CROWN BRICK AND POTTERY WORKS, NEW GLASGOW, NS

Jean-Pierre Dion                                                                  2026-02-28

The history and production of the Crown Brick and Pottery Works in New Glasgow, N. S. is little known. According to George Maclaren (1972) this Company was established in 1867, was granted an incorporation in 1868 and in 1869 advertised some products in the newspapers. Maclaren did not known how long this company continued in business. 

Source: Antique Potteries of Nova Scotia, by George Maclaren, 1972.

Bread Platter unmarked, but very similar to the one above. Ironstone with a blue  glaze and raised inscription ''Where  reason rules / the appetite obeys'' Collection Jacqueline Beaudry Dion & Jean-Pierre Dion. Photo Jacqueline Beaudry Dion.

It is the purpose of this note to add more information about the Company’s operations and production for the period 1867-1875, stressing the contribution of the master potter David Smith and the tenacity of the manager E C Dawson who was with the company from beginnings to end and beyond.

Apart from the bread plate shown in Maclaren’s booklet, marked Crown Brick & Pottery Works /New Glasgow / N S, there is a New Glasgow Pot shown in J. Owen et al. 2023 paper (photo provided by Jack Craft) also marked Crown Brick & Pottery Works / New Glasgow / NS.  Shane Ballard illustrated a flask with the same mark in his Facebook post of May 2024. 

The beginnings

The first reference to the Crown Brick & Pottery Works I was able to find is in September 1867. The Company was obviously in operation for a while and ready to provide bricks, paving and roofing tiles to the public.

 The Eastern Chronicle 1867, 09 16, p. 3

By February 1868, Capt Dawson of the the Crown Brick and Pottery Works is going into the production of Flower Pots and Vases.

The Eastern Chronicle 1868, 02 12 p. 3

As in most Pottery Works, boys were used in New Glasgow, as attested by the ad below.

The Eastern Chronicle 1868, 02 26 p. 3

Coal Mining

We learn from an ad dated Feb 26, 1868, that coal from the Richardson seam to the bank is to be collected for the Crown Brick & Pottery Works. This company will be one of the first manufactory to consume coal from Nova Scotia to any great extent and thus make the Province independent of foreign markets.

The Eastern Chronicle 1868, 02 26 p. 3 

The Crown Brick & Pottery Works in action

In June 1868, the manager Edwd. Conyers Dawson announced that the skilled workers had arrived and that glaze from Staffordshire Potteries had been imported. Then followed a detailed description of the products on hand (Flower Pots and saucers, Flue Conductors, Garden Drain Pipes, Chimney Tops and Butter Coolers), as well as those to be ready in the course of a week (milk bowls, cream crocks and preserve jars). The manufactory also hoped to produce soon toilet, dinner and dessert services.

The Eastern Chronicle 1868, 06 13, p. 3

(ADDENDUM, March 4, 2026) In his Facebook post of Feb 2020, Paul Slater reported on his preliminary research on the Crown Brick and Pottery Works. This included some photos and documents, notably an extract from the newspaper dated  Dec 12, 1868 and describing the production of Stone and Red Ware. Paul Slater also found from the  Gazette of July 7, 1868, p.1,  an important description  of the Coal Mines, Clay Deposits and Potteries of the area. Here is the part dealing specifically with the Crown Brick and Pottery Works.

David Smith master potter

The Crown Brick & Pottery Works was incorporated in the summer of 1868. At a meeting of the shareholders in September 1868, a plan is developed to increase the productivity by more investments into the Works. 

In this important text, we learn of the master potter David Smith, formerly from England and acting as Foreman of the Works. He proposed to build a second story to the building, to add another oven and to hire six Skilled Operatives from England; he planned a budget accordingly. It is noteworthy that an oven of fine ware is worth 500 $ while one of coarse ware is worth 250 $.

The Eastern Chronicle 1868, 09 05 p. 2

David Smith was born in England in 1830 and served as apprentice at the Forrest Pottery, Stoke-on-Trent. He became foreman for the George Jones Pottery at the age of 21. He went to Nova Scotia in the late 1860’s. (See his obituary in The Philadelphia Times, May 1, 1895, p 1.) Maclaren, commenting on the Crown Brick & Pottery Works bread platter, wrote : ‘’With its moulded pattern, it can only be assumed that the potters who came from England brought with them the moulds used in the manufacture of this platter.’’ This may well apply to the master potter David Smith.

In October 1868, at the provincial exhibition held in Halifax, the Company won a first prize for Pottery, Fire Brick and Fire clay.

The Eastern Chronicle 1868, 10 10 p. 2

Incorporation of the Crown Coal, Brick & Pottery Co.

The firm was incorporated under the name Crown Coal, Brick and Pottery Co.  as indicated in this ad from Oct 1868. (see also ibid. 1869, 06 19 p.2, below).

The Eastern Chronicle 1868, 10 03 p. 2

On the last day of May 1869, professed Potters arrived from England to work for the Crown Coal, Brick and Pottery Company.

The Eastern Chronicle 1869, 06 02 p. 2

The Company still needed to organize the board of directors, in accordance with the requirements of the Act of Incorporation. As noted by Maclaren, this was done on June 17, 1869. W. A. Henry, Stephen Tobin, J. Silver, J. R. Jennett and D. DeChaire were elected as directors. Capt Dawson and Colonel Sinclair get credit for their work.

The Eastern Chronicle 1869, 06 19 p. 2

As in Slater FB post, Asa Scot Adams has posted on FB in May 2024 a copy of an article, dated Dec 12 (1868), taken from the Morning Chronical, of February 1869, describing the products of the time, in Stone or Red Ware. The same information was also published in The Eastern Chronicle of May 1^st, 1869, and is reproduced here for completeness. The list of products submitted by E C  Dawson is very impressive, ranging from pans and bowls for the kitchen to chamber pans, foot warmers, blacking bottles, ginger beer bottles...

The Eastern Chronicle 1869 05 01 p. 1

The master potter David Smith left the Company in June 1869 to become manager of a large Trenton Pottery in New Jersey (East Trenton Pottery). Smith’s salary in New Jersey was 1200 $ per year: see the discussion on establishing a glass factory in New Glasgow, in the Eastern Chronicle 1881, 03 31 p.1. It would appear from this 1881 article that Smith ‘’ a practical potter and glass maker” did make some glass experiments, while in New Glasgow, from a nearby extensive deposit of silica sand. This same David Smith will leave Trenton for Phoenixville, PA, in 1869, to succeed to Philip Pointon as manager of the Phoenix Pottery.

His personal belongings in New Glasgow are to be sold by auction on June 14, 1869. The reader will notice with interest the typical furniture of the time: stoves, tables, chairs, bedsteads, rocking chair… 

The Eastern Chronicle 1869, 06 12 p, 2

The affairs of the company improved and some consrtruction was contemplated.  In October 1869, the directors Henry and Corbett sent a notice to contractors inviting tenders for the construction of 2 two storied Buildings and a brick Chimney Stack. Note again the full name used: Crown Coal Brick & Pottery Company.

The Eastern Chronicle 1869, 10 02 p. 3

A sale by auction of the entire stock of Pottery of the Crown Coal Brick & Pottery Co. is set for October 27, 1869. The surprising  reason given is that the concern has passed from the original proprietors into the hands of a joint stock Company.

The Eastern Chronicle 1869, 10 13 p. 3

There is no reference in the Nova Scotia newspapers to the Company in 1870-1872. The Montreal Star of Dec 4, 1871, p. 8 does mention that a joint Stock  Company has been formed ...The Gazette of  Sept 23, 1872, p.3 reports that the Company has shipped to Montreal 60 tons of  fire clay from the seams underlying their coal deposits as a sample cargo, to be tested.

Signs of activities are also found in February 1873, at the Annual meeting of the Company. There was an election of the board of directors for the ensuing year, and the presence of E C Dawson is noted as part of a committee to work the Company’s property.

The Eastern Chronicle 1873, 02 27 p. 2

Professor Howe, of Kings College, Windsor, proceeded to an analysis of two samples of Fire clay, concluding that the clay was well adapted for making ordinary colored pottery. The full report was published in January 1874. See The Eastern Chronicle 1874, 01 08 p. 2.

Foreclosure of the Crown Coal, Brick & Pottery Co.

Then on July 12, 1875, the Crown Coal, Brick & Pottery Co was facing an order of foreclosure and sale, scheduled for July 27. This concerned all the estate, right, title and equity…The plaintiff was John F McDonald, a merchant and real estate owner. An  amount of 500 $ was due to him  by the Company. 

By September 1875, the property is described as ‘’formerly owned by the Crown Coal, Brick & Pottery Company.’’ The company had ceased its operations.

The Eastern Chronicle 1875, 07 22 p. 2

It seems that M. G. McLeod from New Glasgow is the one who bought the Crown Coal, Brick & Pottery Works Buildings, Houses, Outhouses, Furnaces and fixtures. Desiring to retire to Australia, he advertised  the sale of his Property in September of 1875. 

The Eastern Chronicle 1875, 09 23 p. 2

A last effort to revive the Company

However, the tenacious E C Dawson was still trying  to revive the Company, first by the introduction in March 1877 of a bill to amend the Act of Incorporation of the Crown Coal, Brick & Pottery Co. and then by contacting some capitalists in England for necessary funds (The Eastern Chronicle, June 1977).

Despite the confirmation that these funds would be forthcoming, there is no further sign of activities of the Company… Dawson finally offered for sale in November 1877 pottery moulds and machinery. The moulds consisted of complete sets: dessert, dinner, breakfast, toilet set. He was even ready to provide buyers with the receipts for mixing glaze, suitable for the local clay.

The Eastern Chronicle 1877, 11 15, p. 3

In 1878, the newspaper refers to the Crown site as an abandoned site on which an extensive Brewery might be established (The Eastern Chronicle 1878, 11 28 p. 1). Dawson left New Glasgow for the Northwest in 1882 (see his obituary in the Halifax Herald 1901, 07 09 p. 9).

Conclusion

Through Newspapers of the day, I have been able to provide further details about the above Company. The Crown Brick & Pottery Works was established in 1867, was incorporated in the summer of 1868 under the name of the Crown Coal, Brick & Pottery Co.  No doubt the initial success and restructuration was due to David Smith, the master potter from England who was foreman of the Company in 1868 and 1869. E. C.  Dawson played a crucial role in the longevity of the Company, even though his attempts to revive the Factory in 1877 were unsuccessful. The Company had ceased its operations in 1875.  Despite a large array of pottery advertised by the Crown Coal, Brick & Pottery Co., few products have been recorded to this day.

I have not been able to access the book by H. Millard Wright, Building Nova Scotia Brick by Brick , 2004. This may contain more informations on the Crown Brick & Pottery Works.

References

Collard, Elizabeth. Nineteenth-Century Pottery and Porcelain in Canada, Second edition, McGill University Press, 1984.

Owen, J., Adlakha, E., Caseley, L., Greenough, J. & Yang, X. (2025). A 19th-Century Patriotic Canadian Redware Pitcher from the Birthplace of Confederation. Material Culture Review / Revue de la culture matérielle, 98, 22–64.

Maclaren, George. Antique Potteries of Nova Scotia, Petheric Press, Halifax, Nova Scotia, 1972.

Nova Scotia Department of Mines. A History of Coal Mining in Nova Scotia, Information Series No 2, 1978.