Once, on a bleak winter’s night, I waited in a lay-by between Wimborne and Blandford. Another car arrived, flashing its lights. A blonde emerged carrying a box with great care. I paid her with cash and a smile as she said, ‘Enjoy.’ I clutched the box containing a 1930’s galleon in full sail made by Poole Pottery in the Carter Stabler and Adams era. When Jesse Carter began his tile and pottery business in Poole in 1873, a roadside assignation, made for the love of his firm’s products, would have been beyond his comprehension.
Hailing from Abbots Worthy near Winchester, Jesse Carter’s father and brothers were bricklayers.
In 1850 he married Elisabeth Callaway at St Pancras, Middlesex. By 1861, with five children to support, his business acumen had yielded fruit. He was a builder employing 49 men and
