The Peterloo Massacre

On 16 August 1819, cavalry brutally dispersed a crowd of 60,000 protestors at St Peter’s Fields, Manchester, leaving at least 18 people dead and more than 600 injured. The event, known as the Peterloo Massacre, became became a landmark moment in the struggle for democracy

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Peterloo Massacre, Manchester, England, 16 August 1819. (Photo by Ann Ronan Picture Library / Heritage Images)

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18 August 1819: British soldiers charging the crowd at St Peter's Fields, Manchester, during a meeting called in support of political reform. (Photo by Spencer Arnold Collection/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

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Cavalry charge into a crowd of protesters at St Peter's Field, Manchester, as depicted in an 1819 engraving. What followed was the worst violence ever to occur at a political meeting in Britain. (Picture by Alamy)

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The Peterloo Massacre

The Peterloo Massacre: how a peaceful protest turned into bloody chaos

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"Peterloo felt relevant, given all the crazy and chaotic things that are happening now": Mike Leigh on a massacre

Mike Leigh at the 67th Cannes Film Festival in 2014. (Photo by dpa picture alliance / Alamy Stock Photo)

Mike Leigh on Peterloo. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.

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As many as 15 people may have been killed, and a further 500 badly injured, during the 1819 riot in Manchester that came to be known as the 'Peterloo' Massacre. (Rischgitz/Getty Images)

16 August 1819: Militia massacres protesters at ‘Peterloo’

Panic ensues in this depiction of the Peterloo Massacre, published in 1819. (The art archive/Getty Images)

Why were there so few casualties at Peterloo?

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