The Waterford Flint Glass Manufactory, as it was originally known, was established in Waterford, Ireland, in 1783 by two local brothers, George and William Penrose. Being of an enterprising nature, the Penrose brothers had seen a huge demand for both plain and ornamental flint glass internationally. However, with neither brother having any glass working experience, one of their first priorities was the procurement of a skilled glass worker. Fellow Quaker, John Hill, originally from Stourbridge in the English West Midlands was to take up this opportunity and head the factoryís workforce, which, by now numbered over fifty.
Business was good. John Hill drew on his many years of experience and very soon the factory was turning out glass products of a quality never previously witnessed in England or Ireland. Ships packed to the gunnels with flint glass were leaving Waterford Quay bound for Spain, the West Indies and North America.
By the turn of the nineteenth century, triggered by William Penroseí decision to sell, the factory changed hands and ownership was transferred to local townís people: Ramsey, Gatchell and Barcroft. It was decided by the new management that a retail outlet should be added to the factory and one was opened on cityís quay supplying reasonably priced glassware to the local public.
Fifty years later, the company was in severe financial difficulty, due, at least in part, to the heavy taxation imposed by the British government on all glass products and, thus, was forced to cease trading. The companyís swansong was a superb entry in the Great Exhibition of 1851 at the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London.
Just after the end of the Second World War, a small glass factory was opened once more, just outside Waterford and manned by a small workforce of mainly immigrant workers from war-torn Europe. The enterprise was a huge success. So much so that very shortly the company, now called Waterford Crystal, re-located to its current home on a forty-acre site.
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