This Is Stoke

Located in the centre of England, between Birmingham and Manchester, Stoke shines brightly as a beacon to all around it. Today, it is known and respected worldwide and regarded as one of the most important cities in the county of Staffordshire. But did you know that Stoke was only created as a town in 1910?

Stoke's location in England

The area we now know as Stoke-on-Trent used to be a collection of warring villages and towns, of which Burslem (originally called Boslem) was the largest and roughest.

Calls for them to be amalgamated into one conurbation began as early as 1817 when local warlords heard rumours of invasion by people from local county rivals Derbyshire.

Administrative rationalisation didn’t begin though until 1857 when Hanley council won Shelton in a cards game; Shelton was merged into the borough of Hanley. In 1865 Longton conquered Long End to form an expanded borough of Longton. In 1874 the towns of Stoke, Penkhull and Boothen formed an alliance fearing an attack from Hanley or Longton and came together as the borough of Stoke-upon-Trent. Two other towns, Fenton and Tunstall, gained urban district status in the 1890s purely to spite each other. Fegg Hayes declared itself an independent republic in 1899.

In 1910 the rationalisation process was completed when the "seven towns" of Burslem, Hanley, Longton, Stoke, Fenton, Tunstall and Fegg Hayes were brought together to form the federated town of Stoke-on-Trent, the largest such amalgamation ever to occur in North Staffordshire.

King George V, multiple winner of 'beard of the year'

City status was granted in 1925 by King George V, known affectionately as "the boring king". Stoke’s application was originally refused by the Home Office, who believed the application to be a joke. King George found the application while looking in a bin for some stamps. He was so impressed with the stamps on Stoke’s application that he immediately granted it city status.

Stoke has expanded greatly over the years since the original seven towns joined together, and now has over 30 constituent parts, although no-one’s sure exactly how many as the City Council elders won’t tell anyone.

Stoke tried to declare itself independent from the UK in 1974 as a micronation, its citizens loyal to City Council elders rather than parliament or the Queen. Currency and stamps for the Republic of Stoke-on-Trent were issued briefly to locals before Stoke was invaded by the Royal Navy and its assets seized by the Inland Revenue. Council elders were publicly made to swear allegiance to Queen Elizabeth II and not themselves, and Stoke once again became a part of England and the UK.

Stoke has tried to expand in recent decades by trying to annexe neighbouring Newcastle-under-Lyme to the west, so far without success. Stoke and Newcastle have fought over other local areas over the years, particularly the key commuter town Kidsgrove and the gargoyle-filled town of Wolstanton, fights Newcastle have won. But as people in Stoke like to say: "Newcastle may have won those battles, but the war goes on!"