* Saturday 3 August 2019
Part 1: “We Are on the Brink of Liberty”, 11.30am
Booking: Please press here to book with eventbrite.

Manchester, early 19th century: war, hardship, poverty, injustice, pollution, disease. With the Napoleonic wars over in 1815, people were expecting a better time, but things got worse.

Which is why there were countless demonstrations and strikes, culminating on 16 August 1819 with a mass meeting at St Peter’s Field, Manchester, that saw at least a dozen dead and six hundred injured.

Ed Glinert, who worked with Paul Foot at Private Eye fighting injustice, describes the worrying build-up to Peterloo and the day’s horrific events.