Chapter II: Part 2

The letter which follows appeared in Dean Pellew's _Life of Lord Sidmouth_, published in 1847. It will be seen that it is addressed to T. G. B. Estcourt, Esq.; presumably he obtained the information for Dean Pellew. The letter is approved and annotated by "E. Smyth, Esq., of Norwich, who commanded a troop of the Cheshire Yeomanry at Peterloo." Unfortunately, the Notes to the letter are somewhat confusing: some are signed by Captain Smyth, others are not signed, and it is not easy to determine their authorship. Moreover, Captain Smyth's contributions are not on a level with the letter itself. It has therefore been thought better to omit the Notes altogether, and allow Lieut. Jolliffe's very clear and well-balanced report to speak for itself. A few explanatory words have been inserted in square brackets.

The Rev. Edward Stanley, in his Evidence, given above, mentioned the fact that the Hussars who rode at Peterloo were wearing their Waterloo medals. As a matter of fact, the 15th (the King's) Hussars, whose motto is "Merebimur," have not only "Waterloo," but also the Peninsula, Vittoria, Afghanistan and a number of other names inscribed on their colours. The uniform is blue, with a Busby bag and scarlet plume. Presumably the plume shown in our photograph came from the helmet of one of the Hussars. It seems clear from the evidence which was given before the Relief Committee, after Peterloo, that there was not the same feeling of resentment against the Hussars as against the local Yeomanry; in fact, it was more than once asserted that troopers of the Hussars actually restrained the Manchester Yeomanry from excessive violence.

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I wrote to the present Lord Hylton to ask if he could lend a portrait of his Grandfather for reproduction here. He replied that he could not do so, but added: "As a matter of fact, a full-length portrait (by Sir Francis Grant, P.R.A., in my possession) has been engraved, and a copy of this engraving is, I should think, not difficult to procure." I have not been able to find it. It is not included in the British Museum Series.

The Charge of the 15th Hussars at Peterloo

_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 the 15th King's Hussars, which Regiment had been quartered in Manchester Cavalry Barracks about six weeks. This was my first acquaintance with a large manufacturing population. I had little knowledge of the condition of that population, whether or no a great degree of distress was then prevalent, or whether or no the distrust and bad feeling which appeared to exist between employers and employed, was wholly or in part caused by the agitation of political questions. I will not, therefore, enter into any speculation on these points, but I will endeavour to relate the facts which fell under my own observations, although acting, as of course I was, under the command of others, and in a subordinate situation. The military force stationed in Manchester consisted of six troops of the 15th Hussars, under the command of Colonel Dalrymple; one troop of Horse Artillery with two guns, under Major Dyneley; and nearly the whole of the 31st Regiment, under Colonel Guy L'Estrange (who commanded the whole as senior officer). [Sir John Byng was then at Pontefract.] Some companies of the 88th Regiment and [six troops of] the Cheshire Yeomanry had also been brought into the town in anticipation of disturbances which might result from the expected meeting; and these latter had only arrived on the morning of the sixteenth, or a few hours previously; and, lastly, there was a troop of Manchester Yeomanry Cavalry, consisting of about forty members, who, from the manner in which they were made use of (to say the least) greatly aggravated the disasters of the day. Their ranks were filled chiefly by wealthy master manufacturers; and without the knowledge possessed by a (strictly speaking) military body, they were placed, most unwisely, as it appeared, under the immediate command and order of the civil authorities.

Our Regiment paraded in field-service order at about 8.30 or it might be 9 o'clock, a.m. Two squadrons of it were marched into the town about ten o'clock. They were formed up and dismounted in a wide street, the name of which I forget,[9] to the North of St. Peter's field (the place appointed for the meeting), and at the distance of nearly a quarter of a mile from it.

The Cheshire Yeomanry were formed, on our left, in the same street. One troop of our Regiment was attached to the artillery, which took up a position between the Cavalry Barracks and the town; and one troop remained in charge of the Barracks.

The two squadrons with which I was stationed must have remained dismounted nearly two hours. During the greater portion of that period a solid mass of people continued moving along a street about a hundred yards to our front on the way to the place of meeting. Other officers as well as myself occasionally rode to the front (to the end of a street) to see them pass. They marched at a brisk pace in ranks well closed up, five or six bands of music being interspersed, and there appeared to be but few women with them. 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; and the day was fine and hot. As soon as the great bulk of the procession had passed, we were ordered to stand to our horses. In a very short time afterwards, the four troops of the 15th mounted, and at once moved off by the right, at a trot which was increased to a canter. Someone who had been sent from the place of meeting to bring us led the way through a number of narrow streets and by a circuitous route to (what I will call) the South-west[10] corner of St. Peter's field. We advanced along the South[11] side of this space of ground without a halt or pause even: the words "Front!" and "Forward!" were given, and the trumpet sounded the charge at the very moment the threes wheeled up. When fronted, our line extended quite across the ground, which in all parts was so filled with people that their hats seemed to touch.

It was then for the first time that I saw the Manchester troop of Yeomanry; they were scattered singly or in small groups over the greater part of the field, literally hemmed up and hedged 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 their helpless position, and the necessity of our being brought to their rescue. As I was at the time informed, this hopeless state of things happened thus: A platform had been erected near the centre of the field, from which Mr. Hunt and others were to address the multitude, and the magistrates, having ordered a strong body of constables to arrest the speakers, unfortunately imagined that they should support the peace officers by bringing up the troop of Yeomanry at a walk. The result of this movement, instead of that which the magistrates desired, was unexpectedly to place this small body of horsemen (so introduced into a dense mob) entirely at the mercy of the people by whom they were, on all sides, pressed upon and surrounded.

The charge of the Hussars, to which I have just alluded, swept this mingled mass of human beings before it; people, yeomen, and constables, in their confused attempts to escape, ran one over the other; so that by the time we had arrived at the end of the field the fugitives were literally piled up to a considerable elevation above the level of the ground. (I may here, by the way, state that this field, as it is called, was merely an open space of ground, surrounded by buildings, and itself, I rather think, in course of being built upon.).

The Hussars drove the people forward with the flats of their swords, but sometimes, as is almost inevitably the case when men are placed in such situations, the edge was used, both by the Hussars, and, as I have heard, by the yeomen also; but of this last part I was not cognizant, and believing though I do that nine out of ten of the sabre-wounds were caused by the Hussars, I must still consider that it redounds to the humane forbearance of the men of the 15th that more wounds were not received, when the vast numbers are taken into consideration with whom they were brought into hostile collision; beyond all doubt, however, the far greater amount of injuries were from the pressure of the routed multitude. The Hussars on the left pursued down the various streets which led from the place; those on the right met with something more of resistance.

The mob had taken possession of various buildings on that side, particularly of a Quakers' chapel and burial ground enclosed with a wall. This they occupied for some little time, and in attempting to displace them, some of the men and horses were struck with stones and brickbats. I was on the left, and as soon as I had passed completely over the ground and found myself in the street on the other side, I turned back, and then, seeing a sort of fight still going on on the right, I went in that direction. At the very moment I reached the Quakers' meeting-house, I saw a farrier of the 15th ride at a small door in the outer wall, and to my surprise his horse struck it with such force that it flew open. Two or three Hussars then rode in, and the place was immediately in their possession. I then turned towards the elevated platform, which still remained in the centre of the field with persons upon it; a few straggling Hussars and yeomen, together with a number of men having the appearance of peace-officers were congregating about it. On my way thither I met the Commanding-officer of my Regiment, who directed me to find a Trumpeter, in order that he might sound the "rally" or "retreat." This sent me again down the street I had first been in (after the pursuing men of my troop); but I had not ridden above a hundred yards before I found a Trumpeter, and returned with him to the Colonel. The field and the adjacent streets now presented an extraordinary sight: the ground was quite covered with hats, shoes, musical instruments, and other things. Here and there lay the unfortunates who were too much injured to move away, and this sight was rendered the more distressing by observing some women among the sufferers.

Standing near the corner of the street where I had been sent in search of a Trumpeter, a brother officer called my attention to a pistol being fired from a window. I saw it fired twice, and I believe it had been fired once before I observed it. Some of the 31st Regiment just now arriving on the ground were ordered to take possession of this house, but I do not know if this was carried into effect.

I next went towards a private of the Regiment whose horse had fallen over a piece of timber nearly in the middle of the square, and who was most seriously injured. There were many of these pieces of timber (or timber-trees) lying upon the ground, and as these could not be distinguished when the mob covered them, they had caused bad falls to one officer's horse and to many of the troopers'. While I was attending to the wounded soldier, the artillery troop with the troop of Hussars attached to it, arrived on the ground from the same direction by which we had entered the field; these were quickly followed by the Cheshire Yeomanry. The 31st Regiment came in another direction, and the whole remained formed up till our squadrons had fallen in again.

Carriages were brought to convey the wounded to the Manchester Infirmary, and the troop of Hussars who came up with the guns was marched off to escort to the gaol a number of persons who had been arrested, and among these Mr. Hunt. For some time the town was patrolled by the troops, the streets being nearly empty, and the shops for the most part closed. We then returned to the Barracks. I should not omit to mention that, before the men were dismissed, the arms were minutely examined; and that no carbine or pistol was found to have been fired, and only one pistol to have been loaded.

About 8 p.m. one squadron of the 15th Hussars (two troops) was ordered on duty to form part of a strong night picket, the other part of which consisted of two companies of the 88th Regiment. This picket was stationed at a place called the New Cross, at the end of Oldham Street. As soon as it had taken up its position, a mob assembled about it, which increased as the darkness came on; stones were thrown at the soldiers, and the Hussars many times cleared the ground by driving the mob up the streets leading from the New Cross. But these attempts to get rid of the annoyance were only successful for the moment, for the people got through the houses or narrow passages from one street into another, and the troops were again attacked, and many men and horses struck with stones. This lasted nearly an hour and a half, and the soldiers being more and more pressed upon, a town magistrate, who was with the picket, read the Riot Act, and the officer in command ordered the 88th to fire (which they did by platoon firing) down three of the streets. The firing lasted only a few minutes; perhaps not more than thirty shots were fired; but these had a magical effect; the mob ran away and dispersed forthwith, leaving three or four persons on the ground with gunshot wounds. At 4 a.m. the picket squadron was relieved by another squadron of the Regiment. With this latter squadron I was on duty, and after we had patrolled the town for two hours, the officer in command sent me to the magistrates (who had remained assembled during the night) to report to them that the town was perfectly quiet, and to request their sanction to the return of the military to their quarters.

On the afternoon of the 17th I visited, in company with some military medical officers, the Infirmary. I saw there from twelve to twenty cases of sabre-wounds, and among these two women who appeared not likely to recover. One man was in a dying state from a gunshot wound in the head; another had had his leg amputated; both these casualties arose from the firing of the 88th the night before. Two or three were reputed dead; one of them a constable, killed on St. Peter's field, but I saw none of the bodies.

As shortly as I could I have now related what fell under my own observation during these twenty-four hours ... I trust that I have, in some degree, complied with your wishes.

WILLIAM G. HYLTON JOLLIFFE.

_To_ Thomas Grimston Bucknall Estcourt, Esq., M.P.

_By permission of Lady Durning Lawrence_

_Photo by Briggs_

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John Benjamin Smith

_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 first Chairman. He contested several elections on Free Trade principles, and used himself to tell how he had converted Cobden to "total repeal." He sat as member, first for the Stirling Burghs, and afterwards, during more than twenty years, for Stockport. His correspondence with John Bright has recently been placed in the Manchester Reference Library. During the American War he strongly espoused the cause of the North, and he was one of those who urged the Government to encourage the growth of cotton in India.

Mr. Smith was a Trustee of Owens College under the Founder's will; and he subscribed liberally towards its extension. His name is perpetuated in the "Smith" Professorship of English Literature, which was endowed in memory of him by his two daughters and his son-in-law. A short memoir of him, which appeared in Alderman Thompson's _History of Owens College_, has been reprinted and published separately. (Manchester, J. E. Cornish, 1887.)

At the date of Peterloo he was only twenty-five years of age, but he had already shown great promise as a business man. Entering the office of his uncle, a Manchester merchant, at the early age of fourteen, he was made responsible for the whole correspondence of the firm five years later; and before he was twenty he had negotiated some very profitable purchases of cotton at the sales of the East India Company.

The account of Peterloo which follows is an extract from his "Reminiscences," which were written towards the close of his life at the earnest request of his family. The manuscript of these is now at the Manchester Reference Library, as is also a typed and bound copy presented by his daughter, Lady Durning Lawrence. Among his other manuscripts (also at the Manchester Reference Library) is a shorter account of Peterloo, apparently written immediately after the event. The statement made recently that Mr. J. B. Smith was the author of the well-known _Impartial Narrative of the Melancholy Occurrences at Manchester_ seems to be due to an error: apparently the _Impartial Narrative_ (which seems to have been written by another hand) has been confused with Mr. Smith's shorter and earlier account.

We have already pointed out that Mr. Smith's narrative, which is not so detailed as those of Stanley and Jolliffe in its description of the charge of the troops, is specially valuable for the account it gives of the circumstances immediately preceding and following the catastrophe, and its estimate of the character of the crowd. In these details it is strikingly corroborative of Bamford's story, as told in his _Passages in the Life of a Radical_, and of the information given by Mr. John Edward Taylor, who--under the pseudonym of "An Observer"--edited the contemporary tracts entitled _The Peterloo Massacre_.

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The portrait of Mr. Smith which appears here is from a photograph kindly lent by his daughter, Lady Durning Lawrence.

_AN EXTRACT FROM THE_

"Reminiscences" of John Benjamin Smith

_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 districts to obtain a reform in Parliament. Lancashire took the lead in this movement. Clubs were established in 1816 in all the manufacturing towns and villages. At the small town of Middleton, near Manchester, a Club was formed in which Bamford, the weaver-poet, took a leading part. They were joined by many honest and intelligent men from all parts of the district, among whom was John Knight, a small manufacturer. A meeting of delegates was held on the first of January, 1817, at which it was decided that the reforms required could only be accomplished by the establishment of annual parliaments and universal suffrage.

The establishment of these clubs alarmed the Government, who saw in them nothing but an intention to overturn the institutions of the country, and to revive in this country the enormities of the French Revolution. Spies and Informers were employed by the Government, and John Knight and thirty-seven others who had legally assembled to discuss the reforms which they deemed necessary to obtain a repeal of the Corn Laws and good government, were arrested on the information of spies, and sent for trial to Lancaster, but on their trial before Mr. Baron Wood, were all found not guilty by the Jury.

The Sidmouth Government suspended the Habeas Corpus Act so that they could arrest and imprison any person as long as they pleased. The Tories, following the example of the Radicals, established Associations for the protection of the Constitution.

In January, 1818, however, it was announced that the Act for the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act would be repealed. No sooner were the people relieved from the danger of being sent to prison for being present at a meeting to petition Parliament for reform, as great numbers had been in Lancashire imprisoned from March, 1817 until January, 1818, and then discharged without being informed what charges were made against them--than the Reform Associations were revived. A fresh campaign was rigorously commenced early in 1819.

Henry Hunt (commonly called Orator Hunt) had come forward as the champion of the people's rights. On the 25th of January, he made a public entry into Manchester from Stockport, accompanied by large crowds with flags and banners. The meeting was enthusiastic but very peaceable. Meetings were held in all the surrounding towns and villages to appoint district delegates to make arrangements for a great meeting to be held in Manchester. This memorable meeting was held on the 16th of August, 1819, on a large vacant plot of land called St. Peter's field, adjoining St. Peter's Street, and in sight of St. Peter's Church. The actors in the bloody tragedy of that day were called "The Heroes of Peterloo," in contrast with the brave heroes of Waterloo.

This meeting was called to petition Parliament for a Reform of Parliament and the Repeal of the Corn Laws, and it is a curious coincidence that on the very spot where the largest public meeting was ever held to petition Parliament for the Repeal of the Corn Laws, in the dispersion of which by military force six hundred persons were killed and wounded there now stands the Free Trade Hall, erected twenty years afterwards on Peterloo, for the peaceful and noble object of obtaining bread for the people by the repeal of the wicked laws by which it was prohibited.

I had no intention of going to this meeting, but my Aunt called at the Counting House and asked me to accompany her to Mrs. Orton's, Mount Street, St. Peter's field, to see the great meeting--a house overlooking the whole space, and next but one to where the Magistrates were assembled. We reached there about half-past eleven o'clock, and on our way saw large bodies of men and women with bands playing and flags and banners bearing devices: "No Corn Laws," "Reform," etc. There were crowds of people in all directions, full of good humour, laughing and shouting and making fun. I always wore a white hat in summer, and I found that Mr. Hunt also wore a white hat, and it became the symbol of radicalism, and may have been the cause of the politeness shown to us by the crowd.

It seemed to be a gala day with the country people who were mostly dressed in their best and brought with them their wives, and when I saw boys and girls taking their father's hand in the procession, I observed to my Aunt: "These are the guarantees of their peaceable intentions--we need have no fears," and so we passed on to Mrs. Orton's. When we arrived there we saw great crowds which were constantly increased by the arrival of successive country processions until it was estimated that the meeting amounted to 60,000 people. There was a double row of constables formed from Mr. Buxton's (where the magistrates had taken their station) to the hustings.

My Father joined us soon after our arrival at Mrs. Orton's.

At length Hunt made his appearance in an open barouche drawn by two horses, and a woman dressed in white sitting on the box. On their reaching the hustings which were prepared for the orator, he was received with enthusiastic applause; the waving of hats and flags; the blowing of trumpets; and the playing of music. Hunt stepped on to the hustings, and was again cheered by the vast assemblage. He began to address them, and I could distinctly see his motions through the glass I held in my hand, and I could hear his voice, but could not understand what he said. He paused, and the people cheered him.

About this time there was an alarm among the women and children near the place where I stood, and I could also see a part of the crowd in motion towards the Deansgate side, but I thought it a false alarm, as many returned again and joined in the huzzas of the crowd. A second alarm arose, and I heard the sound of a horn, and immediately the Manchester Yeomanry appeared, coming from Peter Street, headed by Hugh Birley, the same man who, in 1815, as Boroughreeve of Manchester, presided at the public meeting assembled to petition Parliament for the Repeal of the Corn Laws. They galloped up to the house where the Magistrates were assembled, halted, and drew up in line. After some hesitation, from what cause I do not know, I heard the order to form three deep, and then the order to march. The Trumpeter led the way and galloped towards the hustings, followed by the yeomanry.

Whilst this was passing, my attention was called to another movement coming from the opposite side of the meeting. A troop of soldiers, the 15th Hussars, turned round the corner of the house where we stood and galloped forwards towards the crowd. They were succeeded by the Cheshire Yeomanry, and lastly by two pieces of artillery. On the arrival of the soldiers, the special constables, the magistrates, and the soldiers set up loud shouts. This was responded to by the crowd with waving of hats. 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 it had 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. A man went up to her and lifted one of her legs; it fell as if she were lifeless; another man lifted both her legs and let them fall. I saw her some time after carried off by the legs and arms as if she were dead.

My attention was then directed to a number of constables bringing from the hustings the famous Hunt wearing a white hat, and with him another man, also wearing a white hat, who was said to be Johnson. The prisoners were treated in a scandalous manner; many of the constables hissed and beat them as they passed. When they reached the Magistrates' house he was surrounded by constables, some pulling him by the collar, others by the coat. A dastardly attack was made upon him by General Clay, who with a large stick struck him over the head with both hands as he was ascending the steps to the Magistrates' house. The blow knocked in his hat and packed it over his face. He then turned round as if ashamed of himself and became a quiet spectator. The ground by this time was cleared, and nothing was to be seen but soldiers and constables.

_Bronze Relief by John Cassidy, R.C.A._

_To face page 69_]

The Rev. Mr. Hay (the Chairman to the Magistrates) then stood on the steps of Mr. Buxton's house and addressed the constables. I could not hear what he said, but he was cheered when he concluded. He then returned into the house, but came out again soon afterwards with Mr. Marriott, the Magistrate, and Hunt in the custody of Nadin, Chief Constable, and with Johnson in the custody of another constable. When Hunt made his appearance, he was assailed with groans and hisses by the soldiers and constables. Hunt took off his hat and bowed to them, which appeared to calm them while they marched towards Deansgate on their way to the New Bailey prison, escorted by the cavalry. On quitting the windows from whence we had witnessed so many painful scenes, we descended and found two special constables who had been brought into the house. One presented a shocking sight--the face was all over blood from a sword-cut on his head, and his shoulder was put out. The other was bloody from being rode over and kicked on the back of his head.

When the particulars of this bloody tragedy became known, strong feelings of indignation were expressed all over the country. The Manchester magistrates, alarmed at the tone of public opinion in London, had a meeting hastily convened on the 19th of August at the Police Office, which was adjourned to the Star Inn, where resolutions were passed thanking the magistrates and the soldiers. I happened by accident to be present at the meeting. A young man with whom I was acquainted, a clerk in the office of the Clerk to the Magistrates, happening to meet me in the street on his way to the meeting, took me by the arm and said: "Come with me." I asked where he was going, and when I learned, declined to go. He replied: "Nonsense, you will hear what is going on," and so I somewhat reluctantly went with him to the Star Inn. On our arrival we found the room pretty full and I took a seat. The Chairman, Mr. Francis Phillips, rose and said: "If there be any persons present who do not approve of the objects of this meeting they are requested to withdraw." I thought he looked at me, and felt a little uncomfortable. He sat down again and rose to repeat his request. I thought that as I should know better what the object of the meeting was after I had heard it explained, I would sit still, and so I remained to the end. After the meeting I told some of my Reform friends how I came to be present at the meeting, and they wished me to write out an account of the proceedings. I did so, and with a few alterations and the omission of names it was inserted in _Cowdroy's Gazette_. This statement created great alarm among those who got up the meeting to thank the magistrates, and they denounced it as a false statement, but another letter to _Cowdroy's Gazette_ affirmed the truth of the account of the meeting to thank the magistrates, and threatened to make public the names of the speakers if its correctness was again called in question.

Note the women and children, and the cap of Liberty held aloft in the centre

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The dispersion of a legally convened meeting by military force aroused a general indignation, and the smuggled passing of thanks to the magistrates so dishonestly sent forth occasioned an expression of public feeling and opinion such as had never been manifested in Manchester before. A "Declaration and Protest" against the Star Inn resolutions was immediately issued, stating that "We are fully satisfied by personal observation on undoubted information that the meeting was _perfectly peaceable_; that no seditious or intemperate harangues were made there; that the Riot Act, _if read at all_, was read _privately, or without the knowledge of a great body of the meeting_, and we feel it our bounden duty to protest against and to express our utter disapprobation of the unexpected and unnecessary violence by which the assembly was dispersed.

"We further declare that the meeting convened at the Police Office on the 19th of August for the purpose of thanking the magistrates, municipal officers, soldiers, etc., was strictly and exclusively _private_, and in order that the privacy might be more completely ensured was adjourned to the Star Inn. It is a matter of notoriety that no expression of dissent from the main object of the meeting was there permitted. We therefore deny that it had any claim to the title of a 'numerous and highly respectable meeting of the inhabitants of Manchester and Salford and their neighbourhood.'"

In the course of three or four days this protest received 4,800 signatures.

By way of counteracting this energetic protest, on the 27th of August Lord Sidmouth communicated to the Manchester Magistrates and to Major Trafford and the military serving under him the thanks of the Prince Regent "for their prompt, decisive, and efficient measures for preservation of the public peace on August the 16th."

Meanwhile hundreds of persons wounded on that fatal day were enduring dreadful suffering. They were disabled from work; not daring to apply for parish relief; not even daring to apply for surgical aid, lest, in the arbitrary spirit of the time, their acknowledgment that they had received their wounds on St. Peter's field might send them to prison--perhaps to the scaffold.

A committee was formed for the purpose of making a rigid enquiry into the cases of those who had been killed and wounded; and subscriptions were raised for their relief. After an enquiry of many successive weeks the committee published the cases of eleven killed and five hundred and sixty wounded, of whom about a hundred and twenty were females.

The Rev. W. R. Hay, Chairman of the Bench of Magistrates, was rewarded by being presented to the living of Rochdale, worth L2,000 a year.

Hunt and his companions were committed to Lancaster, and subsequently tried at York, where he was found guilty and sentenced to be imprisoned for two years and a half, and Johnson, Healey, and Bamford to one year's imprisonment.

The bloody proceedings at Peterloo startled the whole nation. Meetings were held everywhere, denouncing them in the strongest terms. Sir Francis Burdett addressed a letter to the Electors of Westminster, expressing his "Shame, grief, and indignation" at the proceedings, and was prosecuted by the Attorney-General for Libel and was fined L2,000 and imprisoned for three months. Lord Fitzwilliam, for attending a public meeting to express disapprobation at the means by which the meeting at Peterloo was dispersed, was dismissed from his office as Lord Lieutenant of Yorkshire.

These proceedings produced a deep impression on the minds of thoughtful men, who began to think we were on the brink of despotism, and that the time had arrived when the country should be no longer ruled by Landowners and Boroughmongers, but by representatives chosen by the people....

_Photo by R. H. Fletcher_

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APPENDIX A.

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 words: UNITY AND STRENGTH. The explanatory inscription reads: "This Banner was carried by the Middleton Reformers, with Samuel Bamford at their head, to Peterloo, and is frequently mentioned in the historical records of that movement." (See Illustration opposite).

In chapter XXXIII. of _Passages in the Life of a Radical_ Bamford speaks of "the colours; a blue one of silk, with inscriptions in golden letters: UNITY AND STRENGTH, LIBERTY AND FRATERNITY. A green one of silk, with golden letters, PARLIAMENTS ANNUAL, SUFFRAGE UNIVERSAL." Apparently the Banner here figured is the one of which he writes later in chapter XXXVI.: "I rejoined my companions [_i.e._, after Peterloo], and forming about a thousand of them into file, we set off to the sound of fife and drum, _with our only banner waving_, and in that form we re-entered the town of Middleton. The Banner was exhibited from a window of the Suffield's Arms public-house." The Banner is now carefully preserved between sheets of glass. The photograph was taken under considerable difficulties as regards light by Mr. R. H. Fletcher, of Eccles. The Chadderton Banner, though much dilapidated, is also still in existence, but I could not obtain the address of the person in whose keeping it is. She had left Chadderton, and was living at Blackpool.

2.--BAMFORD'S COTTAGE.

Some distance higher up the town may be seen the house where Bamford lived at the date of Peterloo. Over the door is a stone inscribed: "Samuel Bamford resided and was arrested in this house, Aug. 26, 1819." Bamford describes the event in detail in chapter XL of the work named above, beginning: "About two o'clock on the morning of Thursday, the twenty-sixth of August, that is, on the tenth morning after the fatal meeting, I was awoke by footsteps in the street opposite my residence. Presently they increased in number, etc." The photograph is again by Mr. R. H. Fletcher. (See Illustration.) In the Churchyard above may be seen Bamford's tomb and also the monument raised to his memory.

_Photo by R. H. Fletcher_

_To face page 76_]

3.--CONSTABLES' STAVES.

(_a_) In the Catalogue of the _Old Manchester & Salford Exhibition_ (held at the Art Gallery in 1904), on p. 27, exhibit 157 appears as "Handcuffs belonging to Joe Nadin, Deputy Constable of Manchester at the time of Peterloo;" lent by G. C. Yates, Esq. On the same page, exhibit 167 is a "Special Constable's Staff, used at the time of Peterloo in Manchester, and then the property of Mr. Beever;" lent by C. Shiel, Esq. This collection is now for the most part dispersed.

_Photo by R. H. Fletcher_

_To face page 77_]

(_b_) Mr. T. Swindells, of Monton Green, in the third volume of his _Manchester Streets and Manchester Men_, mentions "A Special Constable's Staff" given to him by a descendant of James Fildes. It is inscribed: "A relic of Peterloo. Special Constable's Staff which belonged to the late James and Thomas Fildes, grocers, Shudehill, Manchester."

(_c_) In November, 1919, on the afternoon of the day on which I was to lecture on _The Story of Peterloo_, at the Rylands Library, Mr. W. W. Manfield, of Chorlton-cum-Hardy, brought me three interesting relics of Peterloo, which have been in the possession of his family since 1819. On the occasion of Peterloo his father and grandfather saw the crowd streaming through Salford after the catastrophe, and their curiosity led them to walk out to St. Peter's fields. There they picked up the three relics, which have been carefully preserved ever since. One of them is a long, heavy Constable's baton, apparently of rosewood, with the Royal Arms painted at the thicker end. (See Illustration opposite.)

4.--HEAD OF FLAGSTAFF.

The second of Mr. Manfield's relics is the head of one of the Banner poles carried at Peterloo. It is shaped like the traditional cap of Liberty, and inscribed in neat gilt capitals: "Hunt and Liberty." (See Illustration.)

5.--HUSSAR'S PLUME.

The third of Mr. Manfield's relics is a plume of horsehair, apparently originally dyed red, though (if so) much of the dye has faded. This, it may be presumed, was the plume from the helmet of one of the Hussars. It has been mentioned that the 15th Hussars wear a scarlet plume. These three relics have been photographed on one plate by Mr. Fletcher. (See Illustration opposite to page 77.)

6.--ACCOUNT-BOOK OF THE RELIEF COMMITTEE.

In the year of the Centenary, Mr. Guppy was fortunate enough to secure for the Rylands Library the actual Account-Book used by one of the Committees formed for the relief of those injured in the fray. A single page of this book has been photographed by Mr. R. H. Fletcher for the present volume. (See Illustration.) Mr. Guppy's account of the volume (_Bulletin of Rylands Library_, April to November, 1919, p. 191) is as follows:--

"The Library has been fortunate in being able to acquire a small octavo account-book, leather bound, which seems to have been an official record of the casualties at Peterloo which were dealt with by one of the Relief Committees. It contains details of the names, addresses, and injuries of 347 individuals, particulars of the successive grants made to them by one Committee, and references to the grants made by another Committee (possibly two others).

The details given are corroborative of many of the statements in Mr. Bruton's _Story of Peterloo_. Thus: the cases include those of Elizabeth Gaunt (mentioned on pp. 274 and 275), of Mrs. Fildes (on p. 274), of Thomas Redford (on pp. 285, 291, and 294). There are references to the loose timber (see pp. 269, 284 and 294), the injuries to Special Constables (see p. 280), the fight near the Friends' Meeting-house (see pp. 284 and 289), the oak trees growing near that building (see pp. 269, 294), the white hat as a symbol of Radicalism (see p. 273), the fear of losing employment evinced by the wounded (see p. 291), the infantry intercepting fugitives (see p. 290), the child killed by a trooper in Cooper Street (see p. 277), and so on. The sum total voted by this Committee appears to have been L687; it must be remembered, however, that the sum of L3,000 mentioned on p. 291 as having been subscribed may have been used partly for legal expenses.

_By permission of Mr. H. Guppy._

_Photo by R. H. Fletcher._]

Since this manuscript account-book came to light, Mr. Bruton has discovered a printed Report of the Relief Committee, in which 560 cases are described, and the amount raised to date is given as L3,408 1s. 8d., and pronounced to be inadequate for 600 people. It also gives the amount spent on legal expenses as L1,077."

7.--ACCOUNT-BOOK RECORDING AMOUNTS RAISED FOR THE RELIEF OF SPECIAL CONSTABLES & THEIR FAMILIES.

I have to thank Dr. A. A. Mumford for calling my attention to another account-book connected with Peterloo, which I believe he met with while going over the Crossley papers at the Chetham Library. Its number in the Library Catalogue is MS. B. 3. 70. It is a small note-book ruled for cash, and entitled: "Subscriptions for Special Constables. Nos. 10 and 11." There is a note of a Resolution carried on August 27th, 1819, to the effect that a Relief Fund should be raised on behalf of Special Constables injured at Peterloo and their families. The subscriptions recorded in this book range from L1 to L10 10s., and amount in all to about L400.

APPENDIX B.

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 killed and forty were injured." In the _Political History of England_ (1906, Vol. XI., pp. 178, 179) we read that "happily the actual loss of life did not exceed five or six, but a much larger number were more or less wounded." A number of the most important school histories in use at the present time reproduce one or the other of these statements _verbatim_.

If we turn to the contemporary records, they are somewhat conflicting. The hurried estimates given by the local papers immediately after the catastrophe (_e.g._, one newspaper reported twelve killed) had to be corrected later. The most general estimate seems to be "eleven killed and between 500 and 600 wounded." When we come to examine these figures in detail, however, these points emerge: (1) "Killed" is evidently taken to include the cases of those who died after lingering (possibly) for some weeks. (2) The summary includes the casualties due to the firing of the infantry in the neighbourhood of New Cross, some hours after the great event; included in the list, also will be the child (Fildes) knocked from its mother's arms by one of the yeomanry as they were riding to the meeting.

Archibald Prentice, in his _Historical Sketches and Personal Recollections of Manchester_ (p. 167), states that eleven were killed, that 420 were wounded, and that there still remained (according to the Relief Committee's Report) 140 cases to be investigated, making a total of 560. Mr. John Benjamin Smith (who very likely refreshed his memory by looking up records when writing his Reminiscences) gives the same result. Mr. J. C. Hobhouse, speaking in the House of Commons, on May 19th, 1821, said that "he held in his hand a list of killed and wounded running to 25-30 sheets, and defied them to disprove it." It is clear, then, that these estimates are quoted from the Committee's Report, and to this it will be well now to turn.

With the kind assistance of Mr. Swann, of the Reference Library, I have been able to find one (and only one) copy of this Report. It is bound up with a series of papers catalogued as "Lancashire and Yorkshire Tracts," at the Manchester Reference Library. (The Reference number is "Lancashire and Yorkshire Tracts; Barlow's Historical Collector. H. 63. 3. No. 3 (15104)"). It is entitled: "Report of the Metropolitan and Central Committee appointed for the Relief of the Manchester Sufferers, with an Appendix containing the names of the sufferers and the nature and extent of their injuries; also an account of the distribution of funds, and other documents. Published by order of the Committee. London, 1820." This Committee seems to have been formed by amalgamating several organisations in the metropolis which sprang into being as a result of public sympathy with the sufferers, and it worked in conjunction with the Manchester and other Lancashire Committees. The subscriptions recorded to date amount to L3,408 1s. 8d. of which L1,206 13s. 8d. had been distributed, L250 having been received from the local Manchester Committees. The amount expended on law charges and expenses of witnesses is given as L1,077 6s. 9d.; advertisements and sundries cost L355 13s. 6d.; and this leaves a balance of over L768, which is pronounced inadequate to deal with the cases that remain. A fresh appeal is therefore made to the British Public. A Deputation was sent from London to investigate cases, and this Deputation reports, in January, 1820, that out of 420 sufferers visited and relieved 113 are females; that 130 received severe sabre-cuts, 14 of these being females. (To be quite safe, we must admit the possibility that the term "sufferers" may sometimes include members of the families of those killed or injured.) There follow 38 pages filled with the names of those killed and wounded at Peterloo, some 430 in all, with full details of their injuries, and in the case of the former the description is "Killed, _or_, who have subsequently died in consequence of injuries there received," the number of these being given as eleven. Of these eleven: two were "sabred;" one was "sabred and trampled upon;" one was "sabred and stabbed;" one "sabred and crushed;" two (one of them a woman) "rode over by the cavalry;" one "trampled by the cavalry;" one "inwardly crushed;" and one (a woman) "thrown into a cellar." In the case of two of these the words are added "killed on the spot." The child killed in Cooper Street completes the total.

One of the Relief Committees met at Mr. Prentice's warehouse, and the care with which the various cases were investigated, and successive grants made from the funds of the different Committees, is clearly shown by the details given in the account-book secured by Mr. Guppy in 1919 for the Rylands Library, which is mentioned above.

Perhaps it will never be possible to say exactly how many were left dead on the field. One, at anyrate, who died at once, or very shortly afterwards, was (by a strange irony) a Special Constable, and this is probably the "one man killed" of some of the accounts. It will be remembered that Lieut. Jolliffe reported "two women not likely to recover; one man in a dying state; and two or three reputed dead;" in the letter quoted above, describing his visit to the Infirmary on the Sunday following the event.

Most of the cases investigated by the Committees belonged to the side of the Reformers; but it must not be forgotten that the other side claimed to have serious casualties. Mr. Francis Phillips, _e.g._, enumerates the casualties to the troops, and an estimate of these is given also in the Centenary Volume of the Cheshire Yeomanry; we have already seen above, moreover, that a subscription list was opened for the families of the Special Constables, and that the appeal met with a generous response. It is a curious feature of the case that each side seems to be anxious to make its casualty list as imposing as possible. An interesting summary of the various estimates is given by MacDonnell in his _State Trials_. This summary includes the Official Report from the Infirmary, and the list of casualties to the troops. Without pursuing the matter further, we may say that a careful examination of the somewhat confusing evidence would seem to show that the estimate "eleven killed and between 500 and 600 wounded" will not prove to be far wrong, provided that (1) we understand "killed" to include those who died as the result of injuries received on the field; (2) we include in the general total the casualties incurred during the disturbances some hours later in the neighbourhood of New Cross. At least one list, published subsequently, brings the total of killed up to fourteen.

* * * * *

Two points not directly concerned with this discussion are dealt with by the Relief Committee, and are sufficiently interesting to be recorded: (1) The Committee paid out L710 "on account of the Trial at York; the Manchester Committee voting L100 for the same object." (2) The Deputation sent from London to investigate the cases, mentioned in their Report some striking details of the conditions of life amongst the operatives. To quote only two sentences: "in no one instance among the weavers did your Deputation see a morsel of animal food, and they ascertained that in most families where there were children the taste of meat was unknown from one year to another." "Six shillings a week was the average wage of an able-bodied and industrious weaver. Many could not get this."

2.--PRESENCE OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN AT PETERLOO.

It has often been asserted that the peaceful intentions of the crowd at Peterloo are attested by the presence among them of women and young children. As every detail of evidence is of value, I give here a sentence from a letter which I received from Principal Reynolds: "My father was there, in his mother's arms, though only one year old; so my grandmother told me."

3.--SOME GLEANINGS FROM THE SCRAP-BOOKS.

It was the custom in the early decades of the nineteenth century, when newspapers were dear and newspaper files were not available, as there were no free libraries, to collect newspaper cuttings and illustrations, with tracts and "broadsides," election squibs and so forth, in large scrap-books. Thus, at the Peel Park Library is preserved the scrap-book of Joseph Brotherton (for many years Member for Salford), running to over forty volumes. The Greaves scrap-book at the Reference Library contains a valuable collection of this kind. The Owen collection at the same Library fills over eighty volumes. At the Chetham Library may be seen Lord Ellesmere's scrap-book and a number of others. From many references to Peterloo in these books we may select the three items which follow: The Greaves collection contains a rare print of Peterloo, somewhat lurid in its detail. Mr. Albert Nicholson has in his possession a highly-coloured copy of this, which he has shown me. No other copies seem to be known.