The John Beswick Pottery Company was founded in the late 1890s as a tableware manufacturer. The initial John Beswick ornamentations were rather conservative. Only about 40 years after the company had established itself as major ceramics player did Beswick turn to creating animal ceramic models. At first, these models focused on popular dogs and race horses of the time.

These animal figurines featured very lifelike expressions, and they quickly became favored gift items. The Beswick Company turned a corner in 1940 when it purchased the rights to re-create the characters from Beatrix Potter's famous storybooks. That first year, the Beswick Company came out with only 10 different designs. The first piece off the assembly line was the adorable Jemima Puddle-duck.

Beswick's head designer, Arthur Gredington, produced nine other Beatrix Potter characters that year. Perhaps the most famous one of these characters was Peter Rabbit. Soon after, other major animation character owners came to Beswick Studios to develop character tie-in ceramics. Disney famously inked a deal with Beswick in 1952 to produce its signature character, Mickey Mouse.

Fourteen years later, Disney hired Beswick Studios again to create keepsakes from the Winnie the Pooh series. The next year, British pottery giant Royal Doulton purchased Beswick. The company continued to produce animated characters at a prolific rate, including figurines for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. In 1997, Beswick celebrated its 50th year anniversary by re-creating its prized Beatrix Potter animals.