is the name given to a meeting held on August 16, 1819, in St. Peter's Fields, Manchester. Its object was to demand the reform of Parliament and it was attended by about 60,000 persons, including an unusually large proportion of women and children. Although the gathering was peaceable, the magistrates were nervous and ordered the Machester yeomanry to seize the speakers immediately after the meeting had begun. The yeomanry, who were untrained Manchester business men, did not confine themselves to arresting the leaders, however, but made a general attack upon the audience, using their sabres to literally cut their way through the crowd. In the span of ten minutes, eleven people were killed, including two women, and 400, including 100 women, were wounded.

James Wroe, one of the organizers of the meeting, described the attack in the Manchester Observer. He also produced a series of pamphlets entitled The Peterloo Massacre: A Faithful Narrative of the Events. The pamphlets, which appeared for fourteen consecutive weeks from August 28, had a large circulation, and played an important role in the propaganda war against the authorities. Wroe was later sent to prison for writing these accounts of the Peterloo Massacre.

Other members of the assembly wrote accounts of what they had witnessed and sent them to London newspapers, including the London Times.

The trial of the organizers of the meeting took place between March 16 and 17, 1820. The men were charged with "assembling with unlawful banners at an unlawful meeting for the purpose of exciting discontent." Four of them were found guilty and imprisoned, while four others were acquitted. The yeomanry was cleared of all blame for the deaths and injuries.

Questions or comments about this page?

"Peterloo." Encyclopædia Britannica. Chicago:Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 1957.

"Peterloo Massacre." Spartacus. www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRpeterloo.htm
Marjorie Bloy. "The Peterloo Massacre, 16 August 1819." Riots & Disorders. The Victorian Web, 2003. www.victorianweb.org/history/riots/peterloo.html

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