In the 19th century local magistrates played an important role in
the enforcement of the law. As well as administering local justice,
the magistrates possessed the power to call upon the regular army
and local militia to deal with social unrest. It was also the responsibility
of the magistrates to inform the Government of political activities
in their area and reading the Riot Act when
there was crowd trouble. To obtain information on radicals, magistrates
employed spies to gather information from factories, public houses
and political meetings.
Magistrates were chosen by the Monarchy on the recommendation of the
Lord Lieutenant of the county. Men could only be magistrates if they
had an income of £100 from freehold land. This system meant that
in places like Manchester, magistrates
came from the established landowning families rather than those who
had made their money from the industrial revolution. It was an unwritten
rule in Lancashire that no active manufacturers could become magistrates.
All Manchester's magistrates were Anglicans and four of these were
members of the clergy. In 1819 the chairman of Manchester's magistrates
was William Hulton. Other magistrates on
duty on 16th August, 1819 included the Rev. William
Hay, Rev. Charles Wickstead Ethelston, Thomas Tatton and Colonel
Ralph Fletcher.
(1)
On 31st July, 1819, the Manchester Magistrates pronounced on the proposed
meeting at St. Peter's Fields.
Whereas it appears by the advertisement in the Manchester Observer
paper of this day, that a public and illegal meeting is convened for
Monday the 9th of August next, to be held on the area near St. Peter's
Church, in Manchester; we, the undersigned magistrates, acting for
the counties of Lancaster and Chester, do hereby caution all persons
to abstain, at their peril, from attending such illegal meetings.
(2)
Henry Brougham, letter to Earl
Grey on the Peterloo Massacre on 31st August, 1819.
The magistrates there (in Manchester) and all over Lancashire I have
long known for the worst in England, the most bigotted, violent and
active.
Available
from Amazon Books (order below)
