Past Lives
HISTORY THROUGH THE EYES OF OUR ANCESTORS
What began as a peaceful protest transformed into a terrifying scene of carnage, similar to a battlefield
TOP FOTO X2
SURVIVORS’ STORIES
Peterloo inspired a multitude of eyewitnesses accounts and paintings. One of the speakers that day, Richard Carlile, published this reconstruction, featuring a woman in white on the stage – thought to be Janet’s ancestor, Mary Fildes.
MURDERED IN MANCHESTER
Jon Bauckham recounts the tragic story of the Peterloo Massacre in 1819 – when soldiers turned on and attacked Manchester citizens
On 16 August 1819, Elizabeth Healey left the house she shared with her young family ready for a busy day. She started walking towards St Peter’s Field – a large stretch of open land in Manchester – where her husband, the militant social reformer Joseph Healey, was due to attend a rally organised by the Manchester Patriotic Union Society.