Richard Batterham was born in 1936. He was introduced to pottery whilst at Bryanston School and was later apprenticed to the Leach Pottery. He established a pottery at Durweston in Dorset in the late 1950s. Batterham has always been committed to the idea of the craftsman-potter, remaining independent of art and craft societies. His working methods have been much influenced by Bernard Leach; he makes functional pots that have an affinity with the sober colour and vigorous forms of early Korean pots. Decoration is restrained and his shapes enhanced by the free flowing wood ash glazes.