Catalogue Number
NMLH.2018.198
Object Name
Painting
Title
Captain Birley
Place
St Peter's Field
People
W.Morrill
Events
Peterloo Massacre; Disrupt? Peterloo and Protest (exhibition)
Date
1819
Description
Large framed portrait of Captain Hugh Birley, c.1819.
Hugh Hornby Birley was Captain of the Manchester and Salford Yeomanry, a force of volunteer soldiers working for local government leaders. The Yeomanry was made up mostly of local businessmen, and were notably hostile to reformers. When a large crowd met at St Peter's Field on 16 August 1819, they were ordered to break up the meeting and arrest the speaker Henry Hunt; Captain Birley ordered the soldiers to enter the crowd with sabres drawn. Around 18 people died and another 700 were injured; many eyewitness accounts noted Captain Birley's cruelty and violence during the event.
This portrait shows Birley, a local mill owner, seated on a red chair, and is thought to have been painted around 1819. A portrait such as this would have been a sign of Birley's wealth, social status and power. The portrait is framed in a gold frame, made from wood and plaster coating painted gold. The frame is likely of a later date, from 1850 to 1900.
The canvas stretcher is stamped with the name W. Morrill, who worked as a picture liner between c. 1850 and c. 1900.
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