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School of Art
Aberystwyth University
Buarth Mawr
Aberystwyth
Ceredigion
SY23 1NG

Tel: +44 (0)1970 622460

Fax: +44 (0)1970 622461

Email: artschool@aber.ac.uk

Display artist/maker:

William and James Baker

Active: 1913-1953

Ceramicists. Two potters who worked at the Upchurch Pottery in Rainham, Kent. Upchurch Pottery was set up by the brothers Seymour and Sidney Wakely in 1913 originally under the art directorship of the designer Edward Spencer and later Dora Wakely who aspired to produce work based on Chinese 'Sung' pottery. The pottery, however, was managed by Edward Baker (1876-1955) who came from a long line of country potters and was assisted by his sons, between 1913 and 1953.

It was later owned by Oscar and Grace Davies, 1936-38, and Alice Buxton Winnecott, 1938-53 until eventually the Baker Family bought the business in 1953 and ran it till it closed in 1961. They made earthenware and stoneware during the 1920s and later the pottery became well known for its Claverdon range of tableware and decorative items.

The Roeginga, later renamed Rainham Pottery, was a nearby offshoot of Upchurch owned by Oscar and Grace Davies between 1938 and 1956 and was managed by Edward Junior Baker, another son of Edward Baker. The pieces in the collection are in the modernist style relying on form and glaze for effect, although they do not look particularly 'Oriental'.