An “exceptionally rare” jug commemorating the Peterloo Massacre is to go on display in Manchester.
Thousands of people gathered in the city on 16 August 1819 to take part in a peaceful protest calling for political reform and more voting rights.
As many as 18 protesters are believed to have been killed, with many more injured, after soldiers were ordered to arrest the demonstration’s leaders and put an end to the protest.
Jenny Mabbott, from the People’s History Museum, said the jug – which will be on display from 1 August to 3 January – was a “direct link to one of the defining moments in the history of democracy in Britain”.
The jug was acquired thanks to support from the Art Fund, the national charity for museums and galleries.
Experts believe the jug was made in the years following the massacre and that it reflected the escalating public anger felt in its aftermath, the People’s History Museum said.
It features a map of the site where the Peterloo Massacre took place when yeomanry charged into a crowd of about 60,000 people.
Although the jugs would have been produced on a commercial scale, no other examples of this design have been identified, making this one exceptionally rare.
It will join significant Peterloo objects already on display at the museum including yeomanry sabres, a commemorative handkerchief, and a cane carried by one of the protesters.