Service to remember victims of massacre

A MEMORIAL service will be held to remember those who lost their lives at the Peterloo massacre 200 years ago.

The St Chad’s church ceremony will also commemorate two men from Rochdale who were injured on that day, and all others who were affected.

The list of those injured on August 16, 1819, lists two people with Rochdale addresses - and the church have been able to reveal a little about their lives.

Abel Ashworth, of Church Stile, was the son of John Ashworth and his wife Mary, from Sheffield. He was both baptised and married at St Chad’s - to his wife Betty Hartley on July 21, 1801. At the time of the Peterloo march, Abel would have been 37 years old.

William Kershaw, of Lower Place, was baptised on April 8, 1749 - the son of William and Susan Kershaw. In 1819, his age was listed as 70 and though injured, he survived a further ten years after the events of August 1819. He was then buried at St Chad’s on August 1, 1829.

Revd Mark Coleman, Vicar of Rochdale, said the church have not yet been able to locate the approximate area of the graves, as most grave stones have been moved over time.

The short service of commemoration and thanksgiving will take place immediately outside St Chad’s, in the old church grave yard, where so many of Rochdale’s sons and daughters have been laid to rest.

Revd Mark Coleman, added: “I am very grateful to Donald Fletcher for the research into this matter. It is right that we remember and give thanks for those who spoke out bravely for a more fair society, and learn what we can so that we can avoid repeating injustices.”

The service will be held on Friday, August 16, at 11am and all are welcome to join the “short but important gathering” as flowers are laid.