Elizabeth Healey was the wife of Joseph Healey, an apothecary from
Harpurhey. Joseph Healey, who had been born in Bent in 1780, was influenced
by the ideas of Major John Cartwright and
had formed a Hampden Club in Oldham
in 1816. A quack doctor who was virtually illiterate, Joseph Healey
was one of the main leaders of the parliamentary reform movement in
Lancashire.
Joseph Healey had a reputation for being a militant reformer and his
Oldham banner at the St. Peter's Field
demonstration was black with a white painted inscription: 'Equal Representation
or Death'. After the Peterloo Massacre
Healey was arrested along with Henry Hunt,
Joseph Johnson, Samuel
Bamford and John Knight and charged
with "assembling with unlawful banners for the purpose of moving
and inciting subjects of the king to contempt and hatred of the government".
During the court case in March 1820, a great deal was made of Healey's
'Equal Representation or Death' banner. Joseph Healey was found guilty
and sentenced to one year in Lincoln Prison.
Joseph Healey had expected trouble at St. Peter's Field and suggested
his wife should stay at home. Elizabeth Healey, a committed supporter
of parliamentary reform, rejected the advice. At the meeting Elizabeth
became ill and took refuge at a house in Windmill
Street from where she observed the Manchester
and Salford Yeomanry Cavalry attack the crowd. Afterwards, Elizabeth
Healey was interviewed about her experiences by Samuel
Bamford.
(1)
Elizabeth Healey was interviewed by Samuel
Bamford a few days after the Peterloo Massacre. Her account appeared
in Bamford's book Passages in the Life of a Radical in 1843.
I was determined
to go to the meeting, and would have gone even if my husband had refused
his consent. After much persuasion he consented. I left my daughter
with a careful neighbour woman, and joined some other married females
at the head of the procession. I was dressed plainly as a countrywoman,
in my second best attire. My companions were also neatly dressed as
the wives of working men. I had seen Mr. Hunt before that time; they
had not, and some of them were quite eager to obtain good places,
that they might see and hear one of whom so much had been reported.
In going down Mosley Street I lost sight of my husband. Mrs. Yates,
who had hold of my arm, would keep hurrying forward to get a good
place, and when the crowd opened for the Middleton procession, Mrs.
Yates and myself, and some other women, went close to the hustings,
quite glad that we had obtained such a situation for seeing and hearing
all. My husband got on the stage, but when afterwards I saw him leap
down and lost sight of him, I began to be unhappy. The crowd seemed
to have increased very much, for we became insufferably pressed. We
were surrounded by men who were strangers, we were almost suffocated,
and to me the heat was quite sickening.
Every moment I became worse, and I told some men that I was sick,
and begged they would let me pass. They immediately made a way, many
of them saying, "make way, she's sick, let her go out,"
I passed out of the crowd, and turning to my right, I got on some
high ground, on which stood a row of houses - this was Windmill Street.
I thought if I could get to stand at the door of one of those houses
I should have a good view of the meeting. I saw a door open, and I
stepped in, the people of the house making no objections.
By this time Mr. Hunt was on the hustings addressing the people. In
a minute or two some soldiers came riding up. The good folks of the
house, and some who seemed to be visitors, said "the soldiers
were only to keep order, they would not meddle with the people;"
but I was alarmed. The people shouted, and then the soldiers shouted,
waving their swords. Then they rode amongst the people, and there
was a great outcry, and a moment after a man passed without a hat,
and wiping the blood off his head with his hand, and it ran down his
arm in a great stream. The meeting was all in tumult; there were dreadful
cries; the soldiers kept riding amongst the people and striking with
their swords. The front door opened, and a number of men entered,
carrying the body of a decent, middle-aged woman, who had been killed.
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