Only banner survives from Peterloo the demonstration for the vote in Manchester on August 16th 1819, and its not the one above which is a re-creation.
Its existence is mentioned in E P Thompson’s Making of the English Working Class. He notes that it was specifically mentioned by a Magistrate when committing Henry Hunt the only speaker at Peterloo for trial.
The authorities expected a violent protest, in fact it was entirely peaceful until the Manchester Yeomanry rode into the crowd cutting down and killing and injuring numbers of protesters.
Some of the imagery suggested the potential for violence, but as Thompson notes it was the power of mass protest that was the majority path taken. Whether the authorities really and fully appreciated the difference is a more complex point.
Leave a Reply