Peterloo: Director Mike Leigh's movie on the 1819 Massacre of demonstrators in Manchester
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In 1819 in the then bleak industrial city of Manchester in the north of England, British soldiers fired on a crowd of peaceful demonstrators
in the centre of the city. Approximately 60 000 men, women and children had assembled peacefully to ask for reform of Britain's antiquated parliamentary system in order to make it more representative of the population. They objected to a situation in which some constituencies were virtually the private property of wealthy landowners while the huge new industrial cities such as Manchester had few if any M.P.s in the House of Commons. Working men and most of the rising middle class males did not qualify to vote. Consequently the House of Commons was almost completed dominated by the wealthy and the privileged. Manchester had a population of 200 00, but no M.P; 
Mike Leigh directing a scene from 'Peterloo'.
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A famous contemporary depiction by artist J.L. Marks of the Massacre. It's easy to ascertain the artist's viepoint.
The Historical BackgroundThe Manchester authorities declared the protest meeting to be illegal. When the meeting got under way they ordered troops to be sent in to break uo the peaceful gathering..
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What actually happened?There is a wealth of documentary evidence from a wide range of sources which provides valuable insights into what happened that day and why.
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Peterloo: SignificanceThe Peterloo massacre quickly became a symbol of protest . As this poster shows, it remains a potent symbol of protest two centuries later.
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