No 73 -  The Mechanics' Institution, Hanley

The Mechanics Institution and public library:

Historically, Mechanics' Institutes were educational establishments formed to provide adult education, particularly in technical subjects, to working men. As such, they were often funded by local industrialists on the grounds that they would ultimately benefit from having more knowledgeable and skilled employees.

The Mechanics' Institutes were used as 'libraries' for the adult working class, and provided them with an alternative pastime to gambling and drinking in pubs.

The origin of this form of 'self-improvement' and education in Hanley is found with "The Pottery Philosophical Society" which was established at the Red Lion Inn, Shelton, in 1820 with a largely middle-class membership it continued to meet, in members' houses, until 1835.

The Mechanics' Institution was founded in 1826 for 'the promotion of useful knowledge among the working classes' at the instigation of Benjamin Vale, then curate of Stoke and later Rector of Longton, and with the support of Josiah Wedgwood and other leading local men. 

The Mechanics' Institution was founded in 1826 by the Rev. Benjamin Vale, Rector of Stoke, Josiah Wedgwood II and other leading citizens who were anxious to acquaint the working classes with knowledge and the principles of the arts they practised. The first building they occupied was in Frederick Street, Shelton, now called Gitana Street, Hanley. It was erected in 1834-5 at a cost of over £600 and contained a lecture-room, committee-room, classrooms, laboratory, and library with a collection of 1,500 volumes, excluding such subjects as polemical divinity and party politics. At a meeting in 1838, it was decided to add to the Institution, a museum and a repository of the curiosities of nature and art, particularly of the potters' art; by 1850, this had become a reality, and a museum, known as the North Staffordshire Museum, had been founded.

In 1861 the Mechanics' Institution moved to new premises in Pall Mall, but, in 1887, most of the building was acquired by the Free Library, with the museum becoming the nucleus of the Borough Museum. The North Staffordshire Technical and Art Museum, founded by the Chamber of Commerce in 1890, was transferred to the Borough Council, 

who also took over the museum belonging to the Mechanics' Institution. The North Staffordshire Natural History Museum was opened in the same building in 1908.

In 1956 a new Museum and Art Gallery was opened in Broad Street, and the upper part of the Mechanics' Institution, that had previously housed the museum, was demolished. The City library continued to occupy the ground floor, and, from 1958, the adjoining building. In 1968-70 a new library, designed by the City Architect, Mr. J. W. Plant, was built in Bethesda Street and the last occupants of the former Mechanics' Institution moved out."

Neville Malkin 31st December 1975