| Director | Mike Leigh |
|---|---|
| Genre | drama film, historical film |
| Runtime | 154 min |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Budget | $18 million |
| Box office | $2.2 million |
After the Battle of Waterloo, Joseph returns home from service in the Duke of Wellington's army to Manchester and his close-knit working class family headed by parents Joshua and Nellie. Joshua, son Robert, daughter Mary, and daughter-in-law Esther all earn a living by manual labour in a cotton mill. An economic depression makes work impossible for the traumatised Joseph to find and threatens the family's livelihood. The family is sympathetic to the campaigns for equal civil and political rights for all men and against the Corn Laws that prevent them from buying cheaper imported grain. Joshua, Joseph, and Robert attend political meetings where local activists including John Knight, Samuel Bamford and John Bagguley speak out against the system of government that is elected only by the upper class and aristocracy; Nellie attends a meeting of the Manchester Female Reform Society. The local authorities, led by magistrates Colonel Fletcher, Reverend William Robert Hay, Reverend Charles Ethelston and Mr. Norris and Deputy Chief Constable Nadin, spy on the movement and wait for an excuse to arrest its leaders. The Home Secretary, Lord Sidmouth, is determined to suppress what they term 'radical' politics. When a disgruntled Londoner smashes the window of the Prince Regent's coach, Sidmouth uses this as a pretext for suspending habeas corpus.
Bamford and his friend Joseph Healey travel south to London to hear the famous activist Henry 'Orator' Hunt speak at a political meeting. Hunt has a reputation for vanity but Bamford persuades Manchester businessman Joseph Johnson to invite Hunt to address a mass meeting at St Peter's Fields; the Home Office discovers this invitation by intercepting Johnson's letter. Arriving at Manchester, Hunt goes into hiding in Johnson's home. Richards, a Home Office spy, is able to provoke Bagguley and fellow activists Drummond and Johnston into publicly calling for armed insurrection, leading to their arrest and imprisonment. The magistrates plan to disperse Hunt's meeting and make an example of the attendees using the local mounted militia, the Manchester and Salford Yeomanry and a regular army detachment led by General John Byng. Hunt remains certain that he can lead a peaceful rally and sidelines Bamford, when he warns of the likelihood of brutal treatment by the authorities.
On the day of the meeting, thousands of people walk into Manchester from the surrounding towns to hear Hunt speak at St Peter's Fields, including Nellie and Joshua and their family. Bamford leads a procession from Middleton but leaves in disgust on finding that it has been arranged that only Hunt will be allowed to address the crowd. A special committee of magistrates, chaired by Mr. Hulton has been assembled to break up the event. They appear to be in an upstairs room overlooking the gathering crowd. Norris, who urges restraint, is overruled. Byng has left his deputy in command of the soldiers, to attend a horse racing meet.
Once Hunt begins to speak, Reverend Ethelston instructs the crowd to disperse and reads them the Riot Act.
The crowd does not disperse and the Yeomanry cavalry assault the peaceful assembly with sabres drawn, while Hunt and Johnson are arrested by Nadin's men. The crowd are unable to escape the army and militia resulting in several people killed and many more injured. Joseph is wounded with a sabre and later dies. The attending reporters furiously return to their newspapers to expose this atrocity, coining a mocking name for it, "The Massacre of Peterloo". Despite the massacre, the Prince Regent sends his congratulations to the magistrates for suppressing 'radicalism' and restoring "tranquility".