonard Grimwade died in a car accident, failing to avoid a bus at crossroads. He died as he lived, at full throttle. Later in the same year James Plant died and two years later his son James Junior took over as the Managing Director. He died in 1962.

In 1964 the company was taken over by the Howard Pottery Co Limited of Shelton. Since then there have been several owners of Royal Winton, but despite all of the various takeovers, the name Royal Winton has been kept intact.

In 1995 Royal Winton became part of the Taylor Tunnicliffe Group, registering the company as Grimwades, trading as Royal Winton and reproducing many of the chintz patterns.

Royal Winton Backstamps

0057c

Used 1934 - 1945

0071c

Used 1945 - 1951

0060d

Used 1951

 

 

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