The E.T.B.Radford Collectors Club

Introduction to Club

The club's aims are to promote the interest and study of the life and works of E.T.B.Radford, and to publish a quarterly magazine for club members. The club was formed in 2000 and an AGM is held in May in Stoke on Trent, the heart of the potteries. It is often attended by painters and paintresses of the Woods factory. Please see the Magazine page to review a typical Annual Report and some sample pages to whet your appetite.

Introduction to E.T.B.Radford

In the 1920s Edward Thomas Brown Radford, who came from a family of established potters, (his father was a thrower at Pilkington's with a fine reputation) joined the H.J.Wood factory in Burslem. Here he had his own studio and developed his own designs. In about 1930 he set up his own independent pottery which carried on until 1948 when he retired. H.J.Wood then continued making pots to his designs, and marked them with the 'E Radford' backstamp.

This fine 8" vase is the quintessential pre-war E. Radford piece, probably produced at the height of pottery production, between 1936-39.

The body is hand thrown earthenware. The shape is a rare one: P80 from a special series ( highest known number is P 97), some of which were produced for Susie Cooper ( 1932-4 ) who gave her own numbers to these; other shapes for this series were produced for H J Wood and the Ellgreave pottery ( a branch of H J Wood ).

The pattern is hand painted underglaze on a hand-sponged background of 'Fawn' / yellow ochre ( also found on pink and green, and an earlier version/similar pattern can be found on blue).

The backstamp is: E Radford, England. This dates it to 1936-44. The vase was painted by / . We haven't been able to identify this paintress with any certainty, but she was probably painting for Mr Radford from 1930 throughout the 1930's.

This particular pattern is coded JN ( anemone ) and is a favourite with many collectors. Note: the JN pattern continued to be used for many years after the war. In 1947/8, Mr Radford retired and H J Wood took over production but continued to use the E Radford, England, Handpainted backstamp. Soon after, the earthenware body was changed to semi-china, which is impervious and always cast. The sponged background effect in such post-war ware is very much paler - green, blue or pink - with white also being used.

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