pub 17 Longe Report – employment of children in the potteries 1862.

Potteries Mercury  1845 April – November 1846

If I stated that this collection of the Potteries Mercury from 1830-1846 was a unique collection being the only one in the world in its present format, I would not be exaggeration and is exclusive only on this site and it is now offered in a totally different format than the original the copyright is mine only.
It could be nearly thirty years ago when I used to purchase just a few at a time from the British Library in 35mm reel format which could not be accessed without a viewer and even then, impossible to search or copy therefore unable to do anything with them for possibly nearly twenty/thirty years until technology improved allowing me to have them converted and each reel placed become available on a cd. So could have then downloaded onto my computer for ease of use and copy paste etc.
Because of the high cost at the time, this process like the same as acquiring, the original collected taking several years to first purchase them one at a time, then the cost of having each converted from 35mm file to cd again at considerable cost. The total cost could easily be several thousands of pounds invested over all these years.
Now as it happens the British Library no longer hold this collection but have sold it on with all other newspapers a number of years ago both national and local. As a result, they are my copywrite as they are no longer in the original format and am the only person to have this unique collection of the first newspaper published in North Staffordshire and this is the very first time are now available to purchase.
The Staffordshire Mercury was a weekly regional newspaper published Hanley in Staffordshire. The publication was founded in 1824 by Thomas Allbut, with the Rev. Leonard Abington as its first editor. It was later renamed The Potteries Mercury at some point. Sadly, for the years copies from 1824-1830 have not survived or deposited in the British Library. The paper became the North Staffordshire Mercury in March 1834 but returned to being named the Staffordshire Mercury in April 1845. The paper probably folded in May 1848.
This archived which I have over the years used extensively and probably most valuable and useful items in my archives. The Potteries Mercury Newspaper was a weekly local paper sold at a cost of two pence. The contents included Commercial advertisement, Irish news, National news items, Properties to let, Business pages, local Bankruptcies, Birth, Marries etc, Turnpike Roads and rents, Foreign news, Parliamentary matters, covering both the local area, foreign news, political and parliament. The Royal family and visits, travels and finally two pages dedicated to all local news of importance at the time including reports of the Chartists Riots etc and finally, visits of Royalty to Trentham Hall.
This important permanent history of the time is unique. This is for the first time available electronically, one period at a time, or the whole collection. As far as I am ware from the British Library the whole collection was taken over by ‘Find my Past’ a number of years ago and to date they are not available on the site as some are of mediocre quality.

Dr Richard Talbot, MBE, F.R.Hist.S., is one of Staffordshire’s leading historians having studied history from the age of eighteen, first gaining a Master of Philosophy degree at Keele University, followed by a PhD at Leicester. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, well-known broadcaster, documentary producer, lecturer, and regular contributor to the local media.

That’s entertainment is not a history of the building, it’s a complete package of several disciplines’ which will attract local inhabitants, students of theatre history and development, social history of the period and how this addressed itself in theatre attendance. Not only that, but Dr. Talbot also expands his work by using examples within the limits of theatre development at the time.

This study illustrates the challenges of competition and how that was tied into the social fabric of the town, followed by improvements in transport from the mid-1900s. In fact, it is a complete social history combining theatre, localities, social habits, and class distinction which was an integral part of society for most of the theatres existence.

The Newcastle and Pottery theatre was the first purpose-built theatre in North Staffordshire and its interior design based upon the Olympic Theatre in London, and a fine example of provincial theatre architecture of the period.

A5 format 76 pages inc photographs. Good presentation booklet Price £6 inc postage to clear remaining stock.

The Rawlinson Report – sanitation conditions of Stoke-upon Trent 1850. Little is known of this report therefore as a result the information contained within has remained almost hidden away and yet it is the most important eighty-five-page report into the sewage, drainage, supply of water and the sanitary conditions of the inhabitants of the Potteries.

Within this document there are summaries of mortality in five towns of the potteries from 1839 to 1848. It also includes population statistics as well as calculations between male and female. But the reports continue with how much is pain in out-relief per week to the poor and other reports.

Each of the five towns have a separate report on its health, graveyards, poor law expenditure by district, water supply, drainage, sewage, slaughterhouses, outside privies etc. by Mr. Rawlinson but with it he lists reports from many important residents including Doctors on the consequences to the health with killer diseases in the water and poor sanitation. My view is that this report is a snapshot of the pottery towns for the 1840’s and it does make an excellent read of actual life in the potteries in the 1840s.

This document is a perfect item to analyse, to debate and to draw conclusions from and certainly an extraordinary piece of work for 6^th form colleges, university students, as well as local history classes. This is probably the most informative documents every published as to the state of the potteries in 1850.

Eighty-five pages