Competing narratives are the great battle of history.
A good example is finding out what happened on 16 August 1819 at St Peter’s Fields. You can do one of four things.
First, don’t celebrate anything, the course taken by Manchester’s Tory led council in the sesquicentenary of 1969.
Secondly, read the plaque erected by Manchester’s Labour led council in 1972:
Thirdly, read that plaque’s replacement, erected by Manchester’s Labour led council in 2007:
Apart from the change in tenor, two things. First, a tendency in current history to speak to themes and not historical persons; adieu, Mr Hunt, by the way the first MP to push for women’s suffrage. Secondly, the intervening years had seen serious rioting involving mounted police, and “armed cavalry” cannot have been mere accuracy. There were at the time of the last change, an enduring image from the 1984 Battle of Orgreave, a 50-mile drive to the east.
Finally, see the film.
The name “Peterloo” was coined by the editor of the Manchester Observer, a shortlived venture which is not to be confused with the Observer, a Sunday paper operating since the 1790s. The venture was instrumental in the event and in reportage and was soon crushed by government prosecutions. Its final editorial recommended readers to take up the recently founded Manchester Guardian, which merged with the other Observer in 1993.
Peterloo, of course, is a reference to Waterloo, the 1815 victory which brought a familiar peace of sharp and painful economic adjustment.