Newcastle under Lyme, United Kingdom

The Newcastle-under-Lyme, &c. Inclosure Act 1816 (56 Geo. 3. c. 33 Pr.) enclosed the common lands of the borough, and removed their common rights. They were thereafter held in trust for the burgesses of the borough. The Newcastle under Lyme Burgess Lands charity continues to exist, with entitlement to benefits going to those who would have been burgesses before the reforms of 1835: either the son of someone entitled to the trust, who was resident or occupying property within the borough's boundaries.

The Municipal Corporations Act 1835 reformed the borough, creating a new governing charter, repealing the previous charters of 1590 and 1664. The unreformed corporation prior to 1835 had been styled the "Mayor, Bailiffs and Burgesses of Newcastle-under-Lyme", but that act changed the style to "Mayor, Aldermen and Burgesses of Newcastle-under-Lyme".

In 1835, the admission of new burgesses was forbidden by section 13 of the Municipal Corporations Act 1835 under any criteria except that of being a ratepayer. This only affected the creation of borough burgesses, and not the entitlement rules of the Burgess Lands Trust, which continued on the historic burgess criteria.

Newcastle sent two members to Parliament from 1355 to 1885, then lost one of its seats.

When Stoke-on-Trent was formed by the 1910 amalgamation of the "six towns" (Stoke, Hanley, Fenton, Longton, Burslem and Tunstall), Newcastle remained separate.

Despite its close proximity, it was not directly involved in the pottery industry and it strongly opposed attempts to join the merger in 1930, with a postcard poll showing residents opposing the Stoke-on-Trent Extension Bill by a majority of 97.4 per cent. Although passed by the House of Commons, the bill was rejected by the House of Lords.

After the Local Government Act 1972, Newcastle became the principal settlement of the Borough of Newcastle-under-Lyme.

The Newcastle-under-Lyme Gas Act 1819 (59 Geo. 3. c. cvii) established the Newcastle-under-Lyme Gas Light Company, who built a gasworks off Goose Street (53°00′28″N 2°13′35″W). The Newcastle-under-Lyme Gaslight Act 1855 (18 & 19 Vict. c. lxxvii) extended its area of supply beyond Newcastle-under-Lyme to supply gas to Trentham, Stoke-upon-Trent, Keele, Wolstanton, Silverdale, Knutton, Chatterley, and Chesterton. The company was bought by Newcastle-under-Lyme Corporation under the Newcastle-under-Lyme Corporation Act 1877 (40 & 41 Vict. c. clxxii). The council operated the gasworks until it became part of the West Midlands Gas Board under the Gas Act 1948. The site is now occupied by a Morrisons supermarket.

Newcastle-under-Lyme Corporation was authorised to supply electricity by the Newcastle-under-Lyme Electric Supply Order 1899, confirmed by the Electric Lighting Orders Confirmation (No. 12) Act 1899 (62 & 63 Vict. c. cxxxvii). A power station (53°00′29″N 2°13′37″W) was built adjacent to the gasworks, and after 1910 supplies were also obtained from Stoke-on-Trent power station. The power station used diesel generators, supplying DC power. In 1921 it had a capacity of 650 kW. The electricity undertaking was acquired by the Midlands Electricity Board under the Electricity Act 1947. After nationalisation, the power station was only used for peak-loads in the winter, and it was decommissioned in the mid-1950s, before finally being demolished in the 1990s.

Like neighbouring Stoke-on-Trent, Newcastle's early economy was based around the hatting trade, silk and cotton mills. Later coal mining, brick manufacture, iron casting and engineering rose to prominence. Fine red earthenware and soft-paste porcelain tableware (the first such production in Staffordshire) was produced in Newcastle at Samuel Bell's factory in Lower Street in 1724–1754, when production ceased. Except for a failed enterprise in 1790–1797, which then switched to brewing, there was no further commercial production of pottery within the town. Production of earthenware tiles, however, continued at several locations in the borough. Manufacture of fine bone china was re-established in the borough in 1963 by Mayfair Pottery at Chesterton.

The manufacture in the borough of clay tobacco-smoking pipes started about 1637 and grew rapidly, until it was second only to hatting as an industry. Nationally, the town ranked with Chester, York and Hull as the four major pipe producers. The industry continued until the mid-19th century, when decline set in rapidly, so that by 1881 it had only one tobacco-pipe maker left.

In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, the town had a flourishing felt hat manufacturing industry, probably at its peak locally in the 1820s, when a third of the town's population were involved in over 20 factories, but by 1892 there was only one still in production.

In 1944, the Rolls-Royce Derwent engine for the Gloster Meteor fighter was made in the borough.