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.

William Simmons Eyewitness Account

Place: Manchester
Role: Spectator
Occupation: Surgeon

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Edward Owen Eyewitness Account

6//11/1819 Detailed statement re men marching with sticks, all shops shuttered closed. Owen also recounts the events on St Peter’s Field from the Quaker House area mentioning brickbats etc.

Place: Manchester
Role: Spectator

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Mary Ann Newy Eyewitness Account

23/11/1819 Statement of Newy re injury to Elizabeth Farren by Yeomanry when she went with Faren and Charlotte Dykins to the meeting. Farren said it was Mr Tabbutt’s son who injured her.