Peterloo Massacre — event on 16 Aug. 1819 in Manchester, England, when cavalry charged into a crowd of ca. 60 000 people demanding parliamentary representation reform, killing 18 and injuring hundreds
A cavalry charge on 60,000 unarmed reform campaigners in Manchester killed 18 and prompted repressive legislation, shaping British radical politics.
Key Facts
- Date
- 16 August 1819
- Crowd size
- approximately 60,000 people
- Deaths
- 18 people
- Injured
- 400–700 people
- Government response
- Six Acts passed to suppress radical reform meetings
- Memorial inaugurated
- 2019, by artist Jeremy Deller
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
After the Napoleonic Wars ended in 1815, Britain suffered economic depression, unemployment, and high bread prices enforced by the Corn Laws. With only around 11 percent of adult males able to vote, Radical campaigners organised mass petitions for manhood suffrage. A petition gathering 750,000 signatures was rejected by Parliament in 1817, and a second economic slump in 1819 intensified pressure for parliamentary reform.
On 16 August 1819, around 60,000 people assembled at St Peter's Field, Manchester, for a rally addressed by Radical orator Henry Hunt and organised by the Manchester Patriotic Union. Local magistrates ordered the Manchester and Salford Yeomanry to arrest Hunt; the cavalry charged the crowd. The 15th Hussars were then ordered to disperse the assembly with sabres drawn, killing 18 people and injuring between 400 and 700.
The Tory government under Lord Liverpool responded to the massacre by passing the Six Acts, suppressing meetings called for radical reform rather than addressing the protesters' grievances. The event helped found The Manchester Guardian newspaper and became a defining moment in the history of British reform movements. A permanent memorial by Jeremy Deller was unveiled in Manchester in 2019 on the event's 200th anniversary.
Political Outcome
Government forces dispersed the crowd; 18 killed and hundreds injured; Tory government passed the Six Acts suppressing radical reform meetings.
Radical reform movement gaining mass popular support through petitions and public rallies
Government consolidated repression via Six Acts, temporarily suppressing organised radical reform activity