Manchester, England, UK
A crowd of about 60,000 from an industrial north suffering under a deep economic slump after the Napoleonic Wars had marched to central Manchester to try to force the government to act on a petition calling for suffrage for all males at a time when only a select few could vote. The local magistrates ordered the arrest of the main orator, and then sent a company of Hussars to draw swords and disperse the crowd. Fourteen were killed by the militia, a further three are thought to have been killed in the mêlée, and an unborn child was killed when its mother was beaten in custody. The event took place at St Peter's Field. The media dubbed it the Peterloo Massacre.
