Miles Mason - "The Dick Whittington of Dentdale"

Another local lad to make good was Miles Mason, originator of the celebrated Mason’s Ironstone Pottery. Born in 1752 at Westhouse in Dentdale, he also was educated at the tiny Grammar School but later moved to London to work in his uncle’s stationery business. Subsequently, however, in true Dick Whittington style, he courted and married the daughter of Richard Farrer, a wealthy china merchant, and ultimately ended up as owner of this flourishing concern, his entrepreneurial skills taking their Ironstone Chinaware to heights of popularity comparable in its day to that of Spode or Wedgwood.