History of the site.
The White House Cone.
Glass had been produced on this site since circa 1780 the land being owned by Comber Raybould. The first known glass making was carried out by Bradley, Ensells & Holt, in 1819. By 1827 the partnership was unworkable and the property was sold to Richard Bradley Ensell Jr., who also bought the Red House Glassworks. Shortly after the purchase his father died and the business at the White House was continued by his widow Sarah Ensell. (Surely the inspiration for Donna Baker’s novels.)
In 1833 Sarah let the glassworks to John Webb and John Shepherd, who traded as Shepherd & Webb. John Webb died in 1835 and left his share in the business to his son Thomas Webb, who was already in partnership with the Richardsons at the Wordsley Flint Glassworks on the opposite side of the canal. After his father’s death, in 1835, Thomas Webb sold his share in the partnership with Benjamin Richardson; the White House site was still owned by Sarah Ensell. Thomas Webb transferred his business to his new glassworks at the Platts in 1840.
In 1842 the famous factory of William Haden, Benjamin and Johnathon Richardson, trading has W.H., B. & J. Richardson, purchased the site.
In the 1850s it changed hands and was being run by Edward Webb who in 1866 brought his two sons William George and Edward, Jr. into the business; the firm then traded as Edward Webb and Sons. Edward Webb Snr., died in 1872 and the business continued to be run by Edward Jr; William pursuing a military career. The Works Manager for Edward Webb, Jr. was Arthur John Nash who was responsible for many of the new designs created at the White House Glassworks. When he left, first to go to Thomas Webb & Sons and then to emigrate to America, the firm was not the same. Edward by this time was more interested in his milling and seed business over the road and so decided to lease out the glassworks.
The White House Glassworks was first leased to distant cousins Thomas Ernest Webb and George Harry Corbett who founded the firm of Thomas Webb and Corbett Ltd. (Webb-Corbett). The new firm started trading on January 1, 1898 and continued there until 1913 when they moved to Coalbournhill, in Amblecote.
The site was then purchased, in 1916, by Stuart and Sons who had been producing glass in the neighboring Red House Cone (over the road), which they first leased from William George and Edward Webb Jr., and then purchased in 1924 from their descendants. A new factory was built on the White House site in 1934 and production ceased at the Red House in 1936. Stuart and Sons were taken over by the Waterford Wedgwood group in 1995 and closed down in 2001.
A more detailed history of the site can be found in the book, published by Jason Ellis, Glassmakers of Stourbridge and Dudley 1612-2002.
Stourbridge Glass Museum with Red House Cone. Image courtesy of Stourbridge News.