Description:During the 1812 election, the two candidates for Staffordshire issued notice after notice in their efforts to win votes.
Whigs and Tories
It is confusing to modern ears to hear the Tory candidate, Edward John Walhouse, claim that he is "bound to no Party."
In those days, the main parties were known as the "Whigs" or Liberals, and the Tories.
"Strictly Pure and Independent..."
These parties were more like broad "schools of thought" than today's political factions.
Electors expected them to show their independence.
Walhouse points to "the wishes and the information of the Manufacturers themselves" as being vital to his judgment.
About this document
This document is now among the collections at Stoke-on-Trent Museums.