BLY, John 1779-1833
John Bly was baptised at Lowestoft on 2 September 1779, son of John Bly 1753-1792 and his wife Mary née Cooper. A decorator at the Lowestoft Porcelain Works and, as an apprentice, decorated a mug for Mrs Johnson, daughter of Robert Allen, another Lowestoft painter. Shortly before the closure of Lowestoft he had moved to the Chamberlain (Worcester) Factory which records him as being first employed on 28 September 1799. John left Chamberlain's on 22 January 1803 and on 22 January 1803 joined rivals Flight & Barr, but returned to Chamberlain's from March 1808 until the end of 1809, but again returned to Flight & Barr where he specialised in painting armorials and is said to have painted the arms on the Lord Amhurst service in 1823, and in 1830 decorated the coronation service for King William IV, now at Windsor Castle. John married at St Peter's, Worcester on 5 October 1813, Ann Poultney and had a son, another John, who was also a porcelain decorator and a landscape artist for Worcester. John Bly was buried at St Oswald's Hospital, Worcester on 26 September 1833.