“Orator” Hunt, 1773-1835Chairman of the Peterloo MeetingTo face page 27
Of course you saw the people collected?—Certainly.
In a large mass?—In a very large mass.
What was it enabled you to distinguish the special constables from the rest?—They were superior-dressed people, had their hats on, and their staffs were constantly appearing, and they were nearer the hustings.
And the people round the hustings had their hats off?—My general impression is, all, to speak accurately.
The people on this side of the area of St. Peter’s field were not so numerous?—There were more stragglers, and no crowd.
You saw colours and caps of liberty on the ground?—I did.
What number of either the one or the other? Perhaps you do not distinctly recollect?—I cannot say.
You heard Mr. Hunt speak?—No, I could just hear his voice, but I was not able to distinguish what he said.
How long had that taken place before you saw the cavalry advance towards the hustings?—From their halt, I should think three minutes.
From the time you heard Mr. Hunt?—Not from the time I heard Mr. Hunt; he was speaking before I arrived.
Then from the time of the halt?—Two or three minutes.
When you saw them advance towards the hustings, with what speed did they go?—They were formed in an irregular mass. Those on the left advanced in some sort of order. They went on at first, for a few paces, at no very quick pace; but they soon increased their speed, till it became a sort of rush or race amongst them all towards the hustings.
Did you observe the effect that this had upon the people, whether it caused them to disperse or not?—They could not disperse instantly.
But on the outside of them?—On the right, in front of the hustings, they immediately began to melt away, as it were, as far as they could at the extreme.
The outward edge of the meeting?—The outward edge, in front of the hustings.
Did you observe the cavalry when they got first among the thick part of the meeting?—Their speed was diminished as soon as they came in contact with the dense mob.
Well?—But they worked their way to the hustings still, as fast, under existing circumstances, as they could.
From the place in which you were, I believe you had a very commanding view of the hustings?—I looked down upon it like a map.
I understood you, you had also been in a room below that, and looked through there?—I had.
Which, in your opinion, was the better place for a correct observation of what passed after the meeting?—Decidedly, the highest room.
Did you watch the advance of the cavalry from their place up to the hustings?—I did.
Did you see either sticks, or stones, or anything of the kind used against the cavalry in their advance up to the hustings?—Certainly not.
Did you see any resistance whatever to the cavalry, except the thickness of the meeting?—None.
Do I understand you to say you saw them surround the hustings, or not?—Surround I could not say, for the other side of the hustings, of course, was partially eclipsed by the people upon it.
But you saw them encircle part?—Encircle part.
Did you see what was done when they got there?—Yes.
Will you tell us what it was that you saw done?—I saw the swords up and down, the orators tumbled or thrown over, and the mob dispersed.
In your judgment, what length of time elapsed between the cavalry first setting off into the meeting and the time of their complete dispersion?—Startingfrom their halt to the complete dispersion of the meeting, I should think from three to five minutes; but I cannot speak to a minute.
In your judgment it took from three to five minutes? You did not observe it by a watch?—No.
Did you see any other troops come into the field?—I did.
What were they?—
Mr.Justice Holroyd: He says he saw what?—
Mr.Serjeant Blackburne: Other troops come into the field.
When was it that you saw them come into the field?—When the mob around the hustings were dispersing rapidly, and I think Mr. Hunt was taken off.
What were those troops that you saw come into the ground then?—First came in, on the left of Mr. Buxton’s row of houses, the Cheshire Yeomanry, who filed to the left.
Mr.Justice Holroyd: You mean to the left, looking from the house, then?—From the house.
Mr.Serjeant Blackburne: Where did the Cheshire Yeomanry take up their position when they came on the ground?—They took up their position in the rear of the hustings, rather in advance, I think, of some mounds of earth.
Do you know Windmill Street?—I know no street.
You don’t know its name?—I know no name.
You say near a rising ground?—There is a sort of little elevated bank or ground.
Had the multitude from that part been dispersed?—The multitude in the rear were pretty much as they had been at first. I think they were dispersing, but not so rapidly.
Do you mean in the rear of the cavalry?—In the rear of the hustings.
The Cheshire Yeomanry’s position was in the rear of the hustings?—Part near amongst these people.
What other troops beside the Cheshire Yeomanry did you see come on to the ground?—Soon after the Cheshire Yeomanry had come in and taken their position, a troop of Dragoons, I think the 15th, came in under the windows of Mr. Buxton’s house.
You say you think they were the 15th Hussars?—They were called the 15th Dragoons; they had Waterloo medals.
Where did they take up their position?—
Mr.Justice Holroyd: “Near Mr. Buxton’s house,” he said.
Mr.Serjeant Blackburne: Did they continue there?—They halted or paused for a moment or so, a little to the left of Mr. Buxton’s house, a very little to the left, almost in front, inclining to the left.
What others did you see come on the ground, besides them and the Cheshire Yeomanry?—At the close of the business I saw some artillery driving through the place.
Was there any other besides those that you saw take up any position on the ground?—None, on the ground.
At this time, was the whole of the multitude dispersed?—It was dispersing most rapidly; I may say dispersed, except in partial spots.
After leaving the hustings, to which part of the field did the Manchester Yeomanry go?—To all parts. I think more behind the hustings, and on the right; they did not come back to me so much.
Do you know the Quakers’ meeting-house?—I have heard where it is since; then I did not know.
Was it that way that they went?—If you could point out, in a plan, the Quakers’ meeting-house, I could tell you if they went that road.
There is the Quakers’ meeting-house, you will see written on the plan?—Some went that way.
Some of the people, too, dispersed in that direction, did they?—The people dispersed in every direction.
I am not sure whether I asked you before, whether from your situation in this window, if any stones, or brickbats, or sticks, had been raisedagainst the cavalry, on their way to the hustings, you must have seen it?—I think I must have seen it.
Cross-examined by Mr.Serjeant Hullock:
Will you venture to swear, Mr. Stanley, that no stones nor brickbats would be thrown during the advance of the cavalry towards the hustings, without your perceiving it?—I can only venture to say that I saw none.
I believe you have favoured the public with an account of this transaction?—No, I have not.
You printed or wrote something?—It was in circulation among my friends. I wrote something which was never published.
There was a document, written by you, circulated among your friends?—Among my friends.
Before that time, had you seen yourself and read any publication, either in manuscript or print, on this subject?—I had read the reports in some papers, naturally, after that time, and I might have seen a pamphlet printed at Manchester.
Then you had seen several accounts which had been given to the world before you wrote?—Yes, I saw the reports of the papers immediately after the meeting.
Whose account did you see, besides the reports in the paper?—A Mr. Phillips’s.
You, it seemed, entertained a different view of the transactions that had taken place upon this day from those which had been given to the world before that time?—I do not know; I should say a different view from some, perhaps, and coinciding with the views of others.
Coinciding with the views of some, and differing from the views of others?—Respecting stones.
No matter what. You are a magistrate, I understand?—I am not.
Of neither Cheshire nor Lancashire?—No.
I beg your pardon. You, however, were in the magistrates’ room, I think you said, at Mr. Buxton’s?—I was.
Of course you had an acquaintance with the gentlemen who were there assembled, as acting magistrates of the committee for the counties of Chester and Lancaster?—With two or three I had.
Probably upon terms of intimacy with one of them?—Certainly.
Was that gentleman there at that time?—He was.
Did it occur to your mind at the time that the cavalry were sent for (because you went back to a window, and saw the messenger crossing the field, for the purpose of bringing them to the place, and were told or heard there was a rumour in the roomabove, that the cavalry had been sent for) did it occur (attend to my question) to you, at the time, from the observations which you had made on the subject, that that step was improper or premature?—I don’t think it occurred to me either one way or the other.
Am I to understand from that then that you exercised no judgment upon the subject at that time?—I certainly did exercise some judgment, some opinion on it, at that time.
Having exercised some judgment upon the subject, I ask you whether, in your judgment, such as you exercised upon that point, the step was either improper or premature?—I saw no necessity for it.
Then you deemed it premature?—I saw no necessity for it.
It struck you then as an unnecessary act?—Certainly.
Then you would go down, of course, immediately and speak to your friend upon the subject?—No.
Nor ever expressed to that friend or to any other, at the time, your opinion with respect to the impropriety of the step?—I had no other friend to speak to.
Did you speak to him?—I did not go down into the room again.
Probably you might, being a gentleman of considerable acquaintance, meet with some friend ongoing home, and might ride home with some gentleman, at least part of the road?—Part of the road I did.
Mr Markland, I presume?—I overtook Mr. Markland.
Did you express any opinion to Mr. Markland upon these proceedings?—Probably I did; but I have not the most distant recollection.
I ask you, upon your oath, Mr. Stanley, if you did not express to him your entire concurrence in, and approbation of, the measures adopted by the magistrates?—I answer, upon my oath, that I do not recollect having said any such thing.
Can you tell me whether you expressed any disapprobation of the measures which it had been deemed necessary to adopt?—I have no recollection whatever of the conversation.
Then you mean to represent to us now, that your feelings upon the subject were so indifferent, that you cannot tell now, whether you approved or disapproved of these steps at the time?—I have not the most distant recollection of any conversation I had with Mr. Markland.
That is not an answer to my question. I ask you whether you mean to state that at this time, you don’t remember whether you entertained feelings of approbation or disapprobation of those steps?—I thought it was a dreadful occurrence; but I hoped that there were some grounds for it.
Mr.Justice Holroyd: You are speaking of what you thought?—It was in answer to the question.
Mr.Serjeant Hullock: I am speaking of what you thought then. As I understand you, you cannot recall to your recollection the impression under which you laboured at the time you travelled home with Mr. Markland?—I thought it a dreadful occurrence, but I hoped there were grounds for it.
Did you mention that to Mr. Markland?—I cannot recollect.
It is very important that I should endeavour to extract from you, Mr. Stanley, without meaning the slightest disrespect to you, every fact within your knowledge on the subject; you say that after the meeting had been dispersed, the first cavalry which appeared on the ground was the Cheshire Yeomanry?—Not after the meeting had dispersed, but whilst in progress to dispersion.
Do you mean to state now, to the best of your recollection, that the Cheshire Yeomanry were the first cavalry advancing on the ground after that?—It depends on what you call the ground; the Cheshire Yeomanry were the first, after the Manchester cavalry, that advanced at the left.
Tell me, according to the best of your recollection, which of these troops came first upon the ground?—The Cheshire Yeomanry; but you willobserve that, at this time, the disposition of the hustings occupied a good deal of my attention, and I did not expect the others.
The Cheshire Yeomanry came over broken and uneven ground?—I cannot tell.
I observe that you use the word “apparently” twice, in answer to two questions which were put to you, which were a repetition of the same question—whether the two lines of constables surrounded the hustings or not; I think you said they “apparently” did?—Apparently they did.
Mr.Justice Holroyd: Surround the hustings?—Apparently.
Mr.Serjeant Hullock: Do you mean to state, then, that in your judgment the avenue which was formed by the two lines of constables extended from the house to the hustings?—At that time the impression on my mind was, and it now is, that it certainly did.
But of course you won’t swear that it did?—I cannot swear; I can only speak to the impression on my mind.
In the same way that you swear to the existence of brickbats and stones?—To the non-existence.
I think you say you saw Hunt come upon the ground?—I saw the barouche.
You saw the ladies and gentlemen both. Did you see any female?—I saw a female.
What was her use?—I have no conception of that.
Mr.Justice Holroyd: Of what?—
Mr.Serjeant Hullock: I asked whether she was for use or show.
You did not know any of the parties inside?—I had not the most distant knowledge of them.
You had heard of Carlile?—I heard of him in London.
You have heard since he was in Manchester that day?—I have heard it to-day, in the course of another examination. I never heard it before.
Hunt, when he saw the cavalry coming, I think, intimated his knowledge—his cognisance of the fact—by desiring them to give three cheers?—I could not hear.
There was some cheering given?—There was a very loud cheer.
From the hustings?—From all the mob.
You say when he was addressing the mob, you did not hear his words, “but I think, whatever his words were, they excited a shout from those immediately about him, which was re-echoed with fearful animation by the rest of the multitude”?—Certainly, that is the impression on my mind; those were my own words.
It was tremendous—the shout?—It was not so tremendous as the shout with which Hunt wasreceived on the ground; the first was the loudest shout.
And the most appalling?—The first, when Hunt was received on the ground; I never heard so loud a shout.
“Terrific,” was your word?—I should say terrific.
You say that the people who were immediately contiguous to the hustings heard what Hunt said?—I cannot say.
You inferred that from their shouting?—Certainly.
Then that shout was re-echoed by the mob at a distance?—I conceived so.
What proportion, do you think, of the mass of the people, with their eyes up, and mouths open, looking at that man during the time, could hear one word he said?—I should think no one beyond ten yards from the hustings, in the bustle of such a day—that is guess.
I daresay it is a good guess, too; how do you think they would carry the resolutions at the outside, at the right flank, the left flank, and beyond the ten yards, upon the propositions made by this orator?—I have no opinion to give about that.
It certainly is a difficult point. It appeared to you that Hunt, as far as his voice could reach, had a pretty absolute control over his friends; they shouted as he spoke; it appeared that he wascommander-in-chief?—The thing never occurred to me; I cannot speak positively.
Have not you an opinion that he was head and leader of the party?—My opinion certainly is, that he was.
And now, I will ask you this question, as a clergyman, and as a man of character, which I believe you to be—I ask you, upon your oath, whether, in your judgment, the public tranquillity and the peace of Manchester were not endangered by a mob of that description, composed in that manner, and having such a man as Hunt at its head—Hunt and Carlile, for instance?—Hunt and Carlile are dangerous people, and any mob under their control must be dangerous.
Re-examined by Mr.Serjeant Blackburne:
Do you know, Mr. Stanley, whether this meeting was under the command of either Hunt or Carlile?—No.
When you say there was a shout given on the Manchester Yeomanry coming into the field, was there any other shout besides that given by the multitude?—There was.
Whose shout was that?—The Manchester Yeomanry, the special constables, and the people round the pavement in front of our house.
May I ask you whether you were terrified by those shouts?—Personally, certainly not.
Mr.Justice Holroyd: Explain what you mean by that?—I myself was not alarmed about them.
Mr.Serjeant Blackburne: And whether it did not create terror and alarm?—Not to me individually, certainly not.
You have said that you presented a description of what you saw at the meeting, to some of your friends?—I did.
How soon was that written after the meeting?—I can scarcely say; I should think perhaps two months, but I cannot speak accurately. It was when the impression was clear on my mind.
Clear and fresh in your recollection. Will you have the goodness to tell me whether you heard or saw any person read the Riot Act?—I neither heard it read nor saw it read.
Mr.Serjeant Hullock: If it was read you did not hear it?—I did not hear it.
If it should turn out to have been read, and read loudly, there might have been something else done—but that is conclusion—that is reason.
Mr.Evans: Your Lordship has on your note that McKennell said that he did not[8]hear the Riot Act read.
Mr.Serjeant Cross: He said so.
Mr.Justice Holroyd: Yes, I have.
Mr.Serjeant Blackburne: Then that is my case, my Lord.
Larger ImagePlan of Peterloo.(F. A. B.)By permission of Mr. H. Guppy.Compiled from a number of Contemporary Plans, and showing (in dotted outline)the position of modern blocks of buildings.
afterwards
LORD HYLTON
William George Hylton Jolliffe(1800-1876), the first Baron Hylton, was the son of the Rev. W. J. Jolliffe. At the date of Peterloo he was not quite nineteen years of age, and was serving as a Lieutenant in the 15th Hussars, then quartered at the Cavalry Barracks at Manchester. He retired from the Hussars with the rank of Captain. He was created a Baronet in 1821, and sat as member for Petersfield for about thirty years, acting for a short time as Under Secretary for Home Affairs, and afterwards as Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury. He was exceedingly popular as a Conservative Whip, and when he was raised to the Peerage in 1866, he took the title of Baron Hylton from the family’s connection with the Hyltons of Hylton Castle.
The letter which follows appeared in Dean Pellew’sLife of Lord Sidmouth, published in 1847.It will be seen that it is addressed to T. G. B. Estcourt, Esq.; presumably he obtained the information for Dean Pellew. The letter is approved and annotated by “E. Smyth, Esq., of Norwich, who commanded a troop of the Cheshire Yeomanry at Peterloo.” Unfortunately, the Notes to the letter are somewhat confusing: some are signed by Captain Smyth, others are not signed, and it is not easy to determine their authorship. Moreover, Captain Smyth’s contributions are not on a level with the letter itself. It has therefore been thought better to omit the Notes altogether, and allow Lieut. Jolliffe’s very clear and well-balanced report to speak for itself. A few explanatory words have been inserted in square brackets.
The Rev. Edward Stanley, in his Evidence, given above, mentioned the fact that the Hussars who rode at Peterloo were wearing their Waterloo medals. As a matter of fact, the 15th (the King’s) Hussars, whose motto is “Merebimur,” have not only “Waterloo,” but also the Peninsula, Vittoria, Afghanistan and a number of other names inscribed on their colours. The uniform is blue, with a Busby bag and scarlet plume. Presumably the plume shown in our photograph came from the helmet of one of the Hussars. It seems clear from the evidence which was given before the Relief Committee, after Peterloo, that there wasnot the same feeling of resentment against the Hussars as against the local Yeomanry; in fact, it was more than once asserted that troopers of the Hussars actually restrained the Manchester Yeomanry from excessive violence.
I wrote to the present Lord Hylton to ask if he could lend a portrait of his Grandfather for reproduction here. He replied that he could not do so, but added: “As a matter of fact, a full-length portrait (by Sir Francis Grant, P.R.A., in my possession) has been engraved, and a copy of this engraving is, I should think, not difficult to procure.” I have not been able to find it. It is not included in the British Museum Series.
as described by
Sir WILLIAM G. H. JOLLIFFE, Bart., M.P. (who rode in the charge as a Lieutenant of Hussars) in a letter which appears in Dean Pellew’sLife of Lord Sidmouth, Vol. III., p. 253et seq.
9,St. James’s Place,April 11th, 1845.
My Dear Sir,
Twenty-five years have passed since the collision unfortunately occurred between the population of Manchester and its neighbourhood and the military stationed in that town, on the sixteenth of August, 1819.
I was at that time a Lieutenant in the 15th King’s Hussars, which Regiment had been quartered in Manchester Cavalry Barracks about six weeks. This was my first acquaintance with a large manufacturing population. I had little knowledge of the condition of that population,whether or no a great degree of distress was then prevalent, or whether or no the distrust and bad feeling which appeared to exist between employers and employed, was wholly or in part caused by the agitation of political questions. I will not, therefore, enter into any speculation on these points, but I will endeavour to relate the facts which fell under my own observations, although acting, as of course I was, under the command of others, and in a subordinate situation. The military force stationed in Manchester consisted of six troops of the 15th Hussars, under the command of Colonel Dalrymple; one troop of Horse Artillery with two guns, under Major Dyneley; and nearly the whole of the 31st Regiment, under Colonel Guy L’Estrange (who commanded the whole as senior officer). [Sir John Byng was then at Pontefract.] Some companies of the 88th Regiment and [six troops of] the Cheshire Yeomanry had also been brought into the town in anticipation of disturbances which might result from the expected meeting; and these latter had only arrived on the morning of the sixteenth, or a few hours previously; and, lastly, there was a troop of Manchester Yeomanry Cavalry, consisting of about forty members, who, from the manner in which they were made use of (to say the least) greatly aggravated the disasters of the day. Their rankswere filled chiefly by wealthy master manufacturers; and without the knowledge possessed by a (strictly speaking) military body, they were placed, most unwisely, as it appeared, under the immediate command and order of the civil authorities.
Our Regiment paraded in field-service order at about 8.30 or it might be 9 o’clock, a.m. Two squadrons of it were marched into the town about ten o’clock. They were formed up and dismounted in a wide street, the name of which I forget,[9]to the North of St. Peter’s field (the place appointed for the meeting), and at the distance of nearly a quarter of a mile from it.
The Cheshire Yeomanry were formed, on our left, in the same street. One troop of our Regiment was attached to the artillery, which took up a position between the Cavalry Barracks and the town; and one troop remained in charge of the Barracks.
The two squadrons with which I was stationed must have remained dismounted nearly two hours. During the greater portion of that period a solid mass of people continued moving along a street about a hundred yards to our front on the way to the place of meeting. Other officers as well as myself occasionally rode to the front (to the endof a street) to see them pass. They marched at a brisk pace in ranks well closed up, five or six bands of music being interspersed, and there appeared to be but few women with them. Mr. Hunt, with two or three other men, and I think two women dressed in light blue and white, were in an open carriage drawn by the people. This carriage was adorned with blue and white flags; and the day was fine and hot. As soon as the great bulk of the procession had passed, we were ordered to stand to our horses. In a very short time afterwards, the four troops of the 15th mounted, and at once moved off by the right, at a trot which was increased to a canter. Someone who had been sent from the place of meeting to bring us led the way through a number of narrow streets and by a circuitous route to (what I will call) the South-west[10]corner of St. Peter’s field. We advanced along the South[11]side of this space of ground without a halt or pause even: the words “Front!” and “Forward!” were given, and the trumpet sounded the charge at the very moment the threes wheeled up. When fronted, our line extended quite across the ground, which in allparts was so filled with people that their hats seemed to touch.
It was then for the first time that I saw the Manchester troop of Yeomanry; they were scattered singly or in small groups over the greater part of the field, literally hemmed up and hedged into the mob so that they were powerless either to make an impression or to escape; in fact, they were in the power of those whom they were designed to overawe, and it required only a glance to discover their helpless position, and the necessity of our being brought to their rescue. As I was at the time informed, this hopeless state of things happened thus: A platform had been erected near the centre of the field, from which Mr. Hunt and others were to address the multitude, and the magistrates, having ordered a strong body of constables to arrest the speakers, unfortunately imagined that they should support the peace officers by bringing up the troop of Yeomanry at a walk. The result of this movement, instead of that which the magistrates desired, was unexpectedly to place this small body of horsemen (so introduced into a dense mob) entirely at the mercy of the people by whom they were, on all sides, pressed upon and surrounded.
The charge of the Hussars, to which I have just alluded, swept this mingled mass of humanbeings before it; people, yeomen, and constables, in their confused attempts to escape, ran one over the other; so that by the time we had arrived at the end of the field the fugitives were literally piled up to a considerable elevation above the level of the ground. (I may here, by the way, state that this field, as it is called, was merely an open space of ground, surrounded by buildings, and itself, I rather think, in course of being built upon.).
The Hussars drove the people forward with the flats of their swords, but sometimes, as is almost inevitably the case when men are placed in such situations, the edge was used, both by the Hussars, and, as I have heard, by the yeomen also; but of this last part I was not cognizant, and believing though I do that nine out of ten of the sabre-wounds were caused by the Hussars, I must still consider that it redounds to the humane forbearance of the men of the 15th that more wounds were not received, when the vast numbers are taken into consideration with whom they were brought into hostile collision; beyond all doubt, however, the far greater amount of injuries were from the pressure of the routed multitude. The Hussars on the left pursued down the various streets which led from the place; those on the right met with something more of resistance.
The mob had taken possession of various buildings on that side, particularly of a Quakers’ chapel and burial ground enclosed with a wall. This they occupied for some little time, and in attempting to displace them, some of the men and horses were struck with stones and brickbats. I was on the left, and as soon as I had passed completely over the ground and found myself in the street on the other side, I turned back, and then, seeing a sort of fight still going on on the right, I went in that direction. At the very moment I reached the Quakers’ meeting-house, I saw a farrier of the 15th ride at a small door in the outer wall, and to my surprise his horse struck it with such force that it flew open. Two or three Hussars then rode in, and the place was immediately in their possession. I then turned towards the elevated platform, which still remained in the centre of the field with persons upon it; a few straggling Hussars and yeomen, together with a number of men having the appearance of peace-officers were congregating about it. On my way thither I met the Commanding-officer of my Regiment, who directed me to find a Trumpeter, in order that he might sound the “rally” or “retreat.” This sent me again down the street I had first been in (after the pursuing men of my troop); but I had not ridden above a hundred yards before I found a Trumpeter, andreturned with him to the Colonel. The field and the adjacent streets now presented an extraordinary sight: the ground was quite covered with hats, shoes, musical instruments, and other things. Here and there lay the unfortunates who were too much injured to move away, and this sight was rendered the more distressing by observing some women among the sufferers.
Standing near the corner of the street where I had been sent in search of a Trumpeter, a brother officer called my attention to a pistol being fired from a window. I saw it fired twice, and I believe it had been fired once before I observed it. Some of the 31st Regiment just now arriving on the ground were ordered to take possession of this house, but I do not know if this was carried into effect.
I next went towards a private of the Regiment whose horse had fallen over a piece of timber nearly in the middle of the square, and who was most seriously injured. There were many of these pieces of timber (or timber-trees) lying upon the ground, and as these could not be distinguished when the mob covered them, they had caused bad falls to one officer’s horse and to many of the troopers’. While I was attending to the wounded soldier, the artillery troop with the troop of Hussars attached to it, arrived on the ground fromthe same direction by which we had entered the field; these were quickly followed by the Cheshire Yeomanry. The 31st Regiment came in another direction, and the whole remained formed up till our squadrons had fallen in again.
Carriages were brought to convey the wounded to the Manchester Infirmary, and the troop of Hussars who came up with the guns was marched off to escort to the gaol a number of persons who had been arrested, and among these Mr. Hunt. For some time the town was patrolled by the troops, the streets being nearly empty, and the shops for the most part closed. We then returned to the Barracks. I should not omit to mention that, before the men were dismissed, the arms were minutely examined; and that no carbine or pistol was found to have been fired, and only one pistol to have been loaded.
About 8 p.m. one squadron of the 15th Hussars (two troops) was ordered on duty to form part of a strong night picket, the other part of which consisted of two companies of the 88th Regiment. This picket was stationed at a place called the New Cross, at the end of Oldham Street. As soon as it had taken up its position, a mob assembled about it, which increased as the darkness came on; stones were thrown at the soldiers, and the Hussars many times cleared the ground bydriving the mob up the streets leading from the New Cross. But these attempts to get rid of the annoyance were only successful for the moment, for the people got through the houses or narrow passages from one street into another, and the troops were again attacked, and many men and horses struck with stones. This lasted nearly an hour and a half, and the soldiers being more and more pressed upon, a town magistrate, who was with the picket, read the Riot Act, and the officer in command ordered the 88th to fire (which they did by platoon firing) down three of the streets. The firing lasted only a few minutes; perhaps not more than thirty shots were fired; but these had a magical effect; the mob ran away and dispersed forthwith, leaving three or four persons on the ground with gunshot wounds. At 4 a.m. the picket squadron was relieved by another squadron of the Regiment. With this latter squadron I was on duty, and after we had patrolled the town for two hours, the officer in command sent me to the magistrates (who had remained assembled during the night) to report to them that the town was perfectly quiet, and to request their sanction to the return of the military to their quarters.
On the afternoon of the 17th I visited, in company with some military medical officers, the Infirmary. I saw there from twelve to twenty casesof sabre-wounds, and among these two women who appeared not likely to recover. One man was in a dying state from a gunshot wound in the head; another had had his leg amputated; both these casualties arose from the firing of the 88th the night before. Two or three were reputed dead; one of them a constable, killed on St. Peter’s field, but I saw none of the bodies.
As shortly as I could I have now related what fell under my own observation during these twenty-four hours ... I trust that I have, in some degree, complied with your wishes.
William G. Hylton Jolliffe.
ToThomas Grimston Bucknall Estcourt, Esq., M.P.
By permission of Lady Durning LawrencePhoto by BriggsJohn Benjamin Smith1794-1879To face page 59
First Chairman of the Anti-Corn Law League.
John Benjamin Smith(1794-1879), whose account of Peterloo follows, was better known as a strenuous advocate of Free Trade; even in this capacity, however, a breakdown of health some years before the Repeal of the Corn Laws, robbed him of much of the credit which was due to him for the important spade-work that he had done. He was the first Treasurer of the Anti-Corn Law Association, and when that developed into the Anti-Corn Law League, he became its first Chairman. He contested several elections on Free Trade principles, and used himself to tell how he had converted Cobden to “total repeal.” He sat as member, first for the Stirling Burghs, and afterwards, during more than twenty years, for Stockport. His correspondence with John Bright has recently been placed in the Manchester Reference Library. During the American War he strongly espoused the cause of the North, and he was one of those who urged the Government to encourage the growth of cotton in India.
Mr. Smith was a Trustee of Owens College under the Founder’s will; and he subscribed liberally towards its extension. His name is perpetuated in the “Smith” Professorship of English Literature, which was endowed in memory of him by his two daughters and his son-in-law. A short memoir of him, which appeared in Alderman Thompson’sHistory of Owens College, has been reprinted and published separately. (Manchester, J. E. Cornish, 1887.)
At the date of Peterloo he was only twenty-five years of age, but he had already shown great promise as a business man. Entering the office of his uncle, a Manchester merchant, at the early age of fourteen, he was made responsible for the whole correspondence of the firm five years later; and before he was twenty he had negotiated some very profitable purchases of cotton at the sales of the East India Company.
The account of Peterloo which follows is an extract from his “Reminiscences,” which were written towards the close of his life at the earnest request of his family. The manuscript of these is now at the Manchester Reference Library, as is also a typed and bound copy presented by his daughter, Lady Durning Lawrence. Among his other manuscripts (also at the Manchester Reference Library) is a shorter account of Peterloo,apparently written immediately after the event. The statement made recently that Mr. J. B. Smith was the author of the well-knownImpartial Narrative of the Melancholy Occurrences at Manchesterseems to be due to an error: apparently theImpartial Narrative(which seems to have been written by another hand) has been confused with Mr. Smith’s shorter and earlier account.
We have already pointed out that Mr. Smith’s narrative, which is not so detailed as those of Stanley and Jolliffe in its description of the charge of the troops, is specially valuable for the account it gives of the circumstances immediately preceding and following the catastrophe, and its estimate of the character of the crowd. In these details it is strikingly corroborative of Bamford’s story, as told in hisPassages in the Life of a Radical, and of the information given by Mr. John Edward Taylor, who—under the pseudonym of “An Observer”—edited the contemporary tracts entitledThe Peterloo Massacre.
The portrait of Mr. Smith which appears here is from a photograph kindly lent by his daughter, Lady Durning Lawrence.
AN EXTRACT FROM THE
Copied from the original manuscript then in the possession of his daughter, Lady Durning Lawrence. (August 1913.)
... The people, disappointed in their expectations that prosperity and plenty would follow the return of peace, and having no faith in a legislature which as soon as the war terminated inflicted upon them a Corn Law to deprive them of cheap corn, demanded a better representation in Parliament. Stimulated by the writings of Cobbett, associations were formed in all the manufacturing districts to obtain a reform in Parliament. Lancashire took the lead in this movement. Clubs were established in 1816 in all the manufacturing towns and villages. At the small town of Middleton, near Manchester, a Club was formed in which Bamford, the weaver-poet, took a leading part. They were joined by many honest and intelligent men from all parts of the district, among whomwas John Knight, a small manufacturer. A meeting of delegates was held on the first of January, 1817, at which it was decided that the reforms required could only be accomplished by the establishment of annual parliaments and universal suffrage.
The establishment of these clubs alarmed the Government, who saw in them nothing but an intention to overturn the institutions of the country, and to revive in this country the enormities of the French Revolution. Spies and Informers were employed by the Government, and John Knight and thirty-seven others who had legally assembled to discuss the reforms which they deemed necessary to obtain a repeal of the Corn Laws and good government, were arrested on the information of spies, and sent for trial to Lancaster, but on their trial before Mr. Baron Wood, were all found not guilty by the Jury.
The Sidmouth Government suspended the Habeas Corpus Act so that they could arrest and imprison any person as long as they pleased. The Tories, following the example of the Radicals, established Associations for the protection of the Constitution.
In January, 1818, however, it was announced that the Act for the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act would be repealed. No sooner were the peoplerelieved from the danger of being sent to prison for being present at a meeting to petition Parliament for reform, as great numbers had been in Lancashire imprisoned from March, 1817 until January, 1818, and then discharged without being informed what charges were made against them—than the Reform Associations were revived. A fresh campaign was rigorously commenced early in 1819.
Henry Hunt (commonly called Orator Hunt) had come forward as the champion of the people’s rights. On the 25th of January, he made a public entry into Manchester from Stockport, accompanied by large crowds with flags and banners. The meeting was enthusiastic but very peaceable. Meetings were held in all the surrounding towns and villages to appoint district delegates to make arrangements for a great meeting to be held in Manchester. This memorable meeting was held on the 16th of August, 1819, on a large vacant plot of land called St. Peter’s field, adjoining St. Peter’s Street, and in sight of St. Peter’s Church. The actors in the bloody tragedy of that day were called “The Heroes of Peterloo,” in contrast with the brave heroes of Waterloo.
This meeting was called to petition Parliament for a Reform of Parliament and the Repeal of the Corn Laws, and it is a curious coincidence thaton the very spot where the largest public meeting was ever held to petition Parliament for the Repeal of the Corn Laws, in the dispersion of which by military force six hundred persons were killed and wounded there now stands the Free Trade Hall, erected twenty years afterwards on Peterloo, for the peaceful and noble object of obtaining bread for the people by the repeal of the wicked laws by which it was prohibited.
I had no intention of going to this meeting, but my Aunt called at the Counting House and asked me to accompany her to Mrs. Orton’s, Mount Street, St. Peter’s field, to see the great meeting—a house overlooking the whole space, and next but one to where the Magistrates were assembled. We reached there about half-past eleven o’clock, and on our way saw large bodies of men and women with bands playing and flags and banners bearing devices: “No Corn Laws,” “Reform,” etc. There were crowds of people in all directions, full of good humour, laughing and shouting and making fun. I always wore a white hat in summer, and I found that Mr. Hunt also wore a white hat, and it became the symbol of radicalism, and may have been the cause of the politeness shown to us by the crowd.
It seemed to be a gala day with the country people who were mostly dressed in their best andbrought with them their wives, and when I saw boys and girls taking their father’s hand in the procession, I observed to my Aunt: “These are the guarantees of their peaceable intentions—we need have no fears,” and so we passed on to Mrs. Orton’s. When we arrived there we saw great crowds which were constantly increased by the arrival of successive country processions until it was estimated that the meeting amounted to 60,000 people. There was a double row of constables formed from Mr. Buxton’s (where the magistrates had taken their station) to the hustings.
My Father joined us soon after our arrival at Mrs. Orton’s.
At length Hunt made his appearance in an open barouche drawn by two horses, and a woman dressed in white sitting on the box. On their reaching the hustings which were prepared for the orator, he was received with enthusiastic applause; the waving of hats and flags; the blowing of trumpets; and the playing of music. Hunt stepped on to the hustings, and was again cheered by the vast assemblage. He began to address them, and I could distinctly see his motions through the glass I held in my hand, and I could hear his voice, but could not understand what he said. He paused, and the people cheered him.
About this time there was an alarm among the women and children near the place where I stood, and I could also see a part of the crowd in motion towards the Deansgate side, but I thought it a false alarm, as many returned again and joined in the huzzas of the crowd. A second alarm arose, and I heard the sound of a horn, and immediately the Manchester Yeomanry appeared, coming from Peter Street, headed by Hugh Birley, the same man who, in 1815, as Boroughreeve of Manchester, presided at the public meeting assembled to petition Parliament for the Repeal of the Corn Laws. They galloped up to the house where the Magistrates were assembled, halted, and drew up in line. After some hesitation, from what cause I do not know, I heard the order to form three deep, and then the order to march. The Trumpeter led the way and galloped towards the hustings, followed by the yeomanry.
Whilst this was passing, my attention was called to another movement coming from the opposite side of the meeting. A troop of soldiers, the 15th Hussars, turned round the corner of the house where we stood and galloped forwards towards the crowd. They were succeeded by the Cheshire Yeomanry, and lastly by two pieces of artillery. On the arrival of the soldiers, the special constables, the magistrates, and the soldiers set uploud shouts. This was responded to by the crowd with waving of hats. After this the soldiers galloped amongst the people creating frightful alarm and disorder. The people ran helter-skelter in every direction.
It was a hot, dusty day; clouds of dust arose which obscured the view. When it had subsided a startling scene was presented. Numbers of men, women, and children were lying on the ground who had been knocked down and run over by the soldiers. I noticed one woman lying face downwards, apparently lifeless. A man went up to her and lifted one of her legs; it fell as if she were lifeless; another man lifted both her legs and let them fall. I saw her some time after carried off by the legs and arms as if she were dead.
My attention was then directed to a number of constables bringing from the hustings the famous Hunt wearing a white hat, and with him another man, also wearing a white hat, who was said to be Johnson. The prisoners were treated in a scandalous manner; many of the constables hissed and beat them as they passed. When they reached the Magistrates’ house he was surrounded by constables, some pulling him by the collar, others by the coat. A dastardly attack was made upon him by General Clay, who with a large stick struck him over the head with both hands as he wasascending the steps to the Magistrates’ house. The blow knocked in his hat and packed it over his face. He then turned round as if ashamed of himself and became a quiet spectator. The ground by this time was cleared, and nothing was to be seen but soldiers and constables.