Which English city was the site of the Peterloo Massacre in 1819?

The Peterloo Massacre took place in Manchester in 1819. On 16 August that year, cavalry charged a large reform meeting at St Peter's Field, Manchester, where demonstrators had gathered to demand changes to parliamentary representation.

The meeting was organised by the Manchester Patriotic Union and addressed by the radical speaker Henry Hunt. Around 60,000 people attended, many seeking wider male suffrage and relief from economic hardship after the Napoleonic Wars. Manchester and other rapidly growing industrial towns had little or no direct parliamentary representation.

Local magistrates ordered the arrest of Hunt and other speakers, and the Manchester and Salford Yeomanry rode into the crowd. The 15th Hussars later joined the dispersal. Eighteen people were killed and approximately 400 to 700 injured, although historical casualty figures vary.

The name “Peterloo” was coined as an ironic reference to the Battle of Waterloo, fought four years earlier. The massacre provoked national outrage and helped prompt the government to pass the repressive Six Acts.