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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Peterloo
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(16 Aug. 1819) Popular name for a disaster symptomatic of the unrest and repression in Britain after the Napoleonic Wars. At a time of recession and high food prices a demonstration was held in Manchester on St Peter's Fields (where the Free Trade Hall now stands) to demand the reform of parliament. The crowd was peaceful and unarmed, but its unexpected size (some 60,000) alarmed the magistrates, who ordered troops to clear the area. They did so by charging and laying about them with their sabres. The exact figures are uncertain, but some 500 were injured and 11 killed. The name combined St Peter's Fields with the recent carnage of *Waterloo.
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