Tile, 6 x 6 inches. Brown on cream transfer. Raised maker's mark for Mintons China Works. This is one of 12 designs in the Early English History series by John Moyr Smith produced by Mintons China Works, c. 1872. This pattern depicts the first invasion of England by Julius Caesar was in the year 55 BCE.

In 55 BCE, Gaius Volusenus Quadratus was sent out by Julius Caesar in a single warship to undertake a week-long survey of the coast of southeastern Britain prior to Caesar's invasion. He probably examined the Kent coast between Hythe and Sandwich. However, when Caesar arrived at Dover with his forces, he saw that landing would be impossible. Instead, he traveled north and landed on an open beach, probably near Walmer. Volusenus had evidently failed to find a suitable harbor, which would have prevented the damage Caesar's exposed ships would suffer at high tide. Perhaps the man in the tunic and robe seen here is Gaius Volusenus. There are partial words found around the pattern and the word "Romans" in the forefront behind Gaius' foot.

Mintons China Works was pottery, porcelain and tile manufacturers, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. Factory founded 1793/6 by Thomas Minton in Stoke-on-Trent, taken over by Herbert Minton in 1836 until the latter’s death in 1858, when the china business was carried on by Colin Minton Campbell, in partnership with Michael Daintry Hollins, who ran the tile business. In 1868 the partnership ended and Campbell continued as Minton's China Works, also producing tiles, though not encaustic (inlaid) tiles, until 1918 when tile production ceased. From 1873, the name 'Minton' was changed to 'Mintons' without the apostrophe.