Adele Douglas

Adele Douglas

Peterloo in Manchester; Memory, Legacy, and Local Identity 1819-2019

  • Registration: PhD
  • Principal supervisor: Dr Sam Edwards
  • Other supervisors: Dr Shirin Hirsch
  • Start and end dates: January 2021 to December 2024

Background and aims

This research will contextualise commemoration of the Peterloo Massacre in Manchester and how this has shaped and impacted Mancunian identity. It seeks to answer how the events of August 1819 have been commemorated, how those commemorations were shaped by contemporary events, and in turn how the memory of Peterloo shaped Mancunian responses to further tragedy. This research looks at the existing historiographical work surrounding the aftermath of Peterloo, and the further commemoration and remembrance around Peterloo over the past 200 years. A further strand will consider the 200th anniversary of Peterloo commemorations in depth, to show how this brought the threads of Mancunian history and identity together, and question if these commemorations were impacted by a renewed sense of local identity following the Arena tragedy of 2017. It will place these discussions in the wider context of global commemoration and remembrance of tragedy, looking at examples from the UK and abroad.

Publications

  • Will be added when available.

Conference presentations

  • Will be added when available.

Contacts