Peterloo Massacre

The violent dispersal of a peaceful mass meeting for parliamentary reform at St Peter’s Field, Manchester, on 16 August 1819. Local magistrates ordered the arrest of the radical speaker Henry Hunt, and mounted yeomanry charged the crowd. Around 18 people died and hundreds were injured. The event, nicknamed ‘Peterloo’ after Waterloo, became a powerful symbol of demands for political reform and civil liberties.