Death of Dr. J.W. Mellor: Renowned Work as Pottery Scientist

Friday, 27 May 1938

Mellor Collection, Box Ten, Folder One

Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire: Evening Sentinel

University of Otago graduate and famed ‘pottery scientist’, Joseph Mellor, died in 1938. His accomplishments were many and varied. Mellor wrote 166 papers and many books, became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1927, and was awarded a CBE in 1938. He declined a peerage for his war efforts. He was also an accomplished cartoonist, and was called ‘Peter Pan’ for his impish sense of humour. Well-known in Europe and America, his death prompted many obituaries. The science magazine, Nature, commented on Mellor’s 16-volume chemistry treatise, ‘the completion of these volumes is almost beyond comprehension’, especially since he wrote all of the volumes’ 16 million words himself. This obituary is from Staffordshire's Evening Sentinel.