Josiah Spode I: Origins

On March 25th, 1733, Josiah and Ellen Spode christened their son Josiah at St. Peter ad Vincula, the parish church of Stoke-upon-Trent.  His early life  is shrouded in mystery. Almost nothing is known except for two small facts -- that he was born in 1733,  and that he  was orphaned at the age of six. Josiah’s baptismal record shows the family living in Lane Delph, an area near to Stoke-upon-Trent.  In 1739, along with his mother Ellen, and his three older sisters,  Josiah Spode saw his father buried in a pauper's grave.

Presumably Josiah continued to live with his mother after his father's death. Ellen Spode later moved to Lower Lane, where she remained until her death in 1761.  Lower Lane was a district on the road that ran east from Stoke-upon-Trent through Fenton to Longton.  It was very close to the pot works and lands acquired by Thomas Whieldon in the late 1740s where, at age sixteen, Josiah Spode went to work in 1749.

detail from an engraved portrait of
Josiah Spode I

detail from an engraved portrait of
Thomas Whieldon 1717-1795