Operating originally in Vauxhall, London, and later moving to Lambeth, in 1882 it opened a factory in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, in the centre of English pottery.

From the start, the backbone of the business was a wide range of utilitarian wares, mostly stonewares, including storage jars, tankards and the like, and later extending to drain pipes, lavatories,[1] water filters, electrical porcelain and other technical ceramics.

[2] Initially this was done through artistic stonewares made in Lambeth, but in 1882 the firm bought a Burslem factory, which was mainly intended for making bone china tablewares and decorative items.

Today Royal Doulton mainly produces tableware and figurines, but also cookware, glassware, and other home accessories such as linens, curtains and lighting.

These brands are now owned by WWRD Holdings Limited (Waterford Crystal, Wedgwood, Royal Doulton), based in Barlaston near Stoke-on-Trent.

The business specialised in making salt glaze stoneware articles, including utilitarian or decorative bottles, jugs and jars, much of it intended for inns and pubs.

[5] Further facilities were set up for making these in Paisley in Scotland, Smethwick, St Helens near Liverpool, and Rowley Regis in England, and eventually Paris.

The first to be engaged was George Tinworth followed by artists such as the Barlow family (Florence, Hannah, and Arthur), Frank Butler, Mark Marshall, Eliza Simmance and John Eyre.

[14] Their late Victorian catalogues contained a wide range of architectural elements with, for example, tall Tudor-style chimney pots in many different designs.

When the Anglican St. Alban's Church was built in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1887 with Alexandra, Princess of Wales as one of the driving forces, Doulton donated and manufactured an altarpiece, a pulpit and a font.

Sir Henry's mausoleum is another fine example of Doulton's exterior terracottas, as are the pedimental sculptures for the department store Harrods (1880s).

By this time Doulton was popular for stoneware and ceramics, under the artistic direction of John Slater, who worked with figurines, vases, character jugs, and decorative pieces designed by the prolific Leslie Harradine.

The company added products during the first half of the 20th century, and the tableware and decorative wares tended to shift from stonewares to high-quality bone china.

Figurines in fashionable styles became increasingly important, for example a series of young girls in bathing costumes, in a mild version of Art Deco.

Figures continued to be important throughout the 20th century, but the peak of quality in modelling and painting is generally thought to have been between the world wars.

[21] 1938, Doulton acquired the works of George Skey and Co. in Tamworth, Staffordshire, which had been producing drain pipes, chimney pots and chemical stoneware.

In 1969 Doulton bought Beswick Pottery, long a specialist in figurines, mostly of animals, including some Beatrix Potter characters.

Their factory in Longton, Stoke-on-Trent was used to make the popular "Bunnykins" range of anthropomorphic rabbits, originally produced in 1936 to designs by the then managing director's daughter, Sister Barbara Bailey, who was a nun.

[23] The whole English pottery industry was losing ground in the post-war period, and Doulton's purchases of other companies was not enough to stem decline.

The office building in Black Prince Road survives, complete with a frieze of potters and Sir Henry Doulton over the original main entrance, executed by Tinworth.

In 1983 David Edward Dunn Johnson bought the hotelware division of Royal Doulton, now renamed Steelite and, as of 2022, was still operating in Stoke-on-Trent.