suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act would be repealed. No sooner were the
people relieved from the danger of being sent to prison for being present
at a meeting to petition Parliament for reform, as great numbers had been
in Lancashire imprisoned from March, 1817 until January, 1818, and then
discharged without being informed what charges were made against
them--than the Reform Associations were revived. A fresh campaign was
rigorously commenced early in 1819.
Henry Hunt (commonly called Orator Hunt) had come forward as the champion
of the people's rights. On the 25th of January, he made a public entry
into Manchester from Stockport, accompanied by large crowds with flags and
banners. The meeting was enthusiastic but very peaceable. Meetings were
held in all the surrounding towns and villages to appoint district
delegates to make arrangements for a great meeting to be held in
Manchester. This memorable meeting was held on the 16th of August, 1819,
on a large vacant plot of land called St. Peter's field, adjoining St.
Peter's Street, and in sight of St. Peter's Church. The actors in the
bloody tragedy of that day were called "The Heroes of Peterloo," in
contrast with the brave heroes of Waterloo.
This meeting was called to petition Parliament for a Reform of Parliament
and the Repeal of the Corn Laws, and it is a curious coincidence that on
the very spot where the largest public meeting was ever held to petition
Parliament for the Repeal of the Corn Laws, in the dispersion of which by
military force six hundred persons were killed and wounded there now
stands the Free Trade Hall, erected twenty years afterwards on Peterloo,
for the peaceful and noble object of obtaining bread for the people by the
repeal of the wicked laws by which it was prohibited.
I had no intention of going to this meeting, but my Aunt called at the
Counting House and asked me to accompany her to Mrs. Orton's, Mount
Street, St. Peter's field, to see the great meeting--a house overlooking
the whole space, and next but one to where the Magistrates were assembled.
We reached there about half-past eleven o'clock, and on our way saw large
bodies of men and women with bands playing and flags and banners bearing
devices: "No Corn Laws," "Reform," etc. There were crowds of people in all
directions, full of good humour, laughing and shouting and making fun. I
always wore a white hat in summer, and I found that Mr. Hunt also wore a
white hat, and it became the symbol of radicalism, and may have been the
cause of the politeness shown to us by the crowd.
It seemed to be a gala day with the country people who were mostly dressed
in their best and brought with them their wives, and when I saw boys and
girls taking their father's hand in the procession, I observed to my Aunt:
"These are the guarantees of their peaceable intentions--we need have no
fears," and so we passed on to Mrs. Orton's. When we arrived there we saw
great crowds which were constantly increased by the arrival of successive
country processions until it was estimated that the meeting amounted to
60,000 people. There was a double row of constables formed from Mr.
Buxton's (where the magistrates had taken their station) to the hustings.
My Father joined us soon after our arrival at Mrs. Orton's.
At length Hunt made his appearance in an open barouche drawn by two
horses, and a woman dressed in white sitting on the box. On their reaching
the hustings which were prepared for the orator, he was received with
enthusiastic applause; the waving of hats and flags; the blowing of
trumpets; and the playing of music. Hunt stepped on to the hustings, and
was again cheered by the vast assemblage. He began to address them, and I
could distinctly see his motions through the glass I held in my hand, and
I could hear his voice, but could not understand what he said. He paused,
and the people cheered him.
About this time there was an alarm among the women and children near the
place where I stood, and I could also see a part of the crowd in motion
towards the Deansgate side, but I thought it a false alarm, as many
returned again and joined in the huzzas of the crowd. A second alarm
arose, and I heard the sound of a horn, and immediately the Manchester
Yeomanry appeared, coming from Peter Street, headed by Hugh Birley, the
same man who, in 1815, as Boroughreeve of Manchester, presided at the
public meeting assembled to petition Parliament for the Repeal of the Corn
Laws. They galloped up to the house where the Magistrates were assembled,
halted, and drew up in line. After some hesitation, from what cause I do
not know, I heard the order to form three deep, and then the order to
march. The Trumpeter led the way and galloped towards the hustings,
followed by the yeomanry.
Whilst this was passing, my attention was called to another movement
coming from the opposite side of the meeting. A troop of soldiers, the
15th Hussars, turned round the corner of the house where we stood and
galloped forwards towards the crowd. They were succeeded by the Cheshire
Yeomanry, and lastly by two pieces of artillery. On the arrival of the
soldiers, the special constables, the magistrates, and the soldiers set
up loud shouts. This was responded to by the crowd with waving of hats.
After this the soldiers galloped amongst the people creating frightful
alarm and disorder. The people ran helter-skelter in every direction.
It was a hot, dusty day; clouds of dust arose which obscured the view.
When it had subsided a startling scene was presented. Numbers of men,
women, and children were lying on the ground who had been knocked down and
run over by the soldiers. I noticed one woman lying face downwards,
apparently lifeless. A man went up to her and lifted one of her legs; it
fell as if she were lifeless; another man lifted both her legs and let
them fall. I saw her some time after carried off by the legs and arms as
if she were dead.
My attention was then directed to a number of constables bringing from the
hustings the famous Hunt wearing a white hat, and with him another man,
also wearing a white hat, who was said to be Johnson. The prisoners were
treated in a scandalous manner; many of the constables hissed and beat
them as they passed. When they reached the Magistrates' house he was
surrounded by constables, some pulling him by the collar, others by the
coat. A dastardly attack was made upon him by General Clay, who with a
large stick struck him over the head with both hands as he was
ascending the steps to the Magistrates' house. The blow knocked in his hat
and packed it over his face. He then turned round as if ashamed of himself
and became a quiet spectator. The ground by this time was cleared, and
nothing was to be seen but soldiers and constables.
[Illustration: THE HUNT MEMORIAL IN THE VESTIBULE OF THE MANCHESTER REFORM
CLUB
_Bronze Relief by John Cassidy, R.C.A._
_To face page 69_]
The Rev. Mr. Hay (the Chairman to the Magistrates) then stood on the steps
of Mr. Buxton's house and addressed the constables. I could not hear what
he said, but he was cheered when he concluded. He then returned into the
house, but came out again soon afterwards with Mr. Marriott, the
Magistrate, and Hunt in the custody of Nadin, Chief Constable, and with
Johnson in the custody of another constable. When Hunt made his
appearance, he was assailed with groans and hisses by the soldiers and
constables. Hunt took off his hat and bowed to them, which appeared to
calm them while they marched towards Deansgate on their way to the New
Bailey prison, escorted by the cavalry. On quitting the windows from
whence we had witnessed so many painful scenes, we descended and found two
special constables who had been brought into the house. One presented a
shocking sight--the face was all over blood from a sword-cut on his head,
and his shoulder was put out. The other was bloody from being rode over
and kicked on the back of his head.
When the particulars of this bloody tragedy became known, strong feelings
of indignation were expressed all over the country. The Manchester
magistrates, alarmed at the tone of public opinion in London, had a
meeting hastily convened on the 19th of August at the Police Office, which
was adjourned to the Star Inn, where resolutions were passed thanking the
magistrates and the soldiers. I happened by accident to be present at the
meeting. A young man with whom I was acquainted, a clerk in the office of
the Clerk to the Magistrates, happening to meet me in the street on his
way to the meeting, took me by the arm and said: "Come with me." I asked
where he was going, and when I learned, declined to go. He replied:
"Nonsense, you will hear what is going on," and so I somewhat reluctantly
went with him to the Star Inn. On our arrival we found the room pretty
full and I took a seat. The Chairman, Mr. Francis Phillips, rose and said:
"If there be any persons present who do not approve of the objects of this
meeting they are requested to withdraw." I thought he looked at me, and
felt a little uncomfortable. He sat down again and rose to repeat his
request. I thought that as I should know better what the object of the
meeting was after I had heard it explained, I would sit still, and so I
remained to the end. After the meeting I told some of my Reform friends
how I came to be present at the meeting, and they wished me to write out
an account of the proceedings. I did so, and with a few alterations and
the omission of names it was inserted in _Cowdroy's Gazette_. This
statement created great alarm among those who got up the meeting to thank
the magistrates, and they denounced it as a false statement, but another
letter to _Cowdroy's Gazette_ affirmed the truth of the account of the
meeting to thank the magistrates, and threatened to make public the names
of the speakers if its correctness was again called in question.
[Illustration: THE PETERLOO MEDAL
Note the women and children, and the cap of Liberty held aloft in the
centre
_To face page 71_]
The dispersion of a legally convened meeting by military force aroused a
general indignation, and the smuggled passing of thanks to the magistrates
so dishonestly sent forth occasioned an expression of public feeling and
opinion such as had never been manifested in Manchester before. A
"Declaration and Protest" against the Star Inn resolutions was immediately
issued, stating that "We are fully satisfied by personal observation on
undoubted information that the meeting was _perfectly peaceable_; that no
seditious or intemperate harangues were made there; that the Riot Act, _if
read at all_, was read _privately, or without the knowledge of a great
body of the meeting_, and we feel it our bounden duty to protest against
and to express our utter disapprobation of the unexpected and unnecessary
violence by which the assembly was dispersed.
"We further declare that the meeting convened at the Police Office on the
19th of August for the purpose of thanking the magistrates, municipal
officers, soldiers, etc., was strictly and exclusively _private_, and in
order that the privacy might be more completely ensured was adjourned to
the Star Inn. It is a matter of notoriety that no expression of dissent
from the main object of the meeting was there permitted. We therefore deny
that it had any claim to the title of a 'numerous and highly respectable
meeting of the inhabitants of Manchester and Salford and their
neighbourhood.'"
In the course of three or four days this protest received 4,800
signatures.
By way of counteracting this energetic protest, on the 27th of August Lord
Sidmouth communicated to the Manchester Magistrates and to Major Trafford
and the military serving under him the thanks of the Prince Regent "for
their prompt, decisive, and efficient measures for preservation of the
public peace on August the 16th."
Meanwhile hundreds of persons wounded on that fatal day were enduring
dreadful suffering. They were disabled from work; not daring to apply for
parish relief; not even daring to apply for surgical aid, lest, in the
arbitrary spirit of the time, their acknowledgment that they had received
their wounds on St. Peter's field might send them to prison--perhaps to
the scaffold.
A committee was formed for the purpose of making a rigid enquiry into the
cases of those who had been killed and wounded; and subscriptions were
raised for their relief. After an enquiry of many successive weeks the
committee published the cases of eleven killed and five hundred and sixty
wounded, of whom about a hundred and twenty were females.
The Rev. W. R. Hay, Chairman of the Bench of Magistrates, was rewarded by
being presented to the living of Rochdale, worth L2,000 a year.
Hunt and his companions were committed to Lancaster, and subsequently
tried at York, where he was found guilty and sentenced to be imprisoned
for two years and a half, and Johnson, Healey, and Bamford to one year's
imprisonment.
The bloody proceedings at Peterloo startled the whole nation. Meetings
were held everywhere, denouncing them in the strongest terms. Sir Francis
Burdett addressed a letter to the Electors of Westminster, expressing his
"Shame, grief, and indignation" at the proceedings, and was prosecuted by
the Attorney-General for Libel and was fined L2,000 and imprisoned for
three months. Lord Fitzwilliam, for attending a public meeting to express
disapprobation at the means by which the meeting at Peterloo was
dispersed, was dismissed from his office as Lord Lieutenant of Yorkshire.
These proceedings produced a deep impression on the minds of thoughtful
men, who began to think we were on the brink of despotism, and that the
time had arrived when the country should be no longer ruled by Landowners
and Boroughmongers, but by representatives chosen by the people....
[Illustration: BANNER CARRIED AT PETERLOO
_Photo by R. H. Fletcher_
_To face page 75_]
APPENDIX A.
Some Relics of Peterloo
1.--A BANNER CARRIED AT PETERLOO.
At the entrance to the Reading-room of the Reform Club at Middleton (on
the left as you reach the door) may be seen one of the Banners carried at
Peterloo by the Middleton contingent, which was led by Samuel Bamford. It
is of green material (or so it seemed to me) and the letters are stamped
on it in gold capitals. The motto facing the entrance is LIBERTY AND
FRATERNITY. On the other side of the Banner (seen from within the room)
are the words: UNITY AND STRENGTH. The explanatory inscription reads:
"This Banner was carried by the Middleton Reformers, with Samuel Bamford
at their head, to Peterloo, and is frequently mentioned in the historical
records of that movement." (See Illustration opposite).
In chapter XXXIII. of _Passages in the Life of a Radical_ Bamford speaks
of "the colours; a blue one of silk, with inscriptions in golden letters:
UNITY AND STRENGTH, LIBERTY AND FRATERNITY. A green one of silk, with
golden letters, PARLIAMENTS ANNUAL, SUFFRAGE UNIVERSAL." Apparently the
Banner here figured is the one of which he writes later in chapter XXXVI.:
"I rejoined my companions [_i.e._, after Peterloo], and forming about a
thousand of them into file, we set off to the sound of fife and drum,
_with our only banner waving_, and in that form we re-entered the town of
Middleton. The Banner was exhibited from a window of the Suffield's Arms
public-house." The Banner is now carefully preserved between sheets of
glass. The photograph was taken under considerable difficulties as regards
light by Mr. R. H. Fletcher, of Eccles. The Chadderton Banner, though much
dilapidated, is also still in existence, but I could not obtain the
address of the person in whose keeping it is. She had left Chadderton, and
was living at Blackpool.
2.--BAMFORD'S COTTAGE.
Some distance higher up the town may be seen the house where Bamford lived
at the date of Peterloo. Over the door is a stone inscribed: "Samuel
Bamford resided and was arrested in this house, Aug. 26, 1819." Bamford
describes the event in detail in chapter XL of the work named above,
beginning: "About two o'clock on the morning of Thursday, the twenty-sixth
of August, that is, on the tenth morning after the fatal meeting, I was
awoke by footsteps in the street opposite my residence. Presently they
increased in number, etc." The photograph is again by Mr. R. H. Fletcher.
(See Illustration.) In the Churchyard above may be seen Bamford's tomb and
also the monument raised to his memory.
[Illustration: SAMUEL BAMFORD'S HOUSE AT MIDDLETON
_Photo by R. H. Fletcher_
_To face page 76_]
3.--CONSTABLES' STAVES.
(_a_) In the Catalogue of the _Old Manchester & Salford Exhibition_ (held
at the Art Gallery in 1904), on p. 27, exhibit 157 appears as "Handcuffs
belonging to Joe Nadin, Deputy Constable of Manchester at the time of
Peterloo;" lent by G. C. Yates, Esq. On the same page, exhibit 167 is a
"Special Constable's Staff, used at the time of Peterloo in Manchester,
and then the property of Mr. Beever;" lent by C. Shiel, Esq. This
collection is now for the most part dispersed.
[Illustration: THREE RELICS OF PETERLOO
_Photo by R. H. Fletcher_
_To face page 77_]
(_b_) Mr. T. Swindells, of Monton Green, in the third volume of his
_Manchester Streets and Manchester Men_, mentions "A Special Constable's
Staff" given to him by a descendant of James Fildes. It is inscribed: "A
relic of Peterloo. Special Constable's Staff which belonged to the late
James and Thomas Fildes, grocers, Shudehill, Manchester."
(_c_) In November, 1919, on the afternoon of the day on which I was to
lecture on _The Story of Peterloo_, at the Rylands Library, Mr. W. W.
Manfield, of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, brought me three interesting relics of
Peterloo, which have been in the possession of his family since 1819. On
the occasion of Peterloo his father and grandfather saw the crowd
streaming through Salford after the catastrophe, and their curiosity led
them to walk out to St. Peter's fields. There they picked up the three
relics, which have been carefully preserved ever since. One of them is a
long, heavy Constable's baton, apparently of rosewood, with the Royal Arms
painted at the thicker end. (See Illustration opposite.)
4.--HEAD OF FLAGSTAFF.
The second of Mr. Manfield's relics is the head of one of the Banner poles
carried at Peterloo. It is shaped like the traditional cap of Liberty, and
inscribed in neat gilt capitals: "Hunt and Liberty." (See Illustration.)
5.--HUSSAR'S PLUME.
The third of Mr. Manfield's relics is a plume of horsehair, apparently
originally dyed red, though (if so) much of the dye has faded. This, it
may be presumed, was the plume from the helmet of one of the Hussars. It
has been mentioned that the 15th Hussars wear a scarlet plume. These three
relics have been photographed on one plate by Mr. Fletcher. (See
Illustration opposite to page 77.)
6.--ACCOUNT-BOOK OF THE RELIEF COMMITTEE.
In the year of the Centenary, Mr. Guppy was fortunate enough to secure for
the Rylands Library the actual Account-Book used by one of the Committees
formed for the relief of those injured in the fray. A single page of this
book has been photographed by Mr. R. H. Fletcher for the present volume.
(See Illustration.) Mr. Guppy's account of the volume (_Bulletin of
Rylands Library_, April to November, 1919, p. 191) is as follows:--
"The Library has been fortunate in being able to acquire a small octavo
account-book, leather bound, which seems to have been an official record
of the casualties at Peterloo which were dealt with by one of the Relief
Committees. It contains details of the names, addresses, and injuries of
347 individuals, particulars of the successive grants made to them by one
Committee, and references to the grants made by another Committee
(possibly two others).
The details given are corroborative of many of the statements in Mr.
Bruton's _Story of Peterloo_. Thus: the cases include those of Elizabeth
Gaunt (mentioned on pp. 274 and 275), of Mrs. Fildes (on p. 274), of
Thomas Redford (on pp. 285, 291, and 294). There are references to the
loose timber (see pp. 269, 284 and 294), the injuries to Special
Constables (see p. 280), the fight near the Friends' Meeting-house (see
pp. 284 and 289), the oak trees growing near that building (see pp. 269,
294), the white hat as a symbol of Radicalism (see p. 273), the fear of
losing employment evinced by the wounded (see p. 291), the infantry
intercepting fugitives (see p. 290), the child killed by a trooper in
Cooper Street (see p. 277), and so on. The sum total voted by this
Committee appears to have been L687; it must be remembered, however, that
the sum of L3,000 mentioned on p. 291 as having been subscribed may have
been used partly for legal expenses.
[Illustration: One Page of the Account Book of the Relief Committee.
_By permission of Mr. H. Guppy._
_Photo by R. H. Fletcher._]
Since this manuscript account-book came to light, Mr. Bruton has
discovered a printed Report of the Relief Committee, in which 560 cases
are described, and the amount raised to date is given as L3,408 1s. 8d.,
and pronounced to be inadequate for 600 people. It also gives the amount
spent on legal expenses as L1,077."
7.--ACCOUNT-BOOK RECORDING AMOUNTS RAISED FOR THE RELIEF OF SPECIAL
CONSTABLES & THEIR FAMILIES.
I have to thank Dr. A. A. Mumford for calling my attention to another
account-book connected with Peterloo, which I believe he met with while
going over the Crossley papers at the Chetham Library. Its number in the
Library Catalogue is MS. B. 3. 70. It is a small note-book ruled for cash,
and entitled: "Subscriptions for Special Constables. Nos. 10 and 11."
There is a note of a Resolution carried on August 27th, 1819, to the
effect that a Relief Fund should be raised on behalf of Special Constables
injured at Peterloo and their families. The subscriptions recorded in this
book range from L1 to L10 10s., and amount in all to about L400.
APPENDIX B.
1.--NOTE ON THE CASUALTIES AT PETERLOO.
On few points do the accounts of Peterloo vary more than on the question
of the casualties. There is sufficient historical material available to
enable us to investigate this matter in detail, but the task would be a
gruesome one, and no useful object would be attained if it were
accomplished. On the other hand, a few words may serve to show whereabouts
the truth lies.
In the _Cambridge Modern History_ (Vol. X., pp. 580, 581) it is stated
that "a man was killed and forty were injured." In the _Political History
of England_ (1906, Vol. XI., pp. 178, 179) we read that "happily the
actual loss of life did not exceed five or six, but a much larger number
were more or less wounded." A number of the most important school
histories in use at the present time reproduce one or the other of these
statements _verbatim_.
If we turn to the contemporary records, they are somewhat conflicting. The
hurried estimates given by the local papers immediately after the
catastrophe (_e.g._, one newspaper reported twelve killed) had to be
corrected later. The most general estimate seems to be "eleven killed and
between 500 and 600 wounded." When we come to examine these figures in
detail, however, these points emerge: (1) "Killed" is evidently taken to
include the cases of those who died after lingering (possibly) for some
weeks. (2) The summary includes the casualties due to the firing of the
infantry in the neighbourhood of New Cross, some hours after the great
event; included in the list, also will be the child (Fildes) knocked from
its mother's arms by one of the yeomanry as they were riding to the
meeting.
Archibald Prentice, in his _Historical Sketches and Personal Recollections
of Manchester_ (p. 167), states that eleven were killed, that 420 were
wounded, and that there still remained (according to the Relief
Committee's Report) 140 cases to be investigated, making a total of 560.
Mr. John Benjamin Smith (who very likely refreshed his memory by looking
up records when writing his Reminiscences) gives the same result. Mr. J.
C. Hobhouse, speaking in the House of Commons, on May 19th, 1821, said
that "he held in his hand a list of killed and wounded running to 25-30
sheets, and defied them to disprove it." It is clear, then, that these
estimates are quoted from the Committee's Report, and to this it will be
well now to turn.