Aynsley is one of the best-known names in the Staffordshire Potteries, with a history reaching back to the late 18th century. John Aynsley of Lane End, who died in 1829, was a well-known decorator on creamwares and other pottery. His grandson, John Aynsley II, who established the Portland Works in 1861, as a model china manufactory and was keenly interested in the well-being of his workers, was an outstanding entrepreneur and china manufacturer whose tea, breakfast and dessert wares were exported to North America from an early date. He was also a true 'character' who was four times Mayor of Longton and a generous benefactor to worthy causes. For much of the twentieth century Aynsley remained a family firm producing wares of a very high quality, emphasising traditional craft skills, while experimenting with modern shapes in the early 1930s. Aynsley services were selected by both the present Queen and by Diana, Princess of Wales, as wedding gifts from the British pottery industry.