Massacre at St. Peters, or Britons strike home, cartoon [depicting Peterloo]
TitleMassacre at St. Peters, or Britons strike home, cartoon [depicting Peterloo]
ReferenceFRAMED/114
Date
Aug 1819
Production date 1819-08 - 1819-08
Scope and ContentFrom Catalogue of political and personal satires preserved in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum: volume 9
"[I. R. or perhaps G. Cruikshank,] London published August 16th [sic] 1819 by T Tegg 111 Cheapside Engraving (coloured impression).
Mounted men, all fat, wearing yeomanry uniform, with the over-sleeves and steels of butchers, ride savagely over men, women, and children, slashing at them with blood-stained axes. Smoke, as from a battle, and bayoneted muskets, form a background, with (l. and r.) houses in whose windows spectators are indicated. They have a Union flag with G R and crown, and a fringed banner inscribed "Loyal Man[chester[ Yeomanry - "Be Bloody, bold & Resolute" [Macbeth, iv. i] - "Spur your proud Horses & Ride hard in blood'' [Richard III, v. iii]. On the saddle-cloths are the letters L M Y above a skull and cross-bones surmounted by a crown. One man kicks a young woman who kneels beseechingly, clasping an infant, raising his axe to smite. The man behind him, his arm extended, shouts: "Down with 'em! Chop 'em down! My brave boys! give them no quarter, they want to take our Beef & Pudding from us! - & remember the more you Kill the less poor rates you'll have to pay so go it Lads show your Courage & your Loyalty!"
A satire on the 'Manchester Massacre' of 16 Aug. 1819, when a mass-meeting in St. Peter's Fields, addressed by Hunt and others, was charged by a troop of Manchester Yeomanry, local tradesmen whose horses were not under control, acting on the instructions of the local magistrates. They were pressed by the crowd and drew their sabres; the 15th Hussars and Cheshire Yeomanry came to their help. Infantry had been posted in the adjacent streets. The intention was to send mounted men to arrest the leaders on the hustings when it was thought the meeting would disperse. A storm of indignation followed, helped by the scathing sobriquet 'Peterloo' which appeared as early as 21 Aug. in the Manchester Observer."
"[I. R. or perhaps G. Cruikshank,] London published August 16th [sic] 1819 by T Tegg 111 Cheapside Engraving (coloured impression).
Mounted men, all fat, wearing yeomanry uniform, with the over-sleeves and steels of butchers, ride savagely over men, women, and children, slashing at them with blood-stained axes. Smoke, as from a battle, and bayoneted muskets, form a background, with (l. and r.) houses in whose windows spectators are indicated. They have a Union flag with G R and crown, and a fringed banner inscribed "Loyal Man[chester[ Yeomanry - "Be Bloody, bold & Resolute" [Macbeth, iv. i] - "Spur your proud Horses & Ride hard in blood'' [Richard III, v. iii]. On the saddle-cloths are the letters L M Y above a skull and cross-bones surmounted by a crown. One man kicks a young woman who kneels beseechingly, clasping an infant, raising his axe to smite. The man behind him, his arm extended, shouts: "Down with 'em! Chop 'em down! My brave boys! give them no quarter, they want to take our Beef & Pudding from us! - & remember the more you Kill the less poor rates you'll have to pay so go it Lads show your Courage & your Loyalty!"
A satire on the 'Manchester Massacre' of 16 Aug. 1819, when a mass-meeting in St. Peter's Fields, addressed by Hunt and others, was charged by a troop of Manchester Yeomanry, local tradesmen whose horses were not under control, acting on the instructions of the local magistrates. They were pressed by the crowd and drew their sabres; the 15th Hussars and Cheshire Yeomanry came to their help. Infantry had been posted in the adjacent streets. The intention was to send mounted men to arrest the leaders on the hustings when it was thought the meeting would disperse. A storm of indignation followed, helped by the scathing sobriquet 'Peterloo' which appeared as early as 21 Aug. in the Manchester Observer."
Extent1 framed item
Physical descriptionDimensions (H X W): 39cm X 46cm
Related object
Persons keywordHunt, Henry
SubjectCartoons, Peterloo Massacre
Conditions governing accessOpen
Levelfile
Normal location57W (First floor)