The Story of Peterloo: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

The Story of Peterloo, credited to Francis Archibald Bruton, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of The Story of Peterloo, by Francis Archibald Bruton. Read by Phil Benson On 16th August 1819 around 60,000 people gathered at St. Peter’s Fields, Manchester, to rally for parliamentary reform. Shortly after the meeting began, a troop of Hussars and local yeomanry rode into the crowd, wielding clubs, swords and sabres, leaving 18 dead and more than 700 severely injured. In the following years, the Peterloo Massacre was the subject of several trials and inquiries. It now counts as one of the most significant events in the history of the British labour movement. Francis Archibald Bruton’s account of the day’s events, published for its centenary and based on a detailed examination of contemporary accounts, is both dispassionate and moving.(summary by Phil Benton)

Recording facts

• Recording title: The Story of Peterloo
• Author credits: Francis Archibald Bruton
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 9
• Listed recording duration: 1:43:40

Catalogue topics

• English History
• Labour Movement
• Lancashire
• Manchester
• Massacre
• Hussars

Track guide

1. 01 - Front Matter — 1:50
2. 02 - The Site — 3:31
3. 03 - Authorities for the details of Peterloo — 6:22
4. 04 - The unrest that followed the Napoleonic Wars — 17:49
5. 05 - The story of Peterloo — 7:40
6. 06 - The processions from the outlying districts — 22:55
7. 07 - The charge of the Manchester Yeomanry — 12:43
8. 08 - The Manchester Yeomanry in difficulty — 7:29
9. 09 - The fateful decision: the Hussars ordered to charge — 23:25

Listen to this recording

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Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.