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2014, Number 30 Published September 2018 ©2018 by The Wedgwood Society of New York, ISSN 1043-3317 President's Letter Susannah Wedgwood Darwin: A Portrait by Nancy H. Ramage Josiah Wedgwood I, “Conchiologist” by David M. Pendergast If This Pot Could Talk by Myrna Schkolne Commemorative Caneware by David M. Pendergast The Lakin and Poole Assassination of Marat: A British Revolution by Gregory Bingham John Randall: Coalport’s Charismatic Painter of Birds by John Willock Wedgwood’s French Connection: Emile Lessore 1805 - 1876 by Colin Andrew Studio Pottery and the John Shakeshaft Collection by Phil Rogers Mechanical Wonders: The Engines that Changed the World, and a Special Use of Ceramics by David Hulse In Memoriam: Bernard Starr

On the cover: A Coalport porcelain plaque painted by John Randall with a group of peregrine falcons, c. 1870, inscribed in red on reverse John Randall F.G.S. Coalport November 1870, 9.5” x 13.4” (24.1 cm x 34.0 cm), from the Godden Reference Collection (photograph courtesy of Bonhams). John Randall (1810-1910) was born in Broseley, not far from Caughley, Coalport and Madeley, places associated with the porcelain industry in Shropshire. In 1828 he began his career at Thomas Martin Randall’s porcelain decorating establishment at Madeley. He then worked briefly at the Davenport factory in Staffordshire and the Rockingham works in Yorkshire, before returning to his native Shropshire, where he was employed by the John Rose Company at Coalport, probably in 1835. He remained at Coalport until 1881, specializing in the painting of birds, and becoming perhaps the finest and most talented bird painter in the history of British porcelain. Randall’s professional life was characterized by very diverse interests, described in an article by John Willock