The Meeting by Angela Hurrell
31 January 2023 { Historical Fiction }
Arthur pulled on his thickest socks, which his mam had knitted for him. He put on his boots and tied the laces, making sure that they were tight. It was six miles and a good three hour walk, and he had to get to the meeting point on time. His mam fussed over him as he tried to leave, shoving some food at him and looking tearful.
' Be careful,' she urged, 'Don't get into trouble. Don't dally when it's over, come straight back. I'll be waiting.'
' I will, Mam. Don't worry. It will all be fine.'
He grinned at his mam and gave her a bear hug. His mam was definitely more anxious now his dad passed. It was like she had to worry for both of them now. But it was true the authorities seemed set against their cause. That was clear from recent events. But surely when they saw the strength of support they would have to listen.
He went out into a lovely clear summer morning. He took a deep breath of the fresh air and set off at pace. On his way he met quite a few others heading in the same direction, all dressed in their Sunday best.
When he reached Sandy Brow, there was already a large group of people waiting. It was a mixed group of women, children and men. There was a buzz of excitement, people greeting each other and chatting, children running around and being admonished. It would be a long walk, so they needed to save their energy. As Arthur waited, he gazed out to Manchester, their destination, in the distance, the mill and church towers rising into the blue sky.
At exactly nine o‘clock there was efforts to quieten everyone down and they asked everyone to start assembling into rows of three abreast. As Arthur took his place and greeted the two men beside him, Tom and William, a girl from the row in front turned and smiled at him. Some rows were handed banners to carry. The banners said things like: ‘Constitutional Reform’, ‘Universal Suffrage’, ‘The Vote for Working Men’, ‘Let us die like men and not like slaves!’. And then they started to move, stop start at first but eventually falling into a steady rhythm. As they passed through Stockport more people joined them and other people stood and cheered or clapped.
Arthur soon discovered he was behind a large group of women from the Stockport Female Union, there was more than 10 rows of them. From their conversations he gathered the three in front of him were Izzy, Gloria and Violet. They were chatting and laughing as they walked. Violet, the one who’d smiled at him, had particularly taken his eye. She had a warm easy laugh and strode out strongly. She was slim, wearing a fawn skirt and white blouse, with red hair gleaming in the sun.
Izzy soon made him swap with her, so she could walk with Tom, her sweetheart.
‘Hello, what’s your name?’
‘Arthur.’
‘I’m Gloria and this is Violet, we’re both hat girls.’
‘Nice to make your acquaintance. I’m Arthur, I’m an agricultural worker. So, you’re part of the Female Union then?’
‘Yes,’ said Violet, ‘the organisation supports men like our fathers and brothers getting the vote, but we also hope it will be a step towards women getting the vote too.’
‘Do you like dancing? There’ll be bands and dancing at the fields and maybe you could partner us,’ Gloria interjected.
Arthur laughed. Secretly, he hoped to hold Violet in his arms and a dance was as good an opportunity as any.
‘I’m not a good dancer but I’ll do my best.’
It was a long way, but the time passed quickly. The organisers walked up and down the line checking people were okay, swapping out the banner carriers and passing the time of day. Bystanders on the route called out to them wishing them well. Tom was full of jokes and stories, William and the girls were pleasant company too.
When the Stockport contingent reached St. Peter's fields, they were in good time and only the second group to arrive. They were able to take a prime position by the hustings with a really good view from the slopes of Windmill Street of the whole field, the cottage gardens, Quakers Meeting House, Jackson’s Row and Mount Street. Word went round that someone had done a count and that there were fifteen hundred of them from Stockport. A great turn out! They sat down to rest and eat the food they'd brought, while the rest of the crowd was gathering. Arthur sat as close as he could to Violet.
The fields were filling up with many more thousands of people. Arthur had never seen so many. Many had come from miles away, just to hear Henry Hunt who was renowned as a great orator. Arthur was proud that Henry Hunt had been hosted by a Stockport organisation. Friends and families were gathering and picnicking all excited to see the Henry Hunt in person, not all of them were part of the campaign.
There were bands playing, people singing and dancing. Arthur was pressed into accompanying the girls for a dance. He discovered Violet had hazel eyes and a scattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose. Gloria was pretty and sweet, but it was Violet he wanted to kiss. After dancing they went back to join their group saving their place by the hustings. There was still plenty going on. There were people handing out leaflets and others who had grasped the opportunity to sell food, drink or mementoes.
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In a terraced house on Mount Street, the atmosphere could not have been more different from the friendly, family carnival atmosphere in the fields. The magistrates were looking out at what they were told was, at a conservative guess, approximately sixty thousand people.
A mood of anger and grim determination prevailed. They would stop this sedition and disperse the people before Hunt could spread his treasonous message.
One of the magistrates stood at the open window and read the riot act.
'Our Sovereign Lord the King chargeth and commandeth all persons, being assembled, immediately to disperse themselves, and peaceably, depart to their habitations, or to their lawful business, upon the pains contained in the act made in the first year of King George the first for preventing tumults and righteous assemblies. God save the king'.
'God save the King!' those in the room echoed.
The riot act allowed the authorities to approach any gathering of more than twelve people to read the act and ask them to disperse with sixty minutes grace. After that, if they didn’t disperse it was deemed a felony. However, the announcement was not made from the hustings and wasn't audible by the public, except perhaps by anyone in the immediate vicinity of the Mount Street window. They weren't obligated to wait a full sixty minutes.
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At one o'clock a ripple of clapping started. The clapping and cheering increased until it became a roar from the crowd as Henry Hunt appeared on the hustings. Arthur took the opportunity to grasp Violet’s hand and she squeezed his hand back. The crowd gradually fell silent as they stood awaiting his speech.
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In Mount Street, the magistrates heard the reaction of the crowd and decided they wanted to cut short the assembly as quickly as possible to prevent Hunt speaking and corrupting the working people. They gave the order, which was relayed to the Manchester Yeomanry who started to cross the fields. At first, they made good progress, as they moved through the thinner crowds at the back. As they got closer to the front, where people were tightly packed to get as close as possible, they found it harder to make headway.
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Hunt started his speech, but it became increasingly hard to hear because of a commotion further back in the crowd. From where Arthur was, he could see that people were being jostled as the yeomen pushed to get through. The yeomen were hugely outnumbered by the crowd who pushed back in a mix of anger and fear of being crushed. The yeomen started to lash out with their batons. There was the sound of men shouting and women and children screaming as they were pushed and beaten.
And then seemingly from out of nowhere the chestnut flank of a horse was upon them, its rider slashing wildly in all directions with his sabre. Arthur instinctively pushed Violet away and jumped away himself. He felt an agonising pain as the blade caught his face. Not far to the right of the first rider, he sees another mounted soldier crashing through the crowd and stabbing at people with his bayonet. A woman loses her footing as she runs and is trampled by the horse.
'Quickly,' he says lifting Violet up off the floor.
'Where's Izzy and Gloria?’ Violet asks desperately, ‘I can't see them.'
Arthur glances around but he can't see them either. He can see soldiers seemingly targeting anyone who has a banner or is near any yeomen. He can also see people lying on the floor with terrible injuries. The moans and screams of the people slashed or trampled made it seem like hell on earth. The rest of the crowd is fleeing off the fields and up all the surrounding streets.
' I think they got away’, he says hoping his lie will become truth, 'we need to go.'
He grabs hold of her hand and they run.
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The magistrate walks across the field that half an hour ago was full of radicals. It only took fifteen minutes to disperse the many thousands. A successful operation, he thinks. It's now empty apart from the injured, dead and piles of abandoned belongings.
Footnote
On the 16th of August 1819 magistrates read the riot act to disperse a peaceful crowd, at an event in St Peters Fields Manchester in support of the vote for working men. Between sixty and a hundred thousand people were in attendance from a radius of up to thirty miles away. This included fifteen hundred people who walked from Stockport.
Manchester Yeomanry (on foot) and the 14th Hussars (mounted) were deployed and as a result 654 people were injured and 15 killed, 4 women and one 2-year-old. There was no free health care and some couldn’t recover from their injuries and died months later. Fifty from Stockport were injured, a high number because of their proximity to the hustings. No Stopfordians were recorded as fatalities.
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