Lemon & Crute Torquay Ware Jug

Offered for sale is a lovely vibrant high glaze blue jug, showing a Blue Tit in flight above the flora. Lemon & Crute Pottery came about in around 1914 when Tom Lemon, a thrower from Barnstaple and Harry Crute, a local Torquay decorator, took over the failing Tor Vale pottery. They paid good wages so attracted first class workers and this is apparent in the quality of the pottery produced, especially items with the kingfishes, peacocks, butterflies and floral decorations. Tom Lemon’s influence can be seen in the North Devon style handles on many of their jugs and decorative vases. Tom and Harry split up on good terms when Tom left the business in 1926 going to Weston-super-Mare where he later set up his own Wessuma Pottery with his son Cyril Lemon. After Tom left Harry Crute continued working on the same site and renamed it as the Daison Art Pottery.