Born: Between 1789 and 1792 (Cork, Ireland)
Biography:
Mary Fildes, a prominent figure in the Manchester Female Reform Society, played a pivotal role in the mass rally at Manchester in 1819, which tragically ended in the infamous Peterloo massacre. Born Mary Pritchard in Cork, Ireland, between 1789 and 1792, she belonged to a family of Manchester grocers. Although her family connections were Welsh rather than Irish, her parents may have been visiting Ireland at the time of her birth.
In 1808, Mary married William Fildes, a reed maker, in Stockport, England. The couple went on to have eight children: James, Samuel, George, Robert, Sarah, Thomas Paine, Henry Hunt, and John Cartwright. Mary bestowed political names upon her younger children, paying homage to notable figures of the era like Thomas Paine and Henry Hunt. It is through her son James that Mary became the grandmother of the renowned artist Luke Fildes.
Mary Fildes rose to prominence during the tumultuous events of August 16, 1819, when thousands of working men and women gathered on St. Peter’s Field in Manchester for a peaceful demonstration. As part of a group of Manchester’s female reformers, Mary led the procession riding at the front of the carriage carrying Henry Hunt, the main speaker of the rally, while proudly waving a flag. At the platform, she stood shoulder-to-shoulder with other female activists, prominently positioning herself to advocate for the reformist cause.
Richard Carlile, a radical journalist from London who attended the rally, affectionately portrayed Mary as a heroic figure, granting her a prominent place in his print of the event titled To Henry Hunt Esquire. However, the magistrates, fearing potential unrest, ordered Hunt’s arrest on the platform, triggering a grim chain of events. The Manchester and Salford Yeomanry arrived first and launched an attack on the platform, resulting in the destruction of flags and banners and causing panic among the crowd. Subsequently, regular troops stormed the field, further escalating the violence. The horrifying toll of the Peterloo massacre included eighteen deaths and nearly seven hundred serious injuries. Tragically, a two-year-old child named William Fildes, who was not related to Mary, lost his life on the outskirts of the meeting.
In the chaos that ensued, other female reformers like Sarah Hargreaves and Elizabeth Gaunt, possibly mistaken for Mary Fildes, experienced physical assault, arrest, and detention without formal charges. Mary herself endured a blow from a special constable’s truncheon, which knocked her to the ground and led to the confiscation of her flag. Miraculously, she narrowly escaped a sword strike. Following the massacre, she went into hiding for two weeks, possibly finding refuge with her loyalist family in the northern quarter of Manchester.
Mary Fildes had a lasting impact on the community and its struggle for reform. She forged connections with notable figures of the time, including the Manchester novelist Isabella Banks, with whom she developed a close relationship. Banks later incorporated further details about Mary’s experiences in her 1876 novel, The Manchester Man.
Mary Fildes’s unwavering commitment to the cause of reform, her bravery in the face of violence, and her enduring legacy as the grandmother of the famed artist Luke Fildes firmly place her among the notable figures of women’s history.