Peterloo

On 16 August, 1819, at St Peter's Field, Manchester, armed cavalry attacked a peaceful rally of some 50,000 pro-democracy reformers. Under the eyes of the national press, 18 people were killed and some 700 injured, many of them by sabres, many of them women, some of them children.The 'Peterloo massacre', the subject of a recent feature film and a major commemoration in 2019, is famous as the central episode in Edward Thompsons Making of the English Working Class. It also marked the rise of a new English radical populism as the British state, recently victorious at Waterloo, was challenged by a pro-democracy movement centred on the industrial north.Why did the cavalry attack? Who ordered them in? What was the radical strategy? Why were there women on the platform, and why were they so ferociously attacked? Using an immense range of sources, and many new maps and illustrations, Robert Poole tells for the first time the full extraordinary story of Peterloo: the English Uprising.

This is the definitive account of Peterloo and the book's place as a key text in the history of British politics and society should be long-lasting., [Poole's] description of the events on the actual day is gripping and deserves a wide readership ... His book [throws] light on exactly how the day's terrible events were allowed to happen., A major new history ... Poole is right when he argues that Peterloo should still make us angry., Robert Poole's new book is essential reading for anyone studying, teaching or otherwise interested in the Peterloo massacre. Timed to coincide with the bicentenary in 2019, Peterloo: The English Uprising is the first book-length study of Peterloo to be published by a 'serving academic' since 1958. Meticulously researched, thoughtfully written and featuring beautiful illustrations, maps and prints (as well as a very welcome 'List of Principal Characters'), it is sure to be the definitive account for years to come., Peterloo serves as a useful reminder that the events of Peterloo, and the government's need to cover the tracks of the Lancashire authorities and suppress an uprising caused by the wave of national disgust at their actions, rather than the strength of the radical reform movement itself, provided the chief impetus for the wave of suppressive legislation in 1819.

Robert Poole is a Manchester-based historian and writer and historical consultant to the Peterloo commemoration programme, www.peterloo1819.co.uk. He is co-author of the graphic novel Peterloo: Witnesses to a Massacre (2019) and author of several historical books and articles in journals ranging from Past and Present to Technology and Culture.