Maxine Peake is quite right to draw our attention to the Peterloo massacre of 16 August 1819 (Reading riot act over Peterloo massacre’s place in history, 21 August). But we must not forget another important event in working-class history, sometimes called the “Potteries Peterloo”, that took place exactly 23 years later, on 16 August 1842, when troops drew swords and fired guns on a demonstration of strikers and Chartists in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent. One demonstrator, Josiah Heapy, was shot and killed outright, and others were seriously injured, some later possibly dying as a result of their wounds.
This event took place during a general strike in the potteries: a miners’ dispute at a local colliery had escalated, with pottery workers and textile workers joining the strike. The strikers’ cause was championed by the Chartists, who demanded “that all labour cease until the People’s Charter becomes the law of the land”. In the special assizes that followed, 274 were brought to trial: 146 were imprisoned and 54 transported to Australia. The events of 1842 formed the birth of industrial trade unionism in north Staffordshire.
There is no memorial in Burslem to these events. The North Staffordshire Trades Union Council is in discussion with Stoke-on-Trent city council to secure agreement for a plaque to be installed close to the massacre’s location. The events of 1842 in the Potteries deserve to be as widely known as Peterloo or Tolpuddle.
Jason Hill
Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent
• In the 1950s we were taught about Peterloo in history lessons and its significance has been part of my life. I even found myself in the 60s teaching English O-level comprehension from Howard Spring’s Fame is the Spur. We must not forget, especially with events in the world today. Include it in the curriculum.
Jean Jackson
Seer Green, Buckinghamshire
• The story of the Peterloo massacre was well covered in Peter Carter’s novel The Black Lamp, which gave me many insights into the true nature of the industrial revolution, a concern for which my school history lessons failed abysmally. I wonder how many school or county libraries still have this book on their shelves? Time for a reprint, perhaps.
David Markham
Grantham, Lincolnshire
• Any self-respecting teacher of history will read the topic “Ideas, political power, industry and empire: Britain, 1745-1901, key stage 3” and assume this will include the great reform bill. To teach that without looking at Peterloo would be mystifying.
Andrew Dean
Exeter
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• The top letter was amended on 23 August 2017. An earlier version gave the dates of the Peterloo massacre as 12 August 1819 and the “Potteries Peterloo” massacre as 12 August 1842. They did take place 23 years apart, but on 16, not 12 August.
