Three Accounts of Peterloo Part 1

Three Accounts of Peterloo.

by Edward Stanley and William Jolliffe and John Benjamin Smith.

INTRODUCTION.

Of the three accounts of the Tragedy of Peterloo given here, two (the first and third) have never been published before. The second appeared in the "Life of Lord Sidmouth" in 1847. All three, written with care and judgment, by men who afterwards rose to eminence, form a valuable contribution to the understanding of an event, the accounts of which have been for the most part distorted and misleading. Moreover, as each of the three writers deals with a different phase of the day's happenings, the accounts complement one another.

The Editor had already arranged for the publication of the first, when he received the following letter from Lord Sheffield, dated Penrhos, Holyhead, August 21st, 1919:--

"It is many years since I had the copy of the Rev. E. Stanley's report, and no doubt it was one of the lithographed copies you mention.

I think it would be well if it were published, along with the evidence to which you refer. I also think the Plan, of which you speak, should be added, and the reports of Jolliffe and J. B. Smith."

Lord Sheffield supported his suggestion by enclosing a cheque towards the cost of printing, and this made easy the publication of the whole. Lord Sheffield also kindly lent the portrait of Bishop Stanley, which appears as the Frontispiece.

Acknowledgments are due, besides: (1) to Mr. Henry Guppy, M.A., for permission to use the blocks of Wroe's picture of Peterloo, and the Plan from the "Story of Peterloo" in the Bulletin of the John Rylands Library for October, 1919; and to copy a page of the Account-book of the Relief Committee; (2) to Lady Durning Lawrence, who (with the late Mr. C. W.

Sutton, M.A.) gave permission to print the Extract from the Reminiscences of Mr. J. B. Smith, and to reproduce his portrait; (3) to Mr. W. Marcroft of Southport; and Messrs. Hirst & Rennie of Oldham, for the loan of the blocks of "Orator Hunt," the "Hunt Memorial," and the "Peterloo Medal"; (4) to Mr. John Murray for leave to reprint Lieutenant Jolliffe's letter; (5) to Mr. W. W. Manfield, for the loan of the three Relics of Peterloo; and (6) to Mr. R. H. Fletcher, amateur photographer, of Eccles, for photographing the relics, etc.

F. A. B.

Three Accounts of Peterloo

BISHOP STANLEY

The Rev. Edward Stanley (1779-1849) was the second son of Sir J. T.

Stanley, the Sixth Baronet, and Margaret Owen, of Penrhos, Anglesey. His elder brother was the first Baron Stanley of Alderley. As a boy, he had a natural inclination for the sea, but this was not encouraged. For thirty-two years he was Rector of Alderley, in Ches.h.i.+re. While making himself beloved as a Parish Priest, he found time for many scientific and other interests. His _Familiar History of Birds_ is a standard work; he advocated, and a.s.sisted in, the teaching of Science and Temperance at Alderley; and he became one of the first Presidents of the Manchester Statistical Society. Though he declined the See of Manchester, when it was offered him, he accepted from Lord Melbourne, in 1837, the Bishopric of Norwich, and introduced a number of reforms into that diocese. A short memoir of him was written by his son, the famous Dean of Westminster.

At the date of Peterloo, a number of clergymen sat on the Bench of Magistrates for Lancas.h.i.+re and Ches.h.i.+re, but Stanley stated clearly at the Trial that he was not a Magistrate. He was then forty years of age, and Rector of Alderley, and in his evidence he was careful to say that his narrative of Peterloo was compiled about two months after the event, for private circulation among his friends, and had never been published. It is clear that a copy was in the hands of Counsel who cross-examined him at the Trial in 1822. The ma.n.u.script is very neatly written (I should conjecture by Stanley himself) on nine large quarto pages, the plan being drawn by the same hand, and the notes given at the end. I have thought it more convenient for the reader to have the notes thrown to the foot of the respective pages. The ma.n.u.script was lithographed, in 1819, by the Lithographic Press, Westminster, and entered at Stationers' Hall. I found on enquiry that there was one copy in the Ma.n.u.script Department of the British Museum (Add. MSS., 30142, ff. 78-83). It is addressed to Major-Gen. Sir Robert Wilson, and sealed with the Stanley crest. The authors.h.i.+p was not known, and the Keeper of the MSS. was glad to be able to add this to the doc.u.ment as the result of my communication. In the Printed Book Department of the British Museum there is a second copy, catalogued under Manchester, with press-mark 8133i. There is no trace of Stanley's MS. in the Public Records Office. I can find no other copy but the one at the Manchester Reference Library, which is in excellent preservation, and has recently been rebound. Mr. J. C. Hobhouse quoted from Stanley's narrative once in a speech in the House of Commons.

Speaking on May 19th, 1821, in support of a Pet.i.tion for an enquiry as to the outrage at Manchester, Mr. Hobhouse, following Sir Francis Burdett, said: "The Rev. Mr. Stanley, who watched from a room above the magistrates, saw no stones or sticks used, though if any stone larger than a pebble had been thrown, he must have seen it." I have not found any other reference to the narrative except that made by Counsel at the Trial, and that is recorded in the Evidence which follows.

Three notes may find a place here. The first two refer to points mentioned by Stanley:--

1. Pigot and Dean's _Manchester Directory_ for 1819 mentions:

(_a_) Edmund Buxton, Builder, &c., No. 6, Mount Street, d.i.c.kinson Street.

(_b_) Thomas & Matthew Pickford & Co., Carriers, Oxford Street.

I do not find Mr. Buxton's "shop," which is mentioned by Stanley; nor are Pickfords described as "timber merchants," though timber may easily have been stacked in their yard.

Stanley's movements on reaching Manchester are not, at a first reading, quite clear. Riding in from Alderley, he seems to have approached by way of Oxford Road, pa.s.sing (as he tells us) the Manchester Yeomanry, posted at Pickford's yard. At twelve o'clock, he turned up Mosley Street (very likely to avoid the crowd which was already filling the Square) and in Mosley Street he met the contingent of Reformers coming from Ashton. He then proceeded to Mr. Buxton's _shop_, which seems to have been near the lower end of Deansgate. Not finding Mr. Buxton there, he was directed to his _residence_ in Mount Street. The shortest way to Mount Street from Alport would have taken him through the crowd. He therefore approached Mount Street "by a circuitous route to avoid the meeting" (possibly by Fleet Street and Lower Mosley Street, the route afterwards taken by the Hussars), and met Mr. Buxton on the steps of his house.

Stanley evidently knew little of Manchester. He confesses in his narrative that he had not been in St. Peter's field before or since the tragedy; in his evidence he said: "I know no street," and stated that he could not locate the Friends' Meeting-house.

2. Stanley's estimate of a hundred yards, as the distance from the hustings to Mr. Buxton's house can be demonstrated to-day to be almost exactly correct. This is only one of many points in his narrative which show what a shrewd, quick, and accurate observer he was. When Mr. Hulton was asked, at the Trial, to estimate the same distance, he conjectured four hundred yards, and this was actually quoted as the distance in one of the standard histories of the period.

For the rest, it seems better to leave Stanley's extremely lucid account to speak for itself. To annotate it in detail would be to spoil its completeness. As has been stated above, each observer witnessed the scene from his own stand-point. A complete picture can only be obtained by forming a mosaic of the various reports. Stanley's narrative is that of an outsider, who came upon the scene unexpectedly, and watched the whole with the eye of a statesman and a statistician. Lieutenant Jolliffe's account gives the view of a young soldier, a stranger to Manchester, who rode in the charge of the Hussars, and afterwards took part with them in the patrol of the town. Mr. J. B. Smith speaks from the point of view of a Manchester business man, familiar with the civic and economic conditions that led to the catastrophe, and his narrative reaches a few days beyond the tragedy itself. Samuel Bamford's account--too well-known to need repet.i.tion here--was written from the stand-point of a local weaver, who had already suffered for his outspoken advocacy of Parliamentary Reform, had a large share in organising the Peterloo meeting, and served a term of imprisonment for his share in the proceedings. An attempt to dovetail these and other Reports into a continuous narrative has already been made in _The Story of Peterloo_ (Rylands Library Lectures, 1919.).

3. Stanley's Evidence at the Trial, which is here printed immediately after his connected narrative, has been taken from McDonnell's _State Trials_, supplemented--where pa.s.sages are omitted by McDonnell--by Farquharson's verbatim report, issued by the Defence after the Trial. As a matter of fact McDonnell made use of Farquharson's version.

The portrait of Bishop Stanley which appears here is from a print kindly lent for the purpose by Lord Sheffield.

Stanley's Notes attached to his Plan

Never having seen St. Peter's fields before or since, I cannot pretend to speak accurately as to distance, etc. I should, at a guess, state the distance from the hustings to Mr. Buxton's house to be about a hundred yards, which may serve as a general scale to the rest of the plan.

KEY TO STANLEY'S PLAN.

1. The hustings. The arrow shows the direction in which the orators addressed the mob, the great majority being in front: F, F, F.

2. The Barouche in which Hunt arrived, the line from it showing its entrance and approach.

3. The spot on which the Manchester Yeomanry Cavalry halted previous to their charge; the dotted lines in front showing the direction of their charge on attacking the hustings.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Stanley's Plan]

4. On this spot the woman alluded to in the account (p. 15) was wounded and remained apparently dead, till removed at the conclusion of the business.

5. Here the 15th Dragoons paused for a few moments before they proceeded in the direction marked by the dotted line.

6. The Ches.h.i.+re Cavalry; my attention was so much taken up with the proceedings of the Manchester Yeomanry Cavalry, etc., and the dispersion in front of the hustings, that I cannot speak accurately as to their subsequent movements.

7, 7, 7. The band of special constables, _apparently_ surrounding the hustings.

8, 8, 8. The mob in dense ma.s.s; their banners displayed in different parts, as at x, x.

9, 9, 9. A s.p.a.ce comparatively vacant; partially occupied by stragglers; the mob condensing near the hustings for the purpose of seeing and hearing.

10, 10, 10. Raised ground on which many spectators had taken a position; a commotion amongst them first announced the approach of the cavalry; their elevated situation commanding a more extensive view.