Japanning onto tin plate
When John Hanbury took over the family business in 1685, he was the first of his family to move to Pontypool, which he did to directly manage the ironworks. He gathered around him a group of experienced ironworkers and his factory soon began to produce significant amounts of iron goods that were of a superior quality. One of his managers, a man called Thomas Allgood, often conducted experiments to try to improve the quality of the iron being made. It was during these experiments that he discovered a material which could be used to coat the metal and which, when heated, created a brilliant hard lacquer on the surface. Thomas Allgood never explored how his discovery could be used as he continued to manage the ironworks.
Thomas Allgood died in 1716, and his son Edward took his place. It was Edward along with his brother John, who developed their father's discovery. When Charles Hanbury took over the business in 1732, the first small-scale production of Japanware began in the UK.