oval plate

Large white oval plate from the 'Captain's table'.Thick dark blue band on outer rim of plate sandwiched by two lines of thin gold edging. Decorated with Willis house flag at top of plate (blue background, white diamond, red cross) and name "Cutty Sark" written underneath in a banner/ribbon. Underside of plate is manufacturers stamp with the words Maddock in a ribbon/banner with a 'lion passant' walking with the right paw raised. John Maddock & sons of Burslem, Staffordshire are the manufacturers of the plate. T. Hayward & Co Manchester, England is written underneath the makers mark, this is the retailer. "Chinalene" is possibly a trade name or type of ceramic body. Marked with the words 'G' followed by a crown symbol 'VI' with 'II' underneath the crown and 'C' underneath 'II'. This denotes it was made during the reign of George VI with the II representing which year of the monarchs reign it was made, making the plate date from 1938. (Note that this is 2 of 2 pieces from the set of 8 items of crockery that has the monarchs mark on back of plate).

China on-board ships dates from the 19th century to the present day. Shipping lines would have their own crockery sets made with the ships house flag or logo. Crockery had to be strong and hard-wearing to survive its life at sea, with most being made of ironstone china (heavy off white earthenware) with 1st class passengers using more expensive bone china. Most designs were not made for individual companies but re-used for other lines. Decoration usually consisted of a coloured band running around the rim with blue being the most popular colour of choice (red and green were also used). As well as passenger liners, cargo and merchant vessels would also have their own crockery, mostly decorated in blue with the ship or company name/ house flag surrounded by a garter seal. Retailers of china and glassware like those of T. Hayward also held supplies back, so any requirement for new crockery for a voyage could be easily replenished. A number of potteries manufactured the china, John Maddock and sons for example, as well as supplying the Cutty Sark china, also supplied the White Star Line, Red Star Line and Furness Lines to name but a few, with a large majority of the manufacturers coming from the Stoke-on-Trent potteries.