THE CHURCH OF ST. MARK. 425 from the aisles, their capitals being ornamented with carved masks, and supporting plain gothic arches. The ceilings of the nave and aisles are in pannels, divided by moulded ribs; the nave having bosses of flowered work at the angles of intersection. The clerestory is without windows, owing to the form of the roof; which is supported by slender cast-iron beams, exposed to view, with pierced spandrels. The galleries are also supported by cast-iron brackets, and are fronted with wainscot, in gothic pannels; the western gallery is furnished with an organ the gift of John Tomlinson, Esq., the patron. The handsome pulpit is elevated on a pedestal shaft, and has a canopied sounding-board. The pews are of good pannelled work, painted of dark oak. There are as yet no monuments. The tower is furnished with a single bell and a clock. The church is calculated to hold about 2,100 persons, 500 of the sittings being free. It measures, in exterior length, including the tower and chancel, 151 feet, and in breadth, 75 feet. It was erected by the commissioners for building new churches, from a design of Messrs. Pickersgill and Oates, of York, at the cost of about £10,000, towards which £250 was granted, by King George IV., out of the revenues of the Duchy of Lancaster, and donations amounting to £500 were contributed by Earl Granville, John Tomlinson, Esq., and others. It was consecrated on the 19th June, 1834, by the venerated Bishop Ryder, who generously bestowed upon it a service of communion plate. The church-yard contains rather more than two acres of land, and is enclosed with a low wall, to which the appendage of an iron railing is at present wanting. The Rev. James Ralph, B. A., is the incumbent, whose stipend arises from the pew-rents, producing at present about £220 per annum only, but capable of yielding an income of near £600. Under the provisions of the Stoke Rectory Act, mentioned hereafter, Shelton will probably, at no distant day, become a district Rectory. Table of Marriages, Baptisms, and Burials at the Church of St. Mark, in Shelton, from the commencement of the Registers. The late rector, Dean Woodhouse, gave £1000, to be applied, with its accumulations, to the erection of a parsonagehouse to this church, which remains yet unappropriated. He likewise settled £3000, for the permanent support of the several national schools within the parish of Stoke, in the advantage of which those of Shelton participate. The national schools on the south side of the churchyard were erected in 1835. They are of one story, in the gabled style, forming two rooms, capable of being laid together, are calculated to hold about 400 day-scholars, and 600 children on Sundays, and cost nearly £1000, towards which the Lords of the Treasury contributed £130; the National Society, £110; the Duke of Sutherland, Earl Granville, Mr. Ald. Copeland, and others liberal donations. They are supported, annually, by a moiety of Mrs. Hannah Bagnall's charity, mentioned previously,* a portion of the income of Dean Woodhouse's gift, and voluntary contributions. The township of Shelton contains 995 acres, of which Sir Thomas Fenton Boughey, Bart.; Lawrence Armitstead, Esq.; and Josiah Wedgwood, Esq., are the largest landed proprietors. Messrs. John Ridgway; William Ridgway; Charles Meigh; George Paddock, and others, are considerable proprietors of mixed property. * Page 405. CHAPTER XX. Etruria. REMARKS INTRODUCTORY TO THE BIOGRAPHY OF JOSIAH WEDGWOOD.- PRODUCTIONS.-EXHIBITION-ROOMS.-BARBERINI IN the art of war, in the science of government, in philosophy, in literature, and in all arts, sciences, and moral or intellectual attainments, every nation of the civilized world numbers some eminent individuals whom it is proud to place in its historical annals, as the founders of its greatness, or the instruments of exalting its character in the community of nations. A commercial country, like England, justly ranks among her greatest benefactors a Brindley, a Watt, an Arkwright, and a Wedgwood; and as the country which produced them carefully registers them among her most honoured sons, so the cities or places which ushered them into life or notice feel a natural and parental regard towards the objects which reflect upon them so bright a lustre. Influenced by such impressions, we proceed to give a Memoir of one whom the district we are describing, and the English nation at large, may be equally proud of. JOSIAH WEDGWOOD, whose portrait, engraved by an eminent living artist, his relative, was to have been placed at the head of this chapter, was born at Burslem, and during his whole life exercised, within the limits of the present Borough of Stoke, those eminent talents with which nature had endowed him, in advancing the local manufactures, to which he was brought up from his youth, and succeeded in raising them to an importance far surpassing all former experience, and in applying them to a variety of purposes which none of his predecessors ever aimed at, thereby acquiring for himself, and the merchandize he cultivated, a renown which will descend to the latest period of the history of British Commerce. The Family of Wedgwood, (we have before conjectured,) sprung from the small hamlet, in the Parish of Wolstanton, which bears their name, but a branch of them had been seated at Burslem long before the birth of Josiah, whose great-great-grandfather, Gilbert Wedgwood, married Margaret Burslem, coheiress of the ancient and respectable family, which borrowed their surname likewise from the place of their early and long abode.* Josiah was born on the 12th of July, 1730, and was the youngest of a family of thirteen children. He was brought up to the business of a Potter, which his father Mr. Thomas Wedgwood followed, at a work adjoining the Church-yard of Burslem, and, whilst young, was put to the branch of a Thrower, under his eldest brother Thomas, their father being then dead. He might have remained in that operative station all his life, but for a circumstance, deemed unfortunate at the time, which deprived him of the power of gaining his livelihood by bodily exertion, but left him leisure and opportunity, by reflection and experiments, to lay the foundation of his future success in life. From the effects of small-pox, neglected in his youth, See page 187, &c. + See pedigree, page 200. BIOGRAPHY OF MR. WEDGWOOD. 429 he became lame of his right leg, (which obliged him some years afterwards to submit to its amputation a little below the knee.) In consequence of this infirmity, he began to turn his attention to the making of various ornamental and fancy articles, and to experiments in imitating the natural agates, jaspers, porphyry, marble, and other variegated stones, by mixing with different clays, varied proportions of metallic oxides, and from some of these compounds he made knife-hafts, and boxes for the cutlers and hardwaremen of Sheffield and Birmingham, and many curious articles for domestic use. In the year 1752, he formed a connexion in business with Mr. John Harrison, of Cliff Bank, Stoke, which was only of about two years' duration, owing, as it is said, to the cupidity of Harrison, who sought to engross to himself the principal advantages of Wedgwood's talents. In the year 1754, he was received into partnership by Mr. Thomas Whieldon, of Fenton, the most eminent Potter of that day, with whom he entered upon a more enlarged sphere of operation and experiment, and there yet remain specimens of their Pottery, particularly of the tortoise-shell, melon, and cauliflower kinds, which shew a high degree of taste and skill. This partnership was formed for a term of five years, and on its termination, in 1759, Mr. Wedgwood returned to Burslem, and there commenced business on his own account, at a Pot-work where the new markethouse now stands, adjacent to which he occupied a small house afterwards called the Ivy house,* from its being overrun with Ivy, where he continued his business of making knife-handles, and small wares, coupled with more extensive essays in the figuline art; and, in order more successfully to extend his experiments in the chemistry of pottery, he availed himself of the writings of the best authors on chemistry then to be met with, by which he was enabled to make a variety of improvements in the com See plate, page 232. |