'Lord French' Toby Jug by Carruthers Gould for Wilkinson

• Toby Jugs / Character Mugs - Toby jugs are earthenware jugs depicting the full figure of a person, usually a man, in a three-cornered hat holding a jug, of beer and a pipe or glass. They were first made in the 1760s by Wood family of potters in Staffordshire and the design was copied by other potters in the area, and later elsewhere. They were said to be inspired by song and etching of Sir Toby Phillpot, a legendary 18th century Yorkshire drinker. The style became popularily used to depict other figures including Martha Gunn (the celebrated Brighton bathing woman), The Thin Man, The Drunken Parson, Prince Hal, The Night Watchman and many others. An enormously popular genre, toby jugs have continued to be made, sometimes in porcelain, often in miniature form. Many of the modem versions have been deliberately crazed to appear old. Character jugs have been produced by Royal Doulton since the 1930s: Ronald Reagan appeared in 1984, Sir Winston Churchill in 1940, and John Barleycorn, idiot yokel, was produced from 1934 to 1960. For purists, a jug depicting head-and-shoulders only a 'character mug'.
• Registered Design - During the period 1842-1883 the Patent Office issued a diamond mark along with the registration number when a design was registered.
  
  Besides indicating that the design had been registered, a diamond mark offered the buyer the reassurance of knowing an item was of British design. It assured the person registering the design a degree of protection from copying.
  
  The mark was created to identify the type of material used (known as the class), how many items were included, (sometimes known as bundles or packages), and the date of registration.
  
  On the diamond mark the year of registration is shown along with the month code. However, there are two ranges of year codes; 1842-1867 and 1868-1883. By looking at the design of the diamond mark you should be able to determine the correct year from the design of the diamond mark and the placing of the day number.
  
  Source and further information: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/records/research-guides/reg-design-diamond.htm

This item has been included into following indexes:

• Wilkinson, Arthur J. Ltd. (England) (Royal Staffordshire Pottery) - ceramics 59