Maker: Brown-Westhead, Moore & Co.

Pottery: Cauldon Place

Place: Hanley, Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: Rd. 23 June 1875

Dimensions: 9 1/2 inches diameter

Maker: Brown-Westhead, Moore & Co.

Pottery: Cauldon Place

Place: Hanley, Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: Rd. 23 June 1875

Dimensions: 9 inches diameter

Maker: Brown-Westhead, Moore & Co.

Pottery: Cauldon Place

Place: Hanley, Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: Rd. 23 June 1875

Dimensions: Unknown

Maker: Brown-Westhead, Moore & Co.

Pottery: Cauldon Place

Place: Hanley, Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: Rd. 23 June 1875

Dimensions: Unknown

Maker: Wallis Gimson & Co.

Pottery: Lane Delph Pottery

Place: Fenton, Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: Rd. 1886, Produced c. 1887

Dimensions: Unknown

Notes: Charles Stewart Parnell was an Irish nationalist politician who served from 1875 as Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and whose party held the balance of power in the House of Commons during the Home Rule debates of 1885–1890.

Parnell was a land reform agitator, founder in 1879 of the Irish National Land League. He became leader of the Home Rule League, operating independently of the Liberals, winning great influence by his balancing of constitutional, radical, and economic issues, and by his skillful use of parliamentary procedure.

Parnell is celebrated as the best organizer of a political party up to that time, and one of the most formidable figures in parliamentary history. Many believe that Home Rule could have been achieved without bloodshed, if he had not been brought down by personal circumstances.

Maker: Wallis Gimson & Co.

Pottery: Lane Delph Pottery

Place: Fenton, Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: Rd. 1886

Dimensions: Unknown

Notes: Frederick James Archer (1857-1886) was the most successful jockey of the Victorian era; champion jockey for 13 years until 1886. His portrait is surrounded by notations of his accomplishments. "FIRST WINNING MOUNT ON ATHOL DAISY IN 1870." "RIDER OF THE WINNER IN THE FOLLOWING NO. OF CLASSIC EVENTS: SIX ST. LEGERS, FIVE DERBIES, FOUR OAKS, FOUR TWO THOUSAND GUINEAS, TWO ONE THOUSAND GUINEAS, THREE MIDDLE MARK PLATES." "NO. OF RACES RUN 8086, NO. OF RACES WON 2750." The races referred to were the St. Leger's Stakes, Epsom Derby, and Epsom Oaks. Archer was relatively tall for a jockey, 5 feet 10 inches tall, so had to diet more than most of his colleagues, which affected his health. This, coupled with depression after the death of his wife, led him to commit suicide at the age of 29.

Maker: Wallis Gimson & Co.

Pottery: Lane Delph Pottery

Place: Fenton, Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: Rd. 1886, Produced c. 1887

Dimensions: 9 4/5 inches

Notes: The plate bears the registration number 63164 dating the design to 1886, as do other patterns in this series, though Stanley's expedition did not occur till 1887. The top portrait, of the Welsh and American journalist and adventurer Henry Morton Stanley, is captioned "H M STANLEY ARRIVED AT CAPE TOWN MAR. 10TH WITH THE EMIN PACHA (sic) RELIEF EXPEDITION AND LEAVES THIS AFTERNOON, TIMED TO REACH THE CONGO ON THE 18TH INST. BIRMINGHAM DAILY POST." The lower portrait is captioned "DR EMIN BEY APPOINTED BY GEN GORDON GOV'R OF THE EGYPTIAN EQUATORIAL PROVINCES 1878." Emin Bey was a doctor and naturalist, born Eduard Schnitzer in Germany, who was given the title Emin Bey (and later promoted to Emin Pasha) by the Khedive of Egypt following his appointment by the British General Charles Gordon. He ended the slave trade in his province and did much to stabilize the region and improve the lives of its inhabitants. However he and Gordon were both beset by Muslim rebels and slave traders who wished to regain control of the Sudan and the more southern province. General Gordon was killed in Khartoum in 1885, and Emin Pasha became even more isolated. In response to his letters asking for supplies Stanley (most famous for meeting Scottish missionary David Livingstone in 1871) and others mounted the relief expedition, which went up the Congo and then through the jungles of central Africa. The predictably arduous route took its toll, as many supplies had to be left behind and nearly two thirds of the participants either died or deserted. Stanley got through to the Pasha but it took a year to persuade him to leave his post; finally they evacuated to the east coast of Africa in 1890. The Pasha was slain by Arab slave traders in 1892. Stanley wrote a book about the expedition which became a bestseller, but as more details emerged, particularly regarding atrocities committed by the Europeans, its reputation was tarnished and it became the last of the privately funded expeditions to Africa in the 19th century.

Maker: Wallis Gimson & Co.

Pottery: Lane Delph Pottery

Place: Fenton, Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: Rd. 1886

Dimensions: Unknown

Notes: Depicted here is Edward, Prince of Wales, who was to become King Edward VII in 1901. The eldest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, he was heir apparent to the British throne and held the title of Prince of Wales for longer than any of his predecessors. During the long reign of his mother, he was largely excluded from political power, and came to personify the fashionable, leisured elite. He traveled throughout Britain performing ceremonial public duties, and represented Britain on visits abroad. His tours of North America in 1860 and the Indian subcontinent in 1875 were popular successes, but despite public approval his reputation as a playboy prince soured his relationship with his mother.

Maker: Wallis Gimson & Co.

Pottery: Lane Delph Pottery

Place: Fenton, Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: Rd. 1886

Dimensions: 11 inches

Notes: Dominick Edward Blake, PC QC (1833-1912) was the second Premier of Ontario, Canada from 1871 to 1872 and leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from 1880 to 1887. He is one of only three federal permanent Liberal leaders never to become Prime Minister of Canada. He may be said to have served in the national politics of what developed as the affairs of three nationalities: Canadian, British, and Irish. Blake was also the founder, in 1856, of the Canadian law firm now known as Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP.

Maker: Wallis Gimson & Co.

Pottery: Lane Delph Pottery

Place: Fenton, Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: Rd. 1886

Dimensions: Unknown

Notes: Born 1818 in Gloucestershire, Fraser's family was left destitute by the early death of his father in 1832, but he still was able to graduate from Oxford and embarked on a career in the church. His involvement in education led to his appointment by Gladstone to the bishop's post in Manchester in 1870. He established 99 new churches during his tenure, and was very active in preaching the gospel and other forms of outreach to people outside the church. He was governor of several schools, and worked as arbitrator and peacemaker during a number of labor strikes. After his death he was honored not only by his own church, but by all the non-comformist churches in Manchester, as well as the Jewish and Greek Orthodox congregations; he had long been known as the "bishop of all denominations." A verse from Tennyson's "In Memoriam" accompanies his portrait: "Not all regret: The face will shine/Upon me, while I muse alone;/And that dear voice, I once have known/Still speak to me of me and mine."

Maker: Wallis Gimson & Co.

Pottery: Lane Delph Pottery

Place: Fenton, Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: Rd. 1886

Dimensions: Unknown

Notes: Lord Randolph Churchill, (1849-1895), British politician who was a precociously influential figure in the Conservative Party and the father of Winston Churchill. He became leader of the House of Commons and chancellor of the Exchequer in 1886, at the age of 37, and seemed certain to be prime minister in due course, but his own miscalculation ended his political career before the year was over.

Maker: Wallis Gimson & Co.

Pottery: Lane Delph Pottery

Place: Fenton, Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: Rd. 1886

Dimensions: Unknown

Notes: This design commemorates the opening of Victoria Hospital in Burnley, Lancashire, by Prince Albert Victor (1864-1892), the eldest son of Edward, Prince of Wales and his wife Princess Alexandra (later King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra). He was named for his paternal grandparents Victoria and Albert, but known as Eddy within the family. The prince was considered "slow" mentally, and was educated and entered the Royal Navy as a cadet with his younger brother George, who acted as a stimulus. Eddy died of influenza in 1892. He had been engaged to Princess Mary of Teck, who became close to his brother during the mourning period and married George in 1893. The couple became King George V and Queen Mary in 1910.

Maker: Wallis Gimson & Co.

Pottery: Lane Delph Pottery

Place: Fenton, Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: Rd. 1886

Dimensions: 10 1/5 inches

Notes: Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-1892) was a Baptist clergyman known as the "Prince of Preachers." At barely 20 years of age he was called from a small church in Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire, to be pastor of the New Park Street Chapel in London. His preaching was so popular and attracted such crowds that the congregation moved in 1861 to a new church in the Elephant and Castle area of Southwark, the Metropolitan Tabernacle, which accommodated 5000 worshipers and was the largest non-Conformist church in Britain at the time. Spurgeon founded the Stockwell Orphanage in 1867, which operated until destroyed by Nazi bombing during World War II. Both of these locations are pictured in the cartouches at the bottom corners of the central cartouche. Spurgeon's published sermons and commentaries are still highly esteemed today. The quote below his portrait, "An Eloquent Man and Mighty in the Scriptures" is from Acts 18:24, a reference to a Jew named Apollos who preached before the church in Ephesus.

Maker: Wallis Gimson & Co.

Pottery: Lane Delph Pottery

Place: Fenton, Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: Rd. 1886

Dimensions: 9 3/4 inches

Notes: Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881), twice prime minister of England, has so far been the only person of Jewish descent to hold that office. A member of the Conservative Party for over 30 years, he was a bitter opponent of Liberal prime minister William Gladstone. He enjoyed a warm friendship with Queen Victoria (which Gladstone did not) and was a well known social and literary figure and the author of a number of novels. Created Earl of Beaconsfield in 1876, he had been dead for five years when this design was registered in 1886, and so these lines from Tennyson's "In Memoriam" accompany his portrait: "What practice howsoe'er expert/ In fitting aptest words to things/ Or voice, the richest-toned that sings/ Hath power to give thee as thou wert?"

Maker: Wallis Gimson & Co.

Pottery: Lane Delph Pottery

Place: Fenton, Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: Rd. 1886

Dimensions: 9 3/4 inches

Notes: Sir John A. MacDonald (1815-1891) was the first prime minster of Canada. Born in Scotland, he emigrated to what is now the province of Ontario with his family as a boy. Although his education opportunities were limited due to his family's relative poverty, he managed to embark on a career in the law, which led him into politics. MacDonald was a leading figure in the process of confederation which resulted in the birth of Canada as a nation in 1867, and saw the four original provinces (Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia) joined by others which expanded the nation to the Pacific. He became Knight Commander of the Bath upon being made prime minister, and served for 19 years over two terms in that office until his death.

Maker: Wallis Gimson & Co.

Pottery: Lane Delph Pottery

Place: Fenton, Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: Rd. 1886

Dimensions: 8 3/4 inches

Notes: Robert Gascoyne-Cecil (1830-1903), the 3rd Marquis of Salisbury, entered the House of Commons in 1854 and was elevated to the House of Lords on his father's death in 1868. A leader of the Conservative Party, he was three times prime minister between 1882 and 1902. His nephew Arthur Balfour became prime minister upon his retirement.

Maker: Wallis Gimson & Co.

Pottery: Lane Delph Pottery

Place: Fenton, Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: Rd. 1886

Dimensions: Unknown

Notes: Robert Burns (1759-1796) was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is regarded as a pioneer of the Romantic movement and after his death, he became a great source of inspiration to the founders of both liberalism and socialism, and a cultural icon in Scotland.

The Burns Monument in Kay Park, Kilmarnock, Scotland commemorates the poet Robert Burns. The monument was opened in 1879. Kilmarnock has many links with Burns; the first edition of his work was printed there in 1786, by John Wilson, a local printer.

Maker: Wallis Gimson & Co.

Pottery: Lane Delph Pottery

Place: Fenton, Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: Rd. 1886, Produced 1887

Dimensions: Unknown

Notes: Following the death of Prince Albert in 1861, Queen Victoria to some considerable extent shunned public life, never again living in London and occupying Buckingham Palace only for occasional visits lasting a few days. However, the 50th anniversary of her accession to the throne in 1887 was marked with great celebration, and the Queen was cheered by hundreds of thousands of her subjects as she travelled to a special service at Westminster Abbey. The public enthusiasm for the Jubilee resulted in the production of an enormous range of souvenirs, such as this plate. In subsequent years, the Queen was encouraged to make more frequent public appearances.

Maker: Wallis Gimson & Co.

Pottery: Lane Delph Pottery

Place: Fenton, Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: Rd. 1886

Dimensions: 9 inches

Notes: This particular piece is one of many pieces produced to celebrate Victoria's Golden Jubilee in 1887. Text across the top of the plate reads "JUBILEE YEAR COMMENCING JUNE 20TH 1886" while under her portrait is the caption "VICTORIA, QUEEN OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND, EMPRESS OF INDIA, BORN MAY 24TH 1819, ASCENDED THE THRONE JUNE 20TH 1837."

Maker: William Brownfield & Sons

Place: Cobridge, Staffordshire, England

Material: Earthenware

Date: Rd. 24 January 1877

Dimensions: 9 inches diameter