Henry Doulton
Henry Doulton lived at Woodlands, a large house with stables and
outbuildings, from the 1860s until his death in 1897. Woodlands was one of four large detached villas which stood where
Clairview Road stands today. If you drew a line down the middle of the roadway
in Parklands Road to the middle of the roadway in Woodnook Road and then
extended it down to Nimrod Road that is the extent of Woodlands house and
grounds. At the front the house extended out to Furzedown Road; the grass area
in Clairview Road would have been the carriage drive.
In 1862 Henry Doulton was instrumental in leading a pressure group to
ensure the preservation of the Common for the people of
Furzedown. He was the owner of the Doulton pottery in Lambeth
which was well known for making sanitary ware – such as toilets
and washbasins – as well as more ornamental pottery.
At the South Kensington Exhibition of 1871 Henry exhibited a quantity of
ornamental and artistic pottery, some of which was bought by Queen Victoria. In
1877 he opened a new pottery in Burslem in Staffordshire
which employed some of the best artists of the day, both male and
female. At this time there were not many openings for talented women; Doulton
was a forward-thinking employer.
He was knighted in 1887.
His pottery is still well-known today as Royal
Doulton, and there is a factory in the Potteries area of Staffordshire.