Here in the A-level Section YOU will find some useful bits of the relevant information to help you get through your course.
Most of the information and pictures below were taken from the Spartacus Internet Encyclopedia:
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/britain.html
Contents:
Important people in the course:
Some statistics on Peterloo.
Deaths at Peterloo
Name |
Town |
Method of Death |
| Thomas Ashworth | Manchester | Sabred and trampled |
| John Ashton | Oldham | Sabred and trampled |
| Thomas Buckley | Chadderton | Sabred and trampled |
| James Crompton | Barton | Trampled |
| William Fildes | Manchester | Trampled |
| Mary Heys | Manchester | Trampled |
| Sarah Jones | Manchester | Not recorded |
| John Lees | Oldham | Sabred |
| Arthur O'Neil | Manchester | Trampled |
| Martha Partington | Manchester | Trampled |
| John Rhodes | Hopwood | Not recorded |
| Joesph Ashworth | Manchester | Shot |
| William Bradson | Bury | Not recorded |
| William Dawson | Saddleworth | Sabred and trampled |
| Edmund Dawson | Saddleworth | Sabred |
Estimated number of people who attended the Meeting:
| Author | Source | Estimated Size |
| Thomas Tatton | Magistrate, Testimony at hunts trial, March, 1802 | 30,000 |
| William Hulton | Magistrate, Testimony at hunts trial, March, 1802 | 50,000 |
| Lord Castlereagh | Speech in Parliament | 70,000 |
| Samuel Bamford | Passages in the "Life of a Radical" | 80,000 |
| John Tyas | The Times | 80,000 |
| George Swift | Letter to brother, August 1891 | 30,000 |
| Henry Hunt | Speech on 18th, September 1819 | 150,000 |
| Richard Carlie | The Republican | 50,000 |
| James Wroe | Manchester Observer | 153,000 |
The Events of the Peterloo Massacre
8. 00 About 6,000 reformers at Middleton assemble to hear a speech from Samuel Bamford.
8. 30 The 15th Hussars parade in Manchester.
9. 00 Oldham Reform groups begin march to Manchester. Cheshire Yeomanry assemble on Sale Moor. Begin march to their agreed position at St. John Street.First people begin to gather at St. Peter's Field.
10. 00 The 15th Hussars take up their positions in Byrom and Lower Mosley Streets. Magistrates meet at the Star Inn.
10. 30 George Swift and a group of men start erecting the hustings.John Tyas of The Times estimates the crowd to be about 250 people.
11. 00 Magistrates move to Mr. Buxton's house in Mount Street overlooking St. Peter's Field.
11. 30 An estimated 5,000 marchers from Stockport arrive at St. Peter's Field. Members of the Manchester & Salford Yeomanry seen drinking in nearby public houses. Midday Henry Hunt and a large number of reformers leave Joseph Johnson's Smedley Cottage. John Tyas of The Times estimates that there is now 80,000 people in St. Peter's Field.George Swift and Robert Wild address the crowd. About 400 constables march into St. Peter's Field. They form two continuos lines between the hustings and Mr. Buxton's house.
12. 30 Another cart, with planks and a large chair, is brought forward and added to the hustings.
1. 20Henry Hunt, Richard Carlile, John Knight,Joseph Johnson and Mary Fildes arrive at the hustings. Elizabeth Gaunt is taken ill in the crowd and is lifted onto the hustings. John Tyas of The Times, Edward Baines of the Leeds Mercury and John Smith of the Liverpool Mercury join the speakers on the hustings.
1.30 Joseph Moorhouse from Stockport arrives at the hustings. Magistrates decided to arrest Henry Hunt, John Knight, Joseph Johnson and John Moorhouse. Messages are sent to Major Thomas Trafford and Colonel L'Estrange.
1.35 Rev. Charles Ethelston reads the Riot Act from Mr. Buxton's window.
1.40 Henry Hunt begins to address the crowd. Blackburn reform group arrives at St. Peter's Field. The Manchester & Salford Yeomanry knock down Ann Fildes and her two-year old son William, on the way to St. Peter's Field. William Fildes is killed and his mother is badly injured
.1. 45 Major Trafford orders Captain Birley and the Yeomanry to arrest the four leaders on the hustings. Richard Carlile, John Smith and Edward Baines see the Yeomanry approaching and leave the hustings.
1.50 Colonel L'Estrange and the 15th Hussars are ordered to rescue the Yeomanry from the crowd. Captain Birley arrests Hunt, Johnson, Swift, Knight, Saxton, Moorhouse, Tyas, Gaunt and Wild.
2.00 Except for the dead and wounded the crowd have left St. Peter's Field.
Between 1770 and 1830, the Tories were the dominant force in the House of Commons. The
Tories were strongly opposed to increasing the number of people who could vote. However,
in November, 1830, Earl Grey, a Whig, became Prime Minister. Grey explained to William IV
that he planed to introduce proposals that would get rid of some of the rotten boroughs.
Grey also planned to give Britain's fast growing industrial towns such as Manchester,
Birmingham, Bradford and Leeds, representation in the House of Commons.
In April 1831 Grey asked William IV to dissolve Parliament so that the Whigs could secure
a larger majority in the House of Commons. Grey explained this would help his government
to carry their proposals for parliamentary reform. William agreed to Grey's request and
after making his speech in the House of Lords, decided to walk back through cheering
crowds to Buckingham Palace.
After Lord Grey's election victory, he tried again to introduce parliamentary reform. On
22nd September 1831, the House of Commons passed the Reform Bill. However, the Tories
still dominated the House of Lords, and after a long debate the bill was defeated. When
people heard the news, Reform Riots took place in several British towns. The most serious
of these being in Bristol in October 1831.
On 7th May 1832, Grey and Henry Brougham met the king and asked him to create a large
number of Wigg peers in order to get the Reform Bill passed in the House of Lords. William
was now having doubts about the wisdom of parliamentary reform and refused.
Lord Grey's government resigned and William IV now asked the leader of the Tories, the
Duke of Wellington, to form a new government. Wellington tried to do this but some Tories,
including Sir Robert Peel, were unwilling to join a cabinet that was in opposition to the
views of the vast majority of the people in Britain. Peel argued that if the king and
Wellington went ahead with their plan there was a strong danger of a civil war in Britain.
When the Duke of Wellington failed to recruit another significant figures into his
cabinet, William was forced to ask Grey to return to office. In his attempts to frustrate
the will of the electorate, William IV lost the popularity he had enjoyed during the first
part of his reign. Once again Lord Grey asked the king to create a large number of new
Whig peers. William agreed that he would do this and when the Lords heard the news, they
agreed to pass the Reform Act.
Many people were disappointed with the 1832 Reform Bill. Voting in the boroughs was
restricted to men who occupied homes with an annual value of £10. There were also
property qualifications for people living in rural areas. As a result, only one in seven
adult males had the vote. Nor were the constituencies of equal size. Whereas 35
constituencies had less than 300 electors, Liverpool had a constituency of over 11,000.
James Gillray drew this picture of leading Whigs and Radicals:
I : Charles Fox, II : Richard Sheridan, III : Duke of Norfolk, IV : George Tierney,
V : Sir Francis Burdett,VI : Earl of Derby and the VII : Duke of Bedford in 1798
Cruikshank On William Pitt.
Gagging Acts
The Habeas Corpus Act passed by Parliament in 1679 guaranteed that a person detained by
the authorities would have to be brought before a court of law so that the legality of the
detention may be examined. In times of social unrest, Parliament had the power to suspend
Habeas Corpus. William Pitt did this in May 1793 during the war with France. Parliamentary
reformers such as Thomas Hardy and John Thelwall were imprisoned as a result of this
action.
Habeas Corpus was also suspended in January 1817 after a missile had been thrown through
the glass window of the Prince Regent's coach on the way to the opening of Parliament.
Supporters of parliamentary reform were blamed for this act of violence and Lord Liverpool
and his government rushed through Parliament the Gagging Acts. These measures banned
meetings of over fifty people and instructed magistrates to arrest everyone suspected of
spreading seditious libel.
The Gagging Acts severely hampered the campaign for parliamentary reform. However, as soon
as Parliament decided to restore Habeas Corpus in March, 1818, there was an immediate
revival in the demands for universal suffrage.
Important People of in the course:
Sir Robert Peel - Learn to get into Mr Davis good books
Robert Peel was born in Bury, Lancashire, on 5th February, 1788. His father, Sir Robert
Peel (1750-1830), was a wealthy cotton manufacturer and member of parliament for Tamworth.
Robert was trained as a child to become a future politician. Every Sunday evening he had
to repeat the two church sermons that he had heard that day.
Robert Peel was educated at Harrow School and Christ Church, Oxford, where he won a double
first in classics and mathematics. In 1809 Sir Robert Peel rewarded his son academic
success by buying him the parliamentary seat of Cashel in Tipperary (exchanged for
Chippenham in 1812). Robert Peel entered the House of Commons in April 1809, at the age of
twenty-one. Like his father, Robert Peel supported the Duke of Portland's Tory government.
He made an immediate impact and Charles Abbott, the Speaker of the House of Commons,
described Peel's first contribution to a debate as the "the best first speech since
that of William Pitt."
After only a year in the House of Commons the Duke of Portland offered him the post of
under-secretary of war and the colonies. Working under Lord Liverpool, Peel helped to
direct the military operations against the French.
When Lord Liverpool became prime minister in May 1812, Peel was appointed as chief
secretary for Ireland. In his new post Peel attempted to bring an end to corruption in
Irish government. He tried to stop the practice of selling public offices and the
dismissal of civil servants for their political views. At first Peel also attempted to end
those aspects of government that gave preference to Protestants over Catholics. However,
Robert Peel was not successful in carrying out this policy and eventually he became seen
as one of the leading opponents to Catholic Emancipation.
In 1814 he decided to suppress the Catholic Board, an organisation started by Daniel
O'Connell. This was the start of a long conflict between the two men. In 1815 Peel
challenged O'Connell to a duel. Peel travelled to Ostend but O'Connell was arrested on the
way to fight the duel.
In 1817 Robert Peel decided to retire from his post in Ireland. This upset the Irish
Protestants in the House of Commons and fifty-seven of them signed a petition urging him
not to leave a post that they believed he had "administered with masterly
ability". Oxford University acknowledged Peel's "services to Protestantism"
by inviting him to become its member of the House of Commons.
In 1822 Peel rejoined Lord Liverpool's government when he accepted the post of Home
Secretary. Over the next five years Peel was responsible for large-scale reform in the
legal system. This involved repealing over 250 old statutes.
Lord Liverpool was struck down by paralysis in February 1827 and was replaced by George
Canning as prime minister. Canning was an advocate of Catholic Emancipation and as Peel
was strongly opposed to this, he felt he could not serve under the new prime minister and
resigned from office. After the death of Canning Peel returned to government as Home
Secretary in the government led by the Duke of Wellington.
On 26th July, 1828, Lord Anglesey, wrote to Peel arguing that Ireland was on the verge of
rebellion and asked him to use his influence to gain concessions for the Catholics.
Although Peel had opposed Catholic Emancipation for twenty years, Lord Anglesey's letter
encouraged him to reconsider his position. Peel now wrote to Wellington saying that
"though emancipation was a great danger, civil strife was a greater danger". He
also added that as William Pitt had rightly said: "to maintain a consistent attitude
amid changed circumstances is to be a slave of the most idle vanity". Although the
Duke of Wellington agreed with Peel, King George III was violently opposed to Catholic
Emancipation. When Wellington's government threatened to resign the king reluctantly
agreed to a change in the law. When Peel introduced the Catholic Emancipation Act on 5th
March, 1829, he told the House of Commons that the credit for the measure belonged to his
long-time opponents, Charles Fox and George Canning.
Robert Peel, Duke of Wellington
and the Catholic Church (1829)
For a long time politicians had been concerned about the problems of law and order in
London. In 1829 Robert Peel decided to reorganise the way London was policed. As a result
of this reform, the new metropolitan police force became known as "Peelers" or
"Bobbies".
In November 1830, Wellington's government was replaced by a new administration headed by
Earl Grey. For the first time in over twenty years in the House of Commons, Peel was now a
member of the opposition. Peel was totally against Grey's proposals for parliamentary
reform. Between 12th and 27th July 1831, Peel made forty-eight speeches in the House of
Commons against this measure. One of Peel's main arguments was that the system of rotten
boroughs had enabled distinguished men to enter parliament.
After the passing of the 1832 Reform Act the Tories were heavily defeated in the general
election that followed. Although victorious at Tamworth, Peel, now leader of the Tories,
only had just over hundred MPs he could rely on to support him against Earl Grey's
government.
In November 1834 King William IV dismissed the Whig government and appointed Robert Peel
as his new prime minister. Peel immediately called a general election and during the
campaign issued what became known as the Tamworth Manifesto. In his election address to
his constituents in Tamworth, Peel pledged his acceptance of the 1832 Reform Act and
argued for a policy of moderate reforms while preserving Britain's important traditions.
The Tamworth Manifesto marked the shift from the old, repressive Toryism to a new, more
enlightened Conservatism.
The general election gave Peel more supporters although there were still more Whigs than
Tories in the House of Commons. Despite this, the king invited Peel to form a new
administration. With the support of the Whigs, Peel's government was able to pass the
Dissenters' Marriage Bill and the English Tithe Bill. However, Peel was constantly being
outvoted in the House of Commons and on 8th April 1835 he resigned from office.
In August 1841 Robert Peel was once again invited to form a Conservative administration.
Over the last few years Britain had been spending more than it was earning. Peel decided
the government had to increase revenue. On 11th March, 1842, he announced the introduction
of income-tax at sevenpence in the pound. He added, that he hoped that this was enable the
government to reduce duties on imported goods.
In 1843 Peel once more had problems with Daniel O'Connell, who was leading the campaign
against the Act of Union. O'Connell announced a large meeting to be held at Clontarf. The
British government pronounced it illegal and when O'Connell continued to go ahead with his
planned Clontarf meeting he was arrested and imprisoned for conspiracy. Peel attempted to
overcome the religious conflict in Ireland by setting up the Devon Commission to inquire
into the "state of the law and practice in respect to the occupation of land in
Ireland." He also increased the grant to Maynooth, a college for the education of the
Irish priesthood, from £9,000 to £26,000 a year.
However, Peel's attempts to improve the situation in Ireland was severely damaged by the
1845 potato blight. The Irish crop failed, therefore depriving the people of their staple
food. Peel was informed that three million poor people in Ireland who had previously lived
on potatoes would require cheap imported corn. Peel realised that they only way to avert
starvation was to remove the duties on imported corn. Although the Corn Laws were repealed
in 1846, the policy split the Conservative Party and Peel was forced to resign.
Robert Peel continued to attend the House of Commons and gave considerable support to Lord
John Russell and his administration in 1846-47. On 28th June 1850 he gave an important
speech on Greece and the foreign policy of Lord Palmerston. The following day, while
riding up Constitution Hill, he was thrown from his horse. Peel was badly hurt and on 2nd
July, 1850, he died from his injuries.
William Cobbett, the son of a tavern owner, was born in Farnham, Surrey, on 9th March
1763. Taught to read and write by his father, Cobbett worked as a farm labourer until 1783
when he moved to London and found work as a clerk. A year later Cobbett joined the army
and eventually achieved the rank of corporal. While his regiment was in Canada, Cobbett
discovered that the quartermaster was stealing from army funds. When he attempted to
expose this scandal he was accused of being a troublemaker. Cobbett, who had recently
married, decided to flee to France with his new bride. After seven months the couple moved
to the United States where Cobbett taught English to French refugees.
In 1799 William Cobbett returned to England. Three years later he started his newspaper,
the Political Register. At first he supported the Tories but he gradually became more
radical. By 1806 he was a strong advocate of parliamentary reform. An unsuccessful attempt
to be elected as M.P. for Honiton convinced him of the unfairness of rotten boroughs.
William Cobbett was not afraid to criticise the government in the Political Register and
in 1809 he attacked the use of German troops to put down a mutiny in Ely. Cobbett was
tried and convicted for sedition and sentenced to two years' imprisonment in Newgate
Prison. When Cobbett was released he continued his campaign against newspaper taxes and
government attempts to prevent free speech.
By 1815 the tax on newspapers had reached 4d. a copy. As few people could afford to pay
6d. or 7d. for a newspaper, the tax restricted the circulation of most of these journals
to people with fairly high incomes. Cobbett was only able to sell just over a thousand
copies a week. The following year Cobbett began publishing the Political Register as a
pamphlet. Cobbett now sold the Political Register for only 2d. and it soon had a
circulation of 40,000.
Cobbett's journal was the main newspaper read by the working class. This made Cobbett a
dangerous man and in 1817 he heard that the government planned to have him arrested for
sedition. Unwilling to spend another period in prison, Cobbett fled to the United States.
For two years Cobbett lived on a farm in Long Island where he wrote Grammar of the English
Language and with the help of William Benbow, a friend in London, continued to publish the
Political Register.
William Cobbett arrived back in England soon after the Peterloo Massacre. Cobbett joined
with other Radicals in his attacks on the government and three times during the next
couple of years was charged with libel.
In 1821 William Cobbett started a tour of Britain on horseback. Each evening he recorded
his observations on what he had seen and heard that day. This work was published as a
series of articles in the Political Register and as a book, Rural Rides, in 1830.
Cobbett continued to publish controversial material in the Political Register and in July,
1831, was charged with seditious libel after writing an article in support of the Captain
Swing Riots. Cobbett conducted his own defence and he was so successful that the jury
failed to convict him.
Cobbett still had a strong desire to be elected to the House of Commons. He was defeated
in Preston in 1826 and Manchester in 1832 but after the passing of the 1832 Reform Act
Cobbett was able to win the parliamentary seat of Oldham. In Parliament Cobbett
concentrated his energies on attacking corruption in government and the 1834 Poor Law.
William Cobbett died on 18th June 1835.
Robert Jenkinson, the eldest son of the first Earl of Liverpool, was born on 7th June,
1770. He was educated at Charterhouse and Christ Church, Cambridge. At the age of twenty
Robert was granted the seat of Appleby, a pocket borough owned by Sir James Lowther.
Robert Jenkinson was a Tory and in May 1793, he spoke against Earl Grey's attempt to
introduce parliamentary reform.
In February 1801, the Prime Minister, Viscount Sidmouth, promoted Jenkinson to the
cabinet. Two years later Sidmouth granted Jenkinson the title Lord Hawkesbury in November
1803. When Pitt replaced Sidmouth as Prime Minister in 1804, Jenkinson became leader of
the government in the House of Lords.
On the death of his father in December, 1808, Jenkinson became the second Earl of
Liverpool. WhenSpencer Perceval became prime minister in 1809 he appointed Lord Liverpool
as secretary of war and the colonies. Perceval was assassinated in 1812, by a deranged
bankrupt who blamed the government for his troubles, and Lord Liverpool was asked to
become Britain's new prime minister.
Lord Liverpool was to remain in office for fifteen years. At first Liverpool was a popular
prime minister. In 1815 British forces were victorious at the Battle of Waterloo. The
abdication of Napoleon and the successful conclusion of the French Wars improved the
public standing of Lord Liverpool's government. It was hoped that with the end of the
conflict in Europe Lord Liverpool's government would be able to concentrate on introducing
the social reforms that were much needed in Britain.
Liverpool disagreed with those who advocated reform. He reacted to the growth in the
radical press by increasing the tax on newspapers. Radical journalists such as Robert
Carlile and Henry Hetherington, responded by campaigning for an end to all taxes on
knowledge.
In 1817 Britain endured an economic recession. Unemployment, a bad harvest and high prices
produced riots, demonstrations and a growth in the Hampden Club movement. Lord Liverpool's
government reacted by suspending Habeas Corpus for two years.
The economic situation gradually improved and Liverpool hoped that a reduction in taxation
would prevent a revival of radicalism when the suspension of Habeas Corpus came to an end
in 1818. This was not the case, and the summer of 1819 saw a series of large gatherings in
favour of parliamentary reform, culminating in the massive public meeting at Manchester on
16th August 1819.
Lord Liverpool made it clear that he fully supported the action of the magistrates and the
Manchester and Salford Yeomanry. Radicals reacted by calling what happened in St. Peter's
Fields, the Peterloo Massacre, therefore highlighting the fact that Liverpool's government
was now willing to use the same tactics against the British people that it had used
against Napoleon and the French Army.
Liverpool's government decided to take action to prevent further large meetings demanding
social reform. In November 1819 Parliament was assembled and it quickly passed the Six
Acts. In 1822 Liverpool used similar methods to deal with the distress and disaffection in
Ireland.
Liverpool found the heavy burden of running a divided country increasingly stressful.
Liverpool began to suffer health problems and on 17th February, 1827, he had a stroke.
Liverpool was forced to resign and although he lived for nearly two more years, he was
rarely conscious. Lord Liverpool died on 4th December, 1828.
Robert Stewart, the son the second Marquis of Londonderry, was born on 18th June, 1769.
After his education at St. John's College, Cambridge, Stewart toured Europe. At the age of
twenty-one he obtained the seat of County Down, a pocket borough under the control of the
Marquis of Downshire, in the Irish Parliament. It is claimed that the election cost the
Marquis of Londonderry £60,000. In 1794 Stewart also obtained the Tregony seat in the
English House of Commons.
During his election campaign in Ireland, Robert Stewart advocated parliamentary reform.
This included extending the vote to Roman Catholic freeholders. However, soon after his
election he enrolled in the Londonderry Militia. As a result of his military duties,
Lieutenant-Colonel Stewart rarely attended Parliament during the next few years.
Robert Stewart entered Parliament as a Whig but in 1795 he switched his support to William
Pitt and the Tories. Pitt granted Stewart the title Lord Castlereagh and in 1797 appointed
him as his Irish chief secretary. This was a time of great turmoil in Ireland and in 1798
Castlereagh played an important role in crushing the Irish uprising.
Castlereagh and Pitt became convinced that the best way of dealing with the religious
conflicts in Ireland was to unite the country with the rest of Britain under a single
Parliament. The policy was unpopular with the borough proprietors and the members of the
Irish Parliament who had spent large sums of money purchasing their seats. Castlereagh
appealed to the Catholic majority and made it clear that after the Act of Union the
government would grant them legal equality with the Protestant minority. After the
government paid compensation to the borough proprietors and promising pensions, official
posts and titles to members of the Irish Parliament, the Act of Union was passed in 1801.
King George III disagreed with Pitt and Castlereagh's policy of Catholic Emancipation.
When Pitt discovered that the king had approached Henry Addington to become his prime
minister, he resigned from office. Addington took office but Lord Castlereagh refused to
serve under him.
In 1802 Castlereagh accepted Addington's offer to return to the cabinet. His initial
responsibility was India but he soon became the leading figure in developing Britain's
foreign policy. Henry Addington resigned from office in May 1804 and was replaced by
William Pitt as prime minister. Castlereagh was now giving the post of Secretary for War.
Castlereagh left office in 1807 but five years later the new prime minister, Lord
Liverpool, appointed Castlereagh as his foreign secretary. Castlereagh concentrated his
efforts to defeat Napoleon in Europe. In 1814 Castlereagh represented Britain at the
Congress of Vienna. The agreement reached at Vienna resulted in the reinforcement of
hereditary rule and the suppression of liberal and nationalist sentiments in Europe
In 1815 British forces were victorious at the Battle of Waterloo. The abdication of
Napoleon and the successful conclusion of the French Wars improved the public standing of
Castlereagh and Lord Liverpool. It was hoped that with the end of the conflict in Europe,
Lord Liverpool's government would be able to concentrate on introducing the social reforms
that were much needed in Britain.
In 1817 Britain endured an economic recession. Unemployment, a bad harvest and high prices
produced riots, demonstrations and a growth in the Hampden Club movement. As leader of the
House of Commons, Castlereagh in November, 1817, introduced the bill for the suspension of
Habeas Corpus.
The economic situation gradually improved and Lord Liverpool's government hoped that a
reduction in taxation would prevent a revival of radicalism when the suspension of Habeas
Corpus came to an end in 1818. This was not the case, and the summer of 1819 saw a series
of large gatherings in favour of parliamentary reform, culminating in the massive public
meeting at Manchester on 16th August 1819.
Lord Liverpool and his government made it clear that he fully supported the action of the
magistrates and the Manchester and Salford Yeomanry. Radicals reacted by calling what
happened in St. Peter's Fields, the Peterloo Massacre, therefore highlighting the fact
that Liverpool's government was now willing to use the same tactics against the British
people that it had used against Napoleon and the French Army.
Lord Liverpool's government decided to take action to prevent further large meetings
demanding social reform. In November 1819, Parliament was assembled and Castlereagh
introduced in the House of Commons the severe measures that became known as the Six Acts.
Castlereagh, who was the government's spokesman for civil matters in the House of Commons,
along with Lord Liverpool and Lord Sidmouth, the Home Secretary, took the blame for these
repressive measures and the men were booed whenever they appeared in public.
Castlereagh found this loss of popularity very painful. He became depressed and his doctor
suggested that he retired to his estate at North Cray Place in Kent. On 12th August, 1822,
Lord Castlereagh cut his throat with a penknife in his dressing-room and died almost
immediately.
Most of the information and pictures above were taken from the Spartacus Internet Encyclopedia: