The League in its latest form dates from 1947.  It was set up by a meeting held on 7th November 1947 although its predecessors date back to 1890 with two major breaks.  In 1947, the three big local clubs, Stoke Victory, Stafford and Crewe all decided to form internal Leagues where matches were to be played between members of the clubs grouped together in teams and all playing on the same night.  Stafford League matches were to be played on Wednesdays, Crewe League matches on Thursdays and Stoke League matches on Fridays.  In this way, players could play in a team in each League if they so desired.  A pilot Stoke League was set up and took place with each team only playing two matches and the winning team and first League Champions of the "Stoke-on-Trent and Newcastle-under-Lyme and District Chess League" were the team from Newcastle High School. Ten teams took part in a Knock-out competition which was also won by Newcastle High School, who defeated Michelin in the final.  

The new League was considered to be a success and more teams entered for the second season.  With eleven entrants, it was decided to run the League in two divisions.  It was still on a very experimental basis and only two teams, Michelin and Burslem completed all their fixtures.  The stronger players at the Victory club took part for the first time and there were three more school teams taking part.  The league trophy was this time awarded to Victory and a shield was purchased for Longton High School who had defeated all their opponents once and so were declared the Champions of Division Two.  There was no Knock-out competition this year.

Over the next few years, however the League had a very up and down existence including two years when it was only run on a knock-out basis.  Against this was the fact that a meeting  was held on 7^th October 1949 to attempt to revive the North Staffordshire and District League which had remained dormant for many years. The three big clubs in the district, Victory, Crewe and Stafford all decided to enter a team as did the Leek Club which had been one of the League’s original members in 1890.  It was agreed to play all matches on Saturday afternoons with a longer time control than in the Stoke League.  The stronger players in the area were now thought to be catered for.

The Stoke League returned as an all-play-all League for season 1952-3 and for the next sixteen years, it went from strength to strength even though all competitions were dominated by the team representing the club which was the mother of the League – Stoke Victory.  The teams which had been spawned by Victory and which had originally all played their matches at the Victory club on Friday evenings found other venues and – in some cases -  other nights.  This was much to the chagrin of the League’s founder, Laurie Landon, who was a great believer in all matches being played on Friday evenings.  Increasingly Victory put out their stronger players in one team and their stronger juniors in another team – often known as “Hartshill” - and, with few exceptions, these teams were League champions and knock-out winners.  Competition with them brought a great improvement in the general standard of play in the League and in season 1966-7 there were nineteen teams in three divisions.  This season was quite a turning point in the League’s history, however, with Keele University running the Victory teams close for trophies and also the emergence of Kidsgrove English Electric as a team in its own right.  In the previous few seasons, EE players had played for Victory but now they formed a new club. In 1969-70, that club – now renamed “Electra” -  won the Championship for the first time and went on to dominate the League for the next ten years.

As the League expanded in the 1970s, the North Staffordshire League began to be seen as something of a white elephant and with only three teams in membership in season 1973-4, it ceased operations.  At a special meeting held in 1985, it was decided to amalgamate the two Leagues under the name of the North Staffordshire and District Chess Association.  The top division was to be called the North Staffordshire Premier League and the other divisions were still to be called the Stoke League.  After only four years, this was dispensed with and all the name differences seem to have become blurred.

During the 1970s and 1980s, the League was growing in numbers and strength and regularly had over fifty teams in membership during the 1980s.  Victory went out of existence and were merged for a time with the long-established Sneyd Green team to form a successful club at Knypersley and Leek – probably the oldest club in the League dating back to the 1840s -  amalgamated with a basically primary school team from Cheddleton.  Many clubs competed and many met with considerable success.  Macclesfield, Holmes Chapel and Stafford were brought into the League as it tried to spread its net more widely.

During the 1990s and the first decade of the new century, interest has waned somewhat – in common with many chess Leagues throughout the country - and many attempts have been made to revitalise it.  It remains, in spite of everything, a successful and well-functioning League with a proud history and a positive view of the future.  The only club that has competed in every season of the League since 1947 is the one which started life as Penkhull Church, then became Penkhull, then Stoke Kings and finally Newcastle – under which name they still compete today.