Josiah Wedgwood Trivia Quiz

Answer: Thomas and Mary

Thomas Wedgwood III was an English potter and the father of Josiah Wedgwood. He was master potter of the Churchyard Work, Burslem. Thomas married Mary Stringer and they had 12 children (three died in infancy). Josiah was their 12th child.

Answer: Smallpox

In 1742 Josiah fell victim to the Smallpox epidemic that came to Burslem. He was bed-ridden with this illness and while he was recuperating he read avidly to improve his education. He was left with a permanently weakened right knee (which was later amputated). This meant he was unable to operate the foot pedal of the potters wheel. He learned other pottery skills like modelling.

Answer: Sarah Wedgwood

On 25 January 1764 Josiah Wedgwood married Sarah Wedgwood. She was a distant relative with a substantial dowry, said to have been £4000. It was a love match and there is a lot of evidence that it was a happy marriage.

Martha Jefferson - (1748 - 1782) Wife of Thomas Jefferson
Harriet Beecher Stowe - (1811 - 1896) Author of "Uncle Tom's Cabin"
Florence Nightingale - (1820 - 1910) Nurse. The founder of modern nursing.

Answer: Charles Darwin

Susannah Wedgwood, Josiah's oldest daughter, married Robert Darwin. Charles Darwin (Author of "The Origin of the Species") was their 5th child.

Lord Byron - Romantic Poet
Sir Joseph Banks - Botanist
Captain James Cook - Explorer

Answer: 1759

Josiah Wedgwood dreamed of having his own business. His chance came when two relatives, Thomas and John Wedgwood agreed to lease the Ivy House Works in Burslem to him. On May 1st, 1759, the Wedgwood company was born.

Answer: Jasperware

Jasperware was the product of years of painstaking experiments. It was in 1772 that Josiah Wedgwood started his quest for the new ceramic material and not until November 1774 that he made his first bas-relief figures. Its name derives from the fact that it resembles the natural stone jasper in its hardness.

Answer: The Portland Vase

It has become synonymous with beauty, craftsmanship and innovation for almost 250 years.

Answer: Barberini Vase

The Barberini is a Roman vase of dark blue glass, decorated with white figures, the finest surviving Roman example of cameo glass. It was excavated from a tomb outside Rome in the early 17th century. The most accurate reproduction was made by Josiah Wedgwood, who, in 1790, copied it in jasperware with white figures in relief.

It was named the Portland Vase and is the Wedgwood companies logo.

Answer: Catherine II, Empress of Russia

The popular name 'Frog' Service comes from the green frog crest that appeared on every piece. The frog was chosen to represent the new palace being built by Catherine II when the service was first commissioned; the site of the palace was Kekerekeksinensky or 'La Grenouillère' (the frog marsh) near Petrodvorets.

Answer: Pyrometer

It is used to measure the shrinkage of clay during firing, indicating temperatures and heat within the bottle oven. Before Josiah Wedgwood invented the Pyrometer, the only way the temperature inside the ovens could be judged was by carefully watching the colour of the flames and by the skill and experience of the kiln men.

The Pyrometer took all the guesswork out of determining the heat of the kilns.