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 Hemshaw Eyewitness Account

Not allowed to testify because he was a Quaker.

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Robert Harrop Eyewitness Account

Commissioned to make flags for the procession to SPF. Flags were white but later painted black with inscriptions added.

Place: Lees,Oldham
Role: Demonstrator
Occupation: Flagmaker

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Thomas Hardman Eyewitness Account

Saw no attacks, no black flag. Questioning interrupted by discussion of court procedure. ‘Justice Bayley said, that if he received what was, or rejected what was not evidence, the Crown would certainly be at liberty to move for a new trial.’

Place: Manchester
Role: Officer
Occupation: Police Constable

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John Hampshire Eyewitness Account

Went with Saxton to Observer office and then on to meeting at SPF. Saw Hunt arrested, who did not offer resistance or encourage crowd to resist. Recalled to confirm Hunt’s words from the platform.