Remembering the Peterloo massacre
Today is the anniversary of the massacre at Peterloo. You may never have heard of this incident. But I lived in Manchester until I was 23 and, during my university course, I spent a lot of time studying at the city’s Central Library in St Peter’s Square, the site of the Peterloo event.
The Peterloo Massacre of 16 August 1819 was the result of a cavalry charge into the crowd at a public meeting at St Peter’s Fields in Manchester. Eleven people were killed and over 500, including many women and children, were injured.
The meeting had been organised by the Manchester Patriotic Union Society, a political group that agitated for radical parliamentary reform and the repeal of the corn laws. One of the main speakers was Henry Hunt who advocated annual parliaments, universal suffrage, and the ballot.
Less than 2% of the population had the vote at the time. So the event is rightly seen as one important stepping stone in the long path to the parliamentary democracy that we enjoy today.
You’ll find a massive amount of information on the Peterloo massacre on this special site with an overview on this page.
August 16th, 2007 at 11:16 am
I was just going to comment on the fact that you blogged about this event this time last year, but looking back, noticed that the link wasn’t on last year’s entry so it is different this time round!
August 16th, 2007 at 11:24 am
Not many of my readers are so diligent and attentive, Janet!
August 17th, 2007 at 12:09 pm
Do you still go to ‘Tolpuddle’
August 18th, 2007 at 12:15 am
Sorry, no.