The Making of the Peterloo Martyrs, 1819 to the Present

What is it about?

This book chapter examines the memory of the Peterloo Massacre from 1819 to the present. It identifies a 'martyrology' and a 'demonology' which nineteenth-century radicals constructed as a way of explaining and commemorating the Manchester massacre. However, Cozens also demonstrates that this radical-liberal reading of Peterloo was fiercely contested by conservatives over the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

Featured Image

Why is it important?

This new research, based on archival and newspaper sources, demonstrates the highly contested nature of the memory of the Peterloo massacre. It therefore sets the nineteenth- and twentieth-century commemorations of Peterloo within a broader historical context. Official attempts at commemoration have historically been abortive, muted, or inadequate. This work is all the more significant, given the approaching bicentenary of Peterloo in 2019, and the renewed efforts in Manchester to provide a suitable official commemoration for the 'martyrs' of St Peter's Fields.