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 Cox Eyewitness Account

Physician who conducted post-mortem on the body of John Lees who was injured at Peterloo. Doubted arm injury as causing death but was unclear if other body trauma may have contributed.

Place: Oldham
Role:
Occupation: Medical Practitioner

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Robert Cooper Eyewitness Account

Associate of John Lees, a casualty of Peterloo; Witness to the events of the day, as described to him by John Lees personally.

Place: Oldham
Role: Spectator
Occupation: Hatter

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Joseph Clegg Eyewitness Account

Colleague of John Lees who saw Lees drinking at two pubs in Middleton at the wakes on Sunday 22nd August after sustaining injuries at Peterloo. Clegg recalls that Lees was quiet but not obviously suffering, stayed late, and walked several miles there and back from Oldham.