Federation of Stoke-on-Trent
Encyclopedia
The federation of Stoke-on-Trent refers to the events leading to the 1910 amalgamation of the six Potteries towns of Burslem
, Tunstall
, Stoke-upon-Trent
, Hanley, Fenton
and Longton
into the single county borough
of Stoke-on-Trent
. An anomaly in the history of English local government, this was the first union of its type and the only such event to take place until the 1960s. lists the federation of Stoke-on-Trent as unique, as the publication precedes the recommendations of the Local Government Commission for England (1958–1967). These recommendations created other county boroughs by federation, for example the County Borough of Warley
created by the Local Government (West Midlands) Order 1965 (SI 1965 No. 2139) and the County Borough of Teesside
created by the Teesside Order 1967 (SI 1967 No. 396). The history leading to federation starts in the early 19th century and ends with the formation of the county borough of Stoke-on-Trent in 1910.
Little interaction between the separate settlements occurred until the 18th century when the pottery industry began to expand rapidly. By the early 19th century, initial steps had been made to ensure greater co-operation between the Potteries towns over the issue of law and order. The county plan of 1888 made the first attempts to form the six towns into one county borough, following an act of Parliament
that restructured the county system and created the administrative county of Staffordshire
. Wishing to remain independent, the Potteries towns discussed uniting to form a separate county, the Staffordshire Potteries. When it became apparent that such a move would fail, the proposal was revised to one of uniting the six towns into one county borough. This plan failed after Hanley Corporation and Stoke Corporation could not agree on the location of the future administrative centre. Instead, only Hanley gained county borough status because the other towns did not meet the criteria for such designation.
The first federation attempt was made in 1900 with a resurrection of the county plan. In 1902, Hanley Council led attempts to form an expanded county borough, but disagreement over the complex financial issues of rates
, assets and loans caused Fenton to pull out, quickly followed by Burslem and Stoke, and the proposal was abandoned in 1903. The second and final federation process, between 1905 and 1910, was instigated by Longton Town Council with support from Stoke and Hanley and opposition from Fenton, Tunstall and Burslem. Issues again arose over the financial settlement and discussions continued during the progress of the Federation Bill through Parliament
. The bill was passed in the House of Commons and was still under debate in the House of Lords
when the six towns announced that they had come to an agreement. Passed in December 1908, the act came into force on 31 March 1910. Stoke-on-Trent was a county borough for 15 years, until city status was granted to Stoke-on-Trent by King George V
on 1 July 1925.
Prior to the 19th century, local government remained largely based on the parochial
and manorial
systems in use since the Middle Ages
. In the Potteries towns this led to each of the townships having varying forms of government. Tunstall was parochially within Wolstanton and manorially part of Tunstall manor; Burslem, although manorially a part of Tunstall manor, parochially was part of Burslem parish. It was through these failing regimes, such as the 1813 lapse of the manorial court of Tunstall, that the long process towards federation began.
The earliest changes were seen in Hanley and Burslem when in 1813 the Hanley Market Act (53 Geo. 3 c.cxv) gave statutory control of Hanley market to a board of trustees outside manorial control. In 1825 the Hanley and Shelton Improvement Act (6 Geo. 4 c.lxxiii) and the Burslem Markets, Lighting and Police Act (6 Geo. 4. c.cxxxi), for Hanley and Burslem respectively, gave a board of commissioners control over policing and lighting along with the ability to levy rates
for these purposes. Important steps as they were, none were directed towards any form of co-operation between Burslem, Hanley or any other of the Potteries towns.
Apart from the establishment of the boards of commissioners
in Hanley and Burslem, no further changes occurred until the 1830s when passing of the Reform Act 1832
(2 & 3 Will. IV. c.45) sparked renewed interest in incorporation. The act created the parliamentary borough
of Stoke-upon-Trent
, which would elect two members to Parliament. Together with Stoke-upon-Trent itself, the parliamentary borough also comprised Hanley, Shelton, Lane End, Fenton, Burslem, Tunstall, Rushton Grange, and the hamlet
of Sneyd. The significance of the act was that for the first time and for one important reason only—through the election of Members of Parliament—the townships of the Potteries effectively became one. Shortly after the Reform Act came into effect, a Municipal Corporations Bill was introduced which proposed that the new parliamentary boroughs should be granted charters of incorporation. The bill failed with the prorogation of that Parliament, while the Potteries were excluded from the reforms of the later Municipal Corporations Act 1835
(5 & 6 Wm. IV. c.76). Interest in incorporation was sufficient for several meetings on the subject to take place; the Staffordshire Advertiser reported after one meeting in Burslem that incorporation would lead to one town having undue influence over the others, a theme that was to recur for many years. The same meeting revisited a topic raised pre–1820—the promotion of law and order in the Potteries—and called for the appointment of a stipendiary magistrate.
Only two years later the people of Fenton voted in favour of incorporation of the borough, while further meetings in Stoke and Burslem came out against incorporation but reiterated calls for the appointment of a stipendiary magistrate. Later the same year, a further call for better policing was made at a meeting chaired by the Duke of Sutherland
. These calls were heard and in 1839 two acts of Parliament
were passed, the Staffordshire Potteries Stipendiary Justice Act (2 & 3 Vict. c.15) and the Staffordshire Potteries Improvement and Police Act (2 & 3 Vict. c.xliv). This legislation created boards of commissioners with the same powers given to Hanley and Burslem by the 1825 acts. Following these amendments to local policing and justice, the discussion of co-operation and federation between the various townships was subdued for several decades.
of Stoke-upon-Trent in 1874 while Longton and Lane End became the borough of Longton in 1865. Hanley and Shelton became the borough of Hanley in 1857 and Burslem became a borough in 1878. In Tunstall (1855) and Fenton (1873), the boards of commissioners were superseded by local boards of health.
Introduction of the Local Government Bill in March 1888 caused much debate in the Potteries about the position of the towns under the proposed council structure. The bill proposed the creation of county council
s across England and Wales and the granting of county borough status to towns with a population exceeding 100,000. County borough status would allow such places to govern themselves independently of the county council.
Consensus in the Potteries was against coming under the control of Staffordshire County Council and the idea developed of the Potteries seeking to become a county in their own right. Accordingly, a proposal was submitted to the Local Government Board on 2 July 1888 for the creation of a county of the Staffordshire Potteries. However, on 9 July 1888 it was proposed to amend the bill to reduce the population requirement for county borough status from 100,000 to only 50,000,Staffordshire North West
, moved an amendment to the bill that "[t]he district of the Staffordshire Potteries, comprising the municipal boroughs of Hanley, Stoke-upon-Trent, Longton, and Burslem, the urban sanitary district of the Fenton Local Board of Health, and the urban sanitary district of the Tunstall Local Board of Health, the six towns comprising the Pottery District should be formed into a county". In response, the President of the Local Government Board
, Charles Ritchie, proposed the matter be resolved by way of a provisional order bill
in the next parliamentary session and that he would undertake to introduce such a bill. William Woodall
, MP for Hanley
, supported the amendment but accepted Ritchie's assurance. However, he was also bound to protect Hanley's interests and moved that Hanley be added to the proposed list of county boroughs under the Local Government bill, but would surrender that right if all of the Potteries were to become a county borough or county in their own right. Ritchie re-iterated his hope that the matter could be resolved by way of provisional order bill and with that both amendments were withdrawn.
The bill received Royal Assent
on 13 August 1888 with Hanley listed among those places to be granted county borough status. The corporation of Hanley vacillated for several months as to how best to proceed, then in February 1889 opted for Hanley to take its county borough status, effectively killing both the county proposal and the county borough proposal. Why Hanley corporation made such a decision is not recorded, but it was reported in the Staffordshire Sentinel of 5 February 1901 that it was because Stoke corporation insisted that the administrative centre of the new county be in Stoke, not Hanley, something that Hanley could not agree too.
Apart from an abortive scheme proposed in 1889 by Longton for Stoke, Fenton and Longton to become a county borough, the events of 1888–1889 proved to be the last attempt at federation until the 20th century.
, Longton, and Burslem, the urban district
s of Fenton, Tunstall, Audley
, Kidsgrove, and Smallthorne
, the rural districts of Stoke
and Wolstanton
. The parishes of Milton
, Chell, Goldenhill, Chesterton
, and Silverdale
were also invited. The meeting took place in February 1901 and resolved "that it was desirable in the interests of North Staffordshire to form a federation of local authorities", thereby indicating a preference for implementation the county plan. Legal opinion sought suggested that the county plan was unlikely to succeed and that a more viable proposition would be to expand the county borough of Hanley to include the other Potteries towns. Accordingly in March 1902, representatives of the four boroughs and two urban districts met and agreed unanimously that "the principle of federation of the Pottery towns by the constitution of a county borough should be adopted, subject to the resolutions passed by each authority for the preservation of their respective interests."
Hanley council made a formal proposal in 1902 to the Local Government Board for the expansion of the County Borough of Hanley to include not only Stoke, Burslem, Longton, Fenton and Tunstall but also Smallthorne Urban District, Wolstanton Rural District, and the parishes of Milton, Goldenhill, Chell, Trentham
, Stoke Rural, Caverswall
and Stone
. Only Longton council supported the idea as concurrently, Sir Hugh Owen, a former secretary to the Local Government Board, presented the six towns committee with a scheme of financial adjustment. Under this proposal, the net assets of each town would be calculated by deducting outstanding debts and liabilities from the values of its various properties. The proportion each town needed to contribute to the overall value of the county borough was then to be calculated. If the value of the net assets to be contributed by a town was less than the proportion calculated as due from that town towards the overall sum, then that town would need to set a higher general rate to be paid by the ratepayers of that town. Conversely, towns contributing a value of net assets greater than their proportion of the overall sum would be able to set a lower general rate. While five of the towns awaited a report from Alderman Frederick Geen of Stoke on the implications of the Owen proposal, Fenton immediately decided that it would impose undue financial hardship on the ratepayers of the district as the net assets of the district would show a deficiency and therefore a higher rate would have to be set. Fenton district council could not accept such a move and withdrew from all discussions on federation forthwith. Geen's July 1903 report increased opposition to the idea of federation while a poll of ratepayers in Burslem came out strongly against federation. Burslem council then withdrew from the scheme to be followed shortly afterwards by Stoke. Faced by such strong opposition, Hanley council felt compelled to withdraw its submission to the Local Government Board bringing the first attempt at federation in the twentieth century to an unsuccessful conclusion.
Despite this setback, Longton and Stoke submitted their proposal to the Local Government Board in early 1907. A local inquiry was held soon afterwards in Stoke, which reported back quickly and in April 1907 informed both Stoke and Longton councils that the proposed scheme was not sufficiently comprehensive and suggested holding another conference between the six towns to discuss a more complete proposal. The meeting took place in July and was addressed by John Burns
, president of the Local Government Board, who called for a number of local conferences to agree a scheme for federation of all six towns.
These were duly held everywhere except Tunstall, where the council refused to participate. Fenton council made it clear that it would not back any proposal that did not have the support of its electorate. In Burslem, a high turnout of 74 per cent of voters delivered a vote of 3:2 against federation. The Staffordshire Advertiser described the events surrounding this poll as "unprecedented" with both proponents and opponents—chiefly the Association for Promoting the Federation of the Pottery Towns and the Burslem Anti-Federation League—making every effort to ensure their supporters voted. An indication of the strength of feeling and interest in the proposal is that the events surrounding the federation proposal were used as a background setting by the author Arnold Bennett
in his contemporary (1908) novel The Old Wives' Tale
. With Fenton, Tunstall and Burslem all opposing federation it was left to Hanley, Stoke and Longton to submit proposals to the Local Government Board. The Local Government Board ruled that only the submission made by Longton met the statutory and other formal requirements and that it alone would form the basis of the subsequent local inquiry, held in January 1908.
Before the inquiry opened, a poll was conducted in Tunstall where ratepayers of the town showed themselves to be in favour of federation. As the council itself had voted against federation, it decided not to oppose or support federation but instead to achieve the best deal it could for the town. The three-day inquiry opened on 8 January 1908 and was chaired by Major Norton, an officer of the Local Government Board. Norton's appointment itself caused controversy with the delegation from Burslem walking out on the first day protesting that Norton had already declared himself in favour of federation. The walkout did not disrupt the hearing but left only Fenton and Staffordshire County Council opposed to the plan, with Tunstall neutral and Hanley, Stoke and Longton in favour. The bulk of the inquiry examined rating schemes based largely on the Owen or Geen proposals from the previous federation attempt.
On 23 February 1908, less than six weeks after the inquiry closed, the Local Government Board issued a draft provisional bill for the federation of the six towns. This was not unexpected but the rating scheme proposed differed from the schemes discussed during the inquiry and included a complicated valuation of the properties belonging to each municipality, something that none of the towns wished to carry out. Nevertheless, Hanley, Longton and Tunstall all supported the draft order while Stoke, Fenton and Burslem opposed it.
Once the draft order had been issued, the locus of the process moved from the Potteries to London with the Local Government Provisional Order (No. 3) Bill introduced in the House of Commons in July 1908 by the Select Committee on Private bills chaired by Sir George White
. The bill received its third reading on 31 July 1908 but had undergone significant amendment during its passage through the House of Commons, most notably in the introduction of a complex, differential rating system for a period of 10 years. Few of the interested parties were pleased with the proposal and, although the differential system was welcomed, a period of 20 years was preferred with the complicated valuation required of all public assets proving unpopular. As a result, Tunstall withdrew its support for the order leaving only Hanley and Longton to promote the bill in the House of Lords
. Neither council was particularly in favour of the financial settlement but felt honour bound to promote the bill, having been the initial instigators of the scheme. Petition
s objecting to the bill were submitted to the House of Lords by Staffordshire County Council, Burslem, Fenton, Stoke, and Tunstall councils, the Longton Justices, the North Staffordshire Railway Company
, and individual Tunstall ratepayers.
The House of Lords Select Committee assigned to deal with the bill was chaired by Lord Cromer
and sat during November and December 1908. After several sessions, the committee declared several important decisions. It reaffirmed that federation would benefit of the people of the Potteries, that a differential rating system for a fixed period was required, that asset valuation in each town should be abandoned, and that the committee reserved the right to decide a course of action should the parties not be able to reach agreement. This last point was important because without it all disputes would have to be passed back either to the Local Government Board or the House of Commons. With prorogation of the current Parliament on the horizon, this would have led to delays that jeopardised the passage of the whole bill through Parliament during that parliamentary session.
On 16 December 1908, less than a week after the committee made its announcement, the six towns informed the committee that an agreement had been reached and that a differential rating system for the next 20 years had been settled on. No valuation of assets would be undertaken and that each town was responsible for discharging any outstanding loans as of 31 December 1907. At this point the committee redrafted the bill according to the terms agreed by the towns and it was passed by the House of Lords on 19 December 1908. Returned to the House of Commons the bill was passed by the Commons the same day, with Royal Assent
being received on 21 December 1908. The Local Government Provisional Order (No. 3) Confirmation Act (8 Edw. 7 c.clxiv) came into force on 31 March 1910 with the new council consisting of 78 councillor
s representing 26 wards
and Cecil Wedgwood
appointed as the first mayor of the county borough of Stoke-on-Trent.
On 1 July 1925 the county borough of Stoke-on-Trent became the City of Stoke-on-Trent under letters patent
from King George V dated 5 June 1925.
Burslem
The town of Burslem, known as the Mother Town, is one of the six towns that amalgamated to form the current city of Stoke-on-Trent, in the ceremonial county of Staffordshire, in the Midlands of England.-Topography:...
, Tunstall
Tunstall, Staffordshire
Tunstall is an area in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. It was one of the original six towns that federated to form the city. Tunstall is the most northern town of the city of Stoke-on-Trent....
, Stoke-upon-Trent
Stoke-upon-Trent
Stoke-upon-Trent, commonly called Stoke or Stoke town, is a component town of the city of Stoke-on-Trent, in the ceremonial county of Staffordshire, England....
, Hanley, Fenton
Fenton, Staffordshire
Fenton is one of the six towns of the Stoke-on-Trent conurbation which were federated in 1910. It is situated in the south-east of the city. Arnold Bennett called his fictionalised version of Stoke on Trent the "Five Towns", and Fenton has been dubbed the town Arnold Bennett...
and Longton
Longton, Staffordshire
Longton is a southern district of Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, and is known locally as the "Neck End" of the city. Longton is one of the six towns of "the Potteries" which formed the City of Stoke-on-Trent in 1925.-History:...
into the single county borough
County borough
County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland , to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control. They were abolished by the Local Government Act 1972 in England and Wales, but continue in use for lieutenancy and shrievalty in...
of Stoke-on-Trent
Stoke-on-Trent
Stoke-on-Trent , also called The Potteries is a city in Staffordshire, England, which forms a linear conurbation almost 12 miles long, with an area of . Together with the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme Stoke forms The Potteries Urban Area...
. An anomaly in the history of English local government, this was the first union of its type and the only such event to take place until the 1960s. lists the federation of Stoke-on-Trent as unique, as the publication precedes the recommendations of the Local Government Commission for England (1958–1967). These recommendations created other county boroughs by federation, for example the County Borough of Warley
County Borough of Warley
Warley was a county borough and civil parish forming part of the West Midlands conurbation, England, and geographical county of Worcestershire. It was formed in 1966 by the combination of the existing county borough of Smethwick with the municipal boroughs of Oldbury and Rowley Regis Warley was a...
created by the Local Government (West Midlands) Order 1965 (SI 1965 No. 2139) and the County Borough of Teesside
County Borough of Teesside
Teesside was, from 1968 to 1974, a local government district in northern England. It comprised a conurbation that spanned both sides of the River Tees from which it took its name...
created by the Teesside Order 1967 (SI 1967 No. 396). The history leading to federation starts in the early 19th century and ends with the formation of the county borough of Stoke-on-Trent in 1910.
Little interaction between the separate settlements occurred until the 18th century when the pottery industry began to expand rapidly. By the early 19th century, initial steps had been made to ensure greater co-operation between the Potteries towns over the issue of law and order. The county plan of 1888 made the first attempts to form the six towns into one county borough, following an act of Parliament
Acts of Parliament in the United Kingdom
An Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom is a type of legislation called primary legislation. These Acts are passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom at Westminster, or by the Scottish Parliament at Edinburgh....
that restructured the county system and created the administrative county of Staffordshire
Staffordshire
Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...
. Wishing to remain independent, the Potteries towns discussed uniting to form a separate county, the Staffordshire Potteries. When it became apparent that such a move would fail, the proposal was revised to one of uniting the six towns into one county borough. This plan failed after Hanley Corporation and Stoke Corporation could not agree on the location of the future administrative centre. Instead, only Hanley gained county borough status because the other towns did not meet the criteria for such designation.
The first federation attempt was made in 1900 with a resurrection of the county plan. In 1902, Hanley Council led attempts to form an expanded county borough, but disagreement over the complex financial issues of rates
Rates (tax)
Rates are a type of property tax system in the United Kingdom, and in places with systems deriving from the British one, the proceeds of which are used to fund local government...
, assets and loans caused Fenton to pull out, quickly followed by Burslem and Stoke, and the proposal was abandoned in 1903. The second and final federation process, between 1905 and 1910, was instigated by Longton Town Council with support from Stoke and Hanley and opposition from Fenton, Tunstall and Burslem. Issues again arose over the financial settlement and discussions continued during the progress of the Federation Bill through Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
. The bill was passed in the House of Commons and was still under debate in the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
when the six towns announced that they had come to an agreement. Passed in December 1908, the act came into force on 31 March 1910. Stoke-on-Trent was a county borough for 15 years, until city status was granted to Stoke-on-Trent by King George V
George V of the United Kingdom
George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936....
on 1 July 1925.
Background
By the early part of the 19th century the six towns that eventually became Stoke-on-Trent—Burslem, Tunstall, Stoke-upon-Trent, Hanley, Fenton and Longton—were all established settlements. Despite occupying only a small geographic area and all based around the pottery industry, there was little political or social co-operation between them.Prior to the 19th century, local government remained largely based on the parochial
Parochialism
Parochialism means being provincial, being narrow in scope, or considering only small sections of an issue. It may, particularly when used pejoratively, be contrasted to universalism....
and manorial
Manorialism
Manorialism, an essential element of feudal society, was the organizing principle of rural economy that originated in the villa system of the Late Roman Empire, was widely practiced in medieval western and parts of central Europe, and was slowly replaced by the advent of a money-based market...
systems in use since the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
. In the Potteries towns this led to each of the townships having varying forms of government. Tunstall was parochially within Wolstanton and manorially part of Tunstall manor; Burslem, although manorially a part of Tunstall manor, parochially was part of Burslem parish. It was through these failing regimes, such as the 1813 lapse of the manorial court of Tunstall, that the long process towards federation began.
The earliest changes were seen in Hanley and Burslem when in 1813 the Hanley Market Act (53 Geo. 3 c.cxv) gave statutory control of Hanley market to a board of trustees outside manorial control. In 1825 the Hanley and Shelton Improvement Act (6 Geo. 4 c.lxxiii) and the Burslem Markets, Lighting and Police Act (6 Geo. 4. c.cxxxi), for Hanley and Burslem respectively, gave a board of commissioners control over policing and lighting along with the ability to levy rates
Rates (tax)
Rates are a type of property tax system in the United Kingdom, and in places with systems deriving from the British one, the proceeds of which are used to fund local government...
for these purposes. Important steps as they were, none were directed towards any form of co-operation between Burslem, Hanley or any other of the Potteries towns.
Early proposals for co-operation
The first tentative step towards co-operation was taken in 1817, when a meeting in Hanley mooted "future joint public meetings called by the head constables of the various settlements to be held in Hanley". This was the first instance of a call for greater law and order in the Potteries, although there seemed to be little interest in other forms of co-operation.Apart from the establishment of the boards of commissioners
Improvement commissioners
Boards of improvement commissioners were ad-hoc boards created during the 18th and 19th centuries in the United Kingdom. They were an early form of local government.The first Improvement Commission was the Manchester Police Commission, established in 1765...
in Hanley and Burslem, no further changes occurred until the 1830s when passing of the Reform Act 1832
Reform Act 1832
The Representation of the People Act 1832 was an Act of Parliament that introduced wide-ranging changes to the electoral system of England and Wales...
(2 & 3 Will. IV. c.45) sparked renewed interest in incorporation. The act created the parliamentary borough
Parliamentary borough
Parliamentary boroughs are a type of administrative division, usually covering urban areas, that are entitled to representation in a Parliament...
of Stoke-upon-Trent
Stoke-upon-Trent (UK Parliament constituency)
Stoke-upon-Trent was a parliamentary borough in Staffordshire, which elected two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons from 1832 until 1885, and then one member from 1885 until 1918, when the borough was enlarged, renamed Stoke-on-Trent, and split into three single-member...
, which would elect two members to Parliament. Together with Stoke-upon-Trent itself, the parliamentary borough also comprised Hanley, Shelton, Lane End, Fenton, Burslem, Tunstall, Rushton Grange, and the hamlet
Hamlet (place)
A hamlet is usually a rural settlement which is too small to be considered a village, though sometimes the word is used for a different sort of community. Historically, when a hamlet became large enough to justify building a church, it was then classified as a village...
of Sneyd. The significance of the act was that for the first time and for one important reason only—through the election of Members of Parliament—the townships of the Potteries effectively became one. Shortly after the Reform Act came into effect, a Municipal Corporations Bill was introduced which proposed that the new parliamentary boroughs should be granted charters of incorporation. The bill failed with the prorogation of that Parliament, while the Potteries were excluded from the reforms of the later Municipal Corporations Act 1835
Municipal Corporations Act 1835
The Municipal Corporations Act 1835 – sometimes known as the Municipal Reform Act, was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in the incorporated boroughs of England and Wales...
(5 & 6 Wm. IV. c.76). Interest in incorporation was sufficient for several meetings on the subject to take place; the Staffordshire Advertiser reported after one meeting in Burslem that incorporation would lead to one town having undue influence over the others, a theme that was to recur for many years. The same meeting revisited a topic raised pre–1820—the promotion of law and order in the Potteries—and called for the appointment of a stipendiary magistrate.
Only two years later the people of Fenton voted in favour of incorporation of the borough, while further meetings in Stoke and Burslem came out against incorporation but reiterated calls for the appointment of a stipendiary magistrate. Later the same year, a further call for better policing was made at a meeting chaired by the Duke of Sutherland
George Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 2nd Duke of Sutherland
George Granville Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 2nd Duke of Sutherland KG , styled Viscount Trentham until 1803, Earl Gower between 1803 and 1833 and Marquess of Stafford in 1833, was a British peer....
. These calls were heard and in 1839 two acts of Parliament
Act of Parliament
An Act of Parliament is a statute enacted as primary legislation by a national or sub-national parliament. In the Republic of Ireland the term Act of the Oireachtas is used, and in the United States the term Act of Congress is used.In Commonwealth countries, the term is used both in a narrow...
were passed, the Staffordshire Potteries Stipendiary Justice Act (2 & 3 Vict. c.15) and the Staffordshire Potteries Improvement and Police Act (2 & 3 Vict. c.xliv). This legislation created boards of commissioners with the same powers given to Hanley and Burslem by the 1825 acts. Following these amendments to local policing and justice, the discussion of co-operation and federation between the various townships was subdued for several decades.
County plan of 1888
Changes in local government between 1840 and 1888 saw the end of the parochial and manorial systems. The townships of Stoke-upon-Trent, Penkhull and Boothen were formed into the boroughMunicipal borough
Municipal boroughs were a type of local government district which existed in England and Wales between 1835 and 1974, in Northern Ireland from 1840 to 1973 and in the Republic of Ireland from 1840 to 2002...
of Stoke-upon-Trent in 1874 while Longton and Lane End became the borough of Longton in 1865. Hanley and Shelton became the borough of Hanley in 1857 and Burslem became a borough in 1878. In Tunstall (1855) and Fenton (1873), the boards of commissioners were superseded by local boards of health.
Introduction of the Local Government Bill in March 1888 caused much debate in the Potteries about the position of the towns under the proposed council structure. The bill proposed the creation of county council
County council
A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries.-United Kingdom:...
s across England and Wales and the granting of county borough status to towns with a population exceeding 100,000. County borough status would allow such places to govern themselves independently of the county council.
Consensus in the Potteries was against coming under the control of Staffordshire County Council and the idea developed of the Potteries seeking to become a county in their own right. Accordingly, a proposal was submitted to the Local Government Board on 2 July 1888 for the creation of a county of the Staffordshire Potteries. However, on 9 July 1888 it was proposed to amend the bill to reduce the population requirement for county borough status from 100,000 to only 50,000,Staffordshire North West
North West Staffordshire (UK Parliament constituency)
North West Staffordshire was a constituency in Staffordshire which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Elections were held using the first past the post voting system.-History:...
, moved an amendment to the bill that "[t]he district of the Staffordshire Potteries, comprising the municipal boroughs of Hanley, Stoke-upon-Trent, Longton, and Burslem, the urban sanitary district of the Fenton Local Board of Health, and the urban sanitary district of the Tunstall Local Board of Health, the six towns comprising the Pottery District should be formed into a county". In response, the President of the Local Government Board
President of the Local Government Board
The President of the Local Government Board was a ministerial post, frequently a Cabinet position, in the United Kingdom, established in 1871. The Local Government Board itself was established in 1871 and took over supervisory functions from the Board of Trade and the Home Office, including the...
, Charles Ritchie, proposed the matter be resolved by way of a provisional order bill
Provisional Order
Provisional Order is a method of procedure followed by several government departments in England, authorizing action on the part of local authorities under various acts of Parliament....
in the next parliamentary session and that he would undertake to introduce such a bill. William Woodall
William Woodall (UK politician)
William Woodall , was a British Liberal politician, philanthropist and supporter of women's suffrage.Woodall was the elder son of William Woodall, of Shrewsbury, and his wife Martha , and was educated at Crescent Schools, Liverpool...
, MP for Hanley
Hanley (UK Parliament constituency)
Hanley was a borough constituency in Staffordshire which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom between 1885 and 1950. Elections were held using the first past the post voting system.- History :...
, supported the amendment but accepted Ritchie's assurance. However, he was also bound to protect Hanley's interests and moved that Hanley be added to the proposed list of county boroughs under the Local Government bill, but would surrender that right if all of the Potteries were to become a county borough or county in their own right. Ritchie re-iterated his hope that the matter could be resolved by way of provisional order bill and with that both amendments were withdrawn.
The bill received Royal Assent
Royal Assent
The granting of royal assent refers to the method by which any constitutional monarch formally approves and promulgates an act of his or her nation's parliament, thus making it a law...
on 13 August 1888 with Hanley listed among those places to be granted county borough status. The corporation of Hanley vacillated for several months as to how best to proceed, then in February 1889 opted for Hanley to take its county borough status, effectively killing both the county proposal and the county borough proposal. Why Hanley corporation made such a decision is not recorded, but it was reported in the Staffordshire Sentinel of 5 February 1901 that it was because Stoke corporation insisted that the administrative centre of the new county be in Stoke, not Hanley, something that Hanley could not agree too.
Apart from an abortive scheme proposed in 1889 by Longton for Stoke, Fenton and Longton to become a county borough, the events of 1888–1889 proved to be the last attempt at federation until the 20th century.
First federation proposal 1900–1903
In December 1900, Stoke Town Council proposed a meeting with "a view to federal action" and issued an invitation to the boroughs of Hanley, Stoke, Newcastle-under-LymeNewcastle-under-Lyme
Newcastle-under-Lyme is a market town in Staffordshire, England, and is the principal town of the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme. It is part of The Potteries Urban Area and North Staffordshire. In the 2001 census the town had a population of 73,944...
, Longton, and Burslem, the urban district
Urban district
In the England, Wales and Ireland, an urban district was a type of local government district that covered an urbanised area. Urban districts had an elected Urban District Council , which shared local government responsibilities with a county council....
s of Fenton, Tunstall, Audley
Audley, Staffordshire
Audley is a rural village approximately four miles north west of the town of Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, England. It is the centre of Audley Rural parish....
, Kidsgrove, and Smallthorne
Smallthorne
Smallthorne is an area in the city of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England. It is in the north-east of the city, near Burslem...
, the rural districts of Stoke
Stoke upon Trent Rural District
Stoke upon Trent Rural District was a rural district in Staffordshire. It was created in 1894 and consisted of two civil parishes, Bagnall and Stoke Rural. Both parishes and the district were abolished in 1922, being absorbed into the county borough of Stoke-on-Trent and the Cheadle Rural District....
and Wolstanton
Wolstanton Rural District
Wolstanton was a rural district in Staffordshire, England from 1894 to 1904. It was created by the Local Government Act 1894 based on Wolstanton rural sanitary district....
. The parishes of Milton
Milton, Staffordshire
Milton is located in Stoke on Trent, Staffordshire, England. It is mainly situated between the A5009 and A53 roads. It shares its borders with Light Oaks, Baddeley Green, Sneyd Green, and Abbey Hulton....
, Chell, Goldenhill, Chesterton
Chesterton, Staffordshire
Chesterton is a small, former mining village, located in the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, England. It sits near the market town of Newcastle-under-Lyme....
, and Silverdale
Silverdale, Staffordshire
Silverdale is a suburban village and civil parish in Staffordshire, west of Newcastle-under-Lyme. In 1932 it became part of the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme and is now, with the exception of the north-eastern end, part of the Silverdale and Parksite ward....
were also invited. The meeting took place in February 1901 and resolved "that it was desirable in the interests of North Staffordshire to form a federation of local authorities", thereby indicating a preference for implementation the county plan. Legal opinion sought suggested that the county plan was unlikely to succeed and that a more viable proposition would be to expand the county borough of Hanley to include the other Potteries towns. Accordingly in March 1902, representatives of the four boroughs and two urban districts met and agreed unanimously that "the principle of federation of the Pottery towns by the constitution of a county borough should be adopted, subject to the resolutions passed by each authority for the preservation of their respective interests."
Hanley council made a formal proposal in 1902 to the Local Government Board for the expansion of the County Borough of Hanley to include not only Stoke, Burslem, Longton, Fenton and Tunstall but also Smallthorne Urban District, Wolstanton Rural District, and the parishes of Milton, Goldenhill, Chell, Trentham
Trentham, Staffordshire
Trentham is a suburb of Stoke-on-Trent, located to the south-west of the city centre and to the south of the neighbouring town of Newcastle-under-Lyme. Although the majority of Trentham is within the city limits, it is mostly separated from the main urban area by surrounding open space and the...
, Stoke Rural, Caverswall
Caverswall
Caverswall is a village and parish in Staffordshire, to the south west of Staffordshire Moorlands.- Etymology :The name Caverswall is thought to have its origins in the Saxon words Cafhere, a personal noun, and Waelle, which meant spring or well.By the time of the Domesday Book the village was...
and Stone
Stone, Staffordshire
Stone is an old market town in Staffordshire, England, situated about seven miles north of Stafford, and around seven miles south of the city of Stoke-on-Trent. It is the second town, after Stafford itself, in the Borough of Stafford, and has long been of importance from the point of view of...
. Only Longton council supported the idea as concurrently, Sir Hugh Owen, a former secretary to the Local Government Board, presented the six towns committee with a scheme of financial adjustment. Under this proposal, the net assets of each town would be calculated by deducting outstanding debts and liabilities from the values of its various properties. The proportion each town needed to contribute to the overall value of the county borough was then to be calculated. If the value of the net assets to be contributed by a town was less than the proportion calculated as due from that town towards the overall sum, then that town would need to set a higher general rate to be paid by the ratepayers of that town. Conversely, towns contributing a value of net assets greater than their proportion of the overall sum would be able to set a lower general rate. While five of the towns awaited a report from Alderman Frederick Geen of Stoke on the implications of the Owen proposal, Fenton immediately decided that it would impose undue financial hardship on the ratepayers of the district as the net assets of the district would show a deficiency and therefore a higher rate would have to be set. Fenton district council could not accept such a move and withdrew from all discussions on federation forthwith. Geen's July 1903 report increased opposition to the idea of federation while a poll of ratepayers in Burslem came out strongly against federation. Burslem council then withdrew from the scheme to be followed shortly afterwards by Stoke. Faced by such strong opposition, Hanley council felt compelled to withdraw its submission to the Local Government Board bringing the first attempt at federation in the twentieth century to an unsuccessful conclusion.
Second federation proposal 1905–1910
At a conference of local authorities held in 1905, delegates from Longton again raised the issue of confederation but their proposal was not well received. Undaunted, they amended their suggestion to: "On the grounds of sanitation, education, and other matters of common interest it is desirable that the parliamentary borough of Stoke-upon-Trent should be formed into one municipal borough on some equitable basis, and that the other authorities concerned be invited to take the subject into their consideration" At that time, the parliamentary borough of Stoke-upon-Trent meant Longton, Stoke and Fenton. While Stoke town council were in favour, the voters of Fenton were not and voted overwhelmingly against the proposal.Despite this setback, Longton and Stoke submitted their proposal to the Local Government Board in early 1907. A local inquiry was held soon afterwards in Stoke, which reported back quickly and in April 1907 informed both Stoke and Longton councils that the proposed scheme was not sufficiently comprehensive and suggested holding another conference between the six towns to discuss a more complete proposal. The meeting took place in July and was addressed by John Burns
John Burns
John Elliot Burns was an English trade unionist and politician of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly associated with London politics. He was a socialist and then a Liberal Member of Parliament and Minister. He was anti-alcohol and a keen sportsman...
, president of the Local Government Board, who called for a number of local conferences to agree a scheme for federation of all six towns.
These were duly held everywhere except Tunstall, where the council refused to participate. Fenton council made it clear that it would not back any proposal that did not have the support of its electorate. In Burslem, a high turnout of 74 per cent of voters delivered a vote of 3:2 against federation. The Staffordshire Advertiser described the events surrounding this poll as "unprecedented" with both proponents and opponents—chiefly the Association for Promoting the Federation of the Pottery Towns and the Burslem Anti-Federation League—making every effort to ensure their supporters voted. An indication of the strength of feeling and interest in the proposal is that the events surrounding the federation proposal were used as a background setting by the author Arnold Bennett
Arnold Bennett
- Early life :Bennett was born in a modest house in Hanley in the Potteries district of Staffordshire. Hanley is one of a conurbation of six towns which joined together at the beginning of the twentieth century as Stoke-on-Trent. Enoch Bennett, his father, qualified as a solicitor in 1876, and the...
in his contemporary (1908) novel The Old Wives' Tale
The Old Wives' Tale
The Old Wives' Tale is a novel by Arnold Bennett, first published in 1908. It deals with the lives of two very different sisters, Constance and Sophia Baines, following their stories from their youth, working in their mother's draper's shop, into old age. It is generally regarded as one of...
. With Fenton, Tunstall and Burslem all opposing federation it was left to Hanley, Stoke and Longton to submit proposals to the Local Government Board. The Local Government Board ruled that only the submission made by Longton met the statutory and other formal requirements and that it alone would form the basis of the subsequent local inquiry, held in January 1908.
Before the inquiry opened, a poll was conducted in Tunstall where ratepayers of the town showed themselves to be in favour of federation. As the council itself had voted against federation, it decided not to oppose or support federation but instead to achieve the best deal it could for the town. The three-day inquiry opened on 8 January 1908 and was chaired by Major Norton, an officer of the Local Government Board. Norton's appointment itself caused controversy with the delegation from Burslem walking out on the first day protesting that Norton had already declared himself in favour of federation. The walkout did not disrupt the hearing but left only Fenton and Staffordshire County Council opposed to the plan, with Tunstall neutral and Hanley, Stoke and Longton in favour. The bulk of the inquiry examined rating schemes based largely on the Owen or Geen proposals from the previous federation attempt.
On 23 February 1908, less than six weeks after the inquiry closed, the Local Government Board issued a draft provisional bill for the federation of the six towns. This was not unexpected but the rating scheme proposed differed from the schemes discussed during the inquiry and included a complicated valuation of the properties belonging to each municipality, something that none of the towns wished to carry out. Nevertheless, Hanley, Longton and Tunstall all supported the draft order while Stoke, Fenton and Burslem opposed it.
Once the draft order had been issued, the locus of the process moved from the Potteries to London with the Local Government Provisional Order (No. 3) Bill introduced in the House of Commons in July 1908 by the Select Committee on Private bills chaired by Sir George White
George White (UK politician)
Sir George White was Liberal Party politician in the United Kingdom. He was Member of Parliament for North West Norfolk from 1900 until his death in 1912, aged 72.- External links :...
. The bill received its third reading on 31 July 1908 but had undergone significant amendment during its passage through the House of Commons, most notably in the introduction of a complex, differential rating system for a period of 10 years. Few of the interested parties were pleased with the proposal and, although the differential system was welcomed, a period of 20 years was preferred with the complicated valuation required of all public assets proving unpopular. As a result, Tunstall withdrew its support for the order leaving only Hanley and Longton to promote the bill in the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
. Neither council was particularly in favour of the financial settlement but felt honour bound to promote the bill, having been the initial instigators of the scheme. Petition
Petition
A petition is a request to do something, most commonly addressed to a government official or public entity. Petitions to a deity are a form of prayer....
s objecting to the bill were submitted to the House of Lords by Staffordshire County Council, Burslem, Fenton, Stoke, and Tunstall councils, the Longton Justices, the North Staffordshire Railway Company
North Staffordshire Railway
The North Staffordshire Railway was a British railway company formed in 1845 to promote a number of lines in the Staffordshire Potteries and surrounding areas in Staffordshire, Cheshire, Derbyshire and Shropshire....
, and individual Tunstall ratepayers.
The House of Lords Select Committee assigned to deal with the bill was chaired by Lord Cromer
Evelyn Baring, 1st Earl of Cromer
Evelyn Baring, 1st Earl of Cromer, GCB, OM, GCMG, KCSI, CIE, PC, FRS , was a British statesman, diplomat and colonial administrator....
and sat during November and December 1908. After several sessions, the committee declared several important decisions. It reaffirmed that federation would benefit of the people of the Potteries, that a differential rating system for a fixed period was required, that asset valuation in each town should be abandoned, and that the committee reserved the right to decide a course of action should the parties not be able to reach agreement. This last point was important because without it all disputes would have to be passed back either to the Local Government Board or the House of Commons. With prorogation of the current Parliament on the horizon, this would have led to delays that jeopardised the passage of the whole bill through Parliament during that parliamentary session.
On 16 December 1908, less than a week after the committee made its announcement, the six towns informed the committee that an agreement had been reached and that a differential rating system for the next 20 years had been settled on. No valuation of assets would be undertaken and that each town was responsible for discharging any outstanding loans as of 31 December 1907. At this point the committee redrafted the bill according to the terms agreed by the towns and it was passed by the House of Lords on 19 December 1908. Returned to the House of Commons the bill was passed by the Commons the same day, with Royal Assent
Royal Assent
The granting of royal assent refers to the method by which any constitutional monarch formally approves and promulgates an act of his or her nation's parliament, thus making it a law...
being received on 21 December 1908. The Local Government Provisional Order (No. 3) Confirmation Act (8 Edw. 7 c.clxiv) came into force on 31 March 1910 with the new council consisting of 78 councillor
Councillor
A councillor or councilor is a member of a local government council, such as a city council.Often in the United States, the title is councilman or councilwoman.-United Kingdom:...
s representing 26 wards
Wards of the United Kingdom
A ward in the United Kingdom is an electoral district at sub-national level represented by one or more councillors. It is the primary unit of British administrative and electoral geography .-England:...
and Cecil Wedgwood
Cecil Wedgwood
Major Cecil Wedgwood DSO was a British soldier and partner in the Wedgwood pottery firm.Wedgwood was the only son of Godfrey Wedgwood and his first wife Mary Jane Jackson Hawkshaw, who died shortly after he was born...
appointed as the first mayor of the county borough of Stoke-on-Trent.
On 1 July 1925 the county borough of Stoke-on-Trent became the City of Stoke-on-Trent under letters patent
Letters patent
Letters patent are a type of legal instrument in the form of a published written order issued by a monarch or president, generally granting an office, right, monopoly, title, or status to a person or corporation...
from King George V dated 5 June 1925.