Peterloo Massacre

/ ˌpiːtəˈluː /

noun

1. an incident at St Peter's Fields, Manchester, in 1819 in which a radical meeting was broken up by a cavalry charge, resulting in about 500 injuries and 11 deaths

Word History and Origins

Origin of Peterloo Massacre¹

C19: from St Peter's Fields + Waterloo

Example Sentences

Earlier this year in Manchester, England, there was a furor around a public monument to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Peterloo Massacre, a central event in British labor history in which mounted soldiers rode into a workers’ protest, killing 18 people.

From New York Times

Hundreds of people are gathering in Manchester to mark the 200th anniversary of the Peterloo massacre.

From BBC

Today Two hundredth anniversary of the Peterloo Massacre, the violent quelling of a peaceful protest for parliamentary reform at St Peter's Field, Manchester, in which an estimated 18 people were killed.

From BBC

Worse, an estimated 18 people would lose their lives – bayoneted, sabred, trampled by cavalry – in what came to be known as the Peterloo massacre, a parodic comparison with the British victory at the Battle of Waterloo four years earlier.

From The Guardian

A few weeks before the 200th anniversary of the Peterloo massacre, the Radisson Blu hotel advertised for a “monitoring and evaluation assistant” on zero hours.

From The Guardian