sign in sign up
<<
Home , Absalom Watkin, Banking in Manchester, Free Trade Hall, Henry Hunt (politician), Little Circle, Manchester Town Hall

A Parliament Week Trail around … Parliament Week aims to build a greater awareness and engagement with parliamentary democracy in the UK. This walking trail takes you back in time to show you how the people of Manchester helped to push the pace of reform in the 19th century, which helped to shape our democracy today. During the late 18th and early 19th centuries, social unrest was endemic in many of England’s great industrial cities. In Manchester, where the cotton industry was booming, there was a growing underclass of poor textile workers who lacked parliamentary representation and political rights. War with Napoleonic France and the Corn Law of 1815, which drove up the price of bread by excluding competition from foreign grain, set the scene for a volatile mix. Demonstrations and protests were rife in the period, but the first great spark came in August 1819 when mill workers from all over the north-west converged on the city’s St Peter’s Fields to hear radical orator . The peaceful rally ended in one of the most notorious and shameful events of the period when the city’s militia tried to arrest Hunt and disperse the crowd, resulting in the death of 17 innocent people. From the embers of Peterloo, a series of Manchester-based reforming movements emerged. They played a key role in parliamentary democracy and the three Parliamentary Reform Acts of the 19th century, which reformed the voting system and widened the voting franchise. This short tour from the People’s History Museum to a handful of locations within a mile or so of Albert Square reveals a story of protest, liberalism, new MPs, the Repeal of the in 1846 and the clamour for parliamentary reform. Chapel Street New Bailey St

Salford Central Cross Street The Unitarian People’s 3 Church History 1 Bridge Street Museum Left Bank New Quay St

Cross Street

Sq Princess Street

Albert Deansgate Town Hall Manchester Cobden 5 4 Town Hall House St Chambers Peter Street ater Street Southmill W 2 Portland Street

Oxford Street A34 LiverpoolKEY Road Radisson Hotel, Trail Route , The People’s History Museum 1 Left Bank, , Manchester M3 3ER Opening times: Monday-Sunday 10am-5pm. Admission Free. The best place to explore the themes of protest and reform played out so dramatically across Manchester’s streets throughout the centuries, the People’s History Museum tells the story of democratic ideas – from the Levellers, the Chartists and the cotton mill workers of the to the birth of modern political parties. It also reveals the sacrifices ordinary men and women made to achieve universal and the dramatic journey to the Great Reform Act of 1832, which increased the number of voters to one in six adult males and granted parliamentary seats to the newer industrial cities. Renowned for its stunning collection of political banners, the museum boasts two of the oldest, from 1821 and 1830 – the tumultuous period of protest and reform between Peterloo and the 1832 Act. Manchester’s pivotal role in Free Trade and liberalism and the role of the Anti Corn Law League in the creation of the Manchester Guardian, the Free Trade Hall and the ultimate repeal of the Corn Laws in 1846 are also told through objects, people and place. Having primed yourself at the People’s History Museum, see where democratic heritage happened by walking up Bridge Street, along Deansgate to Peter Street and the site of the Peterloo Massacre. (10 minutes)

10 The Peterloo Massacre 2 Radisson Hotel, Free Trade Hall, Peter Street, Manchester M2 5GP Find the small plaque on the wall of the Radisson Free Trade Hall, near the corner of Peter Street and Southmill Street, and you are at the epicentre of one of the most important events in the history of British democracy. On 16 August 1819, a crowd of workers and their families – estimated to number between 50,000 and 100,000 people – swarmed across this area, which in 1819 was open land called St Peter’s Fields bordered by Georgian townhouses. They had come from all over to hear the radical orator Henry Hunt. In the streets beyond you, notably Bootle Street, Jackson’s Row and Windmill Street, hundreds of dragoons, militia and special constables assembled. In Mount Street, two blocks south of the plaque, nervous magistrates watched proceedings from a townhouse. When the protestors were gathered, the Manchester and Yeomanry attempted to disperse the crowd and arrest Hunt. The resulting chaos saw hundreds injured and up to 18 people killed, including a and a child. A series of repressive acts, most notably the , were passed by Parliament to prevent any further disturbances. In the longer term, public opinion about “Peterloo”, as it was dubbed in ironic reference to the heroics at the , led to a sustained call for the extension of the right to vote and the beginnings of the democracy we enjoy today. Inside, on level 1 of the Radisson, you can see a painting of the Peterloo Massacre, by Arthur Sherwood Edwards. From Peter Street head down Southmill Street across Albert Square and walk down Cross Street towards Cross Street Unitarian Church. (5 minutes). 5 The and the birth of liberalism 3 Cross Street Unitarian Church, Manchester M2 1NL One of the effects of government repression in the wake of Peterloo was the way it quelled workers’ protests yet fuelled the thirst for reform among Manchester’s middle classes. One group, dubbed the Little Circle, had their origins at the non-conformist , a modern version of which stands here today. Although not inherently radical, many of its members had witnessed Peterloo and, in the months after August 1819, their momentum grew. In 1820 they founded the Manchester Chamber of Commerce; a reform-minded group of businessmen who helped establish the Manchester Guardian. A second Little Circle group began focusing on better representation in the Houses of Parliament as the 1820s progressed. One of their members, , presented a petition to Parliament in 1830 which asked for two MPs for Manchester for the first time. The Reform Act of 1832 granted Manchester two MPs and Little Circle members, Mark Philips and Charles Poulett Thomson, were elected to these positions later that year. In 1838, became the city’s first mayor in the Town Hall, originally sited next door in what is now the Lloyds TSB building. Head back to Albert Square (2 minutes).

2 The Anti Corn Law League; from the Reform Bill to the Free Trade Hall 4 , Albert Square, Manchester M2 5DB 2 Radisson Hotel, Free Trade Hall, Peter Street, Manchester M2 5GP 5 Cobden House Chambers, 19 Quay Street, Manchester M3 3HN Standing in Albert Square, beneath the neo-Gothic splendour of the - designed replacement for Manchester’s original town hall, gives you a sense of the city’s growing political might. Manchester was the first industrial centre outside London to really exert an influence on Parliament, and one of the biggest and best organised political groups of the era, the Anti Corn Law League, had a strong power base here. Members of Parliament such as and , whose statue still casts its discerning eye across the square, were its leaders. The Corn Law of 1815 was designed to protect the interests of landed gentry by imposing steep import duties on grain and keeping bread prices high. By 1839, as free trade ideas flowed from the mouths of the city’s cotton merchants and factory owners, opposition to the law was rife. Cobden’s statue can be seen in St Ann’s Square, just a short jaunt away down Cross Street, and there’s another inside the corridors of the Town Hall. Even the man who split the Tory Party by repealing the Corn Laws in 1846, Prime Minister Robert Peel, has a statue in Gardens. Perhaps the most impressive monument to their achievement sees us return to the frontage of the former Free Trade Hall, which in 1843 became a hall for their meetings. Rebuilt in 1856 and repaired after the Second World War it aptly succumbed to free market forces in 2004 when it became the Radisson Hotel. A short walk down Peter Street into Quay Street takes you to Cobden’s former Manchester , a beautifully restored Georgian Townhouse with a commemorative plaque, now home to Cobden House Chambers. Explore further… The Working Class Movement Library, 51 The Crescent, Salford, M5 4WX Opening Times: Tuesday – Friday 10am-5pm, 10am-4pm third Saturday of each month (except August). Admission Free. Telephone 0161 7363601 for more information. Running parallel to the need for economic reform was the ever-present call for parliamentary reform. The Peterloo Massacre gave impetus to a radical movement called The Chartist Movement, begun in London but taken up eagerly in Manchester and outlying districts in the 1830s. Chartists wanted for all men, secret ballots and annual elections as laid out in their ‘People’s Charter’. As the century wore on, Reform Bills delivered the vote to certain members of the population, but the pressure for political reform grew. Once again, Manchester and the numerous spinning and weaving towns surrounding it were at the vanguard. You can find out more about the Chartists at the Working Class Movement Library, which has an extensive collection including contemporary publications, historical studies, the Northern Star newspaper, poetry, novels and prints. It is also a key collection for items relating to the Peterloo Massacre, Trade Unions and other political campaigns.

The , 60-62 Nelson Street, Chorlton on Medlock, Manchester, M13 9WP Opening times: Monday-Thursday 10am-4pm. Admission Free. Telephone 0161 273 5673 for more information. Pankhurst is a name that will always be linked with the women’s suffrage movement and its leading light, , was born in Manchester in 1858. She married the lawyer in 1878 and had four children, two of whom, Christabel and , became active in the women’s suffrage movement. The extraordinary story of the Pankhursts can be uncovered at their Manchester family home, now a museum and study centre. It was here, in 1903, that Emmeline Pankhurst started the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), quickly reviving the flagging campaign for women’s suffrage via a systematic programme of . The Pankhursts and fellow ‘’ became national figures, their actions helping pave the way for the Representation of the People Act of 1918, which gave the vote to women over 30. Ten years later, in 1928, women finally received the same voting rights as men. As well as displaying the work and struggle of women, you can also get a flavour of the day-to-day life in the Pankhursts’ parlour, which has been recreated to its Edwardian state. The centre is also used as a meeting and resource centre for women’s groups.

Parliament Week aims to inform, connect and engage people across the UK with Parliamentary democracy. Coordinated by the House of Commons and the House of Lords, Parliament Week looks at the people, places and events that shape democracy in the UK and offers something for everyone. Across the UK, charities, schools, museums and community groups are organising events and online activities that demonstrate how you can engage with different aspects of democracy in the UK. To find out more visit www.parliamentweek.org.uk/ Follow us on @parliament_week