his voice could reach, had a pretty absolute control over his friends;
they shouted as he spoke; it appeared that he was
commander-in-chief?--The thing never occurred to me; I cannot speak
positively.
Have not you an opinion that he was head and leader of the party?--My
opinion certainly is, that he was.
And now, I will ask you this question, as a clergyman, and as a man of
character, which I believe you to be--I ask you, upon your oath, whether,
in your judgment, the public tranquillity and the peace of Manchester were
not endangered by a mob of that description, composed in that manner, and
having such a man as Hunt at its head--Hunt and Carlile, for
instance?--Hunt and Carlile are dangerous people, and any mob under their
control must be dangerous.
Re-examined by Mr. SERJEANT BLACKBURNE:
Do you know, Mr. Stanley, whether this meeting was under the command of
either Hunt or Carlile?--No.
When you say there was a shout given on the Manchester Yeomanry coming
into the field, was there any other shout besides that given by the
multitude?--There was.
Whose shout was that?--The Manchester Yeomanry, the special constables,
and the people round the pavement in front of our house.
May I ask you whether you were terrified by those shouts?--Personally,
certainly not.
Mr. JUSTICE HOLROYD: Explain what you mean by that?--I myself was not
alarmed about them.
Mr. SERJEANT BLACKBURNE: And whether it did not create terror and
alarm?--Not to me individually, certainly not.
You have said that you presented a description of what you saw at the
meeting, to some of your friends?--I did.
How soon was that written after the meeting?--I can scarcely say; I should
think perhaps two months, but I cannot speak accurately. It was when the
impression was clear on my mind.
Clear and fresh in your recollection. Will you have the goodness to tell
me whether you heard or saw any person read the Riot Act?--I neither heard
it read nor saw it read.
Mr. SERJEANT HULLOCK: If it was read you did not hear it?--I did not hear
it.
If it should turn out to have been read, and read loudly, there might have
been something else done--but that is conclusion--that is reason.
Mr. EVANS: Your Lordship has on your note that McKennell said that he did
not[8] hear the Riot Act read.
Mr. SERJEANT CROSS: He said so.
Mr. JUSTICE HOLROYD: Yes, I have.
Mr. SERJEANT BLACKBURNE: Then that is my case, my Lord.
[Illustration: Plan of Peterloo. (_F. A. B._)
Compiled from a number of Contemporary Plans, and showing (in dotted
outline) the position of modern blocks of buildings.
_By permission of Mr. H. Guppy._]
Sir William Jolliffe
_afterwards_
LORD HYLTON
William George Hylton Jolliffe (1800-1876), the first Baron Hylton, was
the son of the Rev. W. J. Jolliffe. At the date of Peterloo he was not
quite nineteen years of age, and was serving as a Lieutenant in the 15th
Hussars, then quartered at the Cavalry Barracks at Manchester. He retired
from the Hussars with the rank of Captain. He was created a Baronet in
1821, and sat as member for Petersfield for about thirty years, acting for
a short time as Under Secretary for Home Affairs, and afterwards as
Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury. He was exceedingly popular as a
Conservative Whip, and when he was raised to the Peerage in 1866, he took
the title of Baron Hylton from the family's connection with the Hyltons of
Hylton Castle.
The letter which follows appeared in Dean Pellew's _Life of Lord
Sidmouth_, published in 1847. It will be seen that it is addressed to T.
G. B. Estcourt, Esq.; presumably he obtained the information for Dean
Pellew. The letter is approved and annotated by "E. Smyth, Esq., of
Norwich, who commanded a troop of the Cheshire Yeomanry at Peterloo."
Unfortunately, the Notes to the letter are somewhat confusing: some are
signed by Captain Smyth, others are not signed, and it is not easy to
determine their authorship. Moreover, Captain Smyth's contributions are
not on a level with the letter itself. It has therefore been thought
better to omit the Notes altogether, and allow Lieut. Jolliffe's very
clear and well-balanced report to speak for itself. A few explanatory
words have been inserted in square brackets.
The Rev. Edward Stanley, in his Evidence, given above, mentioned the fact
that the Hussars who rode at Peterloo were wearing their Waterloo medals.
As a matter of fact, the 15th (the King's) Hussars, whose motto is
"Merebimur," have not only "Waterloo," but also the Peninsula, Vittoria,
Afghanistan and a number of other names inscribed on their colours. The
uniform is blue, with a Busby bag and scarlet plume. Presumably the plume
shown in our photograph came from the helmet of one of the Hussars. It
seems clear from the evidence which was given before the Relief Committee,
after Peterloo, that there was not the same feeling of resentment against
the Hussars as against the local Yeomanry; in fact, it was more than once
asserted that troopers of the Hussars actually restrained the Manchester
Yeomanry from excessive violence.
* * * * *
I wrote to the present Lord Hylton to ask if he could lend a portrait of
his Grandfather for reproduction here. He replied that he could not do so,
but added: "As a matter of fact, a full-length portrait (by Sir Francis
Grant, P.R.A., in my possession) has been engraved, and a copy of this
engraving is, I should think, not difficult to procure." I have not been
able to find it. It is not included in the British Museum Series.
The Charge of the 15th Hussars at Peterloo
_as described by_
SIR WILLIAM G. H. JOLLIFFE, BART., M.P. (who rode in the charge as a
Lieutenant of Hussars) in a letter which appears in Dean Pellew's _Life of
Lord Sidmouth_, Vol. III., p. 253 _et seq._
9, ST. JAMES'S PLACE,
_April 11th, 1845_.
MY DEAR SIR,
Twenty-five years have passed since the collision unfortunately occurred
between the population of Manchester and its neighbourhood and the
military stationed in that town, on the sixteenth of August, 1819.
I was at that time a Lieutenant in the 15th King's Hussars, which Regiment
had been quartered in Manchester Cavalry Barracks about six weeks. This
was my first acquaintance with a large manufacturing population. I had
little knowledge of the condition of that population, whether or no a
great degree of distress was then prevalent, or whether or no the distrust
and bad feeling which appeared to exist between employers and employed,
was wholly or in part caused by the agitation of political questions. I
will not, therefore, enter into any speculation on these points, but I
will endeavour to relate the facts which fell under my own observations,
although acting, as of course I was, under the command of others, and in a
subordinate situation. The military force stationed in Manchester
consisted of six troops of the 15th Hussars, under the command of Colonel
Dalrymple; one troop of Horse Artillery with two guns, under Major
Dyneley; and nearly the whole of the 31st Regiment, under Colonel Guy
L'Estrange (who commanded the whole as senior officer). [Sir John Byng was
then at Pontefract.] Some companies of the 88th Regiment and [six troops
of] the Cheshire Yeomanry had also been brought into the town in
anticipation of disturbances which might result from the expected meeting;
and these latter had only arrived on the morning of the sixteenth, or a
few hours previously; and, lastly, there was a troop of Manchester
Yeomanry Cavalry, consisting of about forty members, who, from the manner
in which they were made use of (to say the least) greatly aggravated the
disasters of the day. Their ranks were filled chiefly by wealthy master
manufacturers; and without the knowledge possessed by a (strictly
speaking) military body, they were placed, most unwisely, as it appeared,
under the immediate command and order of the civil authorities.
Our Regiment paraded in field-service order at about 8.30 or it might be 9
o'clock, a.m. Two squadrons of it were marched into the town about ten
o'clock. They were formed up and dismounted in a wide street, the name of
which I forget,[9] to the North of St. Peter's field (the place appointed
for the meeting), and at the distance of nearly a quarter of a mile from
it.
The Cheshire Yeomanry were formed, on our left, in the same street. One
troop of our Regiment was attached to the artillery, which took up a
position between the Cavalry Barracks and the town; and one troop remained
in charge of the Barracks.
The two squadrons with which I was stationed must have remained dismounted
nearly two hours. During the greater portion of that period a solid mass
of people continued moving along a street about a hundred yards to our
front on the way to the place of meeting. Other officers as well as myself
occasionally rode to the front (to the end of a street) to see them pass.
They marched at a brisk pace in ranks well closed up, five or six bands of
music being interspersed, and there appeared to be but few women with
them. Mr. Hunt, with two or three other men, and I think two women dressed
in light blue and white, were in an open carriage drawn by the people.
This carriage was adorned with blue and white flags; and the day was fine
and hot. As soon as the great bulk of the procession had passed, we were
ordered to stand to our horses. In a very short time afterwards, the four
troops of the 15th mounted, and at once moved off by the right, at a trot
which was increased to a canter. Someone who had been sent from the place
of meeting to bring us led the way through a number of narrow streets and
by a circuitous route to (what I will call) the South-west[10] corner of
St. Peter's field. We advanced along the South[11] side of this space of
ground without a halt or pause even: the words "Front!" and "Forward!"
were given, and the trumpet sounded the charge at the very moment the
threes wheeled up. When fronted, our line extended quite across the
ground, which in all parts was so filled with people that their hats
seemed to touch.
It was then for the first time that I saw the Manchester troop of
Yeomanry; they were scattered singly or in small groups over the greater
part of the field, literally hemmed up and hedged into the mob so that
they were powerless either to make an impression or to escape; in fact,
they were in the power of those whom they were designed to overawe, and it
required only a glance to discover their helpless position, and the
necessity of our being brought to their rescue. As I was at the time
informed, this hopeless state of things happened thus: A platform had been
erected near the centre of the field, from which Mr. Hunt and others were
to address the multitude, and the magistrates, having ordered a strong
body of constables to arrest the speakers, unfortunately imagined that
they should support the peace officers by bringing up the troop of
Yeomanry at a walk. The result of this movement, instead of that which the
magistrates desired, was unexpectedly to place this small body of horsemen
(so introduced into a dense mob) entirely at the mercy of the people by
whom they were, on all sides, pressed upon and surrounded.
The charge of the Hussars, to which I have just alluded, swept this
mingled mass of human beings before it; people, yeomen, and constables,
in their confused attempts to escape, ran one over the other; so that by
the time we had arrived at the end of the field the fugitives were
literally piled up to a considerable elevation above the level of the
ground. (I may here, by the way, state that this field, as it is called,
was merely an open space of ground, surrounded by buildings, and itself, I
rather think, in course of being built upon.).
The Hussars drove the people forward with the flats of their swords, but
sometimes, as is almost inevitably the case when men are placed in such
situations, the edge was used, both by the Hussars, and, as I have heard,
by the yeomen also; but of this last part I was not cognizant, and
believing though I do that nine out of ten of the sabre-wounds were caused
by the Hussars, I must still consider that it redounds to the humane
forbearance of the men of the 15th that more wounds were not received,
when the vast numbers are taken into consideration with whom they were
brought into hostile collision; beyond all doubt, however, the far greater
amount of injuries were from the pressure of the routed multitude. The
Hussars on the left pursued down the various streets which led from the
place; those on the right met with something more of resistance.
The mob had taken possession of various buildings on that side,
particularly of a Quakers' chapel and burial ground enclosed with a wall.
This they occupied for some little time, and in attempting to displace
them, some of the men and horses were struck with stones and brickbats. I
was on the left, and as soon as I had passed completely over the ground
and found myself in the street on the other side, I turned back, and then,
seeing a sort of fight still going on on the right, I went in that
direction. At the very moment I reached the Quakers' meeting-house, I saw
a farrier of the 15th ride at a small door in the outer wall, and to my
surprise his horse struck it with such force that it flew open. Two or
three Hussars then rode in, and the place was immediately in their
possession. I then turned towards the elevated platform, which still
remained in the centre of the field with persons upon it; a few straggling
Hussars and yeomen, together with a number of men having the appearance of
peace-officers were congregating about it. On my way thither I met the
Commanding-officer of my Regiment, who directed me to find a Trumpeter, in
order that he might sound the "rally" or "retreat." This sent me again
down the street I had first been in (after the pursuing men of my troop);
but I had not ridden above a hundred yards before I found a Trumpeter, and
returned with him to the Colonel. The field and the adjacent streets now
presented an extraordinary sight: the ground was quite covered with hats,
shoes, musical instruments, and other things. Here and there lay the
unfortunates who were too much injured to move away, and this sight was
rendered the more distressing by observing some women among the sufferers.
Standing near the corner of the street where I had been sent in search of
a Trumpeter, a brother officer called my attention to a pistol being fired
from a window. I saw it fired twice, and I believe it had been fired once
before I observed it. Some of the 31st Regiment just now arriving on the
ground were ordered to take possession of this house, but I do not know if
this was carried into effect.
I next went towards a private of the Regiment whose horse had fallen over
a piece of timber nearly in the middle of the square, and who was most
seriously injured. There were many of these pieces of timber (or
timber-trees) lying upon the ground, and as these could not be
distinguished when the mob covered them, they had caused bad falls to one
officer's horse and to many of the troopers'. While I was attending to the
wounded soldier, the artillery troop with the troop of Hussars attached to
it, arrived on the ground from the same direction by which we had entered
the field; these were quickly followed by the Cheshire Yeomanry. The 31st
Regiment came in another direction, and the whole remained formed up till
our squadrons had fallen in again.
Carriages were brought to convey the wounded to the Manchester Infirmary,
and the troop of Hussars who came up with the guns was marched off to
escort to the gaol a number of persons who had been arrested, and among
these Mr. Hunt. For some time the town was patrolled by the troops, the
streets being nearly empty, and the shops for the most part closed. We
then returned to the Barracks. I should not omit to mention that, before
the men were dismissed, the arms were minutely examined; and that no
carbine or pistol was found to have been fired, and only one pistol to
have been loaded.
About 8 p.m. one squadron of the 15th Hussars (two troops) was ordered on
duty to form part of a strong night picket, the other part of which
consisted of two companies of the 88th Regiment. This picket was stationed
at a place called the New Cross, at the end of Oldham Street. As soon as
it had taken up its position, a mob assembled about it, which increased as
the darkness came on; stones were thrown at the soldiers, and the Hussars
many times cleared the ground by driving the mob up the streets leading
from the New Cross. But these attempts to get rid of the annoyance were
only successful for the moment, for the people got through the houses or
narrow passages from one street into another, and the troops were again
attacked, and many men and horses struck with stones. This lasted nearly
an hour and a half, and the soldiers being more and more pressed upon, a
town magistrate, who was with the picket, read the Riot Act, and the
officer in command ordered the 88th to fire (which they did by platoon
firing) down three of the streets. The firing lasted only a few minutes;
perhaps not more than thirty shots were fired; but these had a magical
effect; the mob ran away and dispersed forthwith, leaving three or four
persons on the ground with gunshot wounds. At 4 a.m. the picket squadron
was relieved by another squadron of the Regiment. With this latter
squadron I was on duty, and after we had patrolled the town for two hours,
the officer in command sent me to the magistrates (who had remained
assembled during the night) to report to them that the town was perfectly
quiet, and to request their sanction to the return of the military to
their quarters.
On the afternoon of the 17th I visited, in company with some military
medical officers, the Infirmary. I saw there from twelve to twenty cases
of sabre-wounds, and among these two women who appeared not likely to
recover. One man was in a dying state from a gunshot wound in the head;
another had had his leg amputated; both these casualties arose from the
firing of the 88th the night before. Two or three were reputed dead; one
of them a constable, killed on St. Peter's field, but I saw none of the
bodies.
As shortly as I could I have now related what fell under my own
observation during these twenty-four hours ... I trust that I have, in
some degree, complied with your wishes.
WILLIAM G. HYLTON JOLLIFFE.
_To_ Thomas Grimston Bucknall Estcourt, Esq., M.P.
[Illustration: JOHN BENJAMIN SMITH 1794-1879
_By permission of Lady Durning Lawrence_
_Photo by Briggs_
_To face page 59_]
John Benjamin Smith
_First Chairman of the Anti-Corn Law League_.
John Benjamin Smith (1794-1879), whose account of Peterloo follows, was
better known as a strenuous advocate of Free Trade; even in this capacity,
however, a breakdown of health some years before the Repeal of the Corn
Laws, robbed him of much of the credit which was due to him for the
important spade-work that he had done. He was the first Treasurer of the
Anti-Corn Law Association, and when that developed into the Anti-Corn Law
League, he became its first Chairman. He contested several elections on
Free Trade principles, and used himself to tell how he had converted
Cobden to "total repeal." He sat as member, first for the Stirling Burghs,
and afterwards, during more than twenty years, for Stockport. His
correspondence with John Bright has recently been placed in the Manchester
Reference Library. During the American War he strongly espoused the cause
of the North, and he was one of those who urged the Government to
encourage the growth of cotton in India.
Mr. Smith was a Trustee of Owens College under the Founder's will; and he
subscribed liberally towards its extension. His name is perpetuated in the
"Smith" Professorship of English Literature, which was endowed in memory
of him by his two daughters and his son-in-law. A short memoir of him,
which appeared in Alderman Thompson's _History of Owens College_, has been
reprinted and published separately. (Manchester, J. E. Cornish, 1887.)
At the date of Peterloo he was only twenty-five years of age, but he had
already shown great promise as a business man. Entering the office of his
uncle, a Manchester merchant, at the early age of fourteen, he was made
responsible for the whole correspondence of the firm five years later; and
before he was twenty he had negotiated some very profitable purchases of
cotton at the sales of the East India Company.
The account of Peterloo which follows is an extract from his
"Reminiscences," which were written towards the close of his life at the
earnest request of his family. The manuscript of these is now at the
Manchester Reference Library, as is also a typed and bound copy presented
by his daughter, Lady Durning Lawrence. Among his other manuscripts (also
at the Manchester Reference Library) is a shorter account of Peterloo,
apparently written immediately after the event. The statement made
recently that Mr. J. B. Smith was the author of the well-known _Impartial
Narrative of the Melancholy Occurrences at Manchester_ seems to be due to
an error: apparently the _Impartial Narrative_ (which seems to have been
written by another hand) has been confused with Mr. Smith's shorter and
earlier account.
We have already pointed out that Mr. Smith's narrative, which is not so
detailed as those of Stanley and Jolliffe in its description of the charge
of the troops, is specially valuable for the account it gives of the
circumstances immediately preceding and following the catastrophe, and its
estimate of the character of the crowd. In these details it is strikingly
corroborative of Bamford's story, as told in his _Passages in the Life of
a Radical_, and of the information given by Mr. John Edward Taylor,
who--under the pseudonym of "An Observer"--edited the contemporary tracts
entitled _The Peterloo Massacre_.
* * * * *
The portrait of Mr. Smith which appears here is from a photograph kindly
lent by his daughter, Lady Durning Lawrence.
_AN EXTRACT FROM THE_
"Reminiscences" of John Benjamin Smith
_Copied from the original manuscript then in the possession of his
daughter, Lady Durning Lawrence. (August 1913.)_
... The people, disappointed in their expectations that prosperity and
plenty would follow the return of peace, and having no faith in a
legislature which as soon as the war terminated inflicted upon them a Corn
Law to deprive them of cheap corn, demanded a better representation in
Parliament. Stimulated by the writings of Cobbett, associations were
formed in all the manufacturing districts to obtain a reform in
Parliament. Lancashire took the lead in this movement. Clubs were
established in 1816 in all the manufacturing towns and villages. At the
small town of Middleton, near Manchester, a Club was formed in which
Bamford, the weaver-poet, took a leading part. They were joined by many
honest and intelligent men from all parts of the district, among whom was
John Knight, a small manufacturer. A meeting of delegates was held on the
first of January, 1817, at which it was decided that the reforms required
could only be accomplished by the establishment of annual parliaments and
universal suffrage.
The establishment of these clubs alarmed the Government, who saw in them
nothing but an intention to overturn the institutions of the country, and
to revive in this country the enormities of the French Revolution. Spies
and Informers were employed by the Government, and John Knight and
thirty-seven others who had legally assembled to discuss the reforms which
they deemed necessary to obtain a repeal of the Corn Laws and good
government, were arrested on the information of spies, and sent for trial
to Lancaster, but on their trial before Mr. Baron Wood, were all found not
guilty by the Jury.
The Sidmouth Government suspended the Habeas Corpus Act so that they could
arrest and imprison any person as long as they pleased. The Tories,
following the example of the Radicals, established Associations for the
protection of the Constitution.