Awarding the Peterloo Medal: The Radical Free Press and the Manchester Massacre, 1819-1821

In the aftermath of the Peterloo massacre, the ongoing collaboration between William Hone and George Cruikshank in the milieu of the London-based radical press resulted in a number of wildly satirical hybrid publications, including A Slap at Slop and the Bridge Street Gang, a dazzling parody of a four-page daily newspaper (1821). In a unique combination of text and image, the two mock newspaper entries dealing with the Peterloo events lay bare the abysmal power logic underlying the making of that tragedy, and construct a scathing indictment of both state violence and the pervasive rhetoric of self-celebration underlying the exercise of state power. Building on the expanding scholarship on William Hone and radical print culture, this article addresses some questions implied in the debunking process these texts enact, which reach back to include war and abolitionist rhetoric, as well as Robert Southey’s role as Poet Laureate.