Tony Wade

Captain G.A.J. Wade   M.C. 1924 – 1987.

Written by his son Jeremy Wade for the Wade Collectors magazine.

Tony was born on 28th March 1924. The son of George and Florrie Wade and brother to Iris and Cynthia. They lived at St. Quentin, a rather splendid Arts and Crafts house in Sandy Lane between Newcastle under Lyme and Wolstanton.   By all accounts a real character from a very early age, Tony had an impish sense of humour  and we are lucky to have an early cine film of him throwing mud pies at his immaculately attired sisters in the garden in 1928!

At eight he went off to The Woodlands , a prep school in North Wales, where he excelled at sport. At  thirteen he moved on to Oundle School, famed for it’s engineering excellence. The workshops were outstanding and boys were encouraged to be creative. Tony was in his element and became a fine scum half in the First  XV Rugby team. He narrowly avoided expulsion in 1941 when he test fired the cannon, that he had made from scratch in the foundry, through his study window. Regrettably the cannon ball went straight through the wall of the old peoples home about two hundreds yards away causing some distress to the elderly residents! As my father left the study of the headmaster, having received six of the best, he at least had the decency to say “Splendid war effort Wade!”

These proved to be prophetic words indeed for in 1942, giving up the place he had been offered at Cambridge, Tony joined the Parachute Regiment and entered a rigorous period of training culminating in landing in Normandy in the early hours of the morning on D day. The 3rd Parachute Squadron of the 6th Airborne Division played a pivotal role in the successful action following the taking of the Pegasus Bridge [near Caen] and were in the thick of it for the  following weeks. Tony’s expertise with General Wade explosives enabled him to blow up several strategic bridges over rivers and canals thus helping to thwart the German  counter attack. To quote from his citation : “Since dropping near Ranville at 0500 hours on 6th June this officer has shown the most exceptional initiative, courage and leadership”. Accordingly he was awarded the Military Cross and presented with it in the field by General Montgomery himself.

Needless to say his family and friends were very proud of him, not least his father Colonel George Wade who had achieved the same honour in the Great War in 1917 with a Bar in 1918 ! Tony was promoted to Captain by the age of 21 and was finally demobbed, somewhat reluctantly, after hair raising adventures in both Burma and ultimately Palestine.

Returning to the Potteries to join his father at the well established family business, it was very much a case of all hands to the pumps. His two brothers in law Straker Carryer [ married to Iris] and “Robbie” Robinson  [Cynthia’s first husband ] had already been roped in by my grandfather and the team had plenty of challenges to face over the coming years. The Irish factory in Portadown was  opened in 1948 ,boasting the longest kiln in Europe, and was run as a very happy ship by Iris and Straker until they relocated to California in the early sixties.

In 1951 my grandfather said to my father ” Now that I am sixty I don’t want to have to make any more major business decisions  – BUT , I want to be consulted on every major decision ! I can happily report that despite this my father was able to successfully lead the expanding PLC to ever greater success in the sixties, seventies and eighties and become one of the leading figures in the pottery industry. He and my grandfather had a wonderful bond which was enhanced by the sense of fair play and good sense of humour that they both held in abundance. Indeed I would be hard pressed to tell  you who was the greater practical joker of the two or who was the better after dinner speaker! I think I would have to declare it an honourable draw.

Sir George and my father made a fantastic team with my father as managing director and George in the Chair. Sir George  had many outside interests, hobbies and the North Staffordshire Medical Institute  (and other philanthropic activities) to keep him occupied but would still visit the works in his nineties.

But by this time Tony was very firmly in the driving seat. He built up a loyal and skilful management team and reinforced the relationship with Disney while at the same time building up the high tech ceramics side of the business. He was highly respected in the industry and became the President of the  British Ceramic Manufacturers Federation, just one of the many posts that he held in North Staffordshire.  He was a founding member of the British Sub Aqua Club  with Roy Midwinter and Frank Swinnerton and ,whilst still running on adrenalin in the post war years, took up potholing, then hot air ballooning, water skiing and in later years motor sport!

But the great love of his life was Wade potteries and he worked tirelessly until his tragically early death in 1987 barely a year after the death of his father at the ripe old age of 94.

Tony left a gaping hole in both the family and the business so soon after the loss of Sir George. His much loved father had been a hard act to follow but I would  say that Tony succeeded at every level and was very much a chip off the old block. A true hero in every sense of the word!

Tony and Pamela on their wedding day in 1950?

Tony and Pamela with the new born Jeremy George Wade in 1952

Tony Wade

Captain G.A.J. Wade   M.C. 1924 – 1987.