Stoke-upon-Trent was a parliamentary borough

Parliamentary borough

Parliamentary boroughs are a type of administrative division, usually covering urban areas, that are entitled to representation in a Parliament...

 in Staffordshire

Staffordshire

Staffordshire is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes, the county is a NUTS 3 region and is one of four counties or unitary districts that comprise the "Shropshire and Staffordshire" NUTS 2 region. Part of the National Forest lies within its borders...

, which elected two Members of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 (MPs) to the House of Commons

British House of Commons

The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...

 from 1832 until 1885, and then one member from 1885 until 1918, when the borough was enlarged, renamed Stoke-on-Trent, and split into three single-member constituencies.

History

Stoke-upon-Trent was established as a borough by the Great Reform Act of 1832 to represent the Staffordshire Potteries

Staffordshire Potteries

The Staffordshire Potteries is a generic term for the industrial area encompassing the six towns that now make up Stoke on Trent in Staffordshire, England....

, one of the most populous urban areas in England which had previously had no separate representation. The new borough consisted of Stoke-upon-Trent

Stoke-upon-Trent

Stoke-upon-Trent, commonly called Stoke or Stoke town, is a component town of the city of Stoke-on-Trent, in the ceremonial county of Staffordshire, England....

 and parts of the surrounding towns, and at the time of the Reform Act had a population just over 50,000 (of whom 37,220 were in Stoke parish); in 1867 the boundaries were extended somewhat, to bring in a part of Burslem

Burslem

The town of Burslem, known as the Mother Town, is one of the six towns that amalgamated to form the current city of Stoke-on-Trent, in the ceremonial county of Staffordshire, in the Midlands of England.-Topography:...

 which had previously been excluded.

In further boundary changes implemented at the 1885 general election, the borough was split into two single-member constituencies, the northern part becoming a separate Hanley

Hanley (UK Parliament constituency)

Hanley was a borough constituency in Staffordshire which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom between 1885 and 1950. Elections were held using the first past the post voting system.- History :...

 borough while the southern part (containing Longton

Longton, Staffordshire

Longton is a southern district of Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, and is known locally as the "Neck End" of the city. Longton is one of the six towns of "the Potteries" which formed the City of Stoke-on-Trent in 1925.-History:...

 and Fenton

Fenton, Staffordshire

Fenton is one of the six towns of the Stoke-on-Trent conurbation which were federated in 1910. It is situated in the south-east of the city. Arnold Bennett called his fictionalised version of Stoke on Trent the "Five Towns", and Fenton has been dubbed the town Arnold Bennett...

 as well as Stoke itself) retained the Stoke-upon-Trent name; the new constituency had a population just under 100,000 by the time of the First World War. The industrial interests predominated, with the bulk of the voters being pottery workers or miners, although Stoke was a partly middle-class town; at first an apparently safe Liberal

Liberal Party (UK)

The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...

 seat, it fell narrowly to the Unionists in both 1895 and 1900, perhaps partly because of discord between miners and potters within the local Liberal party. From 1906 it was held by John Ward

John Ward (trade unionist)

Lieutenant-Colonel John Ward CB CMG was an English politician, trade union leader and soldier.-Early life:...

 as a Lib-Lab

Liberal-Labour (UK)

The Liberal–Labour movement refers to the practice of local Liberal associations accepting and supporting candidates who were financially maintained by trade unions...

 MP hostile to the Labour Party

Labour Party (UK)

The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

, who being from the Navvies' Union could defuse the mutual jealousies of the potters and miners.

By 1918, the pottery towns had been united for municipal purposes

Federation of Stoke-on-Trent

The federation of Stoke-on-Trent refers to the events leading to the 1910 amalgamation of the six Potteries towns of Burslem, Tunstall, Stoke-upon-Trent, Hanley, Fenton and Longton into the single county borough of Stoke-on-Trent. An anomaly in the history of English local government, this was the...

 in a single Stoke-on-Trent

Stoke-on-Trent

Stoke-on-Trent , also called The Potteries is a city in Staffordshire, England, which forms a linear conurbation almost 12 miles long, with an area of . Together with the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme Stoke forms The Potteries Urban Area...

county borough

County borough

County borough is a term introduced in 1889 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland , to refer to a borough or a city independent of county council control. They were abolished by the Local Government Act 1972 in England and Wales, but continue in use for lieutenancy and shrievalty in...

, and the parliamentary boundary changes which came into effect at that year's general election established a parliamentary borough of the same name to replace Stoke-upon-Trent and Hanley, divided into three constituencies: Stoke-on-Trent, Stoke

Stoke-on-Trent, Stoke (UK Parliament constituency)

Stoke was a borough constituency in Stoke-on-Trent which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Elections were held using the first past the post voting system.- History :...

; Stoke-on-Trent, Hanley

Hanley (UK Parliament constituency)

Hanley was a borough constituency in Staffordshire which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom between 1885 and 1950. Elections were held using the first past the post voting system.- History :...

; and Stoke-on-Trent, Burslem

Burslem (UK Parliament constituency)

Burslem was a borough constituency in Stoke-on-Trent which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Elections were held using the first past the post voting system.- History :...

.

1832-1885

Year		First member	First party		Second member	Second party
1832		Josiah Wedgwood Josiah Wedgwood III Josiah "Joe" Wedgwood III , a grandson of the English potter Josiah Wedgwood.Wedgwood was the eldest son of Josiah Wedgwood II and his wife Elizabeth Allen...	Whig		John Davenport	Conservative Conservative Party (UK) The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
1835		Richard Edensor Heathcote Richard Edensor Heathcote Richard Edensor Heathcote was a British industrialist. Born the son of Sir John Edensor Heathcote of Longton Hall. He was elected the Member of Parliament for Coventry in 1826 and rebuilt Apedale Hall, near Newcastle, in Staffordshire, at about the same time. He died in Genova, Italy, in 1850...	Whig
1836		Hon. George Anson	Whig
1837		William Taylor Copeland William Taylor Copeland William Taylor Copeland, MP, Alderman was a British businessman and politician who served as Lord Mayor of London and a Member of Parliament.- Family and business :...	Conservative Conservative Party (UK) The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
1841					John Ricardo	Whig
1852		Hon. Frederick Leveson-Gower	Whig
1857		William Taylor Copeland William Taylor Copeland William Taylor Copeland, MP, Alderman was a British businessman and politician who served as Lord Mayor of London and a Member of Parliament.- Family and business :...	Conservative Conservative Party (UK) The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
1859						Liberal Liberal Party (UK) The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
1862					Henry Riversdale Grenfell Henry Riversdale Grenfell Henry Riversdale Grenfell was a British banker and Liberal Party politician.His Cornish grandfather Pascoe Grenfell was a tin and copper manager and Member of Parliament , while his father, Charles Pascoe Grenfell, was a director of the Bank of England from 1830 to 1864...	Liberal Liberal Party (UK) The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
1865		Alexander Beresford Hope Alexander Beresford Hope Sir Alexander James Beresford Beresford Hope PC , known as Alexander Hope until 1854 Sir Alexander James Beresford Beresford Hope PC (25 January 1820 – 20 October 1887), known as Alexander Hope until 1854 Sir Alexander James Beresford Beresford Hope PC (25 January 1820 – 20 October 1887), known as...	Conservative Conservative Party (UK) The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
February 1868		George Melly George Melly (MP) George Melly was an English merchant and shipowner and a Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1868 to 1875....	Liberal Liberal Party (UK) The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
November 1868					William Sargeant Roden William Sargeant Roden William Sargeant Roden was an English iron master and Liberal politician who was active in local government and sat in the House of Commons from 1868 to 1874....	Liberal Liberal Party (UK) The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
1874					Robert Heath	Conservative Conservative Party (UK) The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
1875		Edward Vaughan Hyde Kenealy Edward Vaughan Hyde Kenealy Edward Vaughan Hyde Kenealy QC , was an Irish barrister and writer. He is best remembered as counsel for the Tichborne claimant and the eccentric and disturbed conduct of the trial that led to his ruin.-Early life:...	Independent
1880		William Woodall	Liberal Liberal Party (UK) The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...		Henry Broadhurst Henry Broadhurst Henry Broadhurst was a leading early British trade unionist and a Lib-Lab politician who sat in the House of Commons variously between 1885 and 1906....	Liberal-Labour Liberal-Labour (UK) The Liberal–Labour movement refers to the practice of local Liberal associations accepting and supporting candidates who were financially maintained by trade unions...
1885 United Kingdom general election, 1885 -Seats summary:-See also:*List of MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1885*Parliamentary Franchise in the United Kingdom 1885–1918*Representation of the People Act 1884*Redistribution of Seats Act 1885-References:...	Constituency divided into single-member constituencies - see also Hanley Hanley (UK Parliament constituency) Hanley was a borough constituency in Staffordshire which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom between 1885 and 1950. Elections were held using the first past the post voting system.- History :...

1885-1918

Year		Member	Party
1885		William Leatham Bright William Leatham Bright William Leatham Bright was an English Liberal politician.Bright was the son of John Bright, M.P., of One Ash, Rochdale and his wife Margaret Elizabeth Leatham. He was educated at Grove House School, Tottenham, and at the University of London...	Liberal Liberal Party (UK) The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
1890		George Leveson-Gower George Leveson-Gower Sir George Granville Leveson-Gower KCB , was a British civil servant and Liberal politician. He held political office as Comptroller of the Household between 1892 and 1895 and later served as a Commissioner of Woods and Forests from 1908 to 1924...	Liberal Liberal Party (UK) The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
1895		Douglas Coghill	Liberal Unionist
1900			Conservative Conservative Party (UK) The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
1906		John Ward John Ward (trade unionist) Lieutenant-Colonel John Ward CB CMG was an English politician, trade union leader and soldier.-Early life:...	Liberal-Labour Liberal-Labour (UK) The Liberal–Labour movement refers to the practice of local Liberal associations accepting and supporting candidates who were financially maintained by trade unions...
1918 United Kingdom general election, 1918 The United Kingdom general election of 1918 was the first to be held after the Representation of the People Act 1918, which meant it was the first United Kingdom general election in which nearly all adult men and some women could vote. Polling was held on 14 December 1918, although the count did...	Constituency abolished - see Stoke-on-Trent, Stoke Stoke-on-Trent, Stoke (UK Parliament constituency) Stoke was a borough constituency in Stoke-on-Trent which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Elections were held using the first past the post voting system.- History :... ; Stoke-on-Trent, Hanley Hanley (UK Parliament constituency) Hanley was a borough constituency in Staffordshire which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom between 1885 and 1950. Elections were held using the first past the post voting system.- History :... ; Stoke-on-Trent, Burslem Burslem (UK Parliament constituency) Burslem was a borough constituency in Stoke-on-Trent which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Elections were held using the first past the post voting system.- History :...