1819
In August, 1819, in consequence of disturbances in the manufacturing districts, three companies of the THIRTY-FIRST regiment proceeded to Manchester, three to Macclesfield, and three to Stockport. On the 10th of the same month the regiment was employed in Manchester.
An assemblage of people, estimated at forty to sixty thousand, took place on the 16th of August, in an open space in the town of Manchester, named St. Peter’s Field, for the purpose of petitioning Parliament. Such meetings having been forbidden by proclamation some weeks previously, the military were employed by the civil authorities in dispersing the crowd of persons who had entered the town, with banners, some of which were of a menacing nature.
The troops of the garrison, the fifteenth hussars, the THIRTY-FIRST and eighty-eighth regiments, with the Chester and Manchester yeomanry cavalry, were ordered to be assembled in the vicinity, under the senior officer, Lieut.-Colonel L’Estrange, of the THIRTY-FIRST regiment. The yeomanry were engaged during part of the day in dispersing the multitude, many of whom received injuries, and eight or ten were killed. The regular troops behaved with their usual coolness and discipline, in the delicate and important duty they had to perform. The thanks of the Prince Regent, and of the Magistrates, were communicated to the troops in the following letters:—
“Whitehall, 21st August, 1819.
“Sir
“I lost no time in laying before the Prince Regent your letter to me of the 17th August, together with the enclosure to yourself from Lieut.-Colonel L’Estrange, and I have great satisfaction in obeying the commands of His Royal Highness, by requesting that you will express to Lieut.-Colonel L’Estrange, and to the officers, non-commissioned officers, and privates, that served under his command at Manchester on the 16th of August, His Royal Highness’s high approbation of the exemplary manner in which they assisted and supported the civil authorities of the County Palatine of Lancaster on that day.
“I have, &c.
(Signed) “Sidmouth.”
“New Bailey Court-House, August 17th, 1819.
“The Magistrates of the two counties of Lancaster and Chester, assembled at Manchester, request Lieut.-Colonel L’Estrange will accept for himself, and convey to the officers, non-commissioned officers, and privates under his command, their best and sincerest thanks, for the energy, tempered by the greatest humanity, displayed in their conduct yesterday, a conduct peculiarly characteristic of the British soldier.