[7] Wedgwood's company never made porcelain during his lifetime, but specialised in fine earthenwares and stonewares that had many of the same qualities, but were considerably cheaper.

[17] After his father died in June 1739, Josiah finished school then, at about the usual age, began an informal apprenticeship and learnt to "throw" pots on the potter's wheel.

When nearly twelve, he suffered a severe bout of smallpox which affected his right knee, but recovered sufficiently to get a formal indenture on 11 November 1744, serving as an apprentice potter under his eldest brother Thomas, who had taken over the Churchyard Works.

[18][19] Josiah resumed potter's wheel work for a year or two until his knee pains returned, causing him to turn to moulded ware and small ornaments.

His brother thought his ideas of improvements unnecessary, and turned down his proposed partnership, so in 1751 or 1752 Josiah worked as a partner and manager in a pot-works near Stoke.

[20] Several potters locally used practical chemistry to innovate, and Wedgwood very soon went into partnership with Thomas Whieldon, who made high value small items such as snuff boxes.

His studies were helped by repeated visits from Wiliam Willet, minister of Newcastle-under-Lyme Meeting House, who had married Wedgwood's sister Catherine in 1754; "a man of extensive learning and general acquirements".

[22][23] Around 1759, Wedgwood expanded his Burslem business, renting Ivy House Works and cottage from his distant cousins John and Thomas.

In May Wedgwood began a long correspondence with Bentley, writing from Burslem, and moved into larger premises, the Brick House Works and dwelling.

[26][27] Wedgwood had wooed his distant cousin Sarah (1734–1815) since first meeting her, but her father Richard wanted to ensure his prospective son-in-law had sufficient means, and insisted on long negotiation by attorneys over the marriage settlement.

[37] In 1774 he sent his son John to the Bolton boarding school trun by the Unitarian minister Philip Holland, followed by young Josiah the next year, and Tom in 1779.

Wedgwood convinced her to let him name the line of pottery she had purchased "Queen's Ware", and trumpeted the royal association in his paperwork and stationery.

[42] The proliferating decoration, the exuberant colours, and the universal gilding of rococo were banished, the splendours of baroque became distasteful; the intricacies of chinoiserie lost their favour.

[39] The most important of Wedgwood's early achievements in vase production was the perfection of the black stoneware body, which he called "basalt".

Wedgwood hoped to monopolise the aristocratic market and thus win for his wares a special social cachet that would filter to all classes of society.

He combined experiments in his art and in the technique of mass production with an interest in improved roads, canals, schools, and living conditions.

As a result of the close association that grew up between the Wedgwood and Darwin families, Josiah's eldest daughter would later marry Erasmus' son.

[56] To clinch his position as leader of the new fashion, he sought out the famous Barberini vase as the final test of his technical skill.

[59] He was elected to the Royal Society in 1783 for the development of the pyrometric device (a type of pyrometer) working on the principle of clay contraction (see Wedgwood scale for details) to measure the high temperatures which are reached in kilns during the firing of ceramics.

For devising a number of sales methods, historian Judith Flanders in The New York Times called him "among the greatest and most innovative retailers the world has ever seen".

[68] The V&A historian Tristram Hunt called Wedgwood a "difficult, brilliant, creative entrepreneur whose personal drive and extraordinary gifts changed the way we work and live.

"[69] The Adam Smith Institute states, "Steve Jobs and Elon Musk are the spiritual heirs of Josiah Wedgwood, developing and promoting the new products and processes that will enrich our world with new opportunities".

[70][71] For the further comfort of his foreign buyers he employed French-, German-, Italian- and Dutch-speaking clerks and answered their letters in their native tongue.

His friendship with Thomas Clarkson – abolitionist campaigner and the first historian of the British abolition movement – aroused his interest in slavery [The above seems to be a closed argument and unlikely to be true.

Joseph Hooper and Erasmus Darwin knew each other well, via the Medical Society of London, before Clarkson and Wedgwood became involved in the abolition movement.

Wedgwood mass-produced cameos depicting the seal for the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade and had them widely distributed, which thereby became a popular and celebrated image.

His anti-slavery medallion, which had been commissioned by Joseph Hooper, a founder of the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade, brought public attention to abolitionism.

[78] Wedgwood reproduced the design in a cameo with the black figure against a white background and donated hundreds to the society for distribution.

At length the taste for wearing them became general, and thus fashion, which usually confines itself to worthless things, was seen for once in the honourable office of promoting the cause of justice, humanity and freedom".