Mark Wellsler Marshall (1842-1912) was perhaps the most original and creative designer in the history of the Doultons ceramics factory, where he worked from 1878 to 1912. His imagination seemed boundless, and the variety of his work was astounding. He created fantastic forms, combining plant and zoomorphic forms, inventing grotesque and fantastic creatures. And the variety of color and shape in the manufacture of his vases was unrivaled.

The son of a mason from Cranbrook in Kent, Marshall worked early in his career with the leading London architectural sculptors Farmer & Brindley. The turning point in his career came when he almost fell from the scaffolding of Salisbury Cathedral, for which he was carving statues of Christ and the saints. After this incident, he decided to change careers and went to work for the Martin Brothers pottery studio. He had known fellow sculptor Wallace Martin since their time at Lambeth School of Art.

A few years later, Marshall moved to Brown, Westhead and Moore, a Staffordshire pottery. He produced several large majolica garden statues, including dragons and wild animals, which were exhibited at international exhibitions in Philadelphia in 1876 and Paris in 1878. The pottery won a gold medal for its exhibit in Paris, and Marshall’s sculptures of near-life-size tigers, which he modelled from life at London Zoo, received praise in the press. It was around this time that Marshall first began working for the Doultons’ Lambeth Studio.

A taste for the grotesque was fashionable in the Victorian era, and Marshall continued to develop his skill in depicting unusual creatures, an interest that had begun when he worked as a stone carver on Gothic churches. Many of his works are inspired by the stories in Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, populated by unlikely characters. There is, of course, the Jabberwock, a monster originally visualized by Sir John Tenniel, who created the defining image for the first edition of Lewis Carroll’s book in 1871. Or Rath, a green pig-like creature (this character does not appear in our most popular translation by Boris Zakhoder). Here, for example, is the Jabberwock, Rath, and the Cheshire Cat, according to Mark W. Marshall.

Family members have described how Marshall loved to observe flowers and small creatures, such as lizards, during his walks in the countryside. According to his family, he sculpted his “beautiful freaks,” sometimes including caricatures of his friends “as easily as a bird sings.” Marshall was also a talented choir singer and musician. He played the double bass and cello in the Lambeth Orchestra and could pick up any instrument and play a tune. His daughter Alice worked with him in the Lambeth studio for several years, and his wife Helen inspired him to create several figurines of fashionable ladies.

Marshall created several exceptional pieces for Doulton pottery for international exhibitions, including a giant jug and stand, over six feet tall, for Chicago in 1893. His style was perfectly suited to the Art Nouveau aesthetic of the turn of the century. And late in his career, he once again worked as an architectural sculptor, creating gargoyles for St. John’s Church in Saskatoon.

Marshall was one of the most inventive artists ever to work in the Dalton studio in Lambeth. He was remembered by his contemporaries as a witty, good-natured guide on studio tours, and was a regular contributor to Dalton’s in-house journal with his poetry and musings. He was much mourned after his death in 1912.