REMEMBERING PETERLOO

16 August 1819: between 60,000-80,000 men, women and children assembled in St Peter’s Field in Manchester to protest for their right to parliamentary representation. Not long after Henry Hunt, the famed orator, took to the hustings the local magistrates ordered the arrest of Hunt and those leading the protest, and the Manchester and Salford Yeomanry charged the field, attacking with sabres as they met resistance from the crowd. With tensions rising they were followed by the 15th Hussars who also charged, having been ordered to disperse the assembly. What they seemingly didn’t know is that exits had been blocked and most in the field were now trapped.

It’s believed that 18 people died in the attack, including one two-year-old child, with over 500 injured. It was a shocking event that the press nicknamed “Peterloo” as an ironic reference to the Battle of Waterloo. John Lees, a former soldier and textiles worker, died from wounds he sustained and is reported to have told a friend before his death, “At Waterloo there was man to man but there it was downright murder.” It’s an event that echoed through the years that followed, but it would not be until 1832 and the Great Reform Act that anything close to what protestors called for would be put into law, and over 100 years before universal suffrage would be achieved in the UK. As we mark the 200th anniversary this year we spoke with some of the people looking to keep the memory of this event alive and why they think it is such an important moment in British history.

PETERLOO AND MANCHESTER HISTORIES

How long have you been working on the various events you have planned for the anniversary?

Manchester Histories and partners, which include both large cultural organisations and small community groups across Greater Manchester, have been working over the past four years on the programme that has led to Peterloo 2019. This has included running regular network and planning meetings), which will also form part of the legacy for the project.