The thing is, it’s just a drag to be born into a famous family. Carving out one’s identity can be daunting when the family franchise is known the world over. For some the name thing is simply too big.
The Wedgwoods had been potters in the Stoke-on-Trent area of Staffordshire, England, for several generations. In the late 18th century the family name became synonymous with precision, quality, and the reach for upper class finery. A dynastic succession of sons and grandsons ruled the town and the world market. Credit for success was liberally spread to wives and daughters, whose finger on the pulse of contemporary fashion trends truly was the ‘power behind the throne.’
Other family members were encouraged to join the band wagon. Several did. Some would be castigated for using their name to sell “infamous stuff, scandalously packed for shipment to America.” Hijinx invariably ensued.
Ralph Wedgwood was a nephew of, well, you know who. Ralph’s famous uncle would endearingly call him “Wedgwoodykins,” offering friendly advice like “everything gives way to experiment.” In 1788 Ralph took this advise to heart, much to the detriment of his own fortunes and to family relations. He was caught stealing prototypes from Etruria, the Wedgwood factory, to supply his own mold business. But, being family, he was still offered piece-meal work when orders were backed up. And he could (almost) always count on financial support when money got scarce.
Incessant and fruitless experiments destroyed Ralph’s enterprise. The pottery firm of Tomlinson and Foster happily offered him (and the use of his name) a 10 year contract. Ralph’s penchant for experimenting rather than producing quickly soured the deal. They paid him a large sum to negate the contract and leave.
Ralph Wedgwood spent the rest of his life hounded by poverty and the impossibility of his increasingly convoluted schemes. Letters begging Etruria for help were answered with just enough cash to keep him from debtors prison.
He did manage to come up with a practical use for borax, which has since become an important low temperature flux. But for all that, he had, in the words of his exasperated children, “quite left reason behind.” Ralph Wedgwood died a pauper.
The mighty oak casts a dense shadow.
-Anonymous proverb
Readings
Pratt Ware, 1780 – 1840. John and Griselda Lewis. Antiques Collectors Club/Suffolk, England. 1984.
Staffordshire Pottery and Its History. Josiah Wedgwood. McBride Nast & Co./New York & London. 1913.
This Day in Pottery History 