Description:The Defence and Preservation of KING and Country
Printed public notice announcing the resolutions from a meeting that took place in the Legs of Man in Burslem on July 28th, 1803.
A number of businessmen have decided to organise a local armed defence corps.
At the meeting it was decided that a book was to be opened so that members of the parish could enlist.
It was proposed at the meeting that the corps be armed by the government but that volunteers purchase their own uniform!
The Committee
Members of a committee, formed to organise the volunteer corps, are also named on the notice. They are;
ENOCH WOOD.
JOHN WOOD.
RICHARD RILEY.
J.E. POOLE.
THOMAS DREWRY.
JOHN BLACKWELL.
JOHN WARBURTEN.
RALPH STEVENSON.
GEORGE WALKER. and
THOMAS HEATH.
Volunteer Corps
The French Revolution in 1789 signalled the start of a very turbulent period in European history.
During the 1790s the French Revolutionary government waged war on much of Europe, including Italy, Spain, the Netherlands. In 1793 the Republic declared that it was at war with Great Britain.
Fear of invasion prompted the organisation of voluntary home defence forces all over the country.
Added urgency!
There is a document in the collection from 1797, giving notice of similar attempts to form a volunteer corps. It is unclear whether a volunteer corps had been successfully formed then.
This notice has a more urgent introduction, possibly because France were being particularly hostile at the time.
Wood and the volunteer corps
Enoch Wood was a central character in the formation of the local volunteer corps. His name appears at the top of virtually every committe list to organise and decide how it should be run.
About this Document
This article was printed by Tregortha in Burslem. It was collected by local industrialist Enoch Wood and is now part of the collections at Stoke-on-Trent Museums.