William Cookworthy

William Cookworthy was an English Quaker minister, a successful pharmacist and an innovator in several fields of technology. He was the first person in Britain to discover how to make hard-paste porcelain, like that imported from China. He subsequently discovered china clay in Cornwall. In 1768 he founded a works at Plymouth for the production of Plymouth porcelain; in 1770 he moved the factory to Bristol, to become Bristol porcelain, before selling it to a partner in 1773.

12 April 1705

Born on the same birth day (12 April): Alicia Coppola • Antoine Laurent de Jussieu • Charles Napier (actor) • Christian Panucci • Henry Darger • Jason Price • John Kay (musician) • Lydia Cacho • Oliver Norwood • Russell Garcia (composer) • Tanino Liberatore