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.

Esther Howarth Eyewitness Account

Place: Manchester
Role: Spectator
Occupation: Widow

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Charlotte Dykins Eyewitness Account

23/11/1819 Went with Farren and Newy to the meeting. Saw Farren who was carrying a child moved close to the hustings. She was told by Farren that she was injured when she fell into a cellar and hit her head on a brick, but heard Farren tell others she was cut by Mr Tebull’s son.