Hi Listers, Though my forebears were born and brought up in the Potteries, sadly I have to confess to little knowledge of the area. I can remember only one visit as a child to my father's auntie Louis's ( porbably Lucy Ann Wallis)sweet shop in Litchfield Street amidst the smog and having come from North Wales where the air was clean and fresh wondering why the air there was so smoky. I know now that it was probably caused by the myriad pottery kilns belching smoke into the local atmosphere. Which brings me to the point of this E-mail. I have discovered from the 1901 census, (the free bit!! I really must check up the full information and not be so penny pinching!) that my grandmother Ellen Wallis from Burslem was a Potter's Gilder. Am I right in thinking that her job involved putting the gold decoration around various types of pottery or china? Secondly, as she lived in Burslem is there any way that I could find out which pottery company she may have worked for or is that a very tall order? Kind regards Leon Knapper
Dear Leon, Unless you're very lucky, you won't be able to find which pottery Ellen Wallis worked for - there have been so many over the years, and many of them lasted a very short time before going bankrupt or being taken over. You are right about her job, though, and a very skilled job it is, as are many in the pottery industry. You should pay another visit to the Potteries - you would be very pleasantly surprised with how clean the air is nowadays! Hope this helps. Graham -----Original Message----- From: L K Knapper [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: 26 April 2003 09:16 To: [email protected] Subject: [Pots] ELLEN KNAPPER nee WALLIS Potter's Gilder Hi Listers, Though my forebears were born and brought up in the Potteries, sadly I have to confess to little knowledge of the area. I can remember only one visit as a child to my father's auntie Louis's ( porbably Lucy Ann Wallis)sweet shop in Litchfield Street amidst the smog and having come from North Wales where the air was clean and fresh wondering why the air there was so smoky. I know now that it was probably caused by the myriad pottery kilns belching smoke into the local atmosphere. Which brings me to the point of this E-mail. I have discovered from the 1901 census, (the free bit!! I really must check up the full information and not be so penny pinching!) that my grandmother Ellen Wallis from Burslem was a Potter's Gilder. Am I right in thinking that her job involved putting the gold decoration around various types of pottery or china? Secondly, as she lived in Burslem is there any way that I could find out which pottery company she may have worked for or is that a very tall order? Kind regards Leon Knapper ==== ENG-STS-THE-POTTERIES Mailing List ==== The List for the Pottery Towns of the Ancient County of Staffordshire --- Incoming mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.471 / Virus Database: 269 - Release Date: 10/04/03 --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.471 / Virus Database: 269 - Release Date: 10/04/03