Sad news reached us last weekend, that well-known Island potter, Joe Lester, had passed away. Many thanks to Lisa and Andrew Dowden, Isle of Wight Pottery enthusiasts, for taking the time to produce this obituary. Ed
Although there have been many Isle of Wight potters and potteries throughout the twentieth century, the name ‘Joe Lester’ has become synonymous with the term ‘Isle of Wight pottery’. Many Islanders and visitors alike, are familiar with the brightly-decorated pieces produced at Joe Lester’s ‘Island Pottery Studio’.
It was with great sadness that we learned of his recent passing. We first met Joe in 1996 whilst researching our isle of Wight pottery book, ‘A Century of Ceramics’, and continued to keep in touch.
On the Island since 1934
Born in Godley, Cheshire, on 17 April 1912, Joe Lester started pottery as a hobby at the age of 16. In 1934 he gained a teaching certificate and moved to the Isle of Wight to take up a post in Bettesworth Road, Ryde.
He married Joy Bristow in 1935, and in 1938 they moved with their young son Joseph to Freshwater, where Joe became crafts tutor at the middle school.
Call of duty
His teaching career was cut short when he was called up to join the army. Following shrapnel wounds and seventy per cent hearing loss from an anti-personnel mine, Joe retired with a war pension and honorary rank of Captain.
Due to his disability, he gave up teaching and took a three-year commission with the American Embassy, organising exhibitions for the United States Information Service.
He decided to turn his life-long hobby into an occupation and joined up with Australian pottery friends, David and Hermia Boyd and Sally Seymour, in London.
Return to the Island
He missed the Island, and in the early 1950s returned to Freshwater with his family and began making pottery in his garden shed. In May 1953 he opened a studio in the village and the business took off.
In November 1955 the BBC visited the Island and did a short film of Joe Lester with his principal decorator Ruby McNeill Slade, for ‘Children’s Newsreel’.
Soon after, Joe was invited to take a stand – ‘The Potter and His Wheel’ – with an exhibition which travelled all across Britain.
The exhibition was often frequented by Lady Isobel Barnet, a regular panellist at the time on the BBC television programme ‘What’s My Line’.
Spreading his wings
Joe also took on artists and crafts people at Freshwater and set up other studios across the Island, some of these studios eventually being taken on by his employees.
During the 1960s Joe joined with Island potter Ian Batten and supplied pottery for tea rooms above their studio in Chard, Somerset.
He also worked with Mike Hendrick and together they produced pottery in Charmouth. In 1964 Joe opened a retail shop ‘Wight China and Glass’, and being an advocate of Island crafts, in 1967 opened the ‘Island Crafts Centre’ showcasing local work, both of these outlets being in Freshwater.
Stayed involved, even after retirement
Joe enjoyed sailing, and vacations with his family in the south of France, one resort for which he also produced souvenir dishes.
He formally ‘retired’ in the late 1970s, and handed over the pottery to his son Joseph. Although retired, he continued to help out occasionally at the Freshwater studio, and at his son’s Alum Bay studio which opened in 1985.
Joe Lester was articulate and witty, and often regaled us with tales of his life experiences. Although he had a hearing disability he was determined that it would not hinder him in any way, and that he would succeed with his chosen occupation.
He often spoke warmly of his family and said, ‘Pottery gave me the means to provide a good life for myself and my family . . . who mean everything to me’. Joe Lester’s work represents a major contribution to the pottery heritage of the Isle of Wight, and will continue to be appreciated by many.
Lisa and Andrew Dowden
Image: © Used with the kind permission of Lisa Dowden
