Josiah Wedgwood

1730-1795. Descended from a family of potters, master potter and prominent 18th-century industrialist.

He recognised how the revolution of transport could transform his industry (he advocated turnpike roads and the construction of the Trent and Mersey Canal), made good use of Britain's overseas trade by exporting to the United States and the West Indies, and he had a sense for marketing, setting up showrooms in London with his partners. He also won the patronage of Queen Charlotte: he became appointed "potter to Her Majesty" and renamed his creamware "Queen's ware". Thus he made himself a name in the nobility, but he profited even more from orders by the wealthy upper-middle class that started to indulge in some luxury as well.

Wedgwood's main production site was near Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, where he bought an estate that he named Etruria: it included a factory, Etruria Works, and a representative home for himself, Etruria Hall.

Reference

Reilly, Robin. "Wedgwood, Josiah (1730–1795)." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2004.