Days in the Life at the Guardian: 22 August 1819

When on 16 August 1819 over 60,000 people gathered in St Peter's Fields, Manchester, to demand parliamentary reform, the army charged the crowd – killing some 11 people and injuring up to 700. A Times reporter had been arrested, so a young cotton merchant and part-time journalist, John Edward Taylor, stepped in to file a report. "Peterloo" – as it was dubbed – became a national scandal, convincing Taylor that the city needed a new liberal voice. Two years later, on 5 May 1821, he founded the Manchester Guardian.