The Peterloo Massacre (1819)
On August 16th 1819, a political meeting was held at St.Peter’s Field, in Manchester. A large crowd of 60,000 - 80,000 had gathered to hear working-class reformists, such as Henry Hunt, speak. Following the meeting, the Manchester officials instructed the local yeomanry to detain Hunt and to disperse the crowds. The cavalry charged the crowds with their sabres drawn, and in the ensuing chaos members of the public were killed, and a large number injured.
It was a period of chronic depression, marked by famine and high unemployment. The aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars, and the introduction of the Corn Laws, had taken their toll on the economy and the cost of living. Many radical groups were formed in the hope of assuaging the suffering of the poor, and many political demonstrations and rallies took place. The Manchester Patriot Union agitated for parliamentary reform - at the time working-class people were not allowed to vote - and organised the meeting at St. Peter’s Field. Henry Hunt was a well-known radical orator, and had previously canvassed for the rights of working-class people.
There were genuine fears among the upper and middle-classes of an armed uprising, and potentially a full-scale revolution, such as France had experienced at the end of the last century. It was a volatile situation. Perhaps fuelled by fears such as these, the Manchester authorities grossly over-reacted to the political rally on their doorstep, resulting in fifteen members of the public being killed and 600-700 being injured. Journalists from several large newspapers attended the event, and reports of the carnage quickly spread across the country.
In the aftermath, the government introduced legislation in the attempt to suppress radical meetings and publications, and imprisoned several significant working-class radicals.
Henry Hunt served a two year prison sentence, which more than likely added to his prestige as a political activist and reformer. He put his time behind bars to good use by writing his autobiography.
The event became known as The Peterloo massacre - an ironic appropriation of The Battle of Waterloo, which had taken place four years earlier.
Percy Byssche Shelley, on hearing about the events at St. Peter’s Field, penned his now famous, ‘The Masque of Anarchy’. However, due to restrictions on the radical press the poem was not published until ten years after his death, in 1832.
(Click on the button below to read Shelley's, The Masque of Anarchy)
It was a period of chronic depression, marked by famine and high unemployment. The aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars, and the introduction of the Corn Laws, had taken their toll on the economy and the cost of living. Many radical groups were formed in the hope of assuaging the suffering of the poor, and many political demonstrations and rallies took place. The Manchester Patriot Union agitated for parliamentary reform - at the time working-class people were not allowed to vote - and organised the meeting at St. Peter’s Field. Henry Hunt was a well-known radical orator, and had previously canvassed for the rights of working-class people.
There were genuine fears among the upper and middle-classes of an armed uprising, and potentially a full-scale revolution, such as France had experienced at the end of the last century. It was a volatile situation. Perhaps fuelled by fears such as these, the Manchester authorities grossly over-reacted to the political rally on their doorstep, resulting in fifteen members of the public being killed and 600-700 being injured. Journalists from several large newspapers attended the event, and reports of the carnage quickly spread across the country.
In the aftermath, the government introduced legislation in the attempt to suppress radical meetings and publications, and imprisoned several significant working-class radicals.
Henry Hunt served a two year prison sentence, which more than likely added to his prestige as a political activist and reformer. He put his time behind bars to good use by writing his autobiography.
The event became known as The Peterloo massacre - an ironic appropriation of The Battle of Waterloo, which had taken place four years earlier.
Percy Byssche Shelley, on hearing about the events at St. Peter’s Field, penned his now famous, ‘The Masque of Anarchy’. However, due to restrictions on the radical press the poem was not published until ten years after his death, in 1832.
(Click on the button below to read Shelley's, The Masque of Anarchy)
