Staffordshire

“ In such places as this—and there are many of them in Staffordshire, as raw, as rough, and as new—there is work for plain men and plain women. In these swarming hives there is no room for any refinement but true refinement. ”

“ In physical characteristics the Staffordshire people are generally short and sturdy, with large heads, square faces, and strong jaws, and full sonorous voices; utterly unlike in appearance as in character to their Derbyshire neighbours, who are (normally) tall, raw-boned, loose-jointed, grave, and rather dull people; "strong in the arm and weak in the head," as the local proverb has it, wanting in the brightness and humorousness of our folk. ”

“ Stafford (20) , county town of Staffordshire, on the Sow, 29 m. NNW. of Birmingham; has two fine old churches, St. Mary's and St. Chad's, interesting architecturally, King Edward's grammar school, and Stafford Castle finely situated on the outskirts; is an important railway centre, and noted for its boot and shoe manufactures.
Staffordshire (1,083) , a midland mining and manufacturing county of England, wedged in on the N. between Cheshire (W.) and Derby (N.) , and extending southward to Worcester, with Shropshire on the W., and Leicester and Warwick on the E. ”

“ It has always been my experience that local and family traditions are not kept up among the poorest classes.
Let us now leave these vague stories and speculations, and come to the firmer ground of fact. Staffordshire, until the development of manufactures in modern times, was a very thinly-peopled county, and a great part of it was forest-land. [3] It is interesting to find how much folklore about trees and plants is still to be met with there. Needwood Forest, on the eastern border of the county, was only disafforested and enclosed within the present century ”

“ Though an old place, it possesses little of antiquity; nor is there any picturesqueness either in its houses or in its streets. It gives one the idea of a typical Staffordshire town—that is to say, a very uninteresting one—which during the last half century has developed into an important mercantile centre. There is thus a certain air of incompleteness about it. Homely buildings of the times of our grandfathers are mixed with handsome modern structures; a fine church, school, or institute rises among dwellings of the most ordinary type ”

“ We do not relinquish the palm of beauty to any county in the southern part of Great Britain. Tell me exactly your route."
Sir John gave a concise statement of their little journey, which was commented upon by her ladyship with vivacity. She entered into descriptions of Staffordshire scenery, and the Staffordshire aristocracy, with increasing energy, keeping all attention engaged towards herself, and allowing no respite for recommencing a conversation with Julia. Lady Ennismore chatted even through the immense hall, and to the very dinner-table. ”

“ What may be the price of fat beeves in Stafford market to-day?"
"Dearer than men's heads will be at the town gates after the next assizes," he replied, stroking his notebook and grinning evilly.
"You'll never light on a Scotsman, dead or alive, that's worth as much as a Staffordshire heifer," said I, leading the way past him to the stile, over which I handed Mistress Margaret into the road.
"They won't all be Scotsmen, my friend," he replied, still stroking his notebook. ”

“ UTTOXETER, a market town in the Burton parliamentary division of Staffordshire, England, 15 m. N.E. by E. of Stafford by a branch of the Great Northern railway. Pop. of urban district (1901) 5133. It is also served by the North Staffordshire railway. The town lies pleasantly on high ground near the river Dove, a western tributary of the Trent, here the boundary with Derbyshire. There are large works for the manufacture of agricultural implements, and brewing and brick-making are carried on. Several agricultural fairs are held annually. ”

“ The richest house in the county, Burton Abbey, was only rated at £412 5s. [8] net income. [5] On the whole the Staffordshire houses represent the monasteries of average income, with no great and famous abbeys to monopolise the attention and interest and to introduce exceptional elements. The history of the suppression in Staffordshire will illustrate the suppression of the ordinary religious houses. That of the great and famous abbeys is well known, but it will be interesting to see how the ordinary average houses fell. ”

“ In Staffordshire "it is an ascertained fact, that there is scarcely an habitual criminal in the county who has not been imprisoned as a child." [28] But it is after the age of twenty has been reached that the criminality of a people attains its highest point. ”

“ In the year 1640 a special muster was made for the war against the Scotch Covenanters; the men from Staffordshire consisted of trained bands who had been employed in the previous year, and 300 men who were impressed for the occasion. The service throughout the country was very unpopular, and in some counties the men mutinied and murdered their officers. Staffordshire did not escape some riots, and one of the most serious of them occurred in front of Bentley Hall, a mile and a-half out of Willenhall.
This was the last attempt at raising men on the old feudal levies ”

“ Manufactures.—The manufactures of Staffordshire are varied and important. Out of the three great coalfields in the north, south and centre (Cannock Chase) , the two first have wholly distinct dependent industries. The southern industrial district is commonly known as the Black Country (q.v.) ; it is the principal seat in England of iron and steel manufacture in all its branches. It covers an area, between Birmingham and Wolverhampton, resembling one great town, and includes such famous centres as Walsall, Wednesbury, Dudley (in Staffordshire) and West Bromwich. ”

“ STAFFORD, Sir EDWARD (1552?–1605) , diplomatist, born about 1552, was the eldest son of Sir William Stafford of Grafton and Chebsey, Staffordshire, by his second wife, Dorothy (1532–1604) , daughter of Henry Stafford, first baron Stafford [q. v.] William Stafford (1554–1612) [q. v.] was his brother, and Thomas Stafford (1533?–1557) [q. v.] was his maternal uncle. The Staffords of Grafton were a branch of the same family as the dukes of Buckingham and barons Stafford (see pedigree in ‘Visitations of Staffordshire,’ Harl. MSS. 6128 ff. 89–91, and 1415 f. 109) . ”

“ In 1520 Stafford was one of those appointed to ride with Henry VIII at the meeting with Francis I, and he was also present at the subsequent meeting with Charles V. By his father's attainder in 1521 he lost his titles and estates, but on 20 Sept. 1522 he was granted by letters patent, confirmed by act of parliament (Statutes of the Realm, iii. 269–70) , the manors held by his father in Staffordshire, Cheshire, and Shropshire. His connection with the ‘White Rose’ and the Poles laid him open to suspicion, and he suffered from the enmity of Wolsey. ”

“ In the fourth year of King Richard II., John [356] of Gaunt created a court of minstrels at Tutbury, in Staffordshire, similar to that at Chester; in the charter (which is quoted in Dr. Plott’s “History of Staffordshire,” p. 436) he gives them a King of the Minstrels and four officers, with a legal authority over the men of their craft in the five adjoining counties of Stafford, Derby, Notts, Leicester, and Warwick. The form of election, as it existed at a comparatively late period, is fully detailed by Dr. Plott.
The Beverley Minstrels. ”

“ Staffordshire supplies several notable examples of the brank. They were formerly kept at Hamstall Ridware, Beaudesart, Lichfield, Walsall, and at Newcastle-under-Lyme. The branks in the two towns last named are alluded to by the celebrated Dr. Plot, the old historian of the county, in an amusing manner. "We come to the arts that respect mankind," says Plot, "amongst which, as elsewhere, the civility of precedence must be allowed to the woman, and that as well in punishments as favours. ”

“ Staffordshire and Nottingham were secured, and after a lengthened delay at the passage of the Aire, during which he was probably engaged in negotiations with the Danes, he moved on practically unopposed to York. He there re-established his two castles, and proceeded to give the inhabitants of the country a lesson they were not likely to forget. He set to work systematically to lay waste the whole of the territory from the Humber to the Tees. Every house, every store of food, the very cattle themselves were included in the great burning. ”

“ He was a collector of paintings, and purchased Stafford House, still the London residence of the dukes of Sutherland. As a landlord he greatly improved his estates in Staffordshire and Shropshire and then turned his attention to those of his wife in Sutherlandshire. ”

“ Wakes are customary throughout the county. In Needwood Forest special cakes are baked for them, and in the Pottery towns they are found a practical hindrance to labour in the summer months. Staffordshire people everywhere love festivities. ”

“ Within an easy distance of Wolverhampton are a very large number of the noblemen’s and gentlemen’s seats, in which Staffordshire is so rich; more than one ancient and dilapidated family has been restored by the progress of smoke-creating manufactures, which have added to the wealth even more than they destroyed the picturesqueness of the country. ”

“ A noble Norman family, which is traced to the Conquest, and of which there were in Leland's time four "notable houses" remaining in England, in the counties of Devon, Southampton, Stafford, and Buckingham. All with the exception of the third have been long extinct. The Giffords have been seated in Staffordshire since the reign of Henry II., when Peter Gifford, by the gift of Peter Corbesone, became Lord of the Manor of Chillington, ever since their principal residence. ”

“ One daughter, love, becomes a countess on Thursday next, and [265] one daughter weds the finest property in Shropshire. I wonder you do not exult with me! I have been complimented with burning hearts, I am sure, by all my married friends, and, as Lady Farnborough said yesterday very truly, I have monopolized the first matches in the counties of Salop and Staffordshire. I am aware I have done so; I am aware I have taken great pains to promote my children's welfare. I may say, too, Julia's match was exclusively my own, in its invention and maturity. ”

“ Lyttelton bequeathed his manuscripts to the Society of Antiquaries. They formed the basis of Nash's History of Worcestershire,' and of the works of later writers on the county. Stebbing Shaw's 'History of Staffordshire' was partly compiled from them, and from the same source many improvements were made in Erdeswicke's 'Survey of Staffordshire' (1820 and 1844) . ”

“ The fine Leeds mug having the painted decoration, over-glaze of course, of a vessel, and entitled "Homeward Bound" (illustrated, p. 299) , is typical of this work of Allen at its best. He appears to have procured ware from Turner and other Staffordshire potters for decoration and sale by himself. We illustrate (p. 303) , a Staffordshire jug painted by Allen, of Lowestoft, representing a local scene, recognisable by the tower in the background. He inscribed it "A Trifle from Lowestoft." This is enamel work over-glaze, the key pattern at the rim is under-glaze and was done in Staffordshire. ”

“ Just as it can be shown from the internal evidence of their respective Dictionaries that Skinner belonged to Lincolnshire, Levins to Yorkshire, and Cotgrave to Cheshire, so it could be proved that Johnson belonged to Staffordshire, even if we had no other testimony outside his Dictionary. Some of the most striking of these evidences are as follows: ‘Lich.... A dead carcase; whence lichwake, the time or act of watching by the dead; lichgate, the gate through which the dead are carried to the grave; Lichfield, the field of the dead, a city in Staffordshire, so named from martyred Christians. ”

“ His petition for restoration was refused, but on 15 July 1531 he was granted the castle and manor of Stafford, and in 1532 he was made K.B. The latter honour he declined, preferring to pay a fine of 20l. He welcomed the ecclesiastical changes of Henry VIII, frequently entertained the visitors of the monasteries, petitioned for various dissolved houses, and was active in destroying ‘idols.’ In 1536 he was placed on the commission of the peace for Staffordshire and Shropshire, an appointment annually renewed till the end of the reign. ”

“ Parties who take an interest in the progress of education in this kingdom among those classes where it is most needed, that is to say, masses of miners and mechanics residing in districts from which all the higher and most of the middle classes have removed; where the clergy are few, hard worked, and ill paid; where the virtues of a thinly peopled agricultural district have been exchanged for the vices, without the refinements, of a crowded town population, should traverse this part of Staffordshire on foot. ”

“ But there is a good deal of material for arriving, approximately at any rate, at such things as annual income and expenditure, and if we can discover those we shall obtain [7] figures and facts which will be of great service in many ways.
Many counties had far wealthier monasteries than Staffordshire. The richest counties in England in this respect were Yorkshire and Middlesex, but both of these are exceptional, the former by reason of its disproportionate area, and the latter because it contains the City of London and many of its suburbs. ”

“ In the addenda to Mr Eyton’s Domesday of Staffordshire (p. 135) the learned editor says there are two Stafford castles mentioned in Domesday, in two different hundreds. We have carefully searched through the whole Stafford account, and except at Burton and Tutbury, there is no other castle mentioned in Staffordshire but this one at Chebsey.
[673] Dugdale conjectures that Robert was sheriff of Staffordshire. He had large estates round the town of Stafford. Eyton, Staffordshire, p. 61.
[674] Mazzinghi, Salt Arch. Soc. Trans., viii., 6; Eyton, Domesday Studies, p. 20. ”