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Who’s Who at Royal Doulton By Val Baynton
In 1885 Henry Doulton was awarded the Albert Medal of the
Society of Arts for his services to the ceramic industry and
in 1887 he was further honoured when he was knighted by
Queen Victoria. Royalty, aristocracy and the celebrities of
the era flocked to visit the Lambeth studios.
Sir Henry’s entrepreneurship enabled the Doulton company
to became an international business, a position it still enjoys
today. He died in 1897 and the ultimate tribute was paid
after his death when King Edward VII, who succeeded to the
throne in 1901, awarded the company
his royal warrant and with it the
specific right to use the title Royal.
From then on the company was
known as Royal Doulton.
George Tinworth
The story of Tinworth’s life has
captivated collectors for over
a century. From an early age
he modelled carved figures and
reliefs from scraps of stone and
wood and his talents were spotted
by John Sparkes, the head of Lambeth
Art School, who persuaded him to attend
evening classes. A son of a wheelwright, George came from
a poor family and his father thought his artistic endeavours
a waste of time so when George won a scholarship to the
Royal Academy of Art, his father took some persuading to
allow him to attend classes. George had to work late into
the night to make up for the time he’d missed.
When Tinworth senior died in 1866, George had to support
his mother and younger brother and so he gave up his
artistic ambitions and set to work as a full time wheelwright.
However, John Sparkes worried that such outstanding
potential should be lost, persuaded Henry Doulton to
employ George at the Lambeth Pottery and soon he was
modelling decorations for domestic water filters and creating
medallions based on Greek and Sicilian coins in the British
Museum. As his abilities became clear, George progressed to
designing jugs, tankards and vases embellished with raised
bosses and beaded runners, incised scroll and foliage imagery
including swirling seaweed like fronds – and all these motifs
are now regarded as characteristic of Tinworth’s work.
Another aspect of his work was religious panels and
sculptures for churches. George was devoutly religious and
regarded these intricately carved reliefs as his most important
work. Examples can still be seen in churches and cathedrals
in the UK – such as Truro Cathedral and York Minster. He
was also commissioned to complete statues or busts of the
leading personalities of the day – including Lord Shaftesbury
and Sir Henry Doulton himself.
Despite the importance George attached to his large
sculptural projects it is his small humorous studies of mice
and frogs, often completed as relaxation from his larger more
complicated works, that are most avidly collected today. Some
of these were designed as ornaments others were intended
as menu holders or salt cellars for the dining table.
Above Left: Tinworth
at work on a maquette
(preliminary study)
for a statue to British
statesman Henry
Fawcett c.1892. Right:
Tinworth’s humorous
mice study - The
Cockneys at Brighton.
George often went to
Brighton to ‘take the
air’ and for relaxation.
royal doulton collectables australia. vol 02 – december 2011
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