Boulton's Birds - Part One

The SWALLOW pattern
and its Border
Attributed to Enoch Boulton

This is the first in a series of sixteen articles on bird patterns introduced by Enoch Boulton during his tenure as designer and decorating manager at the Carlton Works from 1921/22 to 1930.

As with the previous series of articles on Horace Wain's Chinoiserie patterns, Barbara Anne Lee's work on associated borders is featured.

Below is an image of a Carlton Ware footed rectangular floating flower bowl with the SWALLOW pattern printed in black. The modern and colourful SWALLOW BORDER decorates its rim.

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Whodunit?

I found it difficult to decide who designed Carlton Ware’s SWALLOW pattern. I estimate that it was introduced between 1921 and 1922, around the time that Horace Wain left the Carlton Works and when Enoch Boulton succeeded him as decorating manager and designer. So, was it by Wain or was it by Boulton?

For two reasons, I believe it was by Enoch Boulton.

Firstly, it is similar to one of the simpler bird patterns by Grimwades, Boulton’s former employer, in use before and after WW1 (Keith Larson*). When moving to a new pottery, it was not uncommon for designers to introduce similar patterns to those used by their previous employer, especially if they were popular. Wain did so before and after his time at the Carlton Works, as did Boulton when he left Carlton Ware for Fieldings, makers of Crown Devon, in 1930.

Secondly, Carlton Ware's SWALLOW is quite unlike Wain’s work, especially with its unconventional border. Though, of course, he could have copied Grimwades' popular SWALLOWS pattern, shown on the right.

Wain was innovative with decorating techniques, but his designs, though skillfully executed, were traditional and so lacked originality; his successors were to have it in abundance.

In total, Carlton Ware's pattern records list an astonishing thirty-two variants. I show three below.

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SWALLOW BORDER

Nineteen variants of SWALLOW BORDER were listed in Carlton Ware's pattern records. Some were used as coffee ware decorations for the AMORY shape, with its can-shaped coffee cups.

Barb has redrawn some of the SWALLOW BORDER decorations for us below. The border was printed in black, or less often, in gold. Notice that the striped background is sometimes filled in with black and that the row of dots is not always present.

© Barbara Anne Lee 2024.

© Barbara Anne Lee 2024.

© Barbara Anne Lee 2024.

View more variants of SWALLOW BORDER
that Barb has created for us. This will open in a new page/window.

V1b January 2025
If more accurate information comes to light I will update this page.

Barb would like to thank the members of our companion Facebook Group who supplied good quality images to help her replicate the borders above.

* Between 2018 and 2020, I exchanged information on Grimwades with Keith Larson from Massachusetts, in the USA. Keith had carried out extensive research on wares made by this competitor of Carlton Ware, also located in Stoke and a short distance from the Carlton Works. In the late 1980s, I interviewed Enoch Boulton’s second wife, Freda Boulton, who mentioned that she thought her husband had worked at Grimwades before he moved to Carlton Ware. Keith was able to verify this after finding a Grimwades catalogue from 1920 that mentioned Boulton as “an assistant to the Art Director,” thus confirming Freda’s recollection.

For 35 years, Keith worked as an editor at Harvard Business School. Unfortunately, in 2021, he died unexpectedly from complications of routine heart surgery—a great loss to his family and the history of Grimwades, makers of Royal Winton, Atlas China, and Rubian Art Pottery.