Henry Greener began as a travelling salesman for John Sowerby at the Ellison Glass Works. In 1859 he returned to Sunderland. He went into partnership with James Angus, and took over the Wear Flint Glass Works. The partnership lasted for 12 years, and when Angus died, he built a new glassworks with 5 furnaces.

From 1858-69 the firm traded as Angus and Greener and registered its first design on 21 December 1858. The firm expanded rapidly in the 1870s, trading as Henry Greener The Wear Flint Glass Works. The range of designs included fancy glass and commemorative ware, and in 1886 Greener registered his own trade mark.

By 1877 he was in debt, and the works was mortgaged for £9,000. The debt was later cleared, and he issued new patterns including vitro-porcelain. In 1879, he introduced ornamental glass “Roman tiles or glass mosaics” in opaque glass and many colours.

In 1882 Henry Greener died, and the business was carried on by his son Edwin. In 1887, the firm exhibited at the Newcastle exhibition, and was awarded a silver medal. In 1885, the firm was reconstructed under the name of Greener and Co, but ran into debt again.

James Augustus Jobling from Newcastle bought the business which continued and became a limited company in 1921. In 1922, it was the first English firm to make Pyrex, under licence from Corning glass works in New York. Jobling adopted a new trade mark, that of the Jobling family and dropped the word ‘flint’ from the name of the works in 1896.

Greener’s issued articles to commemorate events in England and abroad. The first was a plate with the legend “Gladstone for the Million” and this set a fashion.

After Greener’s death, the firm expanded under Jobling, and issued new products, both ornamental and useful, in flint and opaque glass. The patterns included “colonial” and “starlight”.

Trade Marks:
1875-85 demi-lion rampant facing left, holding a 5-pointed star in its right paw.
c.1885-1900 demi-lion holding a battleaxe in both paws.