An early proposal for a federation took place in 1888, when an amendment was
raised to the Local Government Bill which would have made the six towns into
districts within a county of “Staffordshire Potteries”. It was not until 1
April 1910 that the “Six Towns” were brought together. The county borough of
Hanley, the municipal boroughs of Burslem, Longton, and Stoke, together with
the urban districts of Tunstall and Fenton now formed a single county borough
of Stoke-on-Trent. The combined borough took the name “town of Stoke”.
In 1919, the borough proposed to expand further and annex the neighbouring
