Valuable goods at the mercy of the weather

The carrier was transporting a valuable cargo of tea in October 1794, when his horses lost their footing next to a flooded river at Hanford on the edge of Stoke on Trent. At Hanford the River Trent crosses beneath the road - the important London to Holyhead post road which passes through the centre of Staffordshire.

The carrier had previously been in a comfortable position, but had now been brought to the edge of bankruptcy by having the repay the value of the lost cargo, tea then being a very expensive commodity. This document is an appeal from local magistrates to the Lord Chancellor requesting that he authorise a public appeal for charitable contributions on behalf of a carrier.

An account was made of al the losses, calculated by a friend of the carrier. The magistrates must have accepted it as accurate. The tea was apparently rescued and dried, but there is no comment as to whether it would have been useable. Perhaps it was readily accepted that the tea had been contaminated by the river water.


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