To the Gentlemen, Clergy and Freeholders of the County Palatine of Chester - Document from the Enoch Wood scrapbook

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Date:13th of May 1831

Description:Victorious election candidate George Wilbraham celebrates his triumph in Cheshire.

He congratulates his opponent Lord Cholmondeley on a hard-fought but unsuccessful campaign, and applauds the "zealous, liberal and disinterested support of voters."

No ordinary victory

This is no ordinary victory. A great Reform Act promises to wipe the 'rotten boroughs' of rural England
from the map. These were often areas with small populations and big-name MPs who were local landowners.

Politicians like Wilbraham promised to make sure that areas such as Manchester, Birmingham and Stoke-on-Trent were better represented with their own MPs - at the expense of the rotten boroughs.

Previously, places like the Potteries had shared an MP with their parent counties.

To borrow a phrase, issuing this notice was rather like congratulating the people on "looking forward, not back."

About this document

Burslem pottery manufacturer Enoch Wood collected this document, which is now among the collections at Stoke-on-Trent Museums.

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