by Carole Murdock

If you are reading this, you are part of a large group who are addicted to Wade Porcelain.  We all have our favorite pieces and collections; some of us just like anything “Wade.”  Regardless, there is one person we have to thank, or blame, depending on the size of our collection and whether or not it has taken over our homes and our budgets.

I am certain you all know to whom I refer:  Sir George Albert Wade.  Recently, I have written articles about Sir George’s daughter and son-in-law, Iris and Straker  Carryer, his son, Tony, and his grandson’s  Richard and Jeremy.  Others like Dave Lee and Di Wade in The Wade Dynasty, Warner and Posgay in their World of Wade intros, and David Chown of C&S Collectables have written about Sir George.

I thought I would simplify and introduce you to simply George Albert Wade, a man who had the foresight and patience to listen to a girl, his daughter, at a time when women were not involved in corporate decisions-making.  Yet, from their collaboration emerged the amazing Whimsies which were probably the first hook to most of our continuing fascination with Wade.

George Albert Wade (1891-1986) was a man of many facets and talents.   As a young man, he worked for his father in the pottery business until the outbreak of WWI.  He joined the Army and quickly moved up the ranks from private to lieutenant before he was released as a major in 1919 having received the Military Cross for valour in 1917.  George went home to Burslem and was made a partner in his father’s pottery which was then renamed  George Wade & Son Ltd.  During his time in the Army, he married Florrie Johnson, daughter of Samuel  Johnson, a noted teapot manufacturer.  Florrie was a gifted painter and her talents would eventually be utilized by the Wade pottery.

George Wade & Son Ltd. produced very practical items like insulators, ceramic parts for the cotton industry and electro- ceramics for modern and newly emerging businesses.  There was no glamour value in these products, and George Wade & Son Ltd. was in the shadow of Wade, Heath, & CO Ltd. and AJ Wade Ltd. which produced decorative ware and beautiful ceramic tiles.

George was an art lover who was also renowned for having an eye for the ladies and a collector of the unusual (he had a collection of shrunken heads labeled “bank managers I have known”).  Thus, he sought out modelers like the beautiful and talented Jessica Van Hallen to create an assortment of gift items, among them Jessie’s amazing lady figurines.  Around this time, he also hired Faust Lang, a wood carver, who carved all his designs in wood rather than clay which gave his figures a remarkable realism.

By 1935, the family potteries of AJ Wade and Wade Heath combined with George Wade and Son and became Wade Potteries Ltd. with George Wade as chairman.  Later that year, the company appeared on the London stock Exchange for the first time.  In the midst of all the creative changes at the pottery, WWII broke out and George was commissioned in 1939 to organize National Defense Companies.  During this time he wrote books and pamphlets on military training and tactics.  These were liberally sprinkled with George’s dry humor, his own drawings and maps. He served in the army til 1945 attaining the rank of colonel.  After the war, he continued his artistic endeavors in the pottery and also became involved in politics. He was a charming charismatic figure to friends and family and liked by most.  He could also be irreverent and demanding and a little bit scary.  But even then, he had a sense of humor.  He was knighted in 1955, more for his services to politics than to industry.  His coat of arms was created with his choice of animal, the rhinoceros, and his motto was “Pourquoi Pas” or “Why not?” As daughter Iris said in her book, she can still to this day hear her father saying “Bash on, keep going, don’t give up!”

Early in 1951, George created the “Jolly Potter,” an in-house magazine for his pottery staff.  As the original Jolly Potter, he wrote in an editorial for the one of his magazines:  “Everything which modern life produces for our welfare or pleasure started as a ‘bright idea’ in somebody’s head, and it could only grow into importance because it was pushed on and developed by some enthusiast, often against much skepticism and opposition.”

I do believe he was thinking of the creation of the Whimsies.  By 1952, the pottery was in financial difficulty, having bought expensive tools and equipment for the war effort.  Colonel Wade and his son Tony decided to return to making gift ware and small animals as they had done briefly before the war.  It was in a meeting to discuss alternative markets that Colonel Wade’s daughter Iris suggested making small animal figures using the steel dies that were used to make the small porcelain insulators.  Over 100,000 copies could be made from each die without the fine detail being lost.  As to the name of Whimsies, one story goes that Tony’s secretary described these tiny porcelain figures as whimsical.  The first set of five, in a decorative box, was produced in 1953.  Children loved them, they were affordable, and they took up very little space.

Sir George moved to Brandt Hall, better known as Bloodshot Hall to Wade collectors, in 1952 where he continued his writing and further developed his love of painting.  One of his paintings currently decorates the home of Sue Nikas, president and owner of Hagen-Renaker Pottery in California and daughter of John and Maxine Renaker.  In the picture featured in this article, Sir George is painting outside Brandt Hall.  He continued to be involved in the Wade Potteries til his death at 94.

I think I would have liked George Albert Wade and the man he became.  I like the pleasure he has given me through his whimsical creations.  And, okay, I admit, after years of collecting all these little creatures, they take up lots of space and have cost lots of money, but I love them and have decided I must thank Sir George and the risk he took listening to a “mere” woman and following through on her idea.

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