Richard Dee, Potter of Lambeth died 1593

page written by Peter Tipton 8 Sep 2006, revised 19 Sep 2006

A London potter with a Farnborough pottery?

Richard Dee was a working potter living and working in Lambeth at the end of the 1500s. He had a stock of clay in his house. He also owned 12 acres of copyhold land in Farnborough which was occupied by John Hampton. Since Richard Dee bequeathed one of his potter's wheels and tenne of my bordes to John Hampton it is apparent that the latter was also a working potter, but in Farnborough. The baptism of at least one of John Hampton's children is recorded in Farnborough: his son Richard in 1601. Furthermore John Hampton is mentioned in Richard Thayer's will (1625) I give to Steven Howell, Richard Edmonds and John Hampton my neighboures all such moneyes as they do owe unto me.

Selling Border Ware in London?

It therefore seems that Richard Dee controlled production at two potteries with different types of complementary output. His will is remarkable in having a list of debtors appended to it. The largest debtor is a Mr Straingman of the Temple for potts he had of me. Dee was also delivering clay and bricks to the 'tower'. The significance here is that Dee was selling pottery directly to substantial end-users -- probably mostly institutions. Who was Mr Smith? He must have been well-known to need little further description. It therefore appears that some marketing of Border Ware was being conducted, and probably controlled, via a pottery business in Lambeth.

Richard Dee's will shines some light on how the pottery business was organised at a crucial stage in its development. Research into other wills of other London potters may reveal more, on the other hand Richard Dee's will may just have been a very lucky hit. So far (19 Sep 2006) I have found no other London potters with any Blackwater Valley connections. I have only looked at PCC wills.

Another intriguing question is why Richard Dee was delivering clay and bricks to the Tower of London -- if that is meant by the 'tower'. Bricks can easily be explained but there is a will of William Foxley, potter of of Her Majesty's Minte tower of London dated 15 Jun 1587. Foxley is also a local name but I am not aware of it surviving here as late as this, and his will does not reveal any Blackwater Valley connections.

Blackwater Valley connections

Richard Dee was also owed money by John Gunner of Cove right in the Border Ware production area. This is most probably the John Gunner whose will is dated 1620 (HRO 1620A/033). A John Gunner, probably the same man, baptised children in Farnborough between 1585 and 1592. Furthermore debtor John Gunner may have been related to Robert Gunner, a potter of Frimley who died in 1637. Dee acknowledged two creditors. I don't understand the significance of the first creditor, but it may be that there was some sort of barter system operating to which he owed a pound. Dee's other creditor has a surname, Rogers, found amongst the Border Ware potters. Since Dee was selling clay, it may be that he also controlled the raw materials for some of the other potters.

I have looked for wills of the two John Nashe mentioned, without success. The younger Nashe is the likely inheritor of the Lambeth pottery. The correct surname may be Naish since I have found a John Naish in the Yateley muster roll of 1625 fielding Richard Gunner as his Corselet. This Richard Gunner is almost certainly the brother of Robert Gunner the potter of Frimley.

Dee's friend Henry Creswell also leads us to a local family. Richard Creswell headed the list of halymote tenants of Richard Allen who had the largest copyhold estate in Yateley in 1567. Since Yateley's parish registers do not start until 1636, it is only possible to find family connections by searching wills.

The Lambeth potter found in Farnborough?

Since first preparing this page I have discovered that Richard Dee was most probably living and working as a potter in the Blackwater Valley in 1571. The lay subsidy for Cove in 1571 lists Richard Dye with goods assessed as worth £3. Furthermore the Farnborough parish registers record the burial of Margaret Dye widow on 6 Dec 1599. Margaret was tha name of the Lambeth potter's wife and Dye is a frequent alternative spelling for Dee. This probable distribution link via Richard Dee, from the production sites in the Blackwater Valley, to the Inns of Court is remarkable in the significance of its timing.

You can read a transcrition of Richard Dee's will by clicking

WillDeeRichard1593