1842 Pottery Riots

Predominantly centred on Hanley and Burslem, in what is now Stoke-on-Trent, the 1842 Pottery Riots took place in the midst of the 1842 General Strike, and both are credited with helping to forge trade unionism and direct action as a powerful tool in British industrial relations.

The riots took place against the back drop of the 1842 General Strike, started by colliers in and around the Potteries, and part of the popular working class Chartist movement. The spark that lit both the General Strike and Pottery Riots was the decision, in early June 1842, by W.H.Sparrow, a Longton 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 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.

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. On Monday 15 August 1842, Thomas Cooper, gave a speech at Crown Bank in Hanley, decreeing: "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:

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