Society for Destroying Peace, Liberty and Property particularly against Republicans and Levellers - A defaced notice from the Enoch Wood scrapbook

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Date:14th of December 1792

Description:Pamphlets and posters were a common sight in the 18th century - but just as they were easy to find, they were also simple to alter.

This notice originally advertised a "Society for Protecting Peace, Liberty and Property against Republicans and Levellers" (both of these groups were seen as a threat to property and society).

Gentlemen, clergy and freeholders were urged to meet at the Swan Inn, in Hanley to discuss the matter.

Well-off men who owned property (as few workers did) feared that law and order was about to break down.

Panic arose partly because of the recent revolution in France, during 1790-1.

Defaced

Someone certainly disagreed with the Society's aims, because he or she added the word 'destroying,' while deleting the word 'protecting.'

Who were the Society?

Several men signed the original notice, and handwritten notes (here in italics) were later added:

  • John E. Heathcote -esq.

  • R. Baddeley - Br.

  • John Mare - A Mr. Potter

  • William Yates - a boy

  • Samuel Mew - unknown

  • J.E. Poole - a madman

  • W.W. Lyon - a surgeon

  • Edward Keeling - of Lane End

  • George Rogers - of Burslem or Longport

  • Edward Baddeley - Br.

  • John Baddeley - Br.

  • John Hollins - for Lord Gower

  • Thomas Baddeley - Br.

  • D.B. Baddeley - Junior

  • James Whitehead - A lad

  • Thomas Middleton - A Clergy Man

  • E. Chatterley - A Mr. Potter

  • William Fernyhough - A Poet


  • This document is now in the collection of Stoke-on-Trent Museums.

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