William Billingsley (artist)

He is a leading name associated with the English Romantic style of paintings of groups of flowers on porcelain that is sometimes called "naturalistic" by older sources,[1] although that may not seem its main characteristic today.

In this he was swimming against the tide of the period; Spode's improved formula for bone china was taking over most English production, and Sèvres, at this point making both soft and hard-paste porcelain, was to drop the former by 1806.

Billingsley's further moves took him to Mansfield, operating only a painting workshop, and about 1802 or 1803 to Torksey, Lincolnshire, where it has been claimed he made porcelain, as also at the neighbouring village of Brampton.

It is thought he first came into contact with the potter Samuel Walker there, who later married Billingsley's daughter Sarah in 1812, when the group moved to Worcester porcelain.

Billingsley and Walker had brought with them a total of £250 to invest in their project and by January 1814, the Quaker entrepreneur William Weston Young had already become the major share-holder in their venture.

The resources of the three associates soon ran out, and the group approached the Committee of Trade and Plantations asking for a grant of £500, referring to the subsidy the French Government had given the famous Sèvres Porcelain Factory.

They were not successful, but one member of the committee, a porcelain enthusiast; Sir Joseph Banks, suggested to his friend and ceramicist Lewis Weston Dillwyn of the Cambrian Pottery of Swansea, should make an inspection.

Dillwyn made the inspection, and saw the extent of the firm's losses, but was so impressed with the quality of the surviving pieces that he offered Billingsley and Walker use of the Cambrian Pottery to improve their recipe and process.

The recipe was modified and improved, but was still wasteful enough for Dillwyn to abandon the project and in 1817, Billingsley, his younger daughter Lavinia and Samuel Walker returned to Nantgarw; Sarah, Billingsley's older daughter, Walkers wife, had died in January of that year, sadly, Lavinia also died in September of this year at Nantgarw.