To the members of the Union and the working classes generally - a notice from the Enoch Wood scrapbook

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Date:1820 - 1840 (c.)

Description:An address to members of the potters' union, urging them not to be tempted into violence against their opponents.

In the early 1800s, times were hard and trade unions were barely recognised. Many employers believed that they were simply unlawful.

The notice reads as follows:

"A report is in circulation that it is our intention to offer violence to some persons who are obnoxious to us at this time, for reasons I need not mention now.

"These persons being compelled, by their official duties, to be present at the nomination, let us not on any account suffer ourselves to be betrayed into a breach of the Peace, such a proceeding would do more injury to our cause than anything else which could occur. It is not by violence and by breaking the laws of our country that we can hope to secure the goodwill of the public.

"I entreat you, therefore, to be orderly and peaceable, and your attendance will then and there alone to credit to those whom you wish to honour."

About this document

This document was collected by Burslem pottery manufacturer Enoch Wood, and is now among the collections at Stoke-on-Trent Museums.

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