Peterloo: The English Uprising

On 16 August, 1819, at St Peter's Field, Manchester, armed cavalry attacked a peaceful rally of some 50,000 pro-democracy reformers. Under the eyes of the national press, 18 people were killed and some 700 injured, many of them by sabres, many of them women, some of them children. The 'Peterloo massacre', the subject of a recent feature film and a major commemoration in 2019, is famous as the central episode in Edward Thompsons Making of the English Working Class. It also marked the rise of a new English radical populism as the British state, recently victorious at Waterloo, was challenged by a pro-democracy movement centred on the industrial north. Why did the cavalry attack? Who ordered them in? What was the radical strategy? Why were there women on the platform, and why were they so ferociously attacked? Using an immense range of sources, and many new maps and illustrations, Robert Poole tells for the first time the full extraordinary story of Peterloo: the English Uprising.

Table of Contents:
Prologue 1: England in 1819 2: Regency Manchester 3: Manchester at war 4: Reformers 5: Petitioners 6: Rebels 7: Conspirators 8: Strikers 9: Hunt in Manchester 10: Mass platform 11: Order, order 12: March 13: Massacre 14: Aftermath 15: Reckoning

About the Author :
Robert Poole is a Manchester-based historian and writer and historical consultant to the Peterloo commemoration programme, www.peterloo1819.co.uk. He is co-author of the graphic novel Peterloo: Witnesses to a Massacre (2019) and author of several historical books and articles in journals ranging from Past and Present to Technology and Culture.

Review :
This is the definitive account of Peterloo and the book's place as a key text in the history of British politics and society should be long-lasting. [Poole's] description of the events on the actual day is gripping and deserves a wide readership ... His book [throws] light on exactly how the day's terrible events were allowed to happen. A major new history ... Poole is right when he argues that Peterloo should still make us angry. Robert Poole's new book is essential reading for anyone studying, teaching or otherwise interested in the Peterloo massacre. Timed to coincide with the bicentenary in 2019, Peterloo: The English Uprising is the first book-length study of Peterloo to be published by a 'serving academic' since 1958. Meticulously researched, thoughtfully written and featuring beautiful illustrations, maps and prints (as well as a very welcome 'List of Principal Characters'), it is sure to be the definitive account for years to come. Peterloo serves as a useful reminder that the events of Peterloo, and the government's need to cover the tracks of the Lancashire authorities and suppress an uprising caused by the wave of national disgust at their actions, rather than the strength of the radical reform movement itself, provided the chief impetus for the wave of suppressive legislation in 1819. Robert Poole gives a comprehensive overview of the country at the time. His description of the massacre is vivid and enthralling. Peterloo: The English Uprising [...] is perhaps the definitive text on the event. One of the important features of Poole's account is to put place back at the centre of the story. His analysis is especially strong in exploring the specific local economies, cultures and employment of the areas around Manchester, home to so many of the casualties at Peterloo ... Striking characters emerge ... This is an impressive and engaging work of scholarship, and will be an authoritative point of reference on the topic ... the account Poole presents is vivid, attentive and detailed. There is little to criticise in this well-argued and detailed study... if positioned alongside studies of other regions, this book will provide readers with a sweeping reassessment of the social, political and economic struggles that shaped nineteenth-century England. Peterloo: The English Uprising will likely become a foundational text for historians of protest, with Pooles scholarly yet accessible analysis providing a clear example of regional historys strengths and importance. Poole is a gifted writer with an eye for the telling phrase that brings a character or episode to life ... What makes The English Uprising so vivid is the sheer range and diversity of sources used from newspaper accounts, letters and memoirs to reports submitted by police spies and courtroom documents. The English Uprising is the definitive history of Peterloo - balanced, scholarly yet accessible and, with good reasons, still indignant after 200 years. Carefully researched, this is a comprehensive and clearly argued book which has much to tell us about social, economic and political conditions in the early 19th century. Generously illustrated ... vivid and immensely readable, peppered with evocative phrases that jump from the page ... Poole [writes] convincingly and for everyone ... Peterloo: The English Uprising succeeds both as the definitive account of Peterloo and as a moving tribute to the people caught up in the horrors of that day. Poole has [...] provided a new and perhaps definitive understanding of who was involved [at Peterloo]. [Peterloo] took place 200 years ago but still inspires an anger that is expressed brilliantly in a new history by Robert Poole ... Poole's history is the book those who protested at Peterloo - and those who continue to oppose the same vicious ruling class today - deserve. It used to be said that history was written by the victors ... But Robert Poole is on the side of those who fought for democracy and a better life ... read [Peterloo] and understand the lessons of the early working class in England for the struggles today. This book is local history at its best - it puts Manchester at the centre of the story, but within a national context. It provides a comprehensive account of the events of 16th August 1819. This is a brilliant, in-depth study of the famous massacre ... very much in the tradition of Edward Thompson's The Making of the English Working Class and Linda Colley's Britons. Robert Poole's book is an amazing piece of academic research ... compulsive reading. Robert Poole's book is, perhaps the best book ever written on [Peterloo]. It's well written, exhaustive and covers every aspect of the movement ... It is a masterpiece of historical writing and should be read, not just by those who want to understand Peterloo but by those who want to see how mass struggle was at the heart of the movements that won the rights we have today. The book is clearly the result of immense research, pulled together into a very readable narrative that is accessible to the non-historian without in any way over-simplifying the content ... I found the long first section on the political, social and economic background fascinating and written with great clarity, while the description of the event itself at the end is excellent ... Democracy is a fragile thing, and this book is an excellent reminder of how hard-fought the battle was to win it. I highly recommend it. The best-documented crowd event of the nineteenth century, Peterloo provides Poole with what he calls Manchester's Montaillou moment, enabling him to uncover hidden aspects of its past. Such thorough and painstaking research through a myriad of sources makes his damning judgement against the authorities all the more powerful. Robert Poole was immensely helpful to us with our preparation of our film 'Peterloo'. Now his encyclopaedic knowledge and deep understanding appears in what will become the definitive book on the subject. It's an absolute masterpiece, full of informative detail and also extremely readable. In this gripping and moving book Robert Poole gives us what will surely come to be seen as the definitive account of this never to be forgotten turning point in British political history. The book should become a mainstay on undergraduate and postgraduate syllabi. It will be invaluable for all who study late Georgian politics.