Another important tile factory is that of T. & R. Boote in Burslem. This firm was founded in 1842 by Thomas Latham Boote and Richard Boote at the “Central Pottery” in Burslem. About 1850 they bought several old pot-banks, put up their present “Waterloo Potteries” in Waterloo Road, and started to make tiles. Mr T. L. Boote retired in 1879, Mr. R. Boote died in 1891, and the works are now carried on by the sons of the former, Richard L. and Charles E. Boote.[198] The British manufacture of tiles is not so entirely localized in North Staffordshire as is that of china and earthenware, but 6 out of the 17 largest English firms have their works here. Such are, beside those already mentioned, G. Woolliscroft and Sons and the Porcelain Tile Co., both of Hanley, Henry Richards Tile Co., of Tunstall, and the Malkin Tile Co. of Burslem.[199] CHAPTER XII. MODERN MEN AND METHODS. But the manufacture of tiles, though economically the most important part of Minton’s work, ought not to distract attention from that great artistic development of his school, which gave us from 1855-1885 the halcyon days of the English china trade. With this period the names of Minton, Ridgway, Brown Westhead and Brownfield are chiefly associated, while such old firms as Copelands and Wedgwoods acquired fresh lustre. John Ridgway of Cauldon Place is reputed to have produced the best china at the 1851 exhibition, and when he died in 1860 the Cauldon Place Works were bought by Messrs T. C. Brown Westhead, Moore and Co., who have continued to this day to produce the china for which Cauldon Place has always been renowned. William Ridgway, the brother of John, had half a dozen factories in Hanley—George Taylor’s, Elijah Mayer’s, Toft and May’s, D. Wilson’s, Hicks’, Meigh and Johnson’s, besides the old Bell Works, and made both earthenware and china.[200] His son Edward John Ridgway built their present Bedford Works in Hanley, where this family still produce china, as well as “Granite” and printed ware for the American trade. Nor must the name of William Brownfield of Cobridge be omitted from any account of the prosperous days of the china trade. This firm, which has now closed down, made trial recently of a profit-sharing scheme, which deserved well of the community. Unfortunately it fell upon the bad times near the end of the last century and was discontinued.