Around 60,000 people gathered at St Peter’s Field in Manchester on 16 August 1819 for a peaceful meeting demanding parliamentary reform. By the end of the afternoon, mounted troops had entered the crowd; at least 18 people had been killed, and hundreds had been injured.

Manchester had grown rapidly during industrialisation but had no MP specifically representing the town. Voting rights remained restricted to a small proportion of the population. Reformers called the meeting to hear Henry Hunt, one of the country’s best-known advocates of parliamentary reform.

People travelled from surrounding towns to Manchester in organised groups. Many wore their best clothes, and some contingents included women and children. Contemporary accounts describe a large but orderly gathering.

Local magistrates watched from a nearby building. After Hunt arrived and began addressing the meeting, they ordered his arrest and the crowd dispersed.

The Manchester and Salford Yeomanry, a locally raised cavalry force, rode into the densely packed field with sabres drawn. Regular troops from the 15th Hussars were also sent in as the authorities attempted to clear the area. People were cut by sabres, crushed or trampled as the crowd tried to escape.

At least 18 people died, and almost 700 were injured. Authorities arrested Hunt and other reform leaders.

News of the violence spread quickly. The event became known as ‘Peterloo’, a bitter reference to the British victory at Waterloo four years earlier.

The government supported the Manchester authorities. Later in 1819 Parliament passed the Six Acts, which restricted large political meetings and strengthened controls over radical publications.

Peterloo did not produce immediate parliamentary reform. Manchester did not gain parliamentary representation until the Reform Act of 1832. The events of 16 August 1819 remained part of the argument over who should be represented in Parliament and how demands for political change should be treated.