Rencontre avec Robert Poole - Female Reformers at Peterloo, 1819

Female Reformers at Peterloo, 1819

Robert Poole, Professor of History, University of Central Lancashire, UK
RPoole@uclan.ac.uk
 
The ‘Peterloo massacre’ occurred on 16 August 1819 in Manchester, when a mass rally of pro-democracy reformers was attacked and dispersed by the military, leaving 15 dead and hundreds seriously injured. Unusually for the period, there were many women present, not just in the crowd but on the platform. Female reform societies were a new phenomenon, still finding their voice politically, and still working out how to organise and present themselves. Their presence was impressive, but it didn't protect them: the women on the platform were attacked, and overall they were more likely to be injured then men. They were various portrayed as heroines, helpless victims, and debased libertines. Why were they attacked? How can we understand this episode, and how does it fit into the longer history of women’s politics?
                             
Links :

• ‘The Peterloo massacre: how women’s bravery helped change British politics forever’ Robert Poole:
  http://theconversation.com/peterloo-massacre-how-womens-bravery-helped-change-british-politics-forever-121900
• The petition of Mary Fildes (video):
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TerM8ZSDQa8&list=PLddhSH7bW0pVj07x-wJ9hJYRw5ej_H27P&index=9