On 18 January 1819, Henry Hunt presided at a meeting of 8,000 operatives on St. Peter’s Field in Manchester.

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James Chandler, “On Peterloo, 16 August 1819″

On 15 February 1819, William Fitton presided at a public meeting at Sandy Brow in Stockport (the so-called “Sandy Brow Fight”), number present not known, where a scuffle involving stones and brickbats occurred over an attempt by the military to seize the Cap of Liberty; the Riot Act was read three times.

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James Chandler, “On Peterloo, 16 August 1819″

On 14 June 1819, Joseph Harrison presided at a meeting of 12,000–15,000 at Ashton-under-Lyne; this was typical of a spate of June meetings at Oldham, Bolton, Royton, Bury, Heywood, Stockport, Failsworth, Gee Cross, Lees, Middleton, Rochdale, Todmorden, Barnsley, Holmfirth, Leeds, and other towns that were unrepresented in Parliament.

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James Chandler, “On Peterloo, 16 August 1819″

On 16 June 1819, 40,000 weavers met at Glasgow to petition the Prince Regent for passage money to Canada for the unemployed.

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James Chandler, “On Peterloo, 16 August 1819″

On 28 June 1819, at the great Stockport meeting, the largest of its kind besides Peterloo, upwards of 20,000 assembled to hear Sir Charles Wolseley speak on Parliamentary reform.

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James Chandler, “On Peterloo, 16 August 1819″

On 16 August 1819, at St. Peter’s Field, Manchester, more than 60,000 workers gathered to demonstrate in favor of an expansion of suffrage in England. In an attempt to disperse the crowd and arrest the organizers of the demonstration, local cavalry and members of the 15th Hussars and 88th Foot attacked the crowd, killing a dozen protestors and injuring as many as 600. Though Wellington was not involved, the incident was dubbed “Peterloo” because of his persistent opposition to reform in the House of Lords. Image: Richard Carlisle, To Henry Hunt, Esq., as chairman of the emeeting assembled in St. Peter's Field, Manchester, sixteenth day of August, 1819, and to the female Reformers of Manchester and the adjacent towns who were exposed to and suffered from the wanton and fiendish attack made on them by that brutal armed force, the Manchester and Cheshire Yeomanry Cavalry, this plate is dedicated by their fellow labourer, Richard Carlile: a coloured engraving that depicts the Peterloo Massacre (1 October 1819), Manchester Library Services. This image is in the public domain in the United States because its copyright has expired.

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James Chandler, “On Peterloo, 16 August 1819″

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On 2 September 1819, 15,000–50,000 people assembled in Westminster and were addressed by Francis Burdett and Major Cartwright. The Examiner for that date confirmed 2 September as the correct date. This followed a smaller protest meeting at Smithfield the week before.

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James Chandler, “On Peterloo, 16 August 1819″

On 1 November 1819, simultaneous meetings were held, by prior agreement, at Newcastle, Carlisle, Leeds Halifax, Manchester, Bolton, Nottingham, Leicester, Coventry, and elsewhere in England and Scotland.

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James Chandler, “On Peterloo, 16 August 1819″

On 15 November 1819, simultaneous radical meetings occurred at Paisley, Glasgow, and other locations across Scotland.

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James Chandler, “On Peterloo, 16 August 1819″

On 30 December 1819, the British parliament passed the Six Acts (or Gag Acts), which labeled any meeting for radical reform as “an overt act of treasonable conspiracy.” The acts were aimed at gagging radical newspapers (the Blasphemous and Seditious Libels Act, the Newspaper and Stamp Duties Act, and the Misdemeanors Act), preventing large meetings (the Seditious Meetings Prevention Act), and reducing what the government saw as the possibility of armed insurrection (the Training Prevention Act and the Seizure of Arms Act). Image: The Royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

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James Chandler, “On Peterloo, 16 August 1819″