William Twamley's Jug
You can see this wonderful creamware jug on display at the mill on Open Days. It was probably made in Staffordshire, or perhaps in Yorkshire, between 1763 and 1779. It is decorated with iron red and black scrolled cartouches, roses, and lilies, and the top and bottom borders are beaded (gadrooned) and picked out in pale green.
In 2009, Tim Booth wrote an article about the origins of our famous Twamley jug. The article was published in New Hall Mill's Newsletter number 23.
"I first heard about this remarkable, important piece of the mill's history at the end of January, 2009. An email from a fellow member of the Midland Mills Group arrived, saying he had heard about a jug with a New Hall miller's name on it. Had the Friends acquired it yet?
"My response was that I knew nothing about it at all and could he please tell me more! Thus I learned that a collector of windmill artefacts had purchased a creamware jug bearing the name of William Twamley of New Hall Mill. Disappointed to find that New Hall Mill was a watermill rather than a windmill, he was keen to sell the jug on. Of course, the Friends were keen to buy!
"So it was that, on Sunday 5th April, I drove to Bedford to collect the jug rather than entrusting it to parcel post. That proved to be a wise decision as the jug had already been dropped and broken into many pieces fairly recently. Although carefully repaired, it now has a sizeable hole in its base.
"The jug carries no maker's mark, unless it was on the missing bit, but the suggested date of later eighteenth century seems quite likely. Of course, the miller's name should provide a good indication of its date but, unfortunately, there seems to have been a William Twamley at New Hall Mill from the 1740s right through to the 1830s. A day in Warwickshire Archives looking at Sutton Coldfield parish registers showed there had certainly been four different William Twamleys at the mill during that period as the tenancy passed from father to son.
"So which one was the original owner, why was it marked with his name and what was its purpose? If the suggested date is correct, then the first owner would most likely have been the second or third William. It is thought to have been a beer jug so it could simply have been a "coming of age" present. However, perhaps it was bought to celebrate one William taking over the tenancy of the mill, or even its rebuilding, which we know occured sometime during this period.
"The jug is now on display in the exhibition room at the mill on Open Days."
The four William Twamleys at New Hall Mill were:
- William Twamley 1700 - 1752
- William Twamley 1739 - 1788
- William Twamley 1763 - 1825
- William Twamley 1806 - 1855
This style of decoration was popular in the late 18th century. Decoration in this style is usually attributed to the Robinson and Rhodes workshop. Robinson and Rhodes were a firm of china decorators in Leeds, who took commissions to paint individual or production work for china manufacturers. Josiah Wedgwood was sending them creamware to decorate by 1763.
I have seen a set of three pieces, decorated in a remarkably similar style, recently sold at auction. They were described as circa 1770, Staffordshire or Yorkshire. I have also seen several examples of Leeds Pottery creamware similar to the Twamley jug, for example, a similar jug inscribed with a patriotic verse, was made for the American market and dated 1763 to 1773; also, a similar style David Rhodes workshop teapot, was dated 1773 on the jug itself.
In 1768, David Rhodes moved to London to work for Wedgwood. Jasper Robinson continued to decorate at Leeds until 1779.
So, the Twamley jug was probably made in Yorkshire or Staffordshire, and decorated between 1763 and 1779 by Robinson or Rhodes, or by a contemporaneous workshop mimicking the Robinson and Rhodes style.
This suggests that our jug belonged to the second William, 1739 - 1788, although, as Tim Booth writes, it could have been a coming of age gift for his son, the third William, 1763 - 1825.
Sheridan Parsons