Ironstone

The St. Johns Stone Chinaware Company in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec, was founded in 1873 at the initiative of George W. Farrar who came from Vermont. Specializing in white ironstone similar to that made in Staffordshire, England, it was the only Canadian pottery to produce fine tablewares in competition with imports from Britain. Still there was a strong English connection. During the 1880s most of the pottery’s 400 employees were immigrants from Staffordshire, and the clay itself was imported from England.