Frederick Joseph White was born in Bristol, England in 1838. In Bristol he was
employed at the Baptist Mills Pottery. Several of his family members, including
his father Joseph, were also employed at the Baptist Mills. Frederick migrated
to St. John’s New Brunswick, Canada is 1863. In New Brunswick he was an
employee of the Courteney Bay Pottery. The Courteney Bay Pottery, a producer of
non-art or utilitarian ware, is thought to have been owned by relatives of
Frederick White. Francis George White, Frederick’s son, was born in New
Brunswick on January 5, 1869. Francis, known as Frank, was one of seven
children. Frederick’s wife, Frank’s mother, the former Frances
Northcote, was related to the Earl of Northcote.
1875 found Frederick
and his family back in England with Frederick running the Baptist Mills Pottery
in Bristol. He stayed in Bristol until 1892. The Whites returned to North
America in 1893 and settled in Denver Colorado. The Denver location was very
likely due to the supply of good clay west of Golden, Colorado.
After
the Whites arrival in 1893, they were employed by Clarence W. Montague, the
founder of American Clay Works in Denver. American Clay Works was a producer of
items such as clay pipes, tile, etc.
The Whites commenced operation of a
pottery of their own under the name of F. J. White & Son in 1894. The
location of F. J. White & Son Pottery was also in Denver at 1434 S. Logan
Street. Initially, the entire production was utilitarian, and such items as
jugs, bowls, teapots, and sets of dishes were provided to customers of the
Whites.
After some fourteen years the Whites began production of art
pottery. The firm was known at this point in time (1907) as the Denver Art
Pottery. However, the operation remained under the name of F. J. White &
Son in the Denver city directories.
Three years after the Art Pottery
was established in Denver, Francis (Frank) moved his family to Oklahoma City,
Oklahoma. This move was made very soon after a death in the J. F. Klingaman
family. (Mrs. White was the former Nellie Elizabeth Klingaman). While in
Oklahoma City, Frank established a pottery there. This venture would not last
very long. The heat and humidity caused some health problems, and late in 1911
the Whites returned to Denver. After their arrival the Denver operation was
moved from Logan Street to 808 South Broadway. The Pottery was moved again and
in 1915 was located at 1546 South Logan Street. Four years later, February 8th,
1919, Frederick Joseph White died. This ended a career in pottery that spanned
two countries and more than sixty years. Once more Frank moved the Pottery.
This time to its final location at 1560 South Logan Street. The 1560 South
Logan Street location is the only one where details are known about the design
of the pottery itself. Frank, at all of his South Logan Street locations,
operated the pottery out of this house. The house was built to Frank’s
specifications. It served him well both as a pottery and a home. A front door
led to the basement which contained a showroom for customers as well as a work
area for the pottery. A ramp connected the work area to a tin shed in the
backyard in which the kiln was housed. The kiln was a coal burning down-draft
type in which Frank fired pottery at approximately 2100*F. It is interesting to
note that Frank mixed the clay for the pottery in a modified washing machine!
Pieces were thrown on a home-made wheel, cranked by hand, but eventually
electrified. An important point to note is that every piece of White Art
Pottery was thrown by hand – not a single mold was used in the production
of art pottery. Molds were used, however, for other ware.
Two of
the identifying marks used on White Pottery were formed by the word
“Denver” and incised by hand. One of these marks consists of the word
“Denver” neatly inscribed in the base of the piece in a straight line
in longhand.
The other mark is also inscribed by hand, but the word
“Denver” is formed by individual letters in a hand printing style.
Neither of these marks contain the letter “W” within the letter
“D” and are thought, by some, to be contemporaries. The third mark,
and a very rare one, is the words, “ White Denver” impressed in the
clay with letters that closely approximate the ones shown here and likewise
separated in a similar manner.
Mark number four is also rare and is simply an upper case
“D” incised in the clay with an upper case “W” incised
within the “D”. The fifth and most common mark of the five is very
similar to number two except that the letter “W” is hand incised with
the letter “D” as mentioned before. This mark may also appear in
semicircle.
Frequently pieces will be found dated. Presently dates range from
1907 to 1928. --NOTE -- The mark examples were scanned from a very poor quality
document and modified in attempt to make them clearer.
On March 16, 1960
Francis George White died at the age of 91. Until just a few years before his
passing he was still producing pottery, as he had for seventy years; first in
Bristol and later in Denver. With Frank’s death, perhaps, came the end of
America’s golden age of Art Pottery.
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