The Peterloo Massacre Some ideas and resources for Key stages 3 or 4 Overview The topic of Peterloo is one which continues to be intriguing. The events which took place in St. Peter’s Field, Manchester, on 16 August 1819 were controversial at the time and have remained so ever since. In this respect the topic lends itself well to the study of different interpretations and to the possible bias of some historical sources. A study of this topic can help pupils to see how the long struggle to achieve the right to vote for all adults in this country has often been hard and dangerous, developing greater respect for the value of their own vote when they are older. The story of Peterloo also allows for reflection on the issue of how the authorities deal with mass protest, where even in quite recent times there have been allegations that protestors have died in Britain through an excessive use of force by the people policing the demonstration. In this respect, a historical comparison between Peterloo and other events (such as Tiananmen Square in 1989) would be interesting. Questions Sources 1 and 2 do not describe the events of the ‘Peterloo Massacre’. However, can you suggest some ways in which they would still be useful for historians who are trying to find out about the events of that day? Look at the descriptions given of the events of Peterloo in Sources 3, 5, 6 and 7. Were all the writers present at the scene when these events happened? Explain how you know? When were Sources 3, 5, 6 and 7 written? How many years after 1819 was each person writing? Could this make their descriptions less reliable in any way? (We do not know exactly when Source 3 was written but try to explain how we can tell it was written several years after 1819) Who does each writer (Sources 3, 5, 6 and 7) blame for the deaths and injuries at ‘Peterloo’? Quote from their descriptions to support the point you are making. Look at the cartoons and the drawing (Sources 8, 9 and 10). What is the point of view of the artists in each case – who do they blame for the deaths and injuries? In explaining your answer, try to include some reference both to the words in the captions (where there are words) and to the pictures themselves. ©Working Class Movement Library. www.wcml.org.uk. Look at the list of casualties and their injuries in Source 12. Overall, does this evidence suggest that the deaths and injuries were caused accidentally in the crush of the crowd or as a result of deliberate attacks? Other Activities and Cross-Curricular Links Look at the events which happened in Tiananmen Square in China in June 1989. In what ways were these events similar to and different from the events of Peterloo in 1819? Look at the cartoons and the drawing (Sources 8, 9 and 10). If you were an artist who had been asked by the magistrates to produce a picture of the event, how would you do it differently from the pictures shown here, so that it made the actions of the soldiers look better and the behaviour of the crowd seem worse? You can either draw a new picture or you can describe in words how the picture might look. Choose one of the cartoons (Sources 8 and 9) and add some more speech bubbles and captions, suggesting what people might have said in these circumstances, perhaps in response to the speech bubbles on the picture. Alternatively, pupils in groups can re-create the scene shown in the cartoon as a ‘tableau’ or ‘freeze-frame’ – then they can ‘unfreeze’ the action and imagine what might have happened next (or do a ‘flashback’ and re-create the events which led to this scene). Create a conversation between a protestor who died at Peterloo (and has travelled forward in time) with a modern adult who does not intend to use their right to vote. How might the Peterloo protestor try to persuade the modern person to make use of the right which people had died for? ©Working Class Movement Library. www.wcml.org.uk. Source 1 ©Working Class Movement Library. www.wcml.org.uk. Extracts from ‘Social and Economic Background to Peterloo’ by Peter Read, 1955. ©Working Class Movement Library. www.wcml.org.uk. Extracts from ‘Social and Economic Background to Peterloo’ by Peter Read, 1955. ©Working Class Movement Library. www.wcml.org.uk. Extracts from ‘Social and Economic Background to Peterloo’ by Peter Read, 1955. Source 2 ©Working Class Movement Library. www.wcml.org.uk. Extract from ‘Manchester Observer’, Saturday 30th January, 1819. ©Working Class Movement Library. www.wcml.org.uk. Extract from ‘The Peterloo Massacre Reform Meeting of 60,000 persons, in 1819’ date unknown. ©Working Class Movement Library. www.wcml.org.uk. Extract from ‘The Peterloo Massacre Reform Meeting of 60,000 persons, in 1819’ date unknown. Source 4 ©Working Class Movement Library, Salford. www.wcml.org.uk ©Working Class Movement Library, Salford. www.wcml.org.uk Source 5 Mr Smith’s account of Peterloo, written before his death in 1879. Mr Smith was positioned in a house overlooking the scene of St Peter’s Field, on the day of the 16th August, 1819. “A troop of soldiers, the 15th Hussars, turned round the corner of the house where we were stood and galloped forwards towards the crowd. 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 the dust 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. My attention was then directed to a number of constables bringing the famous Hunt wearing a white hat and another man. The prisoners were treated in a scandalous manner; many of the constables hissed and beat them as they passed. A dastardly attack was made upon him by General Clay, who with a large stick struck him over the head as he ascended the steps to the Magistrates’ house. The Rev. Mr Hay (the chairman to the magistrates) then stood on the steps of the house and addressed the constables. I could not hear what he said, but he was cheered when he concluded.” ©Working Class Movement Library. www.wcml.org.uk. Extract from ‘Three Accounts of Peterloo, by Eyewitnesses’ 1921, edited by F. A. Bruton. Source 6 Sir William Jolliffe’s account of Peterloo, April 11th 1845. “I was at that time a Lieutenant in the 15th King’s Hussars. This was my first encounter with a large manufacturing population. I had little knowledge of the condition of that population, whether or not a great degree of distress was then prevalent. The day was fine and hot. 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. They marched and there appeared to be few women with them. Other officers and myself occasionally rode to the end of the street to see them pass. As soon as the great bulk of the procession had passed, we at once moved off at a trot which increased to a canter, by a circuitous route to the South West corner of St. Peter’s Field. The words “Front!” and “Forward!” were given, and the trumpet sounded the charge. When fronted, our line extended quite across the ground, which in all parts was so filled with people that their hats seemed to touch. I saw the Manchester troop of Yeomanry; they were scattered singly or in small groups over the greater part of the field, literally hemmed 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 the necessity of our being brought into the rescue. This small body of horsemen was entirely at the mercy of the people by whom they were pressed upon and surrounded. The charge of the Hussars swept this mingled mass of human beings before it; people, yeomen and constables, in confused attempts to escape, ran one over the other. The Hussars drove people forward with the flat sides of their swords, but sometimes, as is almost inevitably the case when men are placed in such situations, the edge was used. I must say that it redounds to the humane forbearance of the men of the 15th that more wounds were not received when they were brought into hostile collision. Beyond all doubt, however, the far greater injuries were from the pressure of the routed multitude.” ©Working Class Movement Library. www.wcml.org.uk. Extract from ‘Three Accounts of Peterloo, by Eyewitnesses’ 1921, edited by F. A. Bruton. Source 7 As a friend of Henry Hunt, the main speaker at the Peterloo meeting in 1819, Samuel Bamford was called to give evidence in the trials that followed the events of that day. The trial was held against Hunt and others including Bamford ‘for an alleged conspiracy, to alter the law by force and threat, and for convening and attending an illegal, riotous and tumultuous meeting at Manchester on Monday 16th of August 1819’.