Simeon Shaw in his History of the Staffordshire Potteries, privately published in 1829, noted that William Littler 'at a subsequent period was manager of a porcelain manufactory in Shelton for Messrs Baddeley & Fletcher....' on his return to The Potteries after the demise of his West Pans venture in 1777. His tenure as manager would appear to have been relatively brief, as Shaw noted his death at a very advanced age and in reduced circumstances took place in Shelton in October 1784. For a detailed discussion on the Baddeley-Littler connection see Geoffrey Godden FRSA, 'The Baddeley-Littler porcelains? c. 1777-c. 1785' Geoffrey Godden (Ed.), Staffordshire Porcelain, pp. 32-44. Godden draws attention to the similarities both in paste and general appearance between the known range of Baddeley-Littler porcelains and those of Longton Hall and West Pans and although to date no ornamental pieces have been attributed to this china works, the present figure also resembles certain features of Longton Hall porcelains whilst stylistically it would appear to date from the later period of circa 1780