Eyewitness Accounts

To commemorate the 200 year anniversary of the Peterloo Massacre the Peterloo 2019 Ambassadors have worked in partnership with Professor Robert Poole (University of Central Lancashire), author of Peterloo: the English Uprising and the Age of Revolution at University of Kent to compile the 400+ eyewitness accounts which include press reports and petitions.

This is the first time the original accounts have been compiled into an online archive. You can now use the website to search by name, place and role and learn more about the eyewitness accounts from 1819.

John Smith Eyewitness Account

Detailed account. No violence or unrest amongst crowds. Hunt urging, calm and quiet. Asked people in crowd. They said ‘Nothing but peace and freedom did they seek’.

Place: Elsewhere
Role: Press,Spectator
Occupation: Reporter "Liverpool Mercury'

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Joseph Slater Eyewitness Account

Witnessed Johnson discuss the meeting of the 16^th and plans to travel to London to disperse the MPs there, in his pub, The Bay Horse.

Place: Manchester
Role: Spectator
Occupation: Publican

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Samuel Slack Eyewitness Account

Was not alarmed by the presence of the crowd at SPF. Saw no large sticks. Went to the meeting, but left when the cavalry arrived. ‘They flourished their swords, and charged down towards the hustings.’

Place: Manchester
Role: Demonstrator
Occupation: Warehouseman

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Edmund Simpson Eyewitness Account

Saw marching crowds (4000-5000) with music and colours. Shut his shop at 10 am.

Place: Manchester
Role: Spectator
Occupation: Hatter

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John Shuttleworth Eyewitness Account

Says there was less than one stick per ten persons in the procession. Saw no resistance to the yeomanry. Gives detailed description. ‘Nothing in their arrival excited his fear for the town of Manchester’.