![Image from page 181 of 'The Country and Church of the Cheeryble Brothers [i.e. Ramsbottom in Lancashire, the home of William and Daniel Grant, the Cherryble Brothers of Dickens' Nicholas Nickleby]' by0037.](https://c02.purpledshub.com/uploads/sites/47/2026/04/what-was-the-Chatterton-Massacre-scaled.jpg?w=1200&webp=1 "Image from page 181 of ‘The Country and Church of the Cheeryble Brothers [i.e. Ramsbottom in Lancashire, the home of William and Daniel Grant, the Cherryble Brothers of Dickens’ Nicholas Nickleby]’ by0037.")
The Peterloo Massacre of 1819 has been the subject of books, a film, songs, an overture and even a piece of organ music. Meanwhile, a very similar event that occurred just seven years later and a mere dozen miles to the north has been all but erased from history. A Lancashire charity is now trying to put that right. And certainly, the long-forgotten Chatterton Massacre has a good deal to teach us about protest, violence, and the power of words.
The Industrial Revolution had made Britain’s economy more productive, but also threw a huge swathe of the population into penury, their plight made even worse by high food prices. In the Lancashire Pennines of 1826, thousands of already poor hand-loom weavers were being driven to starvation by an all-conquering rival: the power loom.
In desperation, the workers took matters into their own hands. On 24 and 25 April, several thousand weavers from Accrington, Blackburn, Oswaldtwistle, Darwen, Helmshore, and Haslingden walked across the moors from mill to mill, putting as many power looms out of action as they could, while taking care to avoid physical violence and damage to other property. They hoped their actions would bring their extreme poverty to the attention of parliament, where they were unrepresented.
But the following day, when around 3–4,000 weavers converged on the Aitkens and Lords Mill at Chatterton in the Rossendale Valley, they were confronted by 20 riflemen from the 60th Duke of York’s Own Rifles under the command of Colonel Kearney. A local magistrate read out the Riot Act, meaning the soldiers could shoot to kill with impunity. The protesters bravely stood their ground.
Over the following 15 minutes, the riflemen fired around 600 times. Though most of them aimed to miss the crowd, three men were killed: James Lord, John Ashworth and James Rothwell. Undeterred, the protesters broke into the mill and smashed up the looms inside. However, the killing hadn’t finished. Richard Lund and James Whatacre were shot dead soon afterwards, as was Mary Simpson, a young bystander who was only there because she had missed her coach. Anecdotal evidence suggests that other protesters died of wounds in the following days. The uprising ended on 27 April, with further
looms destroyed.
The government’s response was to frame the event as a simple riot. They barred the press from the inquest into the killings. Tales were spread about the late Mary Simpson, claiming she had been involved.
The Home Secretary, Sir Robert Peel, refused to acknowledge the weavers’ destitute state and instead concentrated on punishing them: 41 were handed death sentences (later commuted to prison terms or transportation to Australia). The regiment involved was quietly relocated to Portugal.
The government’s tactics worked: in contrast to Peterloo, the massacre was viewed as a mere riot and soon forgotten. Even the blue plaque installed at the site is misleadingly titled ‘The Chatterton Fight’.
To set the record straight, the Weavers Uprising Bicentennial Committee is hosting a range of public events, organising a mobile exhibition and producing educational resources about the Chatterton Massacre.
Top image: Image from page 181 of 'The Country and Church of the Cheeryble Brothers [i.e. Ramsbottom in Lancashire, the home of William and Daniel Grant, the Cherryble Brothers of Dickens' Nicholas Nickleby]'.
