In 1842, a movement for workers rights brought the city of Manchester to a standstill.
This campaign by the University of Manchester Literary Historian, Michael Sanders, explores this triumphant moment in working-class history. It uses AR re-enactment to trace the protesters route through the city.
The story begins when the Masters of the factories from Stalybridge, Ashton, Dukinfield & Hyde gave notice of a 25% reduction in wages. Workers subsequently held a meeting with the masters, however the meetings fell through and in effect the workers planned and agreed on a strike.
Following strike plans, workers arrive in Manchester from Ashton, Stalybridge, Dukinfield & Hyde where the cuts were first orchestrated.They march to the junction of Pollard Street & Great Ancoats Street where they were urged to disperse and go home.
All the mills reluctantly after 11 days of strikes shut down due to lack of workers. As worded in Chartist poet Thomas Coopers biography “so soon as the City of long chimneys came in sight, and every chimney was beheld smokeless, Campbell’s face changed, and with an oath he said, “Not a single mill at work! Something must come out of this, an something serious too!”.
