Josiah Wedgwood - The Radical Potter by Tristram Hunt

Josiah Wedgwood, perhaps the greatest English potter who ever lived, defined his age. From his kilns and workshops in Stoke-on-Trent, he revolutionised the production of ceramics in Georgian Britain by marrying science and style, technology and entrepreneurialism, manufacturing efficiency and retail flair. He was a beacon of the Industrial Revolution who transformed the luxury markets not only of London, Liverpool, Bath and Dublin but of America and the world, helping to usher in a mass consumer society.

But Wedgwood was a radical in his politics and beliefs, as well as in his experimental designs. He campaigned for free trade and religious toleration, produced medallions supporting the French Revolution and the American War of Independence. Most powerfully, he commissioned and financed the ceramic ‘Emancipation Badge’, depicting a slave in chains and inscribed ‘Am I Not a Man and a Brother?’ that became the symbol of the abolitionist movement.

V&A Director Tristram Hunt’s biography captures the energy, ambition and originality of Wedgwood – and his extraordinary contribution to the transformation of modern Britain.

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