Eyewitness Accounts

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 Barlow Eyewitness Account

  • Place: Manchester
  • Role: Spectator
  • Occupation: Warehouseman
Find out more

John Shawcross Eyewitness Account

  • Place: Manchester
  • Role: Officer
  • Occupation: Clerk to Manchester Police Office
Find out more

Joseph Wrigley Eyewitness Account

  • Place: Oldham
  • Role: Demonstrator
  • Occupation: Employed
Find out more

Hugh Williamson Eyewitness Account

Brought to the Lees Inquest by Harmer to establish the intent of the Yeomanry on the field by testifying to their behaviour as they arrived.

  • Place: Manchester
  • Role: Spectator
  • Occupation: Cotton Weaver
Find out more

William Whittaker Eyewitness Account

  • Place: Oldham
  • Role:
  • Occupation: Spinner
Find out more

Enormous thanks to our partners and funders