Staffordshire Day

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The county day of Staffordshire is May 1st. This date was chosen in a July 2015 poll organised by the local tourist department “Enjoy Staffordshire”

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to commemorate the county’s 1,000th birthday in 2016, its first recorded mention being in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle

Chronicle

in the year 1016. Enjoy Staffordshire’s tourism and marketing team leader Graeme Whitehead was inspired by a similar vote in Lancashire,  “We want Staffordshire Day to create the same excitement and pride in our county, on a date which the whole of Staffordshire can get behind.”

Five possible dates reflecting a significant moment in the region’s history were selected as candidates in the poll;

May 1 – the founding of Josiah Wedgwood and Sons

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which took place in 1759;

July 5 – the anniversary of the discovery of the Staffordshire Hoard

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, which was uncovered in 2009;

September 6 – on that day in 1651 King Charles II hid in an oak tree

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in South Staffordshire;

September 18 – this was the birth date of Doctor Samuel Johnson

Doctor Samuel Johnson ?1772 by Sir Joshua Reynolds 1723-1792

who was born on this date in Lichfield in 1709;

September 27 – renowned engineer James Brindley,

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who lived in Leek, passed away on this date in 1772.

with May 1st winning the poll.

The Wedgewood company’s Staffordshire presence is celebrated on this picture card.

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