Zachariah Boyle Ceramics

Manufacturer of earthenware at Hanley and Stoke C1823-50

Zachariah Boyle was born in Leeds, Yorkshire in 1783. He was a member of a large family, most of whom were engaged in the textile industry. By 1817 Zachariah was listed as an auctioneer, draper & glass dealer. By 1822 he had dropped the drapery side of the business and appears in alphabetical lists as an auctioneer & glass dealer and is listed under Earthenware Dealers in the trades sections
Eventually Zachariah Boyle decided to become a pottery manufacturer rather than a dealer. Despite having several potteries nearby in Leeds he moved to Staffordshire. By 1828 Zachariah Boyle & Son is listed at an earthenware pottery in Keeling’s Lane, Hanley, Staffordshire, most likely at the pottery of the recently bankrupt partnership of William Willat and William Marsh. He must have been there a very short time for the factory was offered to sale or to let in September 1828 and was still available in 1830.
Meanwhile in 1828 Boyle took over the lease of part of the Big Works in Church Street, Stoke-upon-Trent, a large earthenware pottery with eight ovens, formerly operated by Robert Hamilton. Zachariah Boyle & Son and the family successors occupied this factory for about 20 years. The firm made a wide range of wares apparently aimed for the mass middle-class market including blue printed earthenware, hand painted bone china, and colourful ironstone china.
John Boyle, he eldest son of Zachariah, left family pottery and joined Herbert Minton in 1836 following the death of Herbert’s father Thomas Minton. The Minton & Boyle partnership continued until 1845 when John died.
Zachariah Boyle died in 1841, the flint mill was auctioned in 1844 and by 1848 the Big Works was advertised to let. These sales may have been as a consequence of Zachariah’s long and complicated will.
Zachariah’s fourth son, Samuel, briefly took over the Fenton Stone Works in 1848/9 after the bankruptcy of C.J. Mason, but his own bankruptcy followed in 1852 and the manufactory and flint mill was sold to E. Challinor.