A View of St. Peter's Place and manner in which the Manchester Reform Meeting was dispersed by Civil and Military Power, 6th August 1819

Summary

A depiction of the infamous Peterloo Massacre of 6 August 1819. The scene is set in St. Peter's Place, Manchester, but no ground is visible, as the crowd, seen from a high view point, are closely packed together. Panic and consternation reign in the foreground, as people try to escape the cavalry in the middle ground, whose raised sabres are poised to strike, and in some cases are already slashing at the crowd. The men and woman on the dais have their hands open in gestures of reasonable appeal to the mounted soldiers who surround them. The central figure, hat in hand, is orator Henry Hunt (1773-1835), whose popularity as a public speaker has drawn the crowd to hear his message of parliamentary reform. To the left of the platform of speakers are a group of banner-holders, whose messages are legible in some cases, calling for 'NO CORN LAWS', ''Universal Suffrage Annual Parliament and Elect by Ballot', and 'Hunt and Liberty'. Phrygian caps symbolising liberty top their banner staffs. Behind the dense crowd can be seen simply-outlined houses and mills, with a cloudy sky above.