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Copeland, William Taylor (1797–1868), pottery manufacturer, was born on 24 March 1797 at Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, the son of William Copeland (1765–1826), partner of the potter Josiah Spode II, and his wife, Mary (d. 1837), nee Fowler. He was brought up in the family home in Leyton, Essex, where he continued to reside for many years. On 29 April 1826 he married Sarah (1799–1860), daughter of John Yates, a potter. They had ten children, of whom a daughter and four sons, William Fowler Mountford (1828–1908), Edward Capper (1835–1875), Alfred James (1837–1921), and Richard Pirie (1841–1913), survived Copeland.

Copeland entered the Spode-Copeland business on 19 July 1824 and was taken into partnership when his father died. Following the death of Josiah Spode in 1827 he became sole owner of the London business, and in 1833, owner also of the pottery at Stoke-on-Trent. In that year he went into partnership with Thomas Garrett, manager of the Stoke pottery, the firm being known as Copeland and Garrett. This partnership was dissolved in 1847 and the firm then traded as W. T. Copeland, late Spode. In 1867 his sons joined him in partnership as W. T. Copeland & Sons.

Although he did not achieve the aesthetic eminence of Wedgwood, Copeland produced wares whose artistic quality raised the standard of ceramic manufacture. With the aid of his art director Thomas Battam (1810–1864), one of a family of ceramic artists, he gained worldwide renown. Copeland's artistic triumph came with the production of the refined statuary porcelain, or parian, introduced about 1842, and his reputation was further enhanced when this product was shown at international exhibitions. He employed eminent sculptors including John Gibson, whose Narcissus was commissioned by the Art Union Magazine in 1846. 1859 saw the appointment of the remarkable flower painter Charles Hurten. In 1866 Copeland was appointed china and glass manufacturer to the prince of Wales.

Copeland was active in the promotion of machinery. His attempt in 1847 to introduce a mechanized ‘Jolley’ (a device to shape the interior of cups and deep bowls) was thwarted, but he was the first to install the newly patented Needham and Kite filter press in 1856. Copeland was the only manufacturer willing to undertake the exacting commission to tile the cupola of the Imperial Library, Paris, which opened in 1868. He also supported the formation of the schools of design in London and Stoke, the latter opening in 1847.

Copeland was also active in local and national politics. He was elected alderman for Bishopsgate ward in 1828 and immediately served as sheriff of London and Middlesex in 1828–9. In 1835 he was elected lord mayor, the third youngest man to hold that office. He was a member of the Goldsmiths' Company and its master in 1837–8. He was for seven years president of the royal hospitals of Bridewell and Bethlem; he was a member of the Irish Society, which managed the City's Irish estates, president of the Honourable Artillery Company, a director of the London and Birmingham Railway Company, and a major investor in Fenton Park colliery. He was widely recognized as a generous man, supportive of charitable institutions, and upright in his dealings.

Copeland contested the borough of Coleraine in 1831 and 1833 as a Liberal and was seated on petition in both years. He retained the seat until the general election of 1837 when he joined the Conservatives and was returned for Stoke-on-Trent. He was defeated in 1852 but held the seat once more from 1857 to 1865. He was never an active debater in the house.

A keen sportsman, Copeland kept a stud of racehorses at his country residence, Russell Farm, Watford, Hertfordshire. He had another house at Cliffe Bank, Stoke, but spent much of his time in London. His health failed in the early months of 1868, and although he recovered enough for his doctors to consider him out of danger, he suffered a relapse. He died at Russell Farm on 12 April 1868, and was buried in the new cemetery in Watford six days later.

R. E. Graves, rev. Helen L. Phillips
Sources

Keele University, Spode-Copeland Archive · P. A. Halfpenny, ed., Spode-Copeland, 1733–1983: potters to the royal family since 1806 (1983) [exhibition catalogue, City Museum and Art Gallery, Stoke-on-Trent, 1983] · R. Copeland, Spode and Copeland marks (1993) · R. S. C. Copeland and V. Wilkinson, The Copeland china collection (1989) · Art Journal, 30 (1868), 158 · City Press (18 April 1868), 5c · Staffordshire Advertiser (6 May 1826) · priv. coll., Alan Townsend archive and research · Evening Sentinel (30 Dec 1871), 4 · D. Stuart, ed., People of the potteries: a dictionary of local biography (1985) · L. Whiter, Spode (1970) · A. B. Beaven, ed., The aldermen of the City of London, temp. Henry III–[1912], 2 vols. (1908–13)
Archives

Keele University, Spode-Copeland Archive


Likenesses

Mrs C. Pearson, oils, 1835, probably Spode · J. F. Herring, portrait, 1842 (Scene on Cannock Chase) ·

MS Vision of the Seas docked at Liverpool's cruise liner terminal on a day visit to Liverpool. This is the third cruise to visit the city this cruise season and the first to have some, if only some, nice weather!

MS Vision of the Seas is a Vision-class cruise ship for Royal Caribbean International, the last of her class. Her maiden voyage was on May 2, 1998, following which she sailed for a year in Europe before being moved to other routes. In summer the ship is based in Northern European ports like Oslo, Copenhagen or Stockholm to go on cruises to Norway, the Baltic Sea or the British Isles. During the fall season the ship sails in the Mediterranean from Venice or Istanbul and in winter the ship offers cruises in Brazil.

Tonnage: 78,491 gross tonnage
Length: 915 feet (279 m)
Beam: 105.6 ft (32.3m)
Decks: 11
Speed: 22 knots
Capacity: 2,435 passengers
Crew: 765 crew

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