Three Accounts of Peterloo and The Story of Peterloo by Francis Archibald Bruton
A peaceful demonstration in 1819 turned to carnage when the authorities made a bungled attempt to disperse the crowd.
The Peterloo Massacre occurred at St Peter’s Field, Manchester, England, on 16 August 1819, when cavalry charged into a crowd of 60,000–80,000 that had gathered to demand the reform of parliamentary representation.
Shortly after the meeting began local magistrates called on the military authorities to arrest Hunt and several others on the hustings with him, and to disperse the crowd. Cavalry charged into the crowd with sabres drawn, and in the ensuing confusion, 15 people (including women and children) were killed and hundreds were injured.
Within this volume are published three eyewitness reports of the event which F. A. Burton thought worthy of publication along with his “Story of Peterloo.”