An original c1953 Dartmouth Pottery gurgle jug with a Grimsby connection.

These gurgle, gluggle or glug jugs were produced by Dartmouth Pottery, Devon from 1953. They quickly became popular but how many like this one still exist?

The “gurgling” sound is produced when the jug is tipped up and it was designed in such a way that trapped air escapes from the tail as the liquid is poured.

Herbert Abbott was a fish merchant on Wharncliffe Road on the docks (near the dock tower). He was certainly trading in 1907 and the business was wound up c1976.

We believe that Herbert Abbott was the son of Matthew and Priscilla Abbott and was born in Grimsby towards the end of 1866. He was a fish merchant’s clerk at the age of 14. He married Adeline Lawler in 1892. They had three children.

Herbert Giles Abbott died in Grimsby in 1923, aged 57, and is buried in Scartho Road Cemetery together with his wife, Adeline (1868-1951).