About the author Jonathan Gray


Jonathan Gray studied economics at Swansea University, graduating in 1989. His passion for Horace Elliott started around that time, including his work in a lecture in the early 1990s. In 1993, Jonathan bought his first piece of Elliott’s work made at Ewenny – and about a decade later, bought a piece he made at Denby.


Horace Elliott – Artist in Pottery, 1851-1938 was part of the plan approved when Jonathan became a Research Fellow at Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales (2014-2023). This publication has “grown somewhat” as the research has developed and new lines of enquiry have been identified.

Jonathan is President of the English Ceramic Circle (Registered Charity #1097063) and an active member of other ceramic groups in the UK and overseas.  Jonathan writes and lectures on various aspects of the Welsh ceramics industry from 1764.

  • “It’s a tour de force… and something for all of us to treasure… It will be on the shelves of serious libraries for generations.”

    (RP)

Other work by the same author

Thomas Pardoe 1770-1823, Andrew Renton, Jonathan Gray and Charles Fountain, Nantgarw China Works Museum, 2023

The Cambrian Company, Swansea Pottery in London, 1806-1808 (self-published, Gomer Press, 2012)

Thomas Pardoe – 1770-1823 is available to purchase from Nantgarw China Works Museum


As Editor

Welsh Ceramics in Context Part 2, Royal Institution of South Wales (2005, City & County of Swansea)

Welsh Ceramics in Context Part 1, Royal Institution of South Wales (2003, City & County of Swansea)

Selected Papers

Horace Elliott (1851-1938) and his moulds, English Ceramic Circle Transactions, Volume 29, 2018, pages 129-146

Presented by Mrs Dillwyn – Swansea pottery and porcelain and the Museum of Practical Geology, English Ceramic Circle Transactions, Volume 28, 2017, pages 145-162

William Dillwyn’s visit to Swansea in 1806, Swansea History Journal Volume XXV, 2017, pages 114-121

Bitter-sweet: Josiah Wedgwood & William Dillwyn’s response to sugar and slavery in the eighteenth and nineteenth century, Wedgwood International Seminar, 2016, pages 71-78

Herbert Eccles: chemist, collector, connoisseur, English Ceramic Circle Transactions, Volume 22, 2011, pages 149-172

Ceramics and Slavery: An overview, English Ceramic Circle Transactions, Volume 20, Part 2, 2008, pages 327-338

An American and an American Trader in Wales: Fresh Insights into the Cambrian Pottery, Swansea 1789-1810. American Ceramic Circle Journal, Volume XIV, 2007, pages 77- 09

Cambrian or Cambria – Two different aspects of the Welsh Ceramic Industry, English Ceramic Circle Transactions, Volume 19, Part 3, 2007, pages 559-568

The Ridgways in Swansea, English Ceramic Circle Transactions, Volume 17 Part 3, 2001, pages 413-419