The Peterloo Massacre

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The Peterloo Massacre

• You need to be able to
• Describe what happened.
• Explain the reasons why this event took place.

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The Peterloo Massacre
To find out about what happened during the
Peterloo Massacre, you have a mystery to
solve! - Look carefully at the evidence you have
been given. - Place the evidence under the
relevant headings on the next page. - Think
carefully about what the pictures tell you about
what happened. - Once you have pieced the events
together, be prepared to explain what happened to
the rest of the class.
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When did the Peterloo Massacre take place?

• 16 August 1819

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Who was involved?

• In March 1819, Joseph Johnson, John Knight and
  James Wroe formed the Manchester Patriotic Union
  Society. All the leading radicals in Manchester
  joined the organisation. The main aim of this new
  organisation was parliamentary reform and during
  the summer of 1819 it was decided to invite Major
  Cartwright, Henry Orator Hunt and Richard Carlile
  to speak at a public meeting in Manchester.
• Local magistrates and the Military.

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Why did it happen?

• In the early 1800s, just 2 of the British
  population had the vote. So, on 16 August 1819,
  60,000 peaceful protesters gathered on St Peter's
  Fields in Manchester to demand the right to elect
  their own MPs.

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What plans and preparations were made beforehand?

• 16 August 1819 was a glorious summer's day, and
  groups of people poured into Manchester,
  determined to enjoy themselves on a day out. The
  meeting went ahead, attended by 50,000 to 60,000
  people. It was peaceful but noisy since the
  crowd consisted of families, it seems clear that
  there was no preconceived intention of violence.
• The local magistrates were concerned that such a
  substantial gathering of reformers might end in a
  riot. The magistrates therefore decided to
  arrange for a large number of soldiers to be in
  Manchester on the day of the meeting.

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What actually happened during the Peterloo
Massacre?

• Manchester's ten magistrates, under chairman
  William Hulton thought that the meeting could be
  the start of a revolution. They tried to
  disperse crowd, but did not read the Riot Act, so
  the magistrates called in the military.
• The meeting at St Peter's Field, was to be
  addressed by Henry Hunt. However, 20 minutes into
  the meeting, the Yeomanry Cavalry of Manchester
  charged through the crowd to the stage and
  arrested Hunt along with others that were
  present.
• The demonstration ended when local militia on
  horseback charged the protesters and cut them
  down with sabres, leaving 11 dead and many
  injured.

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• The Manchester Yeomanry arrived first. They were
  poorly trained, consisted mainly of middle-class
  shopkeepers and tradesmen, who may have been
  drunk. These men went about their job with great
  enthusiasm and charged into the crowd. Sabres
  swinging, regardless of the women and children
  caught beneath their horses' hooves, they rode
  through the crowd. Eventually the 15th Regiment
  of Hussars arrived and they managed to disperse
  the crowd.

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Samuel Bamford was a radical who was at Peterloo.
Here he describes what happened when the militia
arrived Stand fast, I said, they are
riding upon us stand fast. And there was a
general cry in our quarter of Stand fast. The
cavalry were in confusion they evidently could
not, with all the weight of man and horse,
penetrate that compact mass of human beings and
their sabres were plied to hew a way through
naked held-up hands and defenceless heads and
then chopped limbs and wound-gaping skulls were
seen and groans and cries were mingled with the
din of that horrid confusion.
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What were the consequences of the Peterloo
Massacre?

• The result was eleven dead including two women,
  and about 400 wounded. One man had his nose
  severed from his face. Rochdale millowner Thomas
  Chadwick, who was at the scene, described the
  massacre as "an inhuman outrage committed on an
  unarmed, peaceful assembly."
•  
• In December1819 the Government decided that a
  revolution was very likely and passed the Six
  Acts in order to clamp down on working class
  discontent and the Radicals.
• Historians have argued that Peterloo was very
  influential in gaining ordinary people the vote.
  They also say that it led to the rise of the
  Chartists, who were a group of working class men
  wanting democratic reform, including the vote.