Labour is the Source of Wealth - Document from the Enoch Wood Scrapbook

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Date:8th of August 1831

Description:Organising Labour

Printed notice calling for workers in the Potteries to attend a meeting at the Red Lion Inn, Shelton.

The workers were to be addressed by a spokesman of the National Association for the Protection of Labour, a movement founded by John Doherty in 1830.

Doherty had been involved in organising a national spinning union and was now attempting to create a general association as an umbrella union for many trades.

The Gentleman from Manchester referred to on the poster may well have been Doherty himself.

Short Lived

The association was initially successful in attracting smaller unions and individual members.

By 1831 the association had over 100,000 members from over 150 smaller unions.

But by 1832 it had dissolved due to infighting amongst various tradesmen with differing interests and laws that favoured employers.

About this Document

This document was made by Rowley, Printer, Market Square, Hanley. It was collected by local industrialist Enoch Wood and is now part of the collections at Stoke-on-Trent Museums.

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