A Worcester porcelain celebration.(Current and coming)

In 1751 the medical doctor John Wall, one of England's earliest and most persuasive venture capitalists, enlisted the financial backing of thirteen gentlemen, among them a printer, a glover, a merchant, and a goldsmith, successfully raising [pounds sterling]4,500 to finance a venture called the Worcester Tonquin Manufacture. Wall and his colleague William Davis, a chemist, had earlier attempted to make porcelain similar to that made in China. Now, with the additional funding, they tried again. However, their products were not commercially successful, so in February 1752 Richard Holdship, one of the partners in what was by then called the Worcester Porcelain Company, negotiated the purchase of the Bristol porcelain factory. This was a brilliant move that not only eliminated a serious competitor but more importantly gave Worcester access to Bristol's formulas. Potters at Bristol used steatite or soapstone--the ingredient that gives Worcester porcelain durability and enables it to hold hot liquids without cracking. Thus was born one of Britain's most successful enterprises whose products have attracted consumers and collectors ever since.

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