Description:The Armitage Ware Board, sitting in the Board Room at the Armitage Pottery (Edward Johns & Co. Ltd.), Armitage, Staffordshire. Left to right: S. Wagg, T. Farrington, Geoff Corn, C.K. Stott, A.E. Stott, K. Campbell, W.G. Wright, A. Dawson.
A small pottery was in existence in Armitage by 1817 and by 1851 this had begun to produce sanitary ware. In 1867, Rev Edward Johns, the Congregational Minister in Armitage, bought the business and founded the Edward Johns and Co Sanitary Pottery, later called Armitage Ware. It was eventually to become Armitage Shanks, an internationally renowned company. Edward Johns is buried locally in the chapel churchyard.