Remembering Peterloo
We speak with historians, curators and campaigners about why it’s so important we never forget the 200-year old tragedy of this protest for voting rights
Historians, curators and organisers reflect on the impact of this massive events in the history of British democracy and why it’s important that it’s never forgotten
August 1819: between 60,000–80,000 men, women and children assembled in St Peter’s Field in Manchester to protest for their right to parliamentary representation. Not long after Henry Hunt, the famed orator, took to the hustings the local magistrates ordered the arrest of Hunt and those leading the protest, and the Manchester and Salford Yeomanry charged the field, attacking with sabres as they met resistance from the crowd. With tensions rising they were followed by the 15th Hussars who also charged, having been ordered to disperse the assembly. What they seemingly didn’t know is that exits had been blocked and most in the field were now trapped.
It’s believed that 18 people died in the attack, including one two-year-old child, with over 500 injured. It was a shocking event that the press nicknamed “Peterloo” as an ironic reference to the Battle of Waterloo. John Lees, a former soldier and textiles worker, died from wounds he sustained and is reported to have told a friend before his death, “At Waterloo there was man to man but there it was downright murder.” It’s an event that echoed through the years that followed, but it would not be until 1832 and the Great Reform Act that anything close to what protestors called for would be put into law, and over 100 years before universal suffrage would be achieved in the UK. As we mark the 200th anniversary this year we spoke with some of the people looking to keep the memory of this event alive and why they think it is such an important moment in British history.
How long have you been working on the various events you have planned for the anniversary? Manchester Histories and partners, which include both large cultural organisations and small community groups across Greater Manchester, have been working over the past four years on the programme that has led to Peterloo 2019. This has included running regular network and planning meetings to shape what activities take place and to develop the different strands of work such as the learning resources and the new website (peterloo1819.co.uk), which will also form part of the legacy for the project. Did you have a particular mission statement for what you wanted to achieve for the anniversay? Despite the scale of the Peterloo Massacre and the impact that it had at the time, both nationally and internationally, awareness levels have remained low. Peterloo is a chapter of our history that links directly to our present, and events that followed like the Chartist and suffragette movements, with ordinary people campaigning for change. Our mission has been to make people more aware of the story and the relevance of Peterloo, to bring this to life and to explore the impact on society both then and now. You’ve approached this anniversary in a multitude of ways, one of which is a broader series of events around protest and freedom of speech in the 200 years since Peterloo. Why did you choose to do that? We want to make sure Peterloo has relevance to today and to influence people’s future thinking in terms of finding out about their own and others’ histories and heritage. The themes were chosen so that people could talk about their own interests today in parallel to Peterloo.
By also looking more broadly at protest, it’s given the opportunity to not just focus on the story of Peterloo, but also other important events that have shaped our society today, like the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp that peacefully protested for nuclear disarmament. What does Peterloo mean to the city of Manchester? I think the commemorations to date have been very emotive. The Peterloo story unleashes a rawness, it stirs deep feelings of pride, anger, and highlights people’s struggles to be represented. People have really connected to this and to each other through discussions and attending different events. It means Manchester is still a city that has lots to say and is proud of its radical roots and spirit!
Manchester Histories is hosting events through July and August, most of them free to attend. Visit manchesterhistories.co.uk for more information and peterloo1819.co.uk for an interactive experience
On 27 September 1884 an extraordinary photograph was taken of 11 elderly survivors of the Peterloo Massacre. Aged between 79 and 83 these protestors were still campaigning for better voting rights. A copy was discovered by historian and television presenter Michael Wood in a collection of old history books that belonged to his father. He recently gave a lecture about the image called ‘The Peterloo Photograph’ as part of Manchester Histories’ bicentenary commemorations. We spoke to Wood about the massacre’s powerful legacy in the city and beyond.
What did the march to St Peter’s Field say about the condition of Manchester at the time?
There were massive divisions emerging with poverty and unemployment. The Industrial Revolution was underway and there were a lot of stresses and strains on society. Manchester was also a really difficult place to operate in. There was no civic order and it was still under a manorial ownership.
How important was the massacre as a political event?
One historian said that Peterloo was “up there with Magna Carta” so it was a massive moment and everybody recognised it. The leadership had instructed the protestors that there was to be absolutely no violence used or any semblance of rioting. There were a large number of women present and Samuel Bamford described many of them as wearing white dresses and frocks with hats and garlands of flowers. The whole atmosphere was like Wakes Week with the festive summer entertainments that they put on in rural districts.
Everybody was therefore totally stunned by what happened. The government moved against reforming newspapers as often as it could but everybody was writing about it. Alison Morgan has just published a collection of Peterloo songs and ballads and she’s retrieved about 80 to 90 of them! These were written in the immediate aftermath and sung in pubs, clubs and taverns. The Manchester Guardian (now The Guardian) was also founded in the aftermath of Peterloo.
How was Peterloo remembered when you were growing up in Manchester?
Everybody knew about Peterloo in our neck of the woods. Certainly when I went up to Manchester Grammar School when I was 11 the history teacher made a speech on the first day. He gave us his pen-portrait of Manchester, which was a city of free trade, the Industrial Revolution and the heroes and heroines of Peterloo.
It was definitely something that we all knew about and in my particular case my father came
from Failsworth, which played quite a role in the Peterloo story. It was a famous centre of radicalism and it was a really well-known story in our family because we’ve got ancestors tracing back there to at least the 1790s.
How did a copy of the ‘Peterloo Photograph’ come into your family?
These were 11 veterans who were youngsters at the time and they were all part of the Failsworth story. Our families were linked to a pool of people, including a few of the veterans, who went to Peterloo who were all neighbours, friends and related by marriage.
I should say that I’m no expert and these are simply family stories. As I was clearing out my mum’s house after she died three years ago, I found a box of books belonging to my dad that included photos and other odd and ends. We wondered why there were these old, obscure local history books of Failsworth among them and they all carried the photograph of the Peterloo veterans. My dad had kept three or four books that contained the picture because it was taken in Failsworth at a prominent event.
What do we know about the photograph?
The account of the meeting from 1884 says that they carried a banner that they’d carried with Samuel Bamford’s detachment to Peterloo. However, the two banners that you can read were from a demonstration for the vote that they had attended in 1884. There they are in their 80s and they are still fighting! They were still activists and that night they went round to a local house for tea where they told stories and sang songs.
How important are photographs like this as historical records?
Photographs sometimes open an amazing window. There is quite a famous photograph in the British Library of a Chartist meeting in 1848 in Kennington and when you have photos like that it’s staggering. They are beyond price as a record of what people were actually like at that time during the early development of photography.
Photos can therefore be absolutely stunning and it’s why I called my talk ‘The Peterloo Photograph’. This is because you may think, “Peterloo? 1819? Photography wasn’t invented then!” But there they are and we know who they were and what they did. They’re no longer anonymous weavers who don’t have any background or can’t be placed.
How important are the bicentenary events for Manchester?
I think they are important and Manchester has always had a unique place in history. When you travel in on the train from Stockport it doesn’t have the vibe of a great city of history or a place of destiny.
However, because of what happened from the Industrial Revolution onwards, it was no mistake that so many movements began there. This included the suffragettes and Chartism was really big in Manchester. It was a great centre of radical and liberal politics and Friedrich Engels lived there, which is why Karl Marx came up.
It was really the experience of Manchester that led Engels and Marx to construe the nature of capitalism in the way that they did. If Engels had lived in Birmingham, Marx would have seen a completely different kind of industrial society. It was made out of thousands of small workshops and it was a different kind of industrial economy altogether. Their interpretation of history was really influenced by Manchester.
Peterloo is ultimately a symbol: an electric moment after which nothing can be quite the same again. Mancunians still feel that and I think that’s reflective of the pride they have in their city as a crucible of history where things are hammered out.
Michael Wood was speaking as part of Peterloo 2019: Manchester Histories’ series of events and activities that culminates with the bicentenary on 16 August 2019. For more info visit www.manchesterhistories.co.uk
“There They are in Their 80s and They are still fighting!”