Alfred Meakin Ltd was set up in 1875 and operated from the Royal Albert, Victoria and Highgate Potteries in Tunstall. Alfred Meakin died in 1904 and was succeeded by his son Alfred James who died only four years later. Alfred John's uncle Robert Johnson bought the company for his son Stuart Johnson and it stayed in the Johnson family's hands until 1976 when it became Myott-Meakin before becoming part of the Churchill Group.