A historian has shared the “remarkable” story of a survivor of the Peterloo Massacre, 200 years on from the event.
David Olusoga has examined the story of William Cheatham, whose fight for justice reached Parliament after he was nearly killed by a cavalry sabre in the massacre, on 16 August 1819.
British Army troops charged into a crowd of about 60,000 people who were demanding parliamentary reforms on St Peter’s Field, Manchester, with 18 killed and an estimated 400 to 700 injured.
Using new research uncovered from historical newspaper archives, Olusoga has explored the largely unknown story of Cheatham in a new podcast series.
Although the massacre is now recognised as a defining event in Britain’s democratic development, many survivors’ stories were largely forgotten.
A Family History Of Peterloo: Britain’s Forgotten Massacre, hosted by Olusoga and fellow historian Jen Baldwin, examines new research carried out in partnership with Manchester’s People’s History Museum, which holds the country’s most significant Peterloo collection.