George Albert Wade born in Burslem

Burslem

The town of Burslem, known as the Mother Town, is one of the six towns that amalgamated to form the current city of Stoke-on-Trent, in the ceremonial county of Staffordshire, in the Midlands of England.-Topography:...

, Stoke-on-Trent

Stoke-on-Trent

Stoke-on-Trent , also called The Potteries is a city in Staffordshire, England, which forms a linear conurbation almost 12 miles long, with an area of . Together with the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme Stoke forms The Potteries Urban Area...

, Staffordshire

Staffordshire

Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 to a family who ran a pottery business. He was knighted in 1955 for political and public services.

Sir George was a pupil at Newcastle High School, which has been amalgamated into the Newcastle-under-Lyme School, and left at age 15 to work at the family's pottery factory. He was a soldier between 1914 and 1919 in World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, first as a private with the North Staffordshire Regiment

North Staffordshire Regiment

The North Staffordshire Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Army, which was in existence between 1881 and 1959. It can date its lineage back to 1756 with the formation of a second battalion by the 11th Regiment of Foot, which shortly after became the 64th Regiment of Foot...

, and then as a lieutenant with the South Staffordshire Regiment

South Staffordshire Regiment

The South Staffordshire Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Army formed in 1881 by the amalgamation of the 38th Regiment of Foot and the 80th Regiment of Foot. In 1959 the regiment was amlagamated with the North Staffordshire Regiment to form the Staffordshire Regiment...

 in the Machine Gun Corps, and he served in France and Egypt. He Married Florrie Johnson in 1915.

Sir George became chairman of the family's pottery business, Wade Ceramics

Wade Ceramics

Wade Ceramics Ltd. are manufacturers of porcelain and earthenware, including animal figures for their Collectors Club, whisky flagons, and a variety of industrial ceramics....

 Ltd, a manufacturer of porcelain

Porcelain

Porcelain is a ceramic material made by heating raw materials, generally including clay in the form of kaolin, in a kiln to temperatures between and...

 and earthenware

Earthenware

Earthenware is a common ceramic material, which is used extensively for pottery tableware and decorative objects.-Types of earthenware:Although body formulations vary between countries and even between individual makers, a generic composition is 25% ball clay, 28% kaolin, 32% quartz, and 15%...

, whose main factory was in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent. In the 1950s, Sir George and the Wade potteries created and manufactured "Whimsies", small cheap solid porcelain animal figures, which became popular and collectable in Britain and America.

Sir George never fully stopped working, but in the early 1980s he gave the routine running of the business to his son George Anthony (Tony) Johnson Wade. His hobbies included painting and ornithology.