Peterloo Commemorative Glass

On 16 August 1819, blood ran in the streets of Manchester. 18 people were killed and hundreds injured attending a peaceful demonstration at St Peter’s Field, now the area around St Peter’s Square. 60,000 people had gathered to demand the vote. The massacre became known as Peterloo. A major event in Manchester’s history and a defining moment for Britain’s democracy.

Men, women and children walked from towns and villages in and around Greater Manchester. Some walking nearly 30 miles. Many had come especially to see the famous Henry Hunt speak on the need for electoral reform. This rare glass painting shows the Manchester authorities violently dispersing the crowd. Although different sources give different estimates of both the numbers attending the meeting and the numbers killed and injured, it seems likely that around 60,000 people attended the meeting, 18 people were killed and that around 700 were injured.

This painting is of the central part of a famous print The Peterloo Massacre published by radical printer Richard Carlile in 1819. Our research suggests it was probably done by a local artist a few years after the massacre. This type of glass painting was a popular art form in the early 19th century often displayed in pubs and homes. Five days after the massacre it was coined ‘Peter Loo’ by the Manchester Observer newspaper, a reference to the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, where many of the protestors and troops present at Peterloo had fought side by side.

Part of the national commemorations marking 200 years since the Peterloo Massacre, this object featured in the Disrupt? Peterloo and Protest exhibition at People’s History Museum in 2019 to tell the story of Peterloo and highlights its relevance today.