Depiction of the Peterloo Massacre by Richard Carlile, who was present at St. Peter's Field that day
Lord Liverpool (1770 – 1828)
Henry Hunt (1773 – 1835)
August 16th 1819: Peterloo massacre
On this day in 1819, a cavalry charge killed seventeen and injured 600 at a public meeting in St. Peter’s Field, Manchester, England. The meeting of around 60,000 was held to demand parliamentary reform and was addressed by famous radical Henry Hunt, known as ‘the Orator’. Radical agitation had been on the rise in the preceding years due to widespread famine and unemployment that followed the Napoleonic Wars, and the introduction of laws that many felt unfair to the working class. Despite the peaceful intentions of the meeting, local magistrates feared its demonstration of dissension and sent in the cavalry, who violently dispersed the crowd. Fifteen people died in the ensuing violence, with hundreds more injured. The event was nicknamed ‘Peterloo’ in reference to the Battle of Waterloo of 1815. The massacre caused public outcry which only encouraged the government, led by Prime Minister Lord Liverpool, to crack down on radicalism; this period is sometimes referred to as ‘reactionary toryism’.
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