The close of the American war, 1865, saw the rise of another potting firm destined to grow to importance in the American trade. This was the firm of James and George Meakin. They were the sons of James Meakin, who had been a small master-potter in Hanley, and they produced an uniform hard white earthenware called “granite”—serviceable, plain and cheap. James Meakin, a man of great business capacity, financed and gradually came to control a large proportion of the American buyers, and all through the seventies this firm almost monopolized the trade of the United States in cheap earthenware. James Meakin bought Darlaston Hall, and died in 1885. His “Eagle Works” at Hanley are now carried on by his sons Kenneth and Bernard and by his nephew George Meakin of Cresswell Hall. Alfred Meakin started a similar manufacture at the Victoria and Albert Works in Tunstall in 1874, now taken over by Johnson Bros. These Johnsons, too, nephews of James Meakin, began soon after 1880 to rival the Eagle Works in the production of “granite” and plain printed ware. They have now no less than five factories in Hanley, Tunstall and Burslem specially equipped for this trade. The fourth of the firms known as “The Big American Four” (now reduced to three) is that of W. H. Grindley, who began in 1887 to make “granite” at Wood and Challenor’s old Woodland Works in Tunstall. His new factory at Brownhills is said to afford the best example of up-to-date economical manufacture, and stands out in striking contrast to most of the older “artistic” works. Another factory which owes its reputation to strict specialization and the latest economical machinery is that of Samuel Gibson, in the Moorland Road, at Burslem. Here five hundred men and girls make tea-pots for the world—only tea-pots—in jet and brown and rockingham. James Meakin, Master Potter of Hanley, d. 1855. | +-Sarah. = Robert Johnson d. _c._ 1910 | | | +-Henry Johnson. } | | } | +-Robert Johnson. } Master Potters of Hanley—“Johnson Bros.” | | } | +-Fred. Johnson. } | +-James Meakin of Darlaston, Master Potter of the Eagle Works. | | (1833-1885) = Emily, dᵃ of Ed. J. Ridgway, Master Potter of the | | Bedford Works, Hanley. | | | +-Kenneth Meakin, Master Potter. | | | +-Bernard Meakin of the Eagle Works. | +-George Meakin, Master Potter of the Eagle Works. d. 1891 | | | +-George Elliot Meakin, Master Potter of the Eagle Works. b. _c._ | 1865 | +-William Meakin, Master Potter of the Eagle Works, Hanley. d. 1889 | | | +-Susan = Edward Akroyd Ridgway, Master Potter of Bedford Works, | Hanley. | +-Charles Meakin, Master Potter of Joiners Square. | +-Alfred Meakin, Master Potter of the Victoria and Albert Works, | Tunstall. d. 1904 | +-[symbol indicating ‘had issue’]