In the 1890s and 1900s the traditional “English” teapot became associated with the diminished health of female workers in North Staffordshire. This article traces the controversies around the moral reputation of the pottery industry. It argues that the various people involved in the controversy, including Home Office chemists, statisticians and women inspectors, Pottery manufacturers, medical authorities, individuals from the Six Towns, and consumers, were all engaged in a battle to redefine the moral and legal underpinnings of English material culture, a battle that was played out simultaneously in a local, national, international and imperial arena.