Description:In this letter, Thomas Sparrow recommends to Enoch Wood that 21-year old Parliamentary candidate Edward John Walhouse should "go as quickly thro' the County as possible - to do otherwise cannot answer any good purpose."
"I would not proclaim this widely..."
Sparrow continues:
Any of the freeholders who wish to see him he will be very glad to have an opportunity of paying his respects to them at the Legs of Man.
He will not have it in his power to stop long.
I would not wish him to go into the Market Hall.
Should any alteration be made in what has been arranged when Mr. Walhouse comes... you shall be informed...
The most material thing is to get as many respectable Freeholders to meet him at the Inn as can with convenience be done - but I would not proclaim this widely.
Walhouse's advisors probably wished to avoid a confrontation at the Market Hall as Burslem was enduring hard times due to high food prices and serious unemployment.
In fact Walhouse was pelted with mud and strong words at an election rally, after he allegedly insulted local potters.
About this document
This document is now among the collections at Stoke-on-Trent Museums.