The Peterloo Massacre - Timelines.tv History of Britain B12

well now we wind the story on 30 years from the French Revolution and we return to where this story began to Manchester and the Peterloo massacre of 1819 on a hot day in August a peaceful crowd anxious for a forum had assembled in the heart of the city but this day that began in high spirits was to end in tragedy this is the actual spot where the massacre took place all of this over there was open space some Peters fields and somewhere along here they're constructed hustings basically a raised platform where political speakers could address the crowd don't forget this was the days before television before radio politics back then was was face to face if you wanted to be a part of what was happening you had to be where the action was and in August 1819 all of Manchester was abuzz with the news of this mass meeting where the great speaker Henry hunt would address the crowd from all across Manchester and beyond that come from Stockport from Oldham from Ashton from Middleton men women children they'd brought food with them this was to be a picnic but before I describe what happened next the infamous Peterloo massacre I want to ask one question what's changed what has changed since the days of the Glorious Revolution what's changed more recently since the days of Tom Paine why now in 1819 have 60,000 people come here to Manchester to demand reform well I'll tell you everything's changed in the decades leading up to Peter loo Britain was transformed as never before and here in Manchester the clues to that transformation are all around us a mile west of some PETA's fields his castle fields a warren of canals and old industrial warehouses castle fields was once the heart of Manchester's industrial revolution on his estate in Worsley just west of here the 1st Duke of Bridgewater was mining coal this was back in the 1750s in the 1760s and he built this canal here to bring his coal right into the heart of Manchester it was offloaded onto these wharves and from here it was sold on to the the mills and the factories that were springing up all across the Greater Manchester region this coal was used for smelting iron within decades it would be used to power steam engines driving machinery producing manufactured goods mostly cotton and cloth ever-faster what was beginning here was the transformation of Britain into the world's first industrial nation and the consequence of that change was devastating the old sleepy England of villages and laborers and blacksmiths and pubs continued of course it continued but in parallel with that vision of a green and pleasant land a new vision dreadful and magnificent came crashing in a vision of smokestacks and brick and the incessant hungry pounding of the looms and unbelievable numbers of people concentrated now into the cities in ever-increasing numbers and these city folk weren't like country folk they weren't isolated they weren't cut off from the political action here every new idea was dissected and discussed in the streets on the factory floors and so yes when it was announced that Henry Hunt was holding a meeting in st. Peter's fields the news spread like wildfire what do they want the proud Weaver's families who marched here on that fateful August afternoon their banners spelt it out first Liberty you don't have to be physically chained to be a slave these people believed they were captive in their powerlessness they wanted a voice and hence their next slogan universal suffrage it means votes for all the problem was working men and women in places like Manchester were entirely unrepresented in Parliament not just because they didn't have the vote they didn't even have MPs the spread of MPs across the nation had been fixed decades earlier before these industrial cities even existed and so you had this entirely stupid situation with maybe one MP over here in a completely empty piece of countryside representing I don't know a cow and a couple of sheep and over here you've got this industrial city with 50,000 people without a single MP and it suited the ruling elite just fine why because Palace stayed with the landowners hardly surprising Henry hunt called for reform but from the windows of number 6 Mount Street the local magistrates were watching and what they saw were the first stirrings of revolution hard to know what was going through their minds we know the crowd had peaceable intentions the fact they brought their children with them proves that and yet these magistrates described the crowd as a mob I think maybe they were just so blinded by prejudice and fear they were just so determined to see these people as the enemies of property they failed to notice the marching band the laughter the carnival atmosphere and they signed a warrant for Henry Hunt's arrest the troops sent in to arrest hunt had all had their swords sharpened son witnesses said were rolling about on their horses as if drunk they galloped into the crowd swords flashed in the afternoon sunlight a hundred and forty people were injured fifteen people died the massacre was a wake-up call not easily ignored and so the battle lines were drawn those for reform and those against and the struggle between them would dominate British history for decades yet to come

Channel: timelinesTV

Views: 100,252

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Id: I-ln4p4mWu0

Length: 6min 30sec (390 seconds)

Published: Sun Feb 03 2013