Predominantly centred on

Hanley Hanley is one of the six towns that, along with Burslem, Longton, Fenton, Tunstall and Stoke-upon-Trent, amalgamated to form the City of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England. Hanley is the ''de facto'' city centre, having long been the ...

and

Burslem Burslem ( ) is one of the six towns that along with Hanley, Tunstall, Fenton, Longton and Stoke-upon-Trent form part of the city of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England. It is often referred to as the "mother town" of Stoke on Trent. T ...

, in what became the

federation of Stoke-on-Trent The federation of Stoke-on-Trent was the 1910 amalgamation of the six Staffordshire 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 o ...

, the 1842 Pottery Riots took place in the midst of the

1842 General Strike The 1842 general strike, also known as the Plug Plot Riots,So named because the mills "were stopped from working by the removal or 'drawing' of a few bolts or 'plugs' in the boilers so as to prevent steam from being raised": OED s.v. ''plug''. start ...

, and both are credited with helping to forge

trade unionism A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

and direct action as a powerful tool in British industrial relations.

Cause

The riots took place against the backdrop of the

1842 general strike The 1842 general strike, also known as the Plug Plot Riots,So named because the mills "were stopped from working by the removal or 'drawing' of a few bolts or 'plugs' in the boilers so as to prevent steam from being raised": OED s.v. ''plug''. start ...

, started by colliers of the

North Staffordshire Coalfield The North Staffordshire Coalfield was a coalfield in Staffordshire, England, with an area of nearly , virtually all of it within the city of Stoke on Trent and the borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme, apart from three smaller coalfields, Shaffalong ...

in the Potteries, and part of the popular working class Chartist movement. The spark that lit both the

general strike A general strike refers to a strike action in which participants cease all economic activity, such as working, to strengthen the bargaining position of a trade union or achieve a common social or political goal. They are organised by large co ...

and Pottery Riots was the decision, in early June 1842, by W. H. Sparrow, a

Longton Longton may refer to several places: * Longton, Kansas, United States * Longton, Lancashire, United Kingdom * Longton, Staffordshire, United Kingdom See also * Longtan (disambiguation) * Longtown (disambiguation) Longtown may refer to several plac ...

coal mine owner, to disregard the law and fail to give the statutory fortnight's notice before imposing a hefty pay reduction of almost a

shilling The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 12 pence o ...

a day on his workers. The men went on strike, and soon surrounding colliery workers began showing support. The strike cause was championed by Chartists, who called for a general strike across the Potteries. However, by the end of July strikes were endemic across north Staffordshire and were spreading, notably in south east

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

Events

As the strike spread, it gained the attention of the Chartist movement. On 13 August prominent Chartist orator Thomas Cooper arrived in Hanley and was given lodgings by coffee shop owner Jeremiah Yates.Jeremiah Yates
Thepotteries.org. On Monday 15 August 1842, Thomas Cooper gave a speech at Crown Bank in

, declaring: "that all labour cease until the People's Charter becomes the law of the land." John Ward states what happened next in his 1843 book: Later on the 16th, Thomas Powys, a

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...

and deputy

lord lieutenant A lord-lieutenant ( ) is the British monarch's personal representative in each lieutenancy area of the United Kingdom. Historically, each lieutenant was responsible for organising the county's militia. In 1871, the lieutenant's responsibility ...

of the county, read out the

Riot Act The Riot Act (1 Geo.1 St.2 c.5), sometimes called the Riot Act 1714 or the Riot Act 1715, was an act of the Parliament of Great Britain which authorised local authorities to declare any group of 12 or more people to be unlawfully assembled and o ...

. 4,000–5,000 protesters marched with a band from

Leek The leek is a vegetable, a cultivar of ''Allium ampeloprasum'', the broadleaf wild leek ( syn. ''Allium porrum''). The edible part of the plant is a bundle of leaf sheaths that is sometimes erroneously called a stem or stalk. The genus ''Alli ...

to join the local people in Burslem. The marchers arrived and began to stone the

dragoons Dragoons were originally a class of mounted infantry, who used horses for mobility, but dismounted to fight on foot. From the early 17th century onward, dragoons were increasingly also employed as conventional cavalry and trained for combat ...

. Powys then ordered troops, based at the Leopard Inn, to fire on the strikers in Burslem Square. The

Josiah Heapy was shot in the head in front of the "Big House" on Moorland Road and died instantly, and many more men and women were wounded. Heapy was 19 years old and born in Quarnford, Staffordshire. He was an orphan: his mother had died when he was 3 years old, and his father when he was 11 years old. He moved to Leek and worked as a shoemaker. The shooting enraged the crowd and they set off to retaliate, by burning down Powys' house. The whole situation continued to deteriorate. The agent of Lord Granville's coal pits had his house ransacked and his office burnt. The Rev Aitken's

manse A manse () is a clergy house inhabited by, or formerly inhabited by, a minister, usually used in the context of Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist and other Christian traditions. Ultimately derived from the Latin ''mansus'', "dwelling", from '' ...

was partly destroyed, his money stolen and his wine drunk. Many other acts of vandalism and retribution were conducted, but mine owners, clergy and magistrates were singled out for special retribution. The rioters were hounded and rounded up by the troops over the course of the day.

Aftermath

Josiah Heapy's funeral was arranged at St. Edward's, Leek on 18 August and apparently led to no disorder. Although there has been local speculation, the location of his grave has not been found. A verdict of

justifiable homicide The concept of justifiable homicide in criminal law is a defense to culpable homicide (criminal or negligent homicide). Generally, there is a burden of production of exculpatory evidence in the legal defense of justification. In most countri ...

was given. A total of 274 people were brought to trial in the special

assizes The courts of assize, or assizes (), were periodic courts held around England and Wales until 1972, when together with the quarter sessions they were abolished by the Courts Act 1971 and replaced by a single permanent Crown Court. The assizes e ...

that followed, of whom 146 were sent to prison and 54 were transported (to Australia). John Ward names those deported. By the end of 1842 the county police force had been established and the first chief constable appointed. This did not dent the popularity of trade unionism though. The Miners' Association of Great Britain and Ireland was formally established on 7 November 1842. The United Branches of Operative Potters (UBOP) was born on 6 September 1843. On 28 April 2018 a plaque was unveiled in Swan Square, Burslem in honour of Josiah Heapy. Josiah Heapy Plaque

External links

Thomas Cooper’s personal accountJohn Ward’s account of what happenedVideo looking at the grave of the man supposedly killed in the riots

References

{{Staffordshire History of Stoke-on-Trent Pottery Riots Pottery Riots Riots and civil disorder in England 19th century in Staffordshire Mining in Staffordshire