Middleton Peterloo protestors

On 16 August 1819, Sam Bamford led a group of local people to an assembly on open ground near St Peter's Church in Manchester.

By 1819, workers across the country were finding it difficult to feed their families. Sam Bamford was a radical reformer and writer born in Middleton. This group made the journey hoping to hear radical orator Henry Hunt speak about the need for change.

A crowd of 60,000 men, women, and children assembled and lots of noise and chanting greeted the speakers. The military were called to arrest the speakers and disperse the crowd. When the volunteer Manchester and Salford Yeomanry arrived, they charged the crowd and drew their sabres. 18 people were killed and around 700 were injured.

The jug commemorates this event which became known as Peterloo. It is inscribed with the words ‘Hunt and Liberty - Bad Luck to The Manchester Butchers’. The banner finial is thought to have been found on St Peter’s Field after the crowds left.

The only Peterloo banner that survives was the one carried by these Middletonians.