Street paying tribute to teen killed in Pottery Riots given wrong name

New street paying tribute to Josiah Heapy, 19, who was shot to death by troops in 1842 Pottery Riots is given wrong name in blunder by housing developer

• Stoke-on-Trent City Council had decided to name a road Josiah Heapy Close
• Heapy was shot by soldiers at the age of 19 in the Pottery Riots in Stoke, in 1842
• But hapless workers ended up installing a sign calling it Joseph Heapy Close
• The error has made its way onto Google where it is listed by the erroneous name

A new street paying tribute to a 19-year-old who was shot to death by soldiers in the 1842 Pottery Riots has been given the wrong name in a blunder by a housing developer.

The road had been built as part of a new housing estate in Burslem, in Stoke-on-Trent, by property developer St Modwen Homes. 

After permission for the 216-home development was given the North Staffordshire Trades Union Council (NSTUC) had suggested some of the roads were named after people who took part in a series of protest in the area in the 19th century.

It had been agreed one of the roads would be called Josiah Heapy Close, after a teenager who was killed by soldiers while taking part in the protests. 

However, blundering workers have since installed a sign incorrectly calling it Joseph Heapy Close. 

It comes 180 years after his death in what was known as the Pottery Riots – a series of protests that swept through the area as factory workers took issue with poor work conditions, pay cuts, extremely long hours and the right to vote.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council has pledged to replace the sign after the error was raised by the NSTUC and people living on the street, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service on Stoke on Trent Live.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council has pledged to fix a road sign which had been named in honour of Josiah Heapy, who died in the 1842 Pottery Riots. However, it his name was erroneously spelt as Joseph Heapy on the sign (pictured)

The error has even found its way onto Google, which lists it as being Joseph Heapy Close, instead of Josiah Heapy Close as was intended.

An NSTUC spokesman told the publication: ‘August 16 sees the 180th anniversary of the Chartist protest in Burslem, when troops fired on demonstrators, killing Josiah Heapy.

‘To commemorate these events, the North Staffordshire Trades Union Council proposed that some of the streets in the new housing development on the Royal Doulton site be named after key figures associated with the events of 1842.

‘One street has been named William Ellis Grove, after the Burslem Chartist leader William Ellis, who was transported to Australia following the demonstration.

‘Another street has been called Joseph Heapy Close, presumably after the young man who was shot dead by the soldiers. However his first name was Josiah. 

‘The North Staffordshire Trades Union Council is urging the council to correct this error, and ensure that the road is given its correct name of Josiah Heapy Close.’

The 1842 Pottery Riots took place in Stoke-on-Trent (pictured), when workers in the city went on strike

Residents living on estate, which was built on site of a factory that used to make Royal Doulton ceramics, say have hit out after the blunder.

One person said whoever made the mistake ‘deserves a good kicking up the backside for it’.

‘It’s not an insult to me personally, but it is to his family and memory,’ they added.

Another said: ‘My son actually looked on Google, so we know now – it was a mistake. 

‘They should accept that, they should apologise, they should change it or do something to compensate.’

A Stoke-on-Trent City Council spokesman said yesterday: ‘We contacted the developer this morning to get a new street name plate installed to show the correct spelling.’

What were the 1842 Pottery Riots? 

The Chartists were a key driving force in the Pottery Riots and the 1842 General Strike. Pictured is a Chartist meeting on Kennington Common in 1848

The 1842 Pottery Riots were a series of violent protests that took place primarily in Hanley and Burslem, in what is now Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire.

They were precipitated by the 1842 General Strike, when miners, factory and mill workers from across the country as workers fought back against attempts to cut their wages. 

It is thought nearly 500,000 workers were involved in the General Strike, which was also known as the Plug Pot Riots, making it the largest in the entire 19th century.

The General Strike began in the North Staffordshire Coalfield when WH Sparrow, a coal mine owner, slashed the pay of his workers without giving the two weeks notice he was legally required to. 

This prompted the workers to go on strike, and other miners in the area joined in as a show of solidarity.

A large working class activist group called the Chartists, which called for political reform in the shape of expanding the right to vote to all men over the age of 21, backed the protestors.

A speaker from the group called Thomas Cooper, speaking to a crowd in Hanley, called for a General Strike. 

Following this rioters ransacked the police house, a pawnbroker’s shop, the house of a local tax collector, as well as setting fire to a rectory-house.

After this local magistrate Thomas Powys read the Riot Act – a law that declared it illegal to gather in groups of 12 or more people. 

A group of up to 5,000 protestors then marched from Leek to join the people of Burslem, but were met by troops who they began to throw stones at. 

Powys ordered the troops to open fire, killing Josiah Heapy who was in the crowd, and injuring many more. Heapy’s death was later ruled as being ‘justifiable homicide’.

The infuriated protestors retaliated by burning down Powys’ house, ransacking the house and office of a coal pit agent, and doing the same with the house of a local Reverend. 

The participants were later rounded up, with 146 sent to prison and 54 deported to Australia.

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