manchester tourist guide history
Tuesday, 29th July 2003
The Peterloo MassacreThe massacre took place on the 16th August 1819. The site now lies under the Convention Quarter of the city centre which has been given the name Peters Fields. The meeting was part of a larger movement campaigning for a national extension of the vote to all adults at a time of deepening poverty. To have little direct influence on the government was a cause of growing anger. Thousands, in particular, of handloom weavers were caught in a downward spiral of wages and a rise in the price of bread. Representation was a matter of life and death.
Words typical of the mood were incorporated in the Declaration to be sent to London by the protesters: 'Governments, not immediately derived from and strictly accountable to the People, are usurpations and ought to be resisted and destroyed '. The leader of the meeting Henry Hunt asked people to come 'armed with no other weapon but that of a self approving conscience; determined not to be irritated or excited '.
It was the town's magistrates that became excited. Shortly before 1pm, they decided to arrest Hunt. Failing to do so they called for the troops. Unfortunately it was the volunteer Manchester and Salford Yeomanry who reacted first. Moving into a mass of around 60,000 the Yeomanry became separated from each other, panicked, and started to lash out with their sabres. Finally the regular soldiers, the 15th Hussars, arrived and within 15 minutes the field was clear. 11 people died on the day and a further 5 later, 600 were injured.
The event was nicknamed Peterloo through its location at St Peter's Field and because participants on both sides had fought at the recent Battle of Waterloo. The immediate effect was further government repression but the long-term influence was one of disenchantment with the existing electoral system. The indignation of many in the nation at British soldiers killing British people faded but never disappeared. A first significant step to the reform of Parliament in 1832 had taken place. Links within ManchesterOnline
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