Henk joined Royal Doulton in 1949 working under the direction of Cecil Jack Noke at first working on tableware patterns. Henk was to continue to develop the Character Jug range after Harry Fenton and his first jug was Long John Silver, with which he appeared in a promotional film about pottery in the 1950’s, that was shot in a studio set up at the Lambeth factory. Henk’s ancestors were from Germany and his great, great Grandfather came to the UK to work at Mintons. Henk was fond of literary characters and his character jugs reflect this interest and in fact it was he who first made a feature of the character jug handle.