Retired Powys headteacher awarded historical literary prize

Philip Nanney Williams, who lives at Manafon, near Welshpool, charted a 500-year history of the Adams family, who played a crucial role in the development of Staffordshire’s great pottery industry.

His book, titled ‘Adams: Britain’s Oldest potting Dynasty’, was awarded the 2023 Arnold Bennett International Book Prize at a ceremony in Stoke-on-Trent on May 27.

The work is Philip’s second history book, detailing the lives of the family he shares a link with via his late grandmother, from the first record of the Adams family in 1448 to becoming one of the country’s biggest businesses by the mid-1880s.

He carried out most of his research during the Covid-19 Pandemic.

On receiving the award, he said: “I am delighted and honoured to have been recognised with this very prestigious award and I hope the award will encourage even more people, who are interested in the history of the Staffordshire pottery industry, to buy my book.

“Tracing their ancestry back to the reign of Edward I, they can legitimately claim to be in at the birth of Staffordshire’s great potting tradition.

“This assertion is corroborated by the fact that they are acknowledged as the oldest potting family for which records exist.

“The business started from very humble beginnings, with farmers making pots as a side line, much the same way as most pottery dynasties began. The family became prominent in virtually every historical event that happened in the Potteries.

“This book needed to be written because it’s such an interesting history and the family has been very supportive.”

Named after the Potteries literary genius Arnold Bennett, the international prize is awarded annually by the Arnold Bennett Society to recognise books of any genre by a writer with a link to North Staffordshire or writing about the area.

Philip was presented with a bronze bust of Arnold Bennett in a ceremony attended by the author’s grandson as well as society members from around the globe.