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Branksome China was founded in 1945 by Ernest Baggaley in the Branksome area of Bournemouth, Dorset, England. Ernest was born in 1904, in Longton, Stoke, at the heart of the potteries. The fourth of seven children, his father Jabez was works manager at AB Jones & Son, Grafton China Works and his mother, Kitty, was a paintress. Like so many in the potteries he followed the path of generations of his family and entered work in the manufacture of ceramics.
His family's association with bone china meant that he was an everyday user of a commodity more usually reserved for special occasions. In his own words " I acquired at a very early age, a snobbish contumely for any wares not qualified by translucency as china. Later, during training, I learnt the techniques of earthenware manufacture on a large scale, and became a little sceptical of the "Mystique" that surrounded the manufacture of bone china. I learned about continental porcelain and this seemed to be more bug-ridden than bone china. Although one was compelled to acknowledge the vast superiority of both over the porous bodied earthenware, no matter how well made." His desire to "be a good china-man, to create and make my own style, using my own technique" was born at this time. After training at Stoke Technical College and holding various production and works managerial appointments in Stoke-on-Trent he moved South to Poole in 1937, where he stayed for the duration of the war, his job producing utility ware being considered vital . Bought in to Poole Pottery by John Adams as works manager, his technical ability was most evident in his standardising of bodies and glazes. He designed and modelled Poole's highly regarded utility ware, using the existing Streamline saucer but rethinking and remodelling the remaining domestic range. This was so sought after at the time of production that the final firing in each batch was taken to the showroom still hot and sold immediately. Perhaps his most lasting development at Poole was the vellum, semi-matt glaze finish which was used successfully on numerous Poole Pottery tableware designs in a variety of two tone couplings. After the second world war this style of painted colours was given the range name Twintone. In 1945 Ernest Baggaley left Poole with the aim of fulfilling his ambition to produce his own, unique ware. His first open flame, gas fired kiln was built in the open air, protected from the worst of the weather by a tarpaulin. Here he experimented with both recipes for the body and the temperature to which it would need to be fired to achieve his dream of a very durable yet fine and translucent porcelain. With very little in the way of materials, machinery or money and the Japanese war not yet over it was a very ambitious venture, but one that Ernest, with his strongly held ambition, was determined to pursue.
He fully realised the folly of trying to compete with the large established pottery firms, centralised in the Midlands with large reserves of skilled workers and fuel on the doorstep - remembering the old potters maxim "four tons of coal are needed to fire one ton of pottery" and while he was using gas, at this time it was still considerably cheaper commercially in Stoke than in Bournemouth. Knowing that the higher the first, biscuit, firing the harder and less porous the finished ware, this is what he aimed for. However this meant manufacturing difficulties were greater and costs rose steeply with increasing firing temperatures. His skill as a technician was invaluable here as he overcame difficulties in manufacture and formulated glazes that were compatible with the ware he was producing, and that should never craze. He realised that what he produced would have to be distinctive in appearance and quality to be desirable to a discriminating and exclusive market, to justify the higher costs of production. It was becoming increasingly obvious to Ernest that to fully succeed he was going to need more capital. His self designed, handmade kiln and secondhand blunger were just sufficient to make and fire small quantities of clay from the raw materials. Here luck intervened. A local electrical appliance manufacture who had been on Admiralty and ministry work during the war had turned to the peace-time manufacture of electric fires. Having committed himself too far to turn back he discovered that the ceramic bars necessary to complete the fires were virtually unobtainable. He approached Ernest who came up with a design that could be produced using locally available materials and made by the slip casting method, rather than the more usual method of die stamping from specially prepared refractory bodies. After a few experiments he produced an article that could be made fairly easily with the tools at his disposal and that met the exacting requirements of an electric fire. Many thousands of these firebars were made and sold and the proceeds were sufficient to enable more equipment to be purchased and larger kilns to be built. Meantime experiments had been steadily going on to produce the new china, with considerable success, but not without many failures and disappointments. The temptation to give up and make soft, easily fired earthenware was, at times, great. The post war public were eagerly buying coloured tableware with little concern about quality as long as it was brightly coloured. However a government working party, investigating the pottery industry at the time declared that what the industry badly needed was a vitreous (non-porous) translucent or semi-translucent type of china made by traditional English methods and with materials found largely in this country. This was precisely what Ernest was attempting and after a slow and at times painful process he finally achieved it, although it was only realized by use of materials unobtainable in the British Isles, however these were kept to a minimum. The china that he produced, and is still in production today, will never be easy to make so is unlikely ever to be produced in enormous quantities. It is much harder than earthenware or bone china and is made in a much thinner section, it is therefore very light in weight and extremely tough. Its resistance to thermal shock is truly amazing and water can be boiled in it quite readily without cracking. It is a felspathic china containing no animal bone or other soft flux. It is completely non porous and its translucency and non porosity is obtained by the careful choice and use of natural mineral felspathic rocks finely ground and a special firing treatment at a high temperature of 1350 degrees C.
By 1948 Branksome Ceramics, as Ernest's new company was known, employed 70 mainly local people, eg. Phyllis Haigh, a clergyman's daughter, once an office worker, ran the casting section. George Saunders, previously a sheet metal worker was in charge of dispatch and export. Several members of staff that he'd worked with at Poole Pottery also came to work with him, Miss Gertrude Gilham, who was described as "one of the most experienced throwers in the industry" in the Pottery Gazette & Glass Trade Review 1955, amongst them. Another notable member of the staff was Ernest's brother Bert, a wonderful modeller who modelled both animal and figure studies designed by Ernest, and later went on to become a chief modeller for Poole. In 2 years, with a new plant and a staff of enthusiastic local people, ceramics were produced which were of such high quality that Queen Mary bought some for her personal use and the, then, Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh had a morning tea set, and bought more for their friends. The china was also used on the Royal tour of New Zealand in 1954.
Having given Branksome Ceramics its first public showing at the British Industries Fair of 1947, they went on to be the first pottery ever to be televised, and were held up as an example to the nation in the governments' "More Production" propaganda drive. Like all potteries at the time, they could only sell a fixed quota of their product on the home market, where the demand was considerable, as evidenced by the British Industrial Review 1948. "A leading London store, Liberty & Co Ltd of Regent Street, recently displayed the company's tableware in their main window. The items on show included tea, coffee and breakfast sets. The display produced such immediate results that within two hours the whole consignment was cleared - including the display itself - and it was necessary to redress the window with other goods." This demand was also reflected abroad and large quantities were exported. By 1955, to accommodate the demand, firing was accomplished in twin biscuit and twin glost ovens, each 22 feet long and having an average capacity of 10,000 pieces operating on a 36 hour cycle for biscuit and 5,000 pieces operating on a 20 hour cycle for glost. All the kiln furniture was made and fired on the premises, all colours ground from the raw materials and everything made to the recipes that Ernest had, and continued, to develop. Full advantage was taken of their position in a popular holiday resort with a beautiful tea room and displays of pots being hand thrown by Gertrude Gilham taking place in an area of the showroom in the summer months.
Ernest Baggaley had achieved his dream but as he later said "Oh I made the special body alright, I developed special techniques, literally hundreds of letters over the years have testified to the durability and pleasure in use that Branksome China gives. But I had mounted a tiger - I dare not stop it to dismount - Branksome china became a commercial project with over 1,000 trade accounts in Britain alone. We had overseas agents, representatives, accountants, a large office staff, managers, efficiency experts - the lot. To me it became a nightmare." Disaster struck in 1957, as Ernest said at the time " In the past two years an ill timed enlargement programme was carried out involving a large sum of money, which was obtained from the firm's bank against a debenture on the whole of the firm's assets, including factory premises. This was not substantiated and caused the bank to call in the official receiver who took possession, with the result that this enterprising concern has now been compelled to close." When the business was flourishing he had evolved a system whereby customers could purchase part of a tea set, for example, and then buy the remaining pieces at later stages. It distressed him to think of the predicament of these loyal customers. He managed to buy the remaining stocks etc. from the official receiver and rent premises in Westbourne, Bournemouth and start again as E. Baggaley Ltd., trading as Branksome China. He continued to design new wares and to supply existing customers as well as attracting new.
The move to Westbourne was freeing for Ernest, no longer feeling the constraints of, and responsibilities to partners and financial backers, he felt more able to refuse the demands of commercial outlets to constantly redesign his wares. Orders from shops gradually became a smaller part of the business and they relied more on sales from the factory and their own outlet in the centre of Bournemouth.
In 1966 at the age of 62 Ernest finally "dismounted his tiger" and moved production to a former workhouse and Regal cinema in Fordingbridge, on the edge of the New Forest. With a small staff, he was finally doing what he'd always dreamt of, producing porcelain of the highest quality for discerning customers who came to the factory, or shop, specifically to buy his wares. In the early 80's, persuaded by his wife Elaine, he offered visitors a tour of the factory where they could see the china being hand made by his skilled staff, using traditional methods. Many of these visitors still come back today and take the factory tour, enjoying Elaine's lively and informative description of the processes of manufacture. Ernest continued to design, in the former projection room that he had made his studio, until his death in 1987 at the age of 83, finding great pleasure in his customers enjoyment and appreciation of his china. We have clear and fond memories of him around the factory, modelling, creating and overseeing all that happened, active till the end, he was in the process of building a new gas kiln the year he died.
For the next twenty years the factory was run by his wife Elaine, their son Jonathan and daughter Priscilla. With a small, highly skilled and dedicated team of employees Ernest's beautiful designs are still produced to his recipes and continue to delight many customers worldwide. Orders are still received from people who bought the china in the 50's and from others who've come across pieces in antiques shops. Branksome China has become very collectable and early pieces are much sort after. It is all the more difficult to find because customers rarely part with it once they have used it and sets are passed down through families. Ernest's
centenary was celebrated in 2004 by reintroducing some of the early figure
studies in very limited, numbered editions, from the original masters. Dog
studies that were designed by Ernest and modelled by his brother Bert in the
first factory were also brought back into the range. Jonathan's wife Jo
joined the team, freeing Jonathan to discover his own talent as both a
designer and modeler, his first new model, a female torso has recently
entered production and he is working in the "projection room"
studio to create both other models and new tableware. In October 2007, husband and wife team Philip and Charlie Johnson acquired the business, so ensuring that the Branksome China name will continue. (See more details in News.) It is clear that Ernest Baggaley deserves to be more widely recognised, both as the fair, generous and caring man and the inspired, dedicated and talented potter that he undoubtedly was and that his many thousands of customers know him to be. We hope that in some small way this history might be part of that process.
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