Editing Josiah Spode (section)

== Early life ==
Josiah Spode was born in Lane Delph, [[Fenton, Staffordshire]]. Spode was a pauper's son and also a pauper's orphan at the age of six. In 1745 his elder sister Ann married Ambrose Gallimore,<ref>R. Copeland, ''Spode'' (Osprey Publishing, 1998), [https://books.google.com/books?id=8IriwpjDXsYC&pg=PA4 p. 4.] Ann Spoade married Ambrose Gallimore at Stoke-on-Trent 31 December 1745: she was still living in 1797 when Josiah made bequests to her in the Codicil to his will, P.C.C. PROB 11/1302/241.</ref> who in 1754 obtained the lease of the Caughley porcelain factory near [[Broseley]]. Spode was taken on as a worker by potter [[Thomas Whieldon]] in November ([[Martinmas]]) 1749, and remained with him until 1754. In that year, on 8 September, Josiah married Ellen Finley at Stoke-on-Trent, and his eldest son Josiah (II) was born in 1755. It was in 1754 that [[Josiah Wedgwood]] became the business partner of Thomas Whieldon, an arrangement which continued until 1759. Spode had worked alongside Wedgwood and with the celebrated potter Aaron Wood<ref>F. Falkner, ''The Wood Family of Burslem. A brief biography of those of its members who were sculptors, modellers and potters'' (Chapman and Hall Ltd., London 1912), pp. 21-30, [https://archive.org/stream/woodfamilyofburs00falk#page/26/mode/2up at p. 27.]</ref> (father of [[Enoch Wood]]) under Whieldon's tuition, and was with Whieldon at a high point of production there.<ref>A. Hayden, ''Spode and His Successors'' (Cassell, London 1925), pp. 2, 4, 7.</ref>

As a family man Josiah Spode was an accomplished violinist,{{cn|date=January 2023}} and he and his wife had further children Samuel (1757), Mary (1759), Ellen (1762) Sarah, William (1770), Ann (1772), and Elizabeth (1777). The suggestion that he took over the factory of Ralph Baddeley and Thomas Fletcher during the late 1750s and early 1760s is now discounted.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=8IriwpjDXsYC&dq=Ralph+Baddeley+Shelton&pg=PA4 R. Copeland, ''Spode'' (Shire Books), 2nd Edn (Osprey 1998), 4]</ref> After [[Turner (potters)|John Turner]] (1737–87) left Stoke for [[Longton, Staffordshire|Lane End]] in 1759 or 1762, Spode may have carried on the factory of William Banks, Turner's partner and former master at Stoke. It is said that Spode took over the Stoke factory in about 1770,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thepotteries.org/allpotters/1008.htm |title=John Turner |website=thepotteries.org |accessdate=1 June 2016}}</ref> and recorded that he bought the rights under a Turner family patent in 1805.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thepotteries.org/allpotters/1009.htm |title=William and John Turner |website=thepotteries.org |accessdate=1 June 2016}}</ref> The production there was of [[creamware]] with blue painted decoration as well as white [[stoneware]] in the manner of John Turner: black ware was also made and a printing press for black [[transfer printing]] was maintained. Spode was powerfully influenced by Turner's work. He was engaged as master potter, but it is not known whether his work there was consecutive or sporadic,<ref>Hayden 1925, 9–10, 14.</ref> and there may be confusion between him and his son of the same name.