August 19, 2025 • 18 mins
Dive into the tumultuous events of August 16, 1819, with Three Accounts of Peterloo, a compelling companion to F.A. Brutons The Story of Peterloo. This short collection features firsthand accounts from Bishop Stanley, Lord Hylton, and John Benjamin Smith, each accompanied by insightful introductions from the editor. These contemporary narratives offer diverse perspectives on the tragic day when a peaceful reform rally at St. Peters Fields, Manchester, was violently disrupted by a troop of Hussars and local Yeomanry, resulting in 18 deaths and over 700 injuries. (Summary by Phil Benson)
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Section three of three Accounts of Peterloo by F. A. Bruton.
This liberyvox recording is in the public domain. Sir William
Joliffe Afterwards Lord Hilton and Lieutenant Joliffe's Account of Peterloo.
Sir William Joliffe Afterwards Lord Hilton. William George Hilton Joliffe
(00:24):
eighteen hundred to eighteen seventy six, the first Baron Hilton,
was the son of the Reverend W. J. Joleiffe. At
the date of Peterloo, he was not quite nineteen years
of age and was serving as a lieutenant in the
fifteenth Hussars, then quartered at the Cavalry Barracks in Manchester.
He retired from the Hussars with the rank of captain.
(00:47):
He was created a baronet in eighteen twenty one and
sat as a Member for Petersfield for about thirty years,
acting for a short time as Under Secretary for Home
Affairs and afterwards as Parliamentry Secretary to the Treasury. He
was exceedingly popular as a Conservative whip, and when he
was raised to the peerage in eighteen sixty six, he
(01:09):
took the title of Baron Hilton from the family's connection
with the Hiltons of Hilton Castle. The letter which follows
appeared in Dean Pelu's Life of Lord Sidmouth, published in
eighteen seventy four. It will be seen that is addressed
to T. G. B est Court, Esquire, Presumably he obtained
the information for Dean Pelieu. The letter is approved and
(01:32):
annotated by E. Smith, Esquire of Norwich, who commanded a
troop of the Cheshire Yeomanry at Peterloo. Unfortunately, the notes
to the letter are somewhat confusing. Some are signed by
Captain Smith, others are not signed, and it is not
easy to determine their authorship. Moreover, Captain Smith's contributions are
(01:53):
not on a level with the letter itself. It has
therefore been thought better to omit the notes altogether and
allow Lieutenant Jolif's very clear and well balanced report to
speak for itself. A few explanatory words have been inserted
in square brackets. The Reverend Edward Stanley, in his evidence
given above, mentioned the fact that the Hussars who rode
(02:16):
at Peterloo were wearing their Waterloo medals. As a matter
of fact, the fifteenth the King's Hussars, whose motto is
met ebin War, have not only Waterloo, but also the
peninsular Vittoria, Afghanistan, and a number of other names inscribed
on their colors. The uniform is blue, with a busby
(02:37):
bag and a scarlet plume. Presumably the plumes shown in
our photograph came from the helmet of one of the Hussars.
It seems clear from the evidence which was given before
the Relief Committee after Peterloo, that there was not the
same feeling of resentment against the Hussars as against the
local yeomanry. In fact, it was more than once asserted
(02:59):
that troopers of the Hussars actually restrained the Manchester Yeomanry
from excessive violence. I wrote to the present Lord Hilton
to ask if he could lend a portrait of his
grandfather for reproduction here. He replied that he could not
do so, but added, as a matter of fact, a
full length portrait by Sir Francis Grant p r A
(03:21):
in my possession has been engraved, and a copy of
this engraving is I should think not difficult to procure.
I've not been able to find it. It is not
included in the British Museum series The Charge of the
fifteenth Hussars at Peterloo, as described by Sir William G. H. Joliffe,
(03:42):
Bart m P, who rode in the charge as a
lieutenant of Hussars, in a letter which appears in Dean
Pelu's Life of Lord Sidmouth, Volume three, page two hundred
and fifty three et Sec. Nine, Saint James's Place, April eleventh,
eighteen forty five, My Dear Sir, Twenty five years have
(04:05):
passed since the collision unfortunately occurred between the population of
Manchester and its neighborhood and the military stationed in that
town on the sixteenth of August eighteen nineteen. I was
at that time a lieutenant in the fifteenth King's Hussars,
which regiment had been quartered in Manchester Cavalry Barracks about
six weeks. This was my first acquaintance with a large
(04:29):
manufacturing population. I had little knowledge of the condition of
that population, whether or no a great degree of distress
was then prevalent, or whether or no the distrust and
bad feeling which appeared to exist between employers and employed
was wholly or in part caused by the agitation of
political questions. I will not therefore enter into any speculation
(04:52):
on these points, but I will endeavor to relate the
facts which fell under my own observations, although acting as
of course I was under the command of others and
in a subordinate situation. The military force stationed in Manchester
consisted of six troops of the fifteenth Hussars under the
command of Colonel Dalrymple, one troop of horse artillery with
(05:13):
two guns under Major Dineley, and nearly the whole of
the thirty first Regiment under Colonel Guile Strange, who commanded
the whole as senior officer. Sir John Byng was then
at Pontefract. Some companies of the eighty eighth Regiment and
six troops of the Cheshire Yeomanry had also been brought
into the town in anticipation of disturbances which might result
(05:37):
from the expected meeting, and these latter had only arrived
on the morning of the sixteenth, or a few hours previously.
And lastly, there was a troop of Manchester Yeomanry Cavalry
consisting of about forty members, who, from the manner in
which they were made use of, to say the least,
greatly aggravated the disasters of the day. Their ranks were
(05:59):
filled chiefly by wealthy master manufacturers, and without the knowledge
possessed by a strictly speaking military body. They were placed
most unwisely, as it appeared, under the immediate command an
order of the civil authorities. Our regiment paraded in field
service order at about eight thirty, or it might be
nine o'clock a m. Two squadrons of it were marched
(06:23):
into the town. About ten o'clock. They were formed up
and dismounted in a wide street, the name of which
I forget, to the north of Saint Peter's Field, the
place appointed for the meeting footnote Saint John Street or
Byram Street editor end of footnotes, and at the distance
(06:43):
of nearly a quarter of a mile from it. The
Cheshire Yeomanry were formed on our left in the same street.
One troop of our regiment was attached to the artillery,
which took up a position between the cavalry barracks and
the town, and one troop remained in charge of the barracks.
The two squadrons with which I was stationed must have
(07:04):
remained dismounted nearly two hours. During the greater portion of
that period, a solid mass of people continued moving along
a street about one hundred yards to our front on
the way to the place of meeting. Other officers as
well as myself, occasionally rode to the front to the
end of a street to see them past. They marched
(07:26):
at a brisk pace, in ranks, well closed up, five
or six bands of music being interspersed, and there appeared
to be but few women with them. Mister Hunt, with
two or three other men, and I think two women,
dressed in light blue and white, were in an open
carriage drawn by the people. This carriage was adorned with
blue and white flags, and the day was fine and hot.
(07:50):
As soon as the great bulk of the procession had passed,
we were ordered to stand to our horses. In a
very short time afterwards, the four troops of the fifteenth
mounted and at once moved off by the right at
a trot, which was increased to a canter. Some one
who had been sent from the place of meeting to
bring us led the way through a number of narrow
(08:12):
streets and by a circuitous route too, what I will
call the southwest corner of Saint Peter's Field footnote southeast
would be more correct. Editor. We advanced along the south
side of this space of ground without a halt or pause.
Even footnote east would be more correct. The Cheshire yeoman
(08:35):
refiled along the south side the arrows in Stanley's plan.
Make this clear, editor, The words front and forward were
given and the trumpets sounded the charge at the very
moment the threes wheeled up when fronted. Our line extended
quite across the ground, which in all parts was so
filled with people that their hats seemed to touch. It was
(08:59):
then for the first time that I saw the Manchester
troop of yeomanry. They were scattered singly or in small
groups over the greater part of the field, literally hemmed
up and hedged into the mob, so that they were
powerless either to make an impression or to escape. In fact,
they were in the power of those whom they were
designed to overawe, and it required only a glance to
(09:22):
discover their helpless position and the necessity of our being
brought to their rescue. As I was at the time informed,
this hopeless state of things happened. Thus a platform had
been erected near the center of the field, from which
mister Hunt and others were to address the multitude, and
the magistrates, having ordered a strong body of constables to
(09:43):
arrest the speakers unfortunately imagined that they should support the
peace officers by bringing up the troop of yeomanry at
a walk. The result of this movement, instead of that
which the magistrates desired, was unexpectedly to place this small
body of horsemen so introduced into a dense mob, entirely
at the mercy of the people by whom they were
(10:05):
on all sides, pressed upon and surrounded. The charge of
the hussars to which I have just alluded, swept this
mingled mass of human beings before it. People, yeomen and constables,
in their confused attempts to escape, ran one over the other,
so that by the time we had arrived at the
end of the field, the fugitives were literally piled up
(10:27):
to a considerable elevation above the level of the ground.
I may, here, by the way, state that this field,
as it is called, was merely an open space of
ground surrounded by buildings and itself I rather think, in
course of being built upon. The hussars drove the people
forward with the flats of their swords. But sometimes, as
(10:49):
is almost inevitably the case where men are placed in
such situations, the edge was used both by the hussars
and as I have heard by the yeomen also, But
of this last part I was not cognizant, and believing
though I do, that nine out of ten of the
saber wounds were caused by the hussars, I must still
consider that it redounds to the humane forbearance of the
(11:12):
men of the fifteenth that more wounds were not received,
when the vast numbers are taken into consideration with whom
they were brought into hostile collision. Beyond all doubt, however,
the far greater amount of injuries were from the pressure
of the routed multitude. The Hussars on the left pursued
down the various streets which led from the place. Those
(11:35):
on the right met with something more of resistance. The
mob had taken possession of various buildings on that side,
particularly of a quaker's chapel and burial ground enclosed with
the wall. This they occupied for some little time, and
in attempting to displace them, some of the men and
horses were struck with stones and brick bats. I was
(11:59):
on the left, and as soon as I had passed
completely over the ground and found myself in the street
on the other side, I turned back and then seeing
a sort of fight still going on on the right,
I went in that direction. At the very moment I
reached the Quaker's meeting house, I saw a farrier of
the fifteenth ride at a small door in the outer wall,
(12:21):
and to my surprise, his horse struck it with such
force that it flew open. Two or three hussars then
rode in, and the place was immediately in their possession.
I then turned towards the elevated platform, which still remained
in the center of the field with persons upon it.
A few straggling hussars and yeomen, together with a number
(12:43):
of men having the appearance of peace officers, were congregating
about it. On my way thither I met the commanding
officer of my regiment, who directed me to find a
trumpeter in order that he might sound the rally or retreat.
This sent me again on the street I had first
been in after the pursuing men of my troop, but
(13:04):
I had not ridden above a hundred yards when I
found a trumpeter and returned with him to the colonel.
The field and the adjacent streets now presented an extraordinary site.
The ground was quite covered with hats, shoes, musical instruments
and other things. Here and there lay the unfortunates who
were too much injured to move away. And this sight
(13:26):
was rendered the more distressing by observing some women among
the sufferers standing near the corner of the street where
I had been sent in search of a trumpeter. A
brother officer called my attention to a pistol being fired
from a window. I saw it fired twice, and I
believe it had been fired once before I observed it.
(13:47):
Some of the thirty first Regiment, just now arriving on
the ground, were ordered to take possession of this house,
but I do not know if this was carried into effect.
I next went towards a private of the regiment, whose
horse had fallen over a piece of timber nearly in
the middle of the square, and who was most seriously injured.
There were many of these pieces of timber or timber
(14:09):
trees lying upon the ground, and as these could not
be distinguished when the mob covered them, they had caused
bad falls to one officer's horse and to many of
the troopers. While I was attended to the wounded soldier,
the artillery troop, with the troop of hussars attached to it,
arrived on the ground from the same direction by which
(14:30):
we had entered the field. These were quickly followed by
the Cheshire Yeomanry. The thirty first Regiment came in another direction,
and the hall remained formed up till our squadrons had
fallen in Again. Carriages were brought to convey the wounded
to the Manchester Infirmary, and the troop of Hussars who
came up with the guns was marched off to escort
(14:51):
to the jail a number of persons who had been arrested,
and among these mister Hunt. For some time the town
was patrolled by the the troops, the streets being nearly
empty and the shops for the most part closed. We
then returned to the barracks. I should not admit to
mention that before the men were dismissed, the arms were
(15:13):
minutely examined, and that no carbine or pistol was found
to have been fired, and only one pistol to have
been loaded. About eight p m. One squadron of the
fifteenth Hussars two troops was ordered on duty to form
part of a strong night picket, the other part of
which consisted of two companies of the eighty eighth Regiment.
(15:34):
This picket was stationed at a place called the New Cross,
at the end of Oldham Street. As soon as it
had taken up its position, a mob assembled about it,
which increased as the darkness came on. Stones were thrown
at the soldiers, and the hussars many times cleared the
ground by driving the mob up the streets leading from
(15:55):
the New Cross, But these attempts to get rid of
the annoyance were only so successful for the moment, for
the people got through the houses on narrow passages from
one street into another, and the troops were again attacked,
and many men and horses struck with stones. This lasted
nearly an hour and a half, and the soldiers being
(16:15):
more and more pressed upon. A town magistrate who was
with the picket read the riottacked, and the officer in
command ordered the eighty eighth to fire, which they did
by platoon firing down three of the streets. The firing
lasted only a few minutes, perhaps not more than thirty
shots were fired, but these had a magical effect. The
(16:37):
mob ran away and dispersed forthwith leaving three or four
persons on the ground with gunshot wounds. At four a m.
The picket's squadron was relieved by another squadron of the regiment.
With this latter squadron I was on duty, and after
we had patrolled the town for two hours, the officer
in command sent me to the magistrates, who had remained
(16:59):
assembled during the night, to report to them that the
town was perfectly quiet, and to request their sanction to
the return of the military to their quarters. On the
afternoon of the seventeenth, I visited, in company with some
military medical officers the infirmary. I saw there from twelve
to twenty cases of saber wounds, and among these two
(17:23):
women who appeared not likely to recover. One man was
in a dying state from a gunshot wound in the head,
another had his leg amputated. Both these casualties arose from
the firing of the eighty eighth the night before. Two
or three were reputed dead, one of them a constable
killed on Saint Peter's Field, but I saw none of
(17:44):
the bodies. As shortly as I could, I have now
related what fell under my own observation during these twenty
four hours. I trust that I have in some degree
complied with your wishes. William G. Hilton to Thomas Grimstone
bucknall est Court esquire mp end of Section three
Section three of three Accounts of Peterloo by F. A. Bruton.
This liberyvox recording is in the public domain. Sir William
Joliffe Afterwards Lord Hilton and Lieutenant Joliffe's Account of Peterloo.
Sir William Joliffe Afterwards Lord Hilton. William George Hilton Joliffe
(00:24):
eighteen hundred to eighteen seventy six, the first Baron Hilton,
was the son of the Reverend W. J. Joleiffe. At
the date of Peterloo, he was not quite nineteen years
of age and was serving as a lieutenant in the
fifteenth Hussars, then quartered at the Cavalry Barracks in Manchester.
He retired from the Hussars with the rank of captain.
(00:47):
He was created a baronet in eighteen twenty one and
sat as a Member for Petersfield for about thirty years,
acting for a short time as Under Secretary for Home
Affairs and afterwards as Parliamentry Secretary to the Treasury. He
was exceedingly popular as a Conservative whip, and when he
was raised to the peerage in eighteen sixty six, he
(01:09):
took the title of Baron Hilton from the family's connection
with the Hiltons of Hilton Castle. The letter which follows
appeared in Dean Pelu's Life of Lord Sidmouth, published in
eighteen seventy four. It will be seen that is addressed
to T. G. B est Court, Esquire, Presumably he obtained
the information for Dean Pelieu. The letter is approved and
(01:32):
annotated by E. Smith, Esquire of Norwich, who commanded a
troop of the Cheshire Yeomanry at Peterloo. Unfortunately, the notes
to the letter are somewhat confusing. Some are signed by
Captain Smith, others are not signed, and it is not
easy to determine their authorship. Moreover, Captain Smith's contributions are
(01:53):
not on a level with the letter itself. It has
therefore been thought better to omit the notes altogether and
allow Lieutenant Jolif's very clear and well balanced report to
speak for itself. A few explanatory words have been inserted
in square brackets. The Reverend Edward Stanley, in his evidence
given above, mentioned the fact that the Hussars who rode
(02:16):
at Peterloo were wearing their Waterloo medals. As a matter
of fact, the fifteenth the King's Hussars, whose motto is
met ebin War, have not only Waterloo, but also the
peninsular Vittoria, Afghanistan, and a number of other names inscribed
on their colors. The uniform is blue, with a busby
(02:37):
bag and a scarlet plume. Presumably the plumes shown in
our photograph came from the helmet of one of the Hussars.
It seems clear from the evidence which was given before
the Relief Committee after Peterloo, that there was not the
same feeling of resentment against the Hussars as against the
local yeomanry. In fact, it was more than once asserted
(02:59):
that troopers of the Hussars actually restrained the Manchester Yeomanry
from excessive violence. I wrote to the present Lord Hilton
to ask if he could lend a portrait of his
grandfather for reproduction here. He replied that he could not
do so, but added, as a matter of fact, a
full length portrait by Sir Francis Grant p r A
(03:21):
in my possession has been engraved, and a copy of
this engraving is I should think not difficult to procure.
I've not been able to find it. It is not
included in the British Museum series The Charge of the
fifteenth Hussars at Peterloo, as described by Sir William G. H. Joliffe,
(03:42):
Bart m P, who rode in the charge as a
lieutenant of Hussars, in a letter which appears in Dean
Pelu's Life of Lord Sidmouth, Volume three, page two hundred
and fifty three et Sec. Nine, Saint James's Place, April eleventh,
eighteen forty five, My Dear Sir, Twenty five years have
(04:05):
passed since the collision unfortunately occurred between the population of
Manchester and its neighborhood and the military stationed in that
town on the sixteenth of August eighteen nineteen. I was
at that time a lieutenant in the fifteenth King's Hussars,
which regiment had been quartered in Manchester Cavalry Barracks about
six weeks. This was my first acquaintance with a large
(04:29):
manufacturing population. I had little knowledge of the condition of
that population, whether or no a great degree of distress
was then prevalent, or whether or no the distrust and
bad feeling which appeared to exist between employers and employed
was wholly or in part caused by the agitation of
political questions. I will not therefore enter into any speculation
(04:52):
on these points, but I will endeavor to relate the
facts which fell under my own observations, although acting as
of course I was under the command of others and
in a subordinate situation. The military force stationed in Manchester
consisted of six troops of the fifteenth Hussars under the
command of Colonel Dalrymple, one troop of horse artillery with
(05:13):
two guns under Major Dineley, and nearly the whole of
the thirty first Regiment under Colonel Guile Strange, who commanded
the whole as senior officer. Sir John Byng was then
at Pontefract. Some companies of the eighty eighth Regiment and
six troops of the Cheshire Yeomanry had also been brought
into the town in anticipation of disturbances which might result
(05:37):
from the expected meeting, and these latter had only arrived
on the morning of the sixteenth, or a few hours previously.
And lastly, there was a troop of Manchester Yeomanry Cavalry
consisting of about forty members, who, from the manner in
which they were made use of, to say the least,
greatly aggravated the disasters of the day. Their ranks were
(05:59):
filled chiefly by wealthy master manufacturers, and without the knowledge
possessed by a strictly speaking military body. They were placed
most unwisely, as it appeared, under the immediate command an
order of the civil authorities. Our regiment paraded in field
service order at about eight thirty, or it might be
nine o'clock a m. Two squadrons of it were marched
(06:23):
into the town. About ten o'clock. They were formed up
and dismounted in a wide street, the name of which
I forget, to the north of Saint Peter's Field, the
place appointed for the meeting footnote Saint John Street or
Byram Street editor end of footnotes, and at the distance
(06:43):
of nearly a quarter of a mile from it. The
Cheshire Yeomanry were formed on our left in the same street.
One troop of our regiment was attached to the artillery,
which took up a position between the cavalry barracks and
the town, and one troop remained in charge of the barracks.
The two squadrons with which I was stationed must have
(07:04):
remained dismounted nearly two hours. During the greater portion of
that period, a solid mass of people continued moving along
a street about one hundred yards to our front on
the way to the place of meeting. Other officers as
well as myself, occasionally rode to the front to the
end of a street to see them past. They marched
(07:26):
at a brisk pace, in ranks, well closed up, five
or six bands of music being interspersed, and there appeared
to be but few women with them. Mister Hunt, with
two or three other men, and I think two women,
dressed in light blue and white, were in an open
carriage drawn by the people. This carriage was adorned with
blue and white flags, and the day was fine and hot.
(07:50):
As soon as the great bulk of the procession had passed,
we were ordered to stand to our horses. In a
very short time afterwards, the four troops of the fifteenth
mounted and at once moved off by the right at
a trot, which was increased to a canter. Some one
who had been sent from the place of meeting to
bring us led the way through a number of narrow
(08:12):
streets and by a circuitous route too, what I will
call the southwest corner of Saint Peter's Field footnote southeast
would be more correct. Editor. We advanced along the south
side of this space of ground without a halt or pause.
Even footnote east would be more correct. The Cheshire yeoman
(08:35):
refiled along the south side the arrows in Stanley's plan.
Make this clear, editor, The words front and forward were
given and the trumpets sounded the charge at the very
moment the threes wheeled up when fronted. Our line extended
quite across the ground, which in all parts was so
filled with people that their hats seemed to touch. It was
(08:59):
then for the first time that I saw the Manchester
troop of yeomanry. They were scattered singly or in small
groups over the greater part of the field, literally hemmed
up and hedged into the mob, so that they were
powerless either to make an impression or to escape. In fact,
they were in the power of those whom they were
designed to overawe, and it required only a glance to
(09:22):
discover their helpless position and the necessity of our being
brought to their rescue. As I was at the time informed,
this hopeless state of things happened. Thus a platform had
been erected near the center of the field, from which
mister Hunt and others were to address the multitude, and
the magistrates, having ordered a strong body of constables to
(09:43):
arrest the speakers unfortunately imagined that they should support the
peace officers by bringing up the troop of yeomanry at
a walk. The result of this movement, instead of that
which the magistrates desired, was unexpectedly to place this small
body of horsemen so introduced into a dense mob, entirely
at the mercy of the people by whom they were
(10:05):
on all sides, pressed upon and surrounded. The charge of
the hussars to which I have just alluded, swept this
mingled mass of human beings before it. People, yeomen and constables,
in their confused attempts to escape, ran one over the other,
so that by the time we had arrived at the
end of the field, the fugitives were literally piled up
(10:27):
to a considerable elevation above the level of the ground.
I may, here, by the way, state that this field,
as it is called, was merely an open space of
ground surrounded by buildings and itself I rather think, in
course of being built upon. The hussars drove the people
forward with the flats of their swords. But sometimes, as
(10:49):
is almost inevitably the case where men are placed in
such situations, the edge was used both by the hussars
and as I have heard by the yeomen also, But
of this last part I was not cognizant, and believing
though I do, that nine out of ten of the
saber wounds were caused by the hussars, I must still
consider that it redounds to the humane forbearance of the
(11:12):
men of the fifteenth that more wounds were not received,
when the vast numbers are taken into consideration with whom
they were brought into hostile collision. Beyond all doubt, however,
the far greater amount of injuries were from the pressure
of the routed multitude. The Hussars on the left pursued
down the various streets which led from the place. Those
(11:35):
on the right met with something more of resistance. The
mob had taken possession of various buildings on that side,
particularly of a quaker's chapel and burial ground enclosed with
the wall. This they occupied for some little time, and
in attempting to displace them, some of the men and
horses were struck with stones and brick bats. I was
(11:59):
on the left, and as soon as I had passed
completely over the ground and found myself in the street
on the other side, I turned back and then seeing
a sort of fight still going on on the right,
I went in that direction. At the very moment I
reached the Quaker's meeting house, I saw a farrier of
the fifteenth ride at a small door in the outer wall,
(12:21):
and to my surprise, his horse struck it with such
force that it flew open. Two or three hussars then
rode in, and the place was immediately in their possession.
I then turned towards the elevated platform, which still remained
in the center of the field with persons upon it.
A few straggling hussars and yeomen, together with a number
(12:43):
of men having the appearance of peace officers, were congregating
about it. On my way thither I met the commanding
officer of my regiment, who directed me to find a
trumpeter in order that he might sound the rally or retreat.
This sent me again on the street I had first
been in after the pursuing men of my troop, but
(13:04):
I had not ridden above a hundred yards when I
found a trumpeter and returned with him to the colonel.
The field and the adjacent streets now presented an extraordinary site.
The ground was quite covered with hats, shoes, musical instruments
and other things. Here and there lay the unfortunates who
were too much injured to move away. And this sight
(13:26):
was rendered the more distressing by observing some women among
the sufferers standing near the corner of the street where
I had been sent in search of a trumpeter. A
brother officer called my attention to a pistol being fired
from a window. I saw it fired twice, and I
believe it had been fired once before I observed it.
(13:47):
Some of the thirty first Regiment, just now arriving on
the ground, were ordered to take possession of this house,
but I do not know if this was carried into effect.
I next went towards a private of the regiment, whose
horse had fallen over a piece of timber nearly in
the middle of the square, and who was most seriously injured.
There were many of these pieces of timber or timber
(14:09):
trees lying upon the ground, and as these could not
be distinguished when the mob covered them, they had caused
bad falls to one officer's horse and to many of
the troopers. While I was attended to the wounded soldier,
the artillery troop, with the troop of hussars attached to it,
arrived on the ground from the same direction by which
(14:30):
we had entered the field. These were quickly followed by
the Cheshire Yeomanry. The thirty first Regiment came in another direction,
and the hall remained formed up till our squadrons had
fallen in Again. Carriages were brought to convey the wounded
to the Manchester Infirmary, and the troop of Hussars who
came up with the guns was marched off to escort
(14:51):
to the jail a number of persons who had been arrested,
and among these mister Hunt. For some time the town
was patrolled by the the troops, the streets being nearly
empty and the shops for the most part closed. We
then returned to the barracks. I should not admit to
mention that before the men were dismissed, the arms were
(15:13):
minutely examined, and that no carbine or pistol was found
to have been fired, and only one pistol to have
been loaded. About eight p m. One squadron of the
fifteenth Hussars two troops was ordered on duty to form
part of a strong night picket, the other part of
which consisted of two companies of the eighty eighth Regiment.
(15:34):
This picket was stationed at a place called the New Cross,
at the end of Oldham Street. As soon as it
had taken up its position, a mob assembled about it,
which increased as the darkness came on. Stones were thrown
at the soldiers, and the hussars many times cleared the
ground by driving the mob up the streets leading from
(15:55):
the New Cross, But these attempts to get rid of
the annoyance were only so successful for the moment, for
the people got through the houses on narrow passages from
one street into another, and the troops were again attacked,
and many men and horses struck with stones. This lasted
nearly an hour and a half, and the soldiers being
(16:15):
more and more pressed upon. A town magistrate who was
with the picket read the riottacked, and the officer in
command ordered the eighty eighth to fire, which they did
by platoon firing down three of the streets. The firing
lasted only a few minutes, perhaps not more than thirty
shots were fired, but these had a magical effect. The
(16:37):
mob ran away and dispersed forthwith leaving three or four
persons on the ground with gunshot wounds. At four a m.
The picket's squadron was relieved by another squadron of the regiment.
With this latter squadron I was on duty, and after
we had patrolled the town for two hours, the officer
in command sent me to the magistrates, who had remained
(16:59):
assembled during the night, to report to them that the
town was perfectly quiet, and to request their sanction to
the return of the military to their quarters. On the
afternoon of the seventeenth, I visited, in company with some
military medical officers the infirmary. I saw there from twelve
to twenty cases of saber wounds, and among these two
(17:23):
women who appeared not likely to recover. One man was
in a dying state from a gunshot wound in the head,
another had his leg amputated. Both these casualties arose from
the firing of the eighty eighth the night before. Two
or three were reputed dead, one of them a constable
killed on Saint Peter's Field, but I saw none of
(17:44):
the bodies. As shortly as I could, I have now
related what fell under my own observation during these twenty
four hours. I trust that I have in some degree
complied with your wishes. William G. Hilton to Thomas Grimstone
bucknall est Court esquire mp end of Section three
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