DHCommons

This project explores the intersections of the social, literary, and graphic history of the 1819 massacre in St. Peter’s Field in Manchester, England, when cavalry under orders from local magistrates charged into a peaceful crowd of reform-seeking protesters. They killed fifteen and injured hundreds of men, women, and children. It later came to light that many of the cavalry were intoxicated. Outrage at the government filled popular media. This site will feature a scholarly edition of Percy Shelley’s satirical poem, “The Mask of Anarchy,” his response to the bloodshed, but also it will include an historical overview of the tragedy, maps of the area, contemporary accounts and responses, illustrations and satirical cartoons, and a discussion of the political legacies of both Peterloo, as it was soon dubbed, and Shelley’s poem.