The First General Strike

(1842)

Located alongside the J.R. Stephens plaque on Stalybridge Town Hall frontage, this plaque commemorates the first general strike which originated in this area. It began as a movement of resistance to the imposition of wage cuts in the mills and was also known as the 'Plug Riots'. It spread to involve nearly half a million workers throughout Britain and represented the biggest single exercise of working class strength in nineteenth century Britain.