TRISTRAM HUNT
THE RADICAL POTTER: JOSIAH WEDGWOOD AND THE TRANSFORMATION OF BRITAIN
Tristram Hunt is an unabashed fan of Josiah Wedgwood. He describes Wedgwood as an accomplished chemist, a meticulous manufacturer, and a genius at the branding and placement his products. He was warm hearted, and a devoted family man. He was a benevolent employer, building in the Staffordshire Potteries a model village, called Etruria, for his workers. To help him get his products to Liverpool Docks, for sale all over the world, he drove canal construction. He campaigned vigorously against slavery. And his wealth passed down through the family, facilitating in due course the work of his grandson Charles Darwin.
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Tristram Hunt, born 1974, is a historian and journalist, who read history at Trinity College, Cambridge. His personal connection with Josiah Wedgwood was his period as the member of parliament (2010 to 2017) for Stoke-on-Trent Central. From 2013 to 2015 he was shadow Secretary of State for Education. In 2017 he left the House of Commons to become Director of the Victoria & Albert Museum.
