Manchester and Salford Yeomanry
Encyclopedia
The Manchester and Salford Yeomanry cavalry was a short-lived yeomanry
regiment
formed in response to social unrest in northern England in 1817. The volunteer regiment became notorious for its involvement in the 1819 Peterloo Massacre
, in which as many as 15 people were killed and 400–700 were injured. Often referred to simply as the Manchester Yeomanry, the regiment was disbanded in 1824.
in 1815, many textile workers in the newly industrialised towns of northern England lost their jobs as a result of an economic slump connected to the reduced need for matériel
. Even for those still employed, rising food prices made life very difficult. At the same time, writers such as William Cobbett
were denouncing the inequity of the electoral system, as evidenced by rotten boroughs. Poor mill workers were a naturally sympathetic audience for a succession of radical organisers and speakers who spoke of electoral reform and alleviating poverty.
This radical movement deeply worried many supporters of the Tory party, particularly in northern England. The fear of popular revolt had begun with the American and French revolutions in the late 18th-century. Many Tory supporters, such as mill owners, landowners and tradesmen, saw the agitation for suffrage
as little less than sedition. The Tory party strongly opposed the proposed reforms.
On 10 March 1817, about 5,000 people met in St Peters Field in central Manchester, aiming to march to London to set their grievances before the Prince Regent. Each person carried a rug or blanket, leading them to be named Blanketeers
. The march was quickly suppressed, but Manchester Tories worried that they lacked protection from the hostile masses. This fear spurred a petition with more than 100 signatures to "the Boroughreeves
and Constables of Manchester and Salford" demanding a meeting to establish a yeomanry
corps. The constables organized the meeting for 19 June 1817. Wheeler's Manchester Chronicle reported that those present resolved "that under the present circumstances it is expedient to form a body of Yeomanry Cavalry in the Towns and neighborhood of Manchester and Salford". The newspaper noted that government allowances were available for uniforms, and that if neighboring towns formed their own corps they might be later combined. Each man was to provide his own horse.
Thomas Trafford
, owner of substantial lands in Lancashire and Cheshire, was commissioned as the cavalry's first Major-Commandant on 23 August 1817. As with many yeomanry regiments of the time, it was a relatively inexperienced militia recruited from among shopkeepers and tradesmen. A notice in the London Gazette on 6 October 1818 listed the appointment of officers to the corps over the past year.
On 16 August 1819, Major Trafford and Lieutenant Colonel Guy L'Estrange, the overall military commander in Manchester, were sent notes by the chairman of the Lancashire and Cheshire Magistrates, local coalowner William Hulton
, urging them to dispatch troops to a public meeting on voting reform being addressed by the orator Henry Hunt
.
The notes were handed to two horsemen standing by. The Manchester and Salford Yeomanry were stationed just a short distance away in Portland Street, and so received their note first. Trafford dispatched 116 officers and men of the Manchester and Salford Yeomanry who immediately drew their swords and galloped towards St Peter's Field. One trooper, in a frantic attempt to catch up, knocked down a woman in Cooper Street, causing the death of her child when he was thrown from her arms; two-year-old William Fildes was the first casualty of Peterloo. special constables
were already present at the meeting, but no troops.
Sixty cavalrymen of the Manchester and Salford Yeomanry, led by Captain Hugh Hornby Birley
, a local factory owner, arrived at the house from where the magistrates were watching; some reports allege that they were drunk. Andrews, the Chief Constable, instructed Birley that he had an arrest warrant which he needed assistance to execute. Birley was asked to take his cavalry to the hustings to allow the speakers to be removed; it was by then about 1:40 pm. Major Trafford himself appears not to have been present for the disastrous attack on the assembled crowd that followed.
The route towards the hustings between the special constables was narrow, and as the inexperienced horses were thrust further and further into the crowd they reared and plunged as people tried to get out of their way. The arrest warrant had been given to the Deputy Constable, Joseph Nadin, who followed behind the yeomanry. As the cavalry pushed towards the speakers' stand they became stuck in the crowd, and in panic started to hack about them with their sabres. On his arrival at the stand Nadin arrested Hunt, Johnson and a number of others including John Tyas, the reporter from The Times. According to Tyas the yeomanry's progress through the crowd had provoked a hail of bricks and stones, and caused them to lose "all command of temper". Their mission to execute the arrest warrant having been achieved, they then set about destroying the banners and flags carried by the crowd.
From his vantage point William Hulton perceived the unfolding events as an assault on the yeomanry, and on L'Estrange's arrival at 1:50 pm, at the head of his hussars, he ordered them into the field to disperse the crowd with the words: "Good God, Sir, don't you see they are attacking the Yeomanry; disperse the meeting!" The 15th Hussars formed themselves into a line stretching across the eastern end of St Peter's Field, and charged into the crowd. At about the same time the Cheshire Yeomanry charged from the southern edge of the field. At first the crowd had some difficulty in dispersing, as the main exit route into Peter Street was blocked by the 88th Infantry Regiment, standing with bayonets fixed. One officer of the 15th Hussars was heard trying to restrain the by now out of control Manchester and Salford Yeomanry, who were "cutting at every one they could reach": "For shame! For shame! Gentlemen: forbear, forbear! The people cannot get away!" Within ten minutes the crowd was dispersed, at the cost of at least 11 dead and over 600 injured.
sent a message of thanks from the Prince Regent to Major Trafford, among others. However, public horror at the actions of the yeomanry grew after the massacre. Major Trafford resigned his commission in 1820, and the yeomanry corps was disbanded on 9 June 1824.
Yeomanry
Yeomanry is a designation used by a number of units or sub-units of the British Territorial Army, descended from volunteer cavalry regiments. Today, Yeomanry units may serve in a variety of different military roles.-History:...
regiment
Regiment
A regiment is a major tactical military unit, composed of variable numbers of batteries, squadrons or battalions, commanded by a colonel or lieutenant colonel...
formed in response to social unrest in northern England in 1817. The volunteer regiment became notorious for its involvement in the 1819 Peterloo Massacre
Peterloo Massacre
The Peterloo Massacre occurred at St Peter's Field, Manchester, England, on 16 August 1819, when cavalry charged into a crowd of 60,000–80,000 that had gathered to demand the reform of parliamentary representation....
, in which as many as 15 people were killed and 400–700 were injured. Often referred to simply as the Manchester Yeomanry, the regiment was disbanded in 1824.
Formation
After the end of the Napoleonic WarsNapoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
in 1815, many textile workers in the newly industrialised towns of northern England lost their jobs as a result of an economic slump connected to the reduced need for matériel
Materiel
Materiel is a term used in English to refer to the equipment and supplies in military and commercial supply chain management....
. Even for those still employed, rising food prices made life very difficult. At the same time, writers such as William Cobbett
William Cobbett
William Cobbett was an English pamphleteer, farmer and journalist, who was born in Farnham, Surrey. He believed that reforming Parliament and abolishing the rotten boroughs would help to end the poverty of farm labourers, and he attacked the borough-mongers, sinecurists and "tax-eaters" relentlessly...
were denouncing the inequity of the electoral system, as evidenced by rotten boroughs. Poor mill workers were a naturally sympathetic audience for a succession of radical organisers and speakers who spoke of electoral reform and alleviating poverty.
This radical movement deeply worried many supporters of the Tory party, particularly in northern England. The fear of popular revolt had begun with the American and French revolutions in the late 18th-century. Many Tory supporters, such as mill owners, landowners and tradesmen, saw the agitation for suffrage
Suffrage
Suffrage, political franchise, or simply the franchise, distinct from mere voting rights, is the civil right to vote gained through the democratic process...
as little less than sedition. The Tory party strongly opposed the proposed reforms.
On 10 March 1817, about 5,000 people met in St Peters Field in central Manchester, aiming to march to London to set their grievances before the Prince Regent. Each person carried a rug or blanket, leading them to be named Blanketeers
Blanketeers
The Blanketeers or Blanket March was a demonstration organised in Manchester in March 1817. The intention was for the participants, who were mainly Lancashire weavers, to march to London and petition the Prince Regent over the desperate state of the textile industry in Lancashire, and to protest...
. The march was quickly suppressed, but Manchester Tories worried that they lacked protection from the hostile masses. This fear spurred a petition with more than 100 signatures to "the Boroughreeves
Reeve (England)
Originally in Anglo-Saxon England the reeve was a senior official with local responsibilities under the Crown e.g. as the chief magistrate of a town or district...
and Constables of Manchester and Salford" demanding a meeting to establish a yeomanry
Yeomanry
Yeomanry is a designation used by a number of units or sub-units of the British Territorial Army, descended from volunteer cavalry regiments. Today, Yeomanry units may serve in a variety of different military roles.-History:...
corps. The constables organized the meeting for 19 June 1817. Wheeler's Manchester Chronicle reported that those present resolved "that under the present circumstances it is expedient to form a body of Yeomanry Cavalry in the Towns and neighborhood of Manchester and Salford". The newspaper noted that government allowances were available for uniforms, and that if neighboring towns formed their own corps they might be later combined. Each man was to provide his own horse.
Thomas Trafford
Thomas de Trafford
Sir Thomas Joseph de Trafford, 1st Baronet, DL was a member of a prominent family of English Roman Catholics. He served as commander of the Manchester and Salford Yeomanry at the time of the Peterloo Massacre...
, owner of substantial lands in Lancashire and Cheshire, was commissioned as the cavalry's first Major-Commandant on 23 August 1817. As with many yeomanry regiments of the time, it was a relatively inexperienced militia recruited from among shopkeepers and tradesmen. A notice in the London Gazette on 6 October 1818 listed the appointment of officers to the corps over the past year.
Peterloo Massacre
William Hulton
William Hulton was an English landowner and magistrate.William Hulton was the son of William Hulton and Jane of Hulton Park, then in the historic county of Lancashire, England. He was educated at Brasenose College, Oxford...
, urging them to dispatch troops to a public meeting on voting reform being addressed by the orator Henry Hunt
Henry Hunt (politician)
Henry "Orator" Hunt was a British radical speaker and agitator remembered as a pioneer of working-class radicalism and an important influence on the later Chartist movement. He advocated parliamentary reform and the repeal of the Corn Laws.Hunt was born in Upavon, Wiltshire and became a prosperous...
.
The notes were handed to two horsemen standing by. The Manchester and Salford Yeomanry were stationed just a short distance away in Portland Street, and so received their note first. Trafford dispatched 116 officers and men of the Manchester and Salford Yeomanry who immediately drew their swords and galloped towards St Peter's Field. One trooper, in a frantic attempt to catch up, knocked down a woman in Cooper Street, causing the death of her child when he was thrown from her arms; two-year-old William Fildes was the first casualty of Peterloo. special constables
Special Constabulary
The Special Constabulary is the part-time volunteer section of a statutory police force in the United Kingdom or some Crown dependencies. Its officers are known as Special Constables or informally as Specials.Every United Kingdom territorial police force has a special constabulary except the...
were already present at the meeting, but no troops.
Sixty cavalrymen of the Manchester and Salford Yeomanry, led by Captain Hugh Hornby Birley
Hugh Hornby Birley
Hugh Hornby Birley was a leading Manchester Tory who is reputed to have led the fatal charge of the Manchester and Salford Yeomanry at the Peterloo Massacre. He was also instrumental in founding the Royal Victoria Gallery of Practical Science in 1839...
, a local factory owner, arrived at the house from where the magistrates were watching; some reports allege that they were drunk. Andrews, the Chief Constable, instructed Birley that he had an arrest warrant which he needed assistance to execute. Birley was asked to take his cavalry to the hustings to allow the speakers to be removed; it was by then about 1:40 pm. Major Trafford himself appears not to have been present for the disastrous attack on the assembled crowd that followed.
From his vantage point William Hulton perceived the unfolding events as an assault on the yeomanry, and on L'Estrange's arrival at 1:50 pm, at the head of his hussars, he ordered them into the field to disperse the crowd with the words: "Good God, Sir, don't you see they are attacking the Yeomanry; disperse the meeting!" The 15th Hussars formed themselves into a line stretching across the eastern end of St Peter's Field, and charged into the crowd. At about the same time the Cheshire Yeomanry charged from the southern edge of the field. At first the crowd had some difficulty in dispersing, as the main exit route into Peter Street was blocked by the 88th Infantry Regiment, standing with bayonets fixed. One officer of the 15th Hussars was heard trying to restrain the by now out of control Manchester and Salford Yeomanry, who were "cutting at every one they could reach": "For shame! For shame! Gentlemen: forbear, forbear! The people cannot get away!" Within ten minutes the crowd was dispersed, at the cost of at least 11 dead and over 600 injured.
Aftermath and disbandment
The government and landowners viewed the yeomanry's actions at Peterloo as a courageous defence against insurrection. Following the massacre, on 27 August 1819, Lord SidmouthHenry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth
Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth, PC was a British statesman, and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1804....
sent a message of thanks from the Prince Regent to Major Trafford, among others. However, public horror at the actions of the yeomanry grew after the massacre. Major Trafford resigned his commission in 1820, and the yeomanry corps was disbanded on 9 June 1824.