Of the three accounts of the Tragedy of Peterloo given here, two (the first and third) have never been published before. The second appeared in the “Life of Lord Sidmouth” in 1847. All three, written with care and judgment, by men who afterwards rose to eminence, form a valuable contribution to the understanding of an event, the accounts of which have been for the most part distorted and misleading. Moreover, as each of the three writers deals with a different phase of the day’s happenings, the

BISHOP STANLEY The Rev. Edward Stanley (1779-1849) was the second son of Sir J. T. Stanley, the Sixth Baronet, and Margaret Owen, of Penrhos, Anglesey. His elder brother was the first Baron Stanley of Alderley. As a boy, he had a natural inclination for the sea, but this was not encouraged. For thirty-two years he was Rector of Alderley, in Cheshire. While making himself beloved as a Parish Priest, he found time for many scientific and other interests. His Familiar History of Birds is a standard

Never having seen St. Peter’s fields before or since, I cannot pretend to speak accurately as to distance, etc. I should, at a guess, state the distance from the hustings to Mr. Buxton’s house to be about a hundred yards, which may serve as a general scale to the rest of the plan. Key to Stanley’s Plan. 1. The hustings. The arrow shows the direction in which the orators addressed the mob, the great majority being in front: F, F, F. 2. The Barouche in which Hunt arrived, the line from it showing

Soon after one o’clock on the 16th of August, I went to call on Mr. Buxton, with whom I had some private business. I was directed to his house overlooking St. Peter’s field, where I unexpectedly found the magistrates assembled. [1] I went up to their room, and remained there seven or eight minutes. Hunt was not then arrived; a murmur running through the crowd prepared us for his approach; a numerous vanguard preceded him, and in a few moments the Barouche appeared in which he sat with his coadju

in the Trial of an action for assault, brought by Thomas Redford against Hugh Hornby Birley and others, members of the Manchester Yeomanry, before Mr. Justice Holroyd and a Special Jury, at Lancaster on the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th of April, 1822. Second day of the Trial. The Rev. Edward Stanley examined by Mr. Serjeant Blackburne ( Counsel for the Plaintiff ). You, I believe, are the Rector of Alderley, in Cheshire?—I am. Brother to Sir Thomas Stanley?—Brother to Sir John Stanley. On th

afterwards LORD HYLTON William George Hylton Jolliffe (1800-1876), the first Baron Hylton, was the son of the Rev. W. J. Jolliffe. At the date of Peterloo he was not quite nineteen years of age, and was serving as a Lieutenant in the 15th Hussars, then quartered at the Cavalry Barracks at Manchester. He retired from the Hussars with the rank of Captain. He was created a Baronet in 1821, and sat as member for Petersfield for about thirty years, acting for a short time as Under Secretary for Home

as described by Sir WILLIAM G. H. JOLLIFFE, Bart. , M.P. (who rode in the charge as a Lieutenant of Hussars) in a letter which appears in Dean Pellew’s Life of Lord Sidmouth , Vol. III., p. 253 et seq. 9, St. James’s Place , April 11th, 1845 . My Dear Sir , Twenty-five years have passed since the collision unfortunately occurred between the population of Manchester and its neighbourhood and the military stationed in that town, on the sixteenth of August, 1819. I was at that time a Lieutenant in

First Chairman of the Anti-Corn Law League . John Benjamin Smith (1794-1879), whose account of Peterloo follows, was better known as a strenuous advocate of Free Trade; even in this capacity, however, a breakdown of health some years before the Repeal of the Corn Laws, robbed him of much of the credit which was due to him for the important spade-work that he had done. He was the first Treasurer of the Anti-Corn Law Association, and when that developed into the Anti-Corn Law League, he became its

Copied from the original manuscript then in the possession of his daughter, Lady Durning Lawrence. (August 1913.) ... The people, disappointed in their expectations that prosperity and plenty would follow the return of peace, and having no faith in a legislature which as soon as the war terminated inflicted upon them a Corn Law to deprive them of cheap corn, demanded a better representation in Parliament. Stimulated by the writings of Cobbett, associations were formed in all the manufacturing di

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 w

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 kill