Nady Joe’s ‘Specials’
One of nine images from Red Saunders’ Hidden Peterloo Massacre Tableaux
Prior to the formation of the first regular police force in 1829, for centuries the local ruling class appointed magistrates who could in turn appoint ‘Constables’. In anticipation of unrest in the summer of 1819 in Manchester, a Select Committee of Magistrates was formed and had at their command 400 newly sworn-in special constables and a group entitled the Manchester and Salford Yeomanry Cavalry. The Specials were drawn from a layer of society with some personal wealth and education and who desired to secure their precarious status ‘above’ the mass of factory and mill workers. Named after the corrupt, powerful and feared Deputy Constable, Joseph Nady, Nady Joe’s Specials were armed with long wooden truncheons.
The Peterloo Massacre
On August 16th 1819 tens of thousands of working people – men, women and children – walked from surrounding towns to the centre of Manchester to hear the call for the right to vote.
The local ruling class unleashed the constabulary and mounted Yeomanry on the peaceful crowd. At least 18 people were killed, including children, and around 650 were severely injured.
The Hidden Project shines photographic light on great moments in the long struggle of working people for democracy and social justice. The project, through reimagining those events, reproduces important historic scenes involving the dissenters, revolutionaries, radicals and non-conformists who have so often been hidden from history.
Red Saunders is a professional photographer who combines his photographic practice with cultural, musical and political activism. Images copyright Red Saunders 2019. Further information, reading list and full credit list of supporters and volunteers: www.hiddenpeterloomassacre.com . For further information hiddenproject@clara.co.uk
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