An Enlightened Entrepreneur: Josiah Wedgwood

Today, the image of the self-​made entrepreneur fascinates us. However, for much of western history, the entrepreneur was an unsung hero. We use and encounter the word entrepreneur constantly in our daily lives. They are seemingly an indispensable part of the modern economy. The first person to seriously think about the role of the entrepreneur was the 17th-​century French Irish economist Richard Cantillon in his Essay on the Nature of Trade in General, published in 1755.

For much of the west’s history, the aristocratic elite looked down on merchants and money-​makers. A tradition stretching back to antiquity extolled the virtues of property ownership and rural activity. Of course, the aristocrats expected others to do all of the hard labor while they theorized about how much better they were. But in the 18th-​century, things started to change. Compared to other European nations, Britain had led the way in a more hands-​off approach to the economy where regular people were given more freedom in how they acted economically. Because of this practice, England started to change. People became wealthier, and the aristocrats slowly had to accept the birth of what was called the middling orders, what we would call today the middle class. Through spending their newfound wealth, the new members of the middling orders began a consumer revolution.

At the forefront of this revolution in the 18th-​century was Josiah Wedgwood, a man born the eleventh child of a potter who ended his life as an esteemed industrialist, a tastemaker for English society, an advocate of enlightenment principles, and a scientist. In most aspects of his life, Wedgwood was a trailblazer. He is one of the great early examples of self-​made entrepreneurs, but he did so much more than create wealth in economic terms. With his newfound wealth, he built schools, homes, and improved the working conditions of his employees. Most famously, Wedgwood used his craft to advocate for the abolition of slavery, a cause near and dear to his heart.

At a time when media pundits demonize the excessive wealth of entrepreneurs such as Elon Musk and Bill Gates, it is important to restate the crucial role entrepreneurism plays in our lives and how, when informed by humane and enlightened principles, can change the world both in economic and moral terms.

Josiah Wedgwood was born on the 12th of July, 1730, in Burslem Staffordshire. He was the eleventh and final child of Thomas and Mary Wedgwood. Wedgwood’s father, while not poor, was not particularly rich. At the age of nine, Wedgwood’s father died, leaving a promise to young Josiah of 20 pounds in inheritance money, a promise that was never fulfilled. Throughout his childhood, Wedgwood worked at his family’s business.

The previous thousand years of English history pointed towards Wedgwood being just another face in the common crowd. Wedgwood’s father, and his father’s father had all been potters earning enough to survive. According to all conventional wisdom, Wedgwood would follow his father’s footsteps and earn a similar living. After all, Staffordshire was hardly the cosmopolitan center of the nation. Though there were many potters in Staffordshire, potters only sold their wares locally. To sell to London was rare; to sell abroad was unheard of. But by the end of Wedgwood’s life, this would all radically change.

With his father dead, Wedgwood’s mother took charge of educating her son in religious matters. She imparted on him a deep appreciation for the importance of curiosity and self-​education. Wedgwood came from a family of English Dissenters, protestants who broke off from the English state-​supported Anglican church to start their own religious establishments. Wedgwood and his family were Unitarians. They emphasized the importance of using reason to interpret scripture. For Unitarians, there was no conflict between science and religion. Because of this attitude, Unitarians defended freedom of speech and conscience as indispensable rights for political and religious life.

Where Unitarians verged most noticeably from the established Anglican church was their view of original sin. Through criticizing scripture, Unitarians came to the conclusion that original sin was a falsehood and instead believed in the inherent goodness of man. Growing up, Wedgwood was taught that the world could be made a better place through human effort. You might say, come on doesn’t everyone believe that? The answer is surprisingly no. Few of our ancestors believed there was such a thing as progress. It is hard to blame them after all. Most people, including Wedgwood, worked the same job their father had used the exact same tools that had been used for hundreds of years. In the 18th century, many lamented the current state of the world and idealized the ancient Roman and Greek past as a more glorious epoch of human history.

From a young age, Wedgwood showed great promise as a potter. At the age of nine, after contracting smallpox, Wedgwood’s knee was permanently weakened, meaning he could not use the foot pedal on a potter’s wheel. But Wedgwood took this tragedy in his stride despite his young age. He used his period of physical inactivity to read, research, and most importantly, experiment. His father and brother made inexpensive, low-​quality pots in black and mottled color. While recovering from smallpox, Wedgwood saw the value of constant experimentation. Instead of making the same pots his family had always crafted, he dedicated himself to innovation.

In his early twenties, Wedgwood worked as an apprentice under Thomas Whieldon, one of the most renowned potters of his day. By 1754 the pair became business partners. Wedgwood spent much of his spare time mastering the new science of chemistry to develop glazes and clays to improve his wares. Wedgwood began to carry around what he called his experiment book, where he recorded the results from his numerous experiments. While working with Whieldon, Wedgwood developed a new green glaze that allowed for teapots designed to resemble cauliflowers. While this might sound like something you find at a second-​hand store, at the time, Wedgwood’s cauliflower teapot struck a chord with the increasingly urbanized gentry that wanted to evoke their rural roots. For Wedgwood, pottery was practical, but it was also an artistic endeavor.

After working with Whieldon, at the age of 30, Wedgwood began his own business in Burslem Staffordshire at his Ivy House factory. Thanks to England’s vast colonial territories, tea and coffee were making their way to England in larger quantities. The urbane traditional gentry and new middling orders began to frequent coffee and tea houses to converse with their peers. This led to an increased demand for pottery. But Wedgwood saw that it was not just teapots, mugs, and saucers that people were after. It was about impressing one’s peers with sophisticated props. In this emerging market, Wedgwood saw the potential not only for profit but artistic renown.

Elaborate designs fell out of favor; what was demanded was the pure simplicity of materials like porcelain. The issue was porcelain was in short supply and easily broke. Wedgwood began developing cream glaze that would give earthenware the appearance of porcelain with none of the downsides. After conducting over 5,000 painstaking tests, Wedgwood had perfected what came to be known as creamware. Wedgwood’s craftsmanship was of the highest standards, but he was also renowned for his glazes that few could replicate.

In 1664, Wedgwood would marry his third cousin Sarah Wedgwood, a practice that seems weird today but was extremely common throughout Europe at the time. Originally her father opposed their union, but after seeing the popularity of Wedgwood’s glazes, he changed his mind.

Increasingly known for his high-​quality products, Wedgwood was invited to participate in a competition with all the potteries of Staffordshire to provide a tea service or set for Queen Charlotte. Wedgwood theorized that if he could get the queen to use his wares, then all of the gentry would follow her example. Further down the line, the middling orders would begin to imitate their upper-​class counterparts. Knowing this was a crucial opportunity, Wedgwood went all creating a cream-​ware set using honey to help stick 22 karat gold to his pure white cream-​ware.

Wedgwood won the competition. Celebrating his victory, he asked Queen Charlotte to let him name his line of pottery she had purchased
Queen’s ware. Light years ahead of his contemporaries, Wedgwood saw the importance of distinguishing his brand and the importance of endorsements, and what better endorsement is there than the queen? All of Wedgwood’s paperwork and stationary boasted this royal association. For his efforts, Wedgwood was made the queen’s potter. This title made Wedgwood a household name overnight, and quickly the nobility of England flocked to Staffordshire demanding a full set of queen’s ware.

In 1762, on one of his frequent visits to Liverpool, Wedgwood encountered Thomas Bentley, a businessman from a wealthy land-​owning family. Compared to the self-​made Wedgwood, Bently moved in much more sophisticated circles. However, the pair became business partners and close friends. Though they came from different backgrounds, both men agreed that profit was not be hoarded but used to better society. For example, Bentley had used his money to found schools and fund the arts.

In 1767 the pair partnered up with Bentley focusing on decorative wares and Wedgwood focusing on domestic wares. Thanks to Bentley’s familiarity with the aristocracy, Wedgwood began to develop a network of contacts to hone in on the aristocratic market, hoping it would filter down to the rest of society.

Wedgwood established showrooms in London to sell his wares. In the 18th-​century, stores were cramped and utilitarian. Wedgwood saw how important display way to entice customers. Wedgwood was open with the intention of his lavish showrooms. They were in his words to “amuse, and divert, and please, and astonish, nay, and even to ravish the ladies.” Wedgwood also pioneered a range of services, including money-​back guarantees, free delivery, illustrated catalogs, and even a rudimentary form of self-​service. Wedgwood, more than any other entrepreneur in his day, focused on the retail experience and the comfort and ease of his customers. Wedgwood and Bentley established multiple showrooms throughout London, which were so popular they caused traffic jams with the winding lines outside. Noting their successes in London, Bentley and Wedgwood opened showrooms in Bath, Liverpool, Dublin, and Westminster.

In 1769 Wedgwood observed that “vases were all the cry.” The increasing demand led to Wedgwood and Bentley being so successful that they founded a new factory in 1769 named Etruria after the Etruscans who inhabited ancient Italy. Here Wedgwood dreamed of becoming “Vase Maker General to the Universe.” Despite being named after an ancient land, Etruria was arguably at the time the most modern industrial space in the world. To minimize mistakes, Wedgwood broke down the process of making earthenware into a series of smaller tasks. Like Adam Smith, Wedgwood saw the increase in productivity the division of labor brings. As an employer, Wedgwood stood out as an enlightened example. He paid his employees well but also built cottages for his workers around Etruria and even attempted to develop a form of air-​conditioning for his workers. Through his modernizing practices, Wedgwood brought artistic perfection to an industrial scale. Though many of his popular products were initially purchased by the aristocracy, he eventually reduced the prices to appeal to a broader market. Wedgwood noticed that “a great price is at first necessary to make the vases esteemed Ornaments for Palaces.” Once aristocrats popularized his products, he would then reduce the price accordingly. For the first time, everyday people began to drink from mugs and decorate their homes with vases of unparalleled quality and artistic design that gave a glimpse into the mindset of the British world.

By Wedgwood’s day, intricate designs were out of fashion and what was sought after was purity and simplicity. At the same time, the newly unearthed ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum triggered a European mania for all things to do with classical civilization. With artifacts in short supply, Europeans wished to imitate their classical forbearers. The English push towards classicism was not only an aesthetic choice but a political one. The British intelligentsia began to theorize that Britain had taken up the position previously held by the Romans. Wedgwood began to develop a kind of vase which he called basalt that imitated the shape and color of Greek and Etruscan vases displaying yet again his unparalleled skill.

Wedgwood had transformed Staffordshire from a town that nearly always sold their produce locally to a locus of an industry that supplied goods for the whole nation. But Wedgwood saw the potential for even more growth abroad. Bentley and Wedgwood began sending sets abroad to aristocratic households replicating Wedgwood’s strategy in Britain. Wedgwood sent a gargantuan set of 952 pieces, each with original paintings for the sea service of Empress Catherine the Great. Wedgwood began to ship to Europe but then rapidly expanded across the globe to places like Mexico, the United States, Turkey, and China. By the 1780s, Wedgwood was exporting nearly 80% of his total produce abroad.

Though business was good, Wedgwood’s smallpox afflicted knee worsened, resulting in his leg being amputated and replaced with a wooden prosthetic. Though bedridden for a time, Wedgwood quickly reassumed work walking around Etruria with his wooden leg still throwing pots and experimenting. His employees gave him the nickname old wooden leg. In 1780, Wedgwood’s close friend and business partner Thomas Bentley died. Wedgwood turned to his friend Erasmus Darwin as a new partner. Erasmus Darwin was the grandfather of Charles Darwin. Wedgwood’s daughter would later marry Erasmus’s son.

As Wedgwood shipped more goods abroad, he increasingly frequented London’s port, the largest slave-​trading port in the world at the time. t Wedgwood saw the whip scarred bodies of enslaved people being shipped in from the colonies. Being a principled man in part to his Unitarian beliefs, Wedgwood abhorred slavery. Not only because it was immoral, but because to Wedgwood, it was not befitting of the national character and the esteem Britain ought to hold. In 1787 at its inception, Wedgwood joined Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade.
Wedgwood began to campaign against slavery by using his craft. Wedgwood mass-​produced cameos of a black man in chains on his knees against a white background with an inscription beneath reading “Am I Not a Man and a Brother?” Wedgwood gave away these medallions free of charge to abolitionist groups. Wedgwood sent medallions to Benjamin Franklin, who was then the president of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society. Franklin praised his medallions, saying their effectiveness is ‘equal to that of the best written Pamphlet, in procuring favor to those oppressed People.’ Gentlemen had this image inlaid in the snuff boxes, and ladies wore it on bracelets and hairpins. The emblem of abolition was unavoidable. Wedgwood’s medallion was the most famous image of a black person in 18th-​century art.

Friend of Wedgwood and fellow abolitionist wrote of Wedgwood’s medallions “the taste for wearing them became general, and thus fashion, which usually confines itself to worthless things, was seen for once in the honorable office of promoting the cause of justice, humanity and freedom.” Wedgwood saw how fashion could be a vehicle for political change by providing an image that requires no words for an explanation. His medallions perfectly captured the message of the abolitionist cause, all of this two hundred years before the advent of the t-​shirt.

In 1784, the Duchess of Portland purchased what would later be named the Portland vase, an ancient Roman cameo glaze vase from the first century. The vase was considered to be the peak of pottery because no one could imitate the cameo glaze. After the duchess died in 1785, the Portland vase was auctioned to William Cavendish-​Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland. The duke lent Wedgwood the Portland Vase so he could attempt to copy its design. This was the most technically difficult endeavor Wedgwood ever undertook. The difficulties arose from the fact he was trying to imitate a glass surface using ceramics. But through a lifetime of self-​taught chemistry and determination in 1790, he perfected his copy of the Portland Vase. Wedgwood’s copy immortalized his reputation as a master of his craft.

Wedgwood was not only a master craftsman, an industrialist, and an activist; he was also a scientist. In 1765, he had joined the Lunar Society of Birmingham, a group of industrialists, scientists, and philosophers who met during the full moon because the light made the journey at night easier. Members included people such as Joseph Priestly and Matthew Bolton. In 1783, Wedgwood was elected to The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge for inventing the pyrometer. A device used to measure the high temperatures of kilns while firing pottery.

After a life dedicated to his work and the betterment of the world, Wedgwood passed away on the 3rd of January 1795 at the age of 64. Today the name Wedgwood is synonymous with excellence in pottery, even hundreds of years after his death.

Throughout western history, aristocrats, nobles, and elites peddled a narrative that the way to achieve their status and prosperity was through familial ties and military prowess. People Like Josiah Wedgwood showed the model for the Enlightened industrialist. Instead of relying on blood, he relied upon education. Though he
was only schooled until the age of nine, Wedgwood was an autodidact who spent his entire life learning and experimenting. Instead of military prowess resulting in looted goods, Wedgwood showed the peaceful path to wealth by fulfilling consumers’ desires. Though a skilled artist Wedgwood paid attention to what people wanted and filled that gap in the market. His marketing practices were light years ahead of his time, and his penchant for building a distinct brand through advertising and quality was something genuinely unprecedented for an era where nobles still wore powdered wigs. Wedgwood used his wealth to benefit the world by treating his workers with dignity while advocating for humane causes like the abolition of slavery.

Stories like Wedgwood’s counter the anti-​capitalist narrative of the corrupting tendencies of private enterprise, showing how business can be humane, cosmopolitan, and most importantly, for Wedgwood beautiful. Pottery is the art of turning wet mud into beauty, a process appreciated by a self-​made man who had come from the mud himself.