George Wade (pottery manufacturer)

George Albert Wade
Born 19 July 1891(1891-07-19)
Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England.
Died 27 January 1986(1986-01-27) (aged 94)
Known for Wade Ceramics
Title Sir
Spouse Florrie Johnson

George Albert Wade (19 July 1891 – 27 January 1986), born in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England to a family who ran a pottery business. He was knighted in 1955 for political and public services.[1]

Sir George was a pupil at Newcastle High School, which has been amalgamated into the Newcastle-under-Lyme School, and left at age 15 to work at the family's pottery factory.[1] He was a soldier between 1914 and 1919 in World War I, first as a private with the North Staffordshire Regiment, and then as a lieutenant with the South Staffordshire Regiment in the Machine Gun Corps, and he served in France and Egypt.[1] He Married Florrie Johnson in 1915.[1]

Sir George became chairman of the family's pottery business, Wade Ceramics Ltd, a manufacturer of porcelain and earthenware, whose main factory was in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent.[2] In the 1950s, Sir George and the Wade potteries created and manufactured "Whimsies", small cheap solid porcelain animal figures, which became popular and collectable in Britain and America.[2]

Sir George never fully stopped working, but in the early 1980s he gave the routine running of the business to his son George Anthony (Tony) Johnson Wade.[1] His hobbies included painting and ornithology.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f "People of Stoke-on-Trent: George Wade". thepotteries.org. 2005-11-15. http://www.thepotteries.org/people/wade_geo.htm. Retrieved 22 October 2007. 
  2. ^ a b Edward Duke. "Welcome to Wade Ceramics Ltd". Wade Ceramics Ltd. http://www.wade.co.uk/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1. Retrieved 22 October 2007.