Thread by @MikeStuchbery_

August 16 is a day that, for many of us, should be more widely remembered as we head to work. It marks the anniversary of the 'Peterloo Massacre', a tragedy that helped give us our voice.

The 18th century Industrial Revolution brought multitudes to English cities like Manchester. Mills rattled and rumbled from dawn to dusk, creating cloth, rope, materials keeping the country - and particularly the military - going.

Come the end of the Napoleonic Wars, however, demand slowed. Many were laid off. Others found themselves paid less.

At the same time, the government, in an attempt to protect British farmers, introduced the first 'Corn Law'. This raised the price of staple grains.

The 'Corn Law' was great for the British (usually affluent) farmer/landowner. Prices were largely protected.

Workers in the cities, however, were put at a disadvantage. Well, more than that - they went hungry, they couldn't afford to feed themselves.

The workers of Manchester had very little recourse to address their hunger and deprivation. They were denied the vote - that was something only granted to affluent, male landowners.

They demanded if not the vote, then greater representation in Parliament to seek relief.

There had been meetings in Manchester before the 16th of August, 1819. Radicals of all stripes had descended on the city as fertile ground for their ideas.

This time was different. The meeting was to be much larger, and Henry Hunt was to speak.

Henry was a famed speaker, a farming gentleman turned radical who had toured the country, agitating for Parliamentary reform.

His presence was sure to draw thousands, and it did. Villages from miles around sent contingents, swelling numbers to around 80,000.

The magistrates of Manchester, and her more affluent citizens were terrified. Here were thousands waving banners with revolutionary slogans, & the horrors of the French Revolution were still in living memory.

Knowing that they had to do something, they summoned the militia.

Now, don't think these guys were experienced soldiers - they were wealthy local business owners in a uniform - undisciplined, to put it mildly.

It was a hot day, and seeing that they crowd were getting wound up as Hunt got up to speak, they issued an arrest warrant for him.

One group of militia rode their horses into the crowd to arrest Hunt. It was packed, & many simply couldn't get out of the way. Intimidated, soldiers stated hacking at the crowd.

Seeing this as their comrades in peril, a second group led a full cavalry charge into the crowd.

Terrified, the crowd scattered in all directions, a mad rush to get away from the soldiers.

When the field was cleared, eleven lay dead and hundreds badly injured.

In the immediate aftermath, Hunt and other radical politicians were rounded up and arrested - Hunt would spend two years in prison.

Harsh crackdowns on assemblies were introduced and dissent was treated severely by the magistrates.

However, the thing about the Peterloo Massacre is that it stuck in people's minds.

This is partly due to newspapers being able to report on it, and pamphlets mass produced on it.

Cartoons, songs and other media were created about it.

Percy Bysshe Shelley, when he heard about it, wrote a famous poem called 'The Masque of Anarchy' which is known for its stirring conclusion. bl.uk/learning/langl…

Essentially, those who died at Peterloo were remembered by subsequent generations of radicals - Chartists, Suffragettes and more - in the journey towards universal suffrage in the early 20th century.

Figures such as Karl Marx and Victor Hugo were undoubtedly moved by it.

To this day, the 'Peterloo Massacre' is remembered across Britain, and more widely, as the start of a reform movement that would fundamentally alter society - one where the people's voice is one to be respected.

Remember - ye are many, they are few! Remember Peterloo!

NB: Four more would die of their wounds later on.