Description:From as early as the eighteenth century ideas of uniting the six North Staffordshire towns of Stoke-upon-Trent, Longton, Burslem, Fenton, Hanley, and Tunstall had been considered by North Staffordshire town councils. Attempts throughout the nineteenth century proved unsuccessful owing to differences in trade and local identity amongst the six towns. It was not until the early twentieth century that negotiations were made which ‘culminated in the union of the towns as one county borough’ in 1910.
As extensive landowners in North Staffordshire, both the third and fourth Dukes of Sutherland were involved in negotiations towards a federation of the towns. Cromartie Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, the fourth Duke of Sutherland was instrumental in promoting the union of the towns, offering his Trentham Estate to the new county borough if federation took place.
The Sutherland Papers includes a large scrapbook of news cuttings relating to negotiations towards the federation of the six towns in the early twentieth century. The articles relate to Local Government Board Inquiries and contain evidence given by people both for and against federation. Some extracts from the variety of articles including some relating to the Duke of Sutherland’s role in proceedings are featured below.
Based on J. H. Y. Briggs A History of Longton: 1 The Birth of a Community (1982)and J. G. Jenkins, ed., Victoria County History: A History of the County of Stafford: Volume 8 (1963).
Click on the images on the left to learn more about the Federation of the Six Towns.