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 Tetlow Eyewitness Account

Gives evidence regarding drilling at Tandle Hill in August 1819,testifies to seeing Samuel Bamford leading the marchers.

Place: Rochdale
Role: Spectator
Occupation: Weaver

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Thomas William Tatton Eyewitness Account

Felt it would have been impossible to deliver the warrant without the assistance of the military. Denies that Mr Stanley remonstrated with him about the decision to send in the military.