Description:A view of bottle kilns at Edward Johns & Co.'s Armitage Sanitary Pottery.
The first pottery on this site was established by Thomas Bond. he was declared bankrupt two years later and the pottery was purchased by John Tunnicliff. In about 1851 the business was taken over by Salt & Swan who began the manufacture of sanitary ware. In 1867 the pottery was purchased by the Rev. Edward Johns. Under his management the company grew and continued to trade as Edward Johns & Co. after his death in 1893, and throughout much of the 20th century. 'Armitage Ware' became an internationally known brand. Around the time of the photograph Mr Corn managed the works. He modernised the factory and greatly expanded trade. The company merged with Shanks in 1969 to form the Armitage-Shanks Group. The Armitage Shanks brand is now (2024) part of the Ideal Standard group.
This picture is from an album of photographs taken by Thomas Harvey Boycott (1876-1949) who lived with his widowed mother, Fanny Maria, whose family had lived at Handsacre Hall as farmers, together with his unmarried aunt, Sarah Elizabeth Harvey. Harvey was a Clerk at Lichfield District Probate Court and a skilled amateur photographer. The album was a parting gift from Harvey and his mother to the Rev. R.E. Grice-Hutchinson (1885-1976) who was Curate of Armitage with Pipe Ridware 1909-1913.