The 1819 massacre of workers in Manchester

[Brian G Turner]

History tends to be written by the rich, about the rich, for the rich. So it's good to see some little-known working-class history not only being discussed, but also made into a film:

The man who ordered a massacre

In 1819, a troop of sabre-wielding cavalrymen charged into a huge workers' rights protest in Manchester. The carnage that followed is the subject of a new film starring Maxine Peake.

 

[Vladd67]

Hardly little known though is it?

 

[Toby Frost]

This is an important piece of social history, and it's good to see that it is being reported. I hope it just tells the story and doesn't try any banal modern-day comparisons. I'm in two minds about Mike Leigh, but Maxine Peake is always decent.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Hardly little known though is it?

I'd never heard of it, and we studied the Industrial Revolution in school!

 

[TheEndIsNigh]

I believe it was touched on in an episode of "Sharp".

But they relocated it to Keigthley Yorks.

 

[Ray Pullar]

A standard part of the 19th c. history curriculum when I took my A level at a comprehensive. Captain Swing, bread riots, corn laws, rotten boroughs, 1832 reform act and chartism.

 

[svalbard]

I'd never heard of it, and we studied the Industrial Revolution in school!

Our history teacher taught us about it but that maybe had something to do with his social leanings. He was(and still is) a fine teacher.

 

[The Judge]

I'd never heard of it

Well, you did if you read one of my posts in K2's critiques thread in July, because there it is:

I have a better grasp of history than a lot of people, but I still couldn't give you a chapter on the Corn Laws or the Peterloo Massacre or the founding of the NHS or the Suffragette movement, and arguably they all have some bearing on my life today

 

[paranoid marvin]

There was an excellent drama on channel 4 a decade or so ago. A real shame that it doesn't appear to be available now.