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.

Abraham Milne Eyewitness Account

Reports seeing men drilling like soldiers near Tandle Hill on the 8th and 15th of August 1819.

Place: Oldham
Role: Spectator
Occupation: Manufacturer

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James Walker Eyewitness Account

Place: Manchester
Role: Demonstrator
Occupation: Dyer

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William Simmons Eyewitness Account

Place: Manchester
Role:
Occupation: Surgeon

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John Shuttleworth Eyewitness Account

Eye witness to the peaceful and unarmed nature of the parades approaching St.Peter’s field and close to the violence but does not report any particular instances.