The Peterloo Massacre

Front Cover
Random House, May 31, 2018 - History - 288 pages


***The subject of the new major film by Mike Leigh***

Unity of the oppressed can make a difference in politically uncertain times

A peaceful protest turned tragedy; this is the true story of the working class fight for the vote.

On August 16 1819, in St Peter’s Field, Manchester, a large non-violent gathering demanding parliamentary reform turned into a massacre, leaving many dead and hundreds more injured.

This catastrophic event was one of the key moments of the age, a political awakening of the working class, and eventually led to ordinary people gaining suffrage. In this definitive account Joyce Marlow tells the stories of the real people involved and brings to life the atrocity the government attempted to cover up.

The Peterloo Massacre is soon to be the subject of a major film directed by Mike Leigh.

 

Selected pages

Contents

Cover About the Book
About the Author
Agriculture could not have made such a place as Manchester
The most wicked and seditious part of the country
The Constitution of England is the business of every Englishman
Britains Guardian Ganders
That anomalous hermaphrodite race called ParsonJustices
All the gaols of the County are remarkably crowded
The town has been deluged with placards
The alarm in all the neighbouring towns begins to be excessive
The most numerous meeting that ever took place in Great Britain
Then you shall have military force
Ah behold their sabres gleaming
The Battle of Manchester is over
never saw such a corpse as this in all my life
Shame wind your blood sprinkled surplice around

The lower classes are radically corrupted
Do unto others as you would they should do unto
accept with pleasure the Invitation of the Committee
A general insurrection is seriously meditated
Manchester knew nought of misery until
What do reasonable people think of the Manchester business?
There is an end to liberty
Postscript
Acknowledgments

Other editions - View all

The Peterloo Massacre
Joyce Marlow
Snippet view - 1969
The Peterloo Massacre
Joyce Marlow
Snippet view - 1969
The Peterloo Massacre
Joyce Marlow
Snippet view - 1969
View all »

Common terms and phrases

15th Hussars action Addington arrest arrived attack attended August 16th Bamford banners became Bill Boroughreeve Cartwright Castlereagh chapter heading Cobbett Committee contingent cotton crowd dispersal distress England Ethelston female Government Hampden Clubs Healey Hobhouse Home Office Hulton Hunt Hunt’s hustings industrial Inquest insurrection John Edward Taylor John Knight John Lees Johnson July L'Estrange Lancashire later letter Liberty London Lord Liverpool Lord Sidmouth loyalists magistrates Major Manchester and Salford Manchester magistrates Manchester Observer Manchester’s Massacre meeting middle-class Radicals Middleton military Nadin never Norris Oldham Parliament Parliamentary reform Peterloo Political Register Prince Regent prison quoted Radical leaders Radical movement Reverend Revolution Riot Act Rochdale Rylands English Mss sabre Saint Peter’s Field Samuel Bamford Saxton seditious Sir Charles Wolseley Sir John Byng special constables spinners Stockport Street thousands Tory town Trials troops Union Societies wages weavers Whigs William Cobbett working-class Radicals wrote

About the author (2018)

Joyce Marlow was born and raised in Manchester in the 1930s. Soon after the Second World War she became an actress and later a full-time writer. A life-long Labour supporter and feminist, she edited anthologies such as The Virago Book of Women and the Great War, as well as Suffragettes: The Right to Vote for Women. She was also the winner of the Romantic Novelists’ Best Historical Novel Award. Married with two sons, she lived in the High Peak District in Derbyshire.

Bibliographic information

TitleThe Peterloo Massacre
AuthorThe Estate of Joyce Marlow
Editionreprint
PublisherRandom House, 2018
ISBN1473556899, 9781473556898
Length288 pages
Subjects ›  ›  › 

History / Europe / Great Britain / Georgian Era (1714-1837)
History / General
Political Science / History & Theory
Political Science / Human Rights
Political Science / Political Freedom
Social Science / Social Classes & Economic Disparity
  
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