Manchester "Peterloo"

[rocala]

An interesting piece about Peterloo here,  https://jon-chadwick.com/author/jonnychadwick/

It also gives info about the less pleasant members of my extended family. If you scroll it is about a third of the way down.

[rocala]

I don't think it has been mentioned yet, but two years before this event, another group assembled in St Peters fields. The Blanketeers. They were estimated to be between 5 - 10,000 strong. The plan was to march to London with a petition.

They too were charged by cavalry and subject to arrest. In the end only one man made the full journey. It achieved nothing.

They are largely forgotten today, in part due to events two years later.

Actually they did frighten the powers that be a little. One result was to increase part time formations such as the one used in 1819.

[Viktoria]

I knew of The Blanketeers and thought about the Jarrow marches ,much later, during the depression years,especially the 1930’s, marching to London to protest about lack of employment in the shipyards ,but as there was widespread unemployment in Britain and  no real relief they were joined by many others.
And that was the “Country fit for heroes”promised after WW1 to the surviving soldiers !
Not sure about the meeting on  Kersal Moor,must  get details,we certainly were not told about that at school.

Viktoria.




Thanks for all the info.
 Viktoria.

[Viktoria]

Went to a lecture this week at our local Heritage Society.
Given by a City of Manchester Official,BlueBadgerGuide.
Lots of interesting facts but one chilling one was the use of the 1796
Light Cavalry Sabre.
Waterloo issue.
It is rather broader at the curved tip and is a fearsome weapon.
It was sharpened/ honed to the same sharpness as at Waterloo,where it was
so effective  the French  Commanders complained to Wellington about it!
To have troops go out armed with such a weapon against unarmed people including women and children showed the Magistrates ‘ intent that day.
The blade is somewhat broader at the end and so effective that it cut a dead pig in half across then vertically and the head was completely split , in the video I watched later on google.

It cut through brass helmets at Waterloo.

I am not sure if the French expected our  troops to use blunt weapons 
but they did complain about this one.
There were many slides of artifacts from the day and one person, not present the other night but resident in our town is the direct descendant
of  Mary Fildes  ,the woman on the hustings with Henry Hunt.
The child trampled by the Yeomanry ,who was the first fatality ,we saw a photograph of his burial entry.
His mother was stated as contributing to his death because  the troops had all passed but for one straggler who knocked into her and she let the child fall the as the horse came up from behind and collided with her.!
Lots more and it showed how accurate was the account which was my first reading of the event.
There are several exhibitions and I must go.
What was really surprising was the number of people who had no knowledge of Peterloo,even though they were at school in Manchester and  Salford.
I suppose it depended what was on the curriculum .

I must also correct myself, The Ford  Maddox Browne murals do not include scenes from Peterloo,but things starting from the Roman settlement of Manchester right through to the industrialisation.
Peterloo was still a Taboo subject in Manchester at the time the murals were being painted!
Viktoria.




horse
burial certificate

[Regorian]

I told you about the deadly 1796 pattern light cavalry sabre in reply 43. The 15th Hussars carried the same weapon. If they had used the edge there would have been hundreds of deaths. The practice was to hit the shoulder with the flat of the sabre.

[Viktoria]

I have just re read the previous posts Regorian, I did not remember what you had said about the 1796 sabre. So sorry for the duplication.
Have you seen the video re the sabre?Not for the faint hearted!
But they were freshly sharpened, and even an intentioned flat smack could go wrong in such crowded conditions,and if not intended to be used for its purpose ,why sharpen?
A very interesting subject.
I wonder if the little boy Fildes killed by the horse was any relation  to the Mary Fildes  who was on the hustings ?
Thanks again
Viktoria.