Samuel Bamford's memorial stone in the memorial gardens near the corner of Spring Gardens and Cheapside, Middleton.
'Tablet
removed
from
No. 61 Union St.
which stood
on this site
until 1963'
'SAMUEL BAMFORD
REFORMER RESIDED
& WAS ARRESTED IN
THIS HOUSE AVG 26 1819'
This plaque is a short distance away at the east end of New Lane:
'PETERLOO DEMONSTRATION
16 AUGUST 1819
THE MIDDLETON CONTINGENT CONGREGATED HERE
ON BARROWFIELDS AND MARCHED TO ST. PETER'S
FIELD IN MANCHESTER LED BY SAM BAMFORD.
THE MEETING, POPULARLY KNOWN AS THE
"PETERLOO MASSACRE", WAS IN SUPPORT
OF THE VOTE FOR THE WORKING
CLASSES. 16 MIDDLETON PEOPLE
WERE INJURED.'
A red plaque on the wall of the Radisson Hotel (formerly the Free Trade Hall) in Peter Street, Manchester, records the broader picture:
'ST. PETER'S FIELDS
THE PETERLOO MASSACRE
On 16th August 1819 a peaceful rally
of 60,000 pro-democracy reformers,
men, women, and children,
were attacked by armed cavalry
resulting in 15 deaths and
over 600 injuries.'
Bamford is said to have used this pub for drinking and reciting poetry.
That sign really is as crooked as it looks: the Olde Boar's Head is reputed to date from 1587. Bamford mentions in his autobiography that the pub used to have a room called the 'thrashing-bay', where fights took place.
Bamford's obelisk is highly conspicuous in the nearby cemetery.
'SAMUEL BAMFORD
BORN 28TH FEBRUARY 1788
DIED 13TH APRIL 1872'
'AN EARLY ADVOCATE
OF
CIVIL & RELIGIOUS LIBERTY,
FREE TRADE
AND
PARLIAMENTARY REFORM.
––––––––––––
AUTHOR
OF
"PASSAGES IN THE LIFE OF A RADICAL"
AND
OTHER WORKS
IN
PROSE AND VERSE.'
'ERECTED
BY PUBLIC SUBSCRIPTION
IN THIS
HIS NATIVE TOWN,
1877.
––––––
"Bamford was a Reformer
when to be so was unsafe, and
he suffered for his faith."
JOHN BRIGHT
Samuel Bamford in Stockport
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