Edwin Bennett (potter)

Edwin Bennett (March 6 1818 – June 13 1908), born in Newhall, Derbyshire, was an English American pioneer of the pottery industry and art in the United States,[1] and founder of the Edwin Bennett Pottery Company of Baltimore, Maryland. Producing a variety of wares from the everyday to the fine and artistic, his company, originally founded in the 1840s as the Edwin Bennett Queensware Manufactory,[2] continued in operation until forced to close during the Great Depression in 1936. Examples of Edwin Bennett pottery may be found in museums across the United States, including the Maryland Historical Society,[3] the Philadelphia Museum of Art,[4] the Metropolitan Museum of Art,[5][6][7] and the National Museum of American History,[8][9][10] as well as in private collections.

Arriving in 1841 Edwin first worked with his brothers James, William and Daniel in East Liverpool, Ohio and later Pittsburg, after which he moved to Baltimore independently in 1846 and founded his own pottery with his own designs, the business growing to multiple kilns in little time.[11] He became a citizen of the United States in 1848,[12] in which year he was also joined by his brother William and the new partnership named E & W Bennett.[13] They soon added new lines in majolica and coloured stonewares, and in 1853 one of the company's most notable early accomplishments was the first industrial production of porcelain in America, a line of jugs of biscuit porcelain not unlike Parian although with some glazing and colored decoration.[14] The Bennetts also produced notable Rockingham-style ware, including the famous "Rebekah at the Well" teapot, modeled by Charles Coxon in Baltimore following Edwin's inspiration.[15] It became the best and longest selling Rockingham ware pattern in history.[16] Following James' retirement William left to run the Pittsburg operation in 1856 and the Baltimore factory renamed to the Edwin Bennett Pottery.[17]

The first pitched battle of the American Civil War happened right in front of his business on April 19, 1861 and Edwin moved with his wife and children to Philadelphia, where in the next year or two he entered into a partnership with his friend the glassmaker William Gillinder, with Bennett contributing some new tableware designs.[18] In 1867, the year he sold his interests to Gillinder and his sons, it was the largest glass factory within the city limits.[19] Gillinder's son James also married Bennett's daughter Martha.

Having returned to Baltimore although with his factory continuing in production throughout the war and after, in 1869 Edwin introduced a general line of various earthenwares which were produced until 1890.[20] Among the later original styles his company became known for are the "Albion" and "Brubensul" wares,[21] both introduced in 1896 and with some rarer specimens bought by foreign governments for their national museums.[22] Bennett's company was much later also responsible for the design of the popular infuser-style "McCormick teapot".[23]

Edwin Bennett was a younger brother of James Bennett, who established the pottery industry in East Liverpool, Ohio. The Bennett brothers were long friendly with Andrew Carnegie and his family, who had lived in Ohio. Edwin once entertained Carnegie's mother Margaret, on her way to visit her son in Virginia during the Civil War, in his home on East Baltimore Street.[24]

Bennett first married Mary J. Huston, with whom he had eight daughters and one son. His second wife, Sarah Elizabeth Day, with whom he had one son, was a 1st cousin of writer Mary L. Day.