From : "James Radley Young was a major designer for during the early part of the 20th century. In addition to single tiles he also designed a number of major tile panels for butcher shops and fishmongers etc. His panels are signed with a monogram of his initials JRY."
From : "... the designer James Radley Young, who had trained as a painter and modeller at Sheffield School of Art and had come to Poole in 1893, following his half brother Edwin Page Turner, who was head of design. Before the War Radley Young concentrated on scale drawings for the tiling contracts and also modelled designs for garden pots and decorative ware, which were mainly sold by Liberty's in London. After his marriage in 1901, he had briefly set up his own pottery at Haslemere in Surrey {Hammer Pottery 1901 - 1911}, but this was not successful, and he returned to Poole. The recession during the War enabled him to develop his interests in Spanish and Portuguese pottery, leading a team of the otherwise unemployed women modellers. The designs were very much in the spirit of the Arts and Crafts Movement, whereby individual pieces were handmade, following centuries of tradition, and were intended to be useful as well as decorative. The style developed from simple unglazed ware into glazed pieces decorated with sprigs or bold stripes. The sprig design was to become a theme echoed in Poole pottery for the next half century. Owen Carter and Radley Young also made other experimental pieces, such as beads, buttons and perfume bricks, an idea that it would seem could be marketed today with some success. The art pottery was admired at the British Industries Fair in 1917."
We cannot find a picture of JRY so we illustrate this page with another one of his lovely works, also signed, which apparently is unusual.
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