Exploring the butchers of Peterloo ………. The 101 men of the Manchester Yeomanry

The passage of 200 years has not dimmed the horror of the actions of the Manchester Yeomanry on that hot day in the August of 1819.

The Manchester Yeomanry at Peterloo, 1819

The order to charge the crowd, and the reported glee at the way members of the Yeomanry performed their task have quite rightly stood as an awful example of repression, sitting alongside Sharpeville, the Kent Massacre and Tiananmen Square.

And I suppose they are best summed up by the comment “often wrongly described as ‘soldiers’, by amateur historians. These were petty paramilitary thugs, recruited from the ranks of small business, ill disciplined and drunk, out to enforce the ‘will of their betters.’, against the crowds who they saw as scum. One could imagine parallels in today’s troubled times”.

"oh pray Sir, don't kill mammay" 1819

So armed with that observation which pretty much chimed in with my own thoughts, I went looking for the men who rode down the innocent in St Peter’s Fields.

Now I am well aware that academics and those interested in Peterloo will have quarried this topic already, but I haven’t, and having come across a list of the Manchester Yeomanry in the Chartist paper, the Northern Star for August 20th, 1842 I decided to look at these men more closely.

And here I have to offer up the caveat, that I am only using the newspaper’s list and in the course of the research discovered misspellings of names which might hint at bigger inaccuracies.
Still the list is a start.

It lists 101 men, who were drawn from a broad spectrum of backgrounds, 87 of whom have a stated occupation and 74 who we can place in the twin cities of Manchester and Salford or some of the surrounding townships.

There are gaps in the information and some of these have been supplemented by referring to the street directories for the 1820’s and maps which have filled out details of residency, and occupations.

Residency of the 74 of the Manchester Yeomanry, 1819

As you might expect the bulk of the men were from Manchester and Salford with a few more from Broughton, Eccles and Pendleton, and more from Stretford.

Their occupations, pretty much fit the received assumptions with over a third drawn from the “people of plenty”, another 29% who made their living as publicans and shopkeepers, which left the rest as a mix of skilled, and manual workers, with the odd surprises which include a “Professor of Dance” and a quack doctor.

Occupations of the 87 of the Manchester Yeomanry, 1819

In some ways for me, the real find is the names, and the detailed street locations, which offer up the prospect of more research using contemporary maps, and trawling the rate books for the period with a look at the census records for the mid-century which may yield more background.

And for those who like their history in a tangible form which can be visited, many of the Manchester and Salford street locations still exist, and in the of the Briton’s Protection is still standing and still offering up a pint.

"Cut them down" 1819

Other pubs like the Fox, the Hen and Chicken, Crown and Thistle and the Blue Cap in Salford may have gone but we know exactly where they stood.

So, there you have it…………. More to follow in time.

Location; Manchester & Salford

Picture; "Manchester Heroes", Peterloo, print from etching by unknown artist, published by S W Fores, 1819, m07587, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass, and information drawn from the list of the Manchester Yeomanry published in the Northern Star, August 20th, 1819

Bringing to account William Benson, Richard Whitelaw and the other 99 of the Manchester Yeomanry on August 16th 1819

Now no matter how many horrific stories come out of Ukraine and other places, nothing still prepares you for the violence of Peterloo.

According to one source, a quarter of the known recorded causalities were women, even though they comprised just 12% of those present on the day. *

And when you delve deeper into each one, the horror is all the greater.

Margaret Downes was “dreadfully cut in the breast; secreted clandestinely and not heard of, believed dead”, Mary Hays, “knocked down, trampled by cavalry, foot stripped of flesh & nails, pregnant, died 17 December 1819”, Sarah Jones, “severely beaten on the head, and much bruised by constables’ truncheons, suspected dead”, and Martha Partington, “thrown into a cellar on Bridge Street and was killed, died 16 Aug 1819.”**

Added to these, there was William Fildes aged just two, who was the “child of Ann,and was  rode over by cavalry, died 16 August 1819, and is buried Swedenborgian Chapel, Salford”.

In the case of four of the five, we know where they lived, and while their houses will have vanished long ago, using maps and street directories it is possible to revisit both their homes and the surrounding area as it would have been in the early 19th century.

And those maps, directories along with other official records allow us to zoom in on those who perpetuated the crimes, most of which were at the hands of the Manchester Yeomanry, who we might think of as a volunteer military defence force, first raised during the early years of the wars with Revolutionary France, but were also used to quell civil unrest.

The Manchester Yeomanry was raised in 1817, in the aftermath of the March of the Blanketeers, when a group of mainly Lancashire weavers intended to march to London and present a petition over the dire state of the Lancashire textile industry and the recent suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act. ****

Following its suppression, the authorities set about establishing a local yeomanry, which was drawn not only from the “people of plenty” but also included, both skilled and unskilled workers and a range of shopkeepers, publicans and others.

Leaving aside the question of how some of the men could afford to provide a horse, they were indeed a cross section of the population, and we know the names of 101 of them who were at Peterloo, and despite my dislike for their actions I am curious about them.

At which point it would be easy to dismiss them all as bunch of “class traitors”, vicious thugs who participated with glee in the suppression of the “Manchester Meeting”, and while that might be accurate of some if not most of them, it doesn’t go deeper enough in offering up an explanation.

I doubt that there exists a detailed collection of the thoughts and sayings of the 101, but it is possible to track many of them, not only through their occupations but to where in the city they lived.

Moreover, their devotion to the social order can be tracked back across the late 18th century through a series of “loyalist” activities during the 1790s, including the Church and King movement, the attack on the home of the radical Thomas Walker in South Parade, and the burning of effigies of Thomas Pain, of which the one that occurred at the top of Deansgate in December 1792 was recorded in detail.

And similar loyalist activities happened during the Jacobite rising in 1745, and back into the 17th century.  Further evidence is there in the split over the abolition of the Slave Trade.

So while I take pride in reading that 10,000 Mancunians signed a petition to Parliament in 1788 calling for the abolition of the trade, there was a counter petition of 4,000, which must have been well organized.

And that same organization can be seen in the way that the spontaneous outbursts of loyalty were worked on, both in the opposition to granting greater freedom to non-Anglicans to hold official posts and the reaction to the French Revolution.

The impetus clearly comes from those in the establishment who felt they had most to lose, but according to an excellent short piece by Frank O’Gorman, “Members of the highest classes tended to fill ornamental roles, the practical functions of loyalism being the work of men from the middling orders”, who were “principally from the ranks of the trading, manufacturing and official elements, some of whom were from quite humble backgrounds”.*****

All of which might explain why amongst the ranks who charged into the crowd on St Peter’s Fields we can count, William Benson , the landlord of the Fox on Jackson’s Row, Mr. Richard Whitelaw, an Attorney, living on King Street, and Robert Thorpe, a surgeon living at 21 Oldham Street.

Along with Samuel Green who had a printing business on New Garrett, and a host of shop keepers, and skilled and non skilled workers, with just “two gentleman”, a Professor of Dance and even a quack doctor.

Nor were they drawn exclusively from Manchester, for the same pattern of occupations can be replicated by those from Salford, including Edward Hulme of the Blue Cap on Greengate, the tobacconist, James Hardman, the businessman, John Bowker and the “hackney writer”, James Hamnett.

And for those who want to stray into Stretford, the township offered up a collection of butchers, a saddler, that quack doctor and even a labourer.

None of which might help explain the glee at which the Yeomanry went about their task, but might just throw a bit of light on who they were, leaving a heap more research to be done and a lot more detailed investigation of those who pulled the loyalist strings.

Location; Manchester

Picture; "To Henry Hunt, Esqr. as chairman of the meeting assembled on St. Peter's Field, Manchester on the 16th. of August, 1819", Peterloo, Manchester, print published by Richard Carlile, m01563, and Manchester Heroes", Peterloo, print from etching by unknown artist, published by S W Fores, 1819, m07587
courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass

*Morgan, Alison, Starving mothers and murdered children in cultural representations of Peterloo, Return to Peterloo Manchester Regional History Review volume 23 2012

**Records of the Manchester Peterloo Witnesses and casualties, 1819, findmypast, www.findmypast.co.uk

***Sarah Jones, 96 Silk Street, off George Leigh Street, Mary Hayes, Rawlinson Buildings Oxford Road, Chorlton Row, Mary Partington, King Street Eccles, William Fildes, 23 Kennedy Street

****The march was violently broken up and its leaders imprisoned. Bamford, Samuel, Bamford’s Life of a Radical, Vol 2, 1905 page 32

*****O’Gorman, Frank, Manchester Loyalism in the 1770s, Return to Peterloo Manchester Regional History Review volume 23 2012

The grim side to some of our Manchester pubs

Now I am back with Peterloo and the dastardly actions of the Manchester Yeomanry who on August 16th, 1819, charged a peaceful crowd in St Peter’s Fields, leaving many dead and wounded.

The Manchester Yeomanry in action, 1819

And over the last few days I have been exploring* the background of the 101 men listed in the Northern Star as participating in the outrage.**

We can track the occupations of 87 of them, and they represent a cross section of the population, with over a third drawn from the “people of plenty”, another 29% who made their living as publicans and shopkeepers, which left the rest as a mix of skilled, and manual workers, with the odd surprises which include a “Professor of Dance” and a quack doctor.

But today I am interested in the nine publicans.  They were William Bowker of the King's Head at 4 Old Shambles, John Beeston who ran the Windsor Castle in Salford, and later took over the George at 47 Deansgate, and William Benson of the Fox at 1 Jackson’s Row.

The Briton's Protection, 2016 as seen in the book

To these three we can add Mr. Burgess of the Hen & Chicken on 163 Deansgate, Parker Horsefield of the Briton’s Protection on Waterloo Street by Great Bridgewater Street, Edward Hall of the Blue Cap at 80 Greengate, Jacob Chadderton who offered up beer and cheer at the Wool Pack in Pendleton, John Reid of the Globe, Gartside Street and Samuel Lees of the Crown and Thistle, 9 Half Street, Manchester.

Of these I am pretty sure that only one of the nine pubs still in business is the Briton’s Protection, but some will have lasted longer than others.

So, while the Blue Cap on Greengate had vanished by 1850, the Windsor Castle on New Windsor in Salford was still there thirty-one years after Peterloo.

The Windsor Castle Salford, 1850

Had I come across this bit of information back in 2016, it might well have been included in our book on city centre Manchester Pubs, that said as the book is only about ones you can visit today that would have limited the inclusion of the Manchester Yeomanry landlords to just the Briton’s Protection.

That said, I see no reason why I shouldn’t pursue the remaining eight, starting with the Fox on the corner of Deansgate and Jackson’s Row which was still selling happiness or sadness in 1844, but now sits under Onward Building.

So in the fullness of time we  shall see just what can be found out about the two Salford pubs and their landlords, followed up by the more  Manchester landlords and their pubs.

The Fox, Jacksons Row, 1844

Location; Manchester and Salford

Pictures; "Manchester Heroes", Peterloo, print from etching by unknown artist, published by S W Fores, 1819, m07587, courtesy of Manchester Libraries, Information and Archives, Manchester City Council, http://images.manchester.gov.uk/index.php?session=pass, New Windsor, Salter’s Street Directory, 1850,  The Fox Inn, Jackson’s Row, 1844, from the OS for Manchester & Salford, 1844, courtesy of Digital Archives Association, http://digitalarchives.co.uk/


*The Manchester Yeomanry, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2019/08/exploring-butchers-of-peterloo-101-men.html

**The Northern Star, Chartist newspaper, August 20th 1842

*** Manchester Pubs- The Stories Behind the Doors, Centre Centre along with  our two companion volumes,  Manchester Pubs- The Stories Behind the Doors, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, and  Manchester Pubs- The Stories Behind the Doors are available from www.pubbooks.co.uk and Chorlton Books

What did you do at Peterloo?

Now anyone who is interested in the events of Peterloo, and can track their family back to Greater Manchester in the early 19th century will have wondered if one of their’s was at Peterloo.

Remembering Peterloo, 2019

The names of many of those who were have long been in the public records, trawled over by historians, students and the curious.

But now findmypast has made it easier, by an online database, which allows you to glance down the 1,180 people contained in a list of witnesses and casualties.

“Each record includes a transcript of the vital information about the individual and their involvement at Peterloo. The amount of information you can find can vary, but most transcripts will include, a name, gender, an occupation, residency, which can include a street address, and whether they were wounded or died”.*

I remain hopeful that amongst the thousands who congregated in St Peters Fields, I will come across one from Chorlton-cum-Hardy, and I have come, close, with one from Fallowfield, another from Withington, and four from Stretford, all of whom appear on the list.

Sadly the database has not provided me with such a name.  But I know that a Mary War of Fallowfield was there and needed “White dress used for bandages…….. [and] Suffered psychologically and was committed to an asylum” and that William Batson/Bateson from Rusholme was wounded, sustaining bruising of the chest from “the pressure of the crowd”.

While from Stretford there was Parker Risinghill who was a butcher, and George Derbyshire who was a shop keeper.

Remembering ......... 2019

Most intriguing was Robert Feilden/Fielden, from Withington, an individual who I suspect most of us will have less time for, given that he was one of the magistrates, and lived in Withington Lodge.

For me the real attraction of the lists are that they hold out the potential for further research, with the possibility that many can be tracked through directories, census returns and other records.

I know for instance that Mary Pritchard who was “beaten by constables, when escaping from the hustings” was a member of the Manchester Female Reform Society and lived at 3 Comet Street, Beswick Square, and that Edward Lancaster who received a  “sabre cut on the back of his head, had his throat trodden on by a horse, had to be carried insensible to the Infirmary”, lived at 9 Potter’s Building, on Oxford Road.

Each will have a story, and in the absence of a Chorlton name I shall cast my net wide, beginning with  Mary Ashcroft who lived at 10 Griffith’s Court off Chapel Street in Salford.

Location; Manchester 1819





Pictures; remembering Peterloo, Manchester, August 16th, 2019, from the collection of David Harrop

*Manchester, Peterloo Witnesses And Casualties, 1819, findmypast