Description:Before 1831, Stoke-on-Trent shared its Member of Parliament with the rest of Staffordshire.
By July 1831, a new Reform Act was promising to transform the face of elections forever.
An MP for the Potteries - or even two...
The Potteries stood to gain at least one MP. However, it began to look more and more likely that two MPs would be returned to represent the area.
This petition was addressed to John Davenport, in an attempt to persuade him to stand as a candidate in the next election, in association with Josiah Wedgwood II.
Why petition Davenport?
The authors list his many selling points:
He is an opponent of the East India Company
He is a 'Friend of Public Liberty'
He favours of the abolition of slavery
He favours Parliamentary reform
The petition is signed by 101 local men, and was printed by Mary Brougham of Burslem:
Enoch Wood
Spencer Rogers
Enoch Wood Junior
Edward Wood
R.H. Haywood
H.H. Williamson
William Harding
Thomas Heath
John Ward
Thomas Walker
James Preston
John Alcock
J.P. Harding
John Acton
W.H. Sharp
J.I. Holden
Peter Fisher
P.E. Wedgwood
John Williamson
John Cormie
Daniel Ball
S. Tomkinson
Howard Haywood
Joseph Wood
L.G. Hales
N. Price Wood
John Haywood
R.W. Wilson
Samuel Rathbone
T. Goodfellow
Ralph Hall
E. Challinor
John Meir
Joseph Twigg
Ralph Johnson
Joseph Brindley
John Robinson
Ralph Johnson
John Forrister
William Edge
Joseph Edge
L.H. Rhead
Thomas Bennett
E. Withinshaw
P. Hopkin
G. Fourdrinier
J. Robinson Junior
J. Heginbottom
Richard Timmiss
J. Meakin
John Ridgway
Charles Atkins
Joseph Hall
John Pepper
John Askey
William Walker
W.D. Hand
Thomas Baxter
Stephen Godwin
B.E. Godwin
Jacob Marsh
J.R. Marsh
Alexander Reid
F. Dillon
Edward Adams
Lewis Adams
Thomas Hughes
R. & J. Clews
John Adams
T. Kemp
John Lockett
John Lockett Junior
J. Deakin
T. Deakin
J. Seabridge
James Grieves
Henry Daniels
William Jervis
George Proctor
John Carey
John Swift
Jonathan Bat...
John Steele
Henry Latham
George Walker
Richard Newbo...
William Huson...
Thomas Locket...
Thomas Dimmo...
John Keeling
Robert May
William Malkin
George Johnson
Robert Smith
James Keeling
Thomas Adams
James Brindsley
James Taylor
Richard Hollins
John Taylor
About this document
This petition was collected by Burslem pottery manufacturer Enoch Wood and is now among the collections at Stoke-on-Trent Museums.