In 1871 Severn House was occupied by Arthur Maw, who was aged 36 at the time, having been born in 1835. He was listed on the census as an encaustic tile manufacturer, employing some 180 men and women at their Ironbridge state of the art factory. Arthur’s father John Hornby Maw, was a surgical instrument manufacturer who made his fortune by the invention of the baby’s feeding bottle.
Arthur Maw was regarded as an authority on encaustic tiles, this being illustrated by his contribution of an article on encaustic tile manufacture for the ninth edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica published in 1879.
Prestigious orders came to Maws as a result of participation in international exhibitions such as the Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition of 1876, the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1878 and 1889 and the Chicago Exhibition of 1893. In 1867 Maws were the first company to reproduce the celebrated transparent celest or turquoise blue of the ancient Chinese enamels. For the Paris exhibition of 1878 they produced an important novelty the “rediscovered” lustre-wares. This was to become an important part of their production and many of the vases produced by the company bore this form of decoration.
The Maws exhibit for the 1893 World Fair in Chicago was 38ft long by 15ft wide and 20ft high the shafts of the columns being 12ft high and was divided by screens into a bathroom, part of a church chancel an area showing decoration suitable for public buildings and a display area for pots and vases, each of which was tiled and decorated with Maws products
Arthur Maw’s brother George lived in nearby Benthall Hall and was renowned for his knowledge about the crocus flower. He travelled all over the world and brought back samples. He also used to write letters to Charles Darwin about his theories on evolution.
At the height of the tile boom the company was producing over twenty million tiles and other items per year, in 9,000 different designs and supplying countries all over the world. To help sell this phenomenal quantity of ceramic ware the company used lavishly printed catalogues which showed the total range of their products the majority of which were available in different colours to order.
More history about Severn House and it’s delightful setting within the Ironbridge Gorge can be found on the following link
Ref https://www.thevalleyhotel.co.uk/hotel-information/our-history
