Thomas Pardoe (painter)
British artist (1770-1823)
Thomas Pardoe (3 July 1770 – 1823) was a British enameler noted for flower painting.
Pardoe was born in Derby on 3 July 1770 and was apprenticed at the Derby (Nottingham Road) porcelain factory in the 1780s, later moving to Worcester. He painted creamware at Swansea between 1795 and 1809 for Cambrian Pottery, coming under the influence of potter and botanist Lewis Weston Dillwyn, and working together with William Weston Young. The following addresses are listed for him in the Bristol directories: Under the Bank (1809–11); 28 Bath Street (1812–16), and Thomas Street (1820–22).
In Bristol he was an independent decorator and gilder, painting china and pottery supplied in the white by John Rose of Coalport and possibly others. His Bristol pieces are the only ones he signed e.g., "Pardoe Bristol". I assume that only the signatures that include the word "fecit" are ones he decorated, other inscriptions simply indicating retailing. According to Pountney the enamel was fired at the Temple Pottery. He also worked on glass, as the directory listing for 1813 describe him as a "China and glass enameler and gilder, wholesale and retail". He also retailed pieces decorated at John Rose's factory, and probably from the rival Coalport factory operated by John's brother Thomas.
“Thomas Pardoe (painter)” enters the record as british artist (1770-1823). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Thomas, Pardoe and painter can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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