HISTORY OF SHELLEY

       The Shelley story begins about 1860 when the Wileman family, owners of the Foley works, a large pottery between Longton and Fenton in Staffordshire, England, built a second pottery for the purpose of producing fine china. The event seemed to be enough for James B. Shelley to leave his position at the Dresden works and join Henry Wileman and his sons as a mere traveler or salesperson. In 1864, Henry Wileman died and his two sons Charles and James split the two works with James running the earthenware works and Charles the china works. In 1870, James dies and in 1872, Charles took James Shelley in partnership to run the china works.

       Shelley focused on getting the best china product possible out of the company and staff. He worked on improving china quality and building the foreign export part of the business. James took his son Percy into the firm in 1881. Percy was to run the company for some 50 years. Percy learned the business fast and set off to find top pottery artists and litho designers to improve the appearance and quality of its wares. In 1896, attention was directed to English and foreign sales and after the death of Joseph, Percy Shelley was in full control. The popular Dainty shape was created by one of those artists named Roland Morris. The renown Frederick Rhead came to work as art director and some of the most beautiful pieces of art pottery became symbols of the company. About 1910, Shelley got into a legal battle with other potteries about the use of the name Foley (the pottery region). Shelley lost and decided to rename his pottery "Shelley" that became official in 1925 and our love affair with this name was solidified.

       More famous artists were employed such as Walter Slater and his son Eric, and Hilda Cowham and Mabel Lucy Attwell for children's ware. Shelley style probably reached its peak with the art deco styles it produced in the 1930s. At the same time advertising expenses were at their peak as well. In 1932, Percy Shelley retired and his sons Norman and Vincent took over. By World War II the pottery side of Shelley's was closed forever. Domestic china had to be cut way back by law, but Shelley could still produce due to its strong export business, which was permitted to continue through the war.

Late in the war, about 1945, Shelley began producing its best bone china for export and its reputation abroad continued to rise. In the 1950s great quantities of bone china in countless patterns were exported and domestic production began to grow again after wartime restrictions were lifted. The peak of activity was sometime during the 1950s. But by the late 1950s the pottery industry was modernizing and producing larger volumes at cheaper prices by consolidating small firms into larger ones. Shelley's more expensive bone china lost market share and catching up to the conglomerates was next to impossible. The company was sold to allied Potteries in 1966. Some production of Shelley labeled china continued for a time until stocks were exhausted. All of the Shelley facilities are now gone and only its history and its unmatched products carry on to this day.