Public Dinner - Document from the Enoch Wood Scrapbook

Description:Organising a Public Dinner for the local volunteer corps

Hand-written letter seeking subscriptions from local businessmen for a public dinner in honour of the Longport Volunteer Corps "return from permanent duty".

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.

Enoch Wood and the Burslem Volunteers

Enoch Wood was central to the formation of the Burslem Volunteers Corps. Documentation from the collection shows that he sat at the head of virtually all of the committees that decided how the corps was to be formed and organised from about 1797 to 1814.

About this Document

This article was collected by local industrialist Enoch Wood. It is now part of the collections at Stoke-on-Trent Museums.