In industrial districts in 1819 , factory workers demanded better wages , and demonstrated . The most important event was the Peterloo Massacre in Manchester , on 16 August 1819 , when a local militia unit composed of landowners charged into an orderly crowd of 60,000 which had gathered to demand the reform of parliamentary representation . The crowd panicked and eleven died and hundreds were injured . The government saw the event as an opening battle against revolutionaries . In reaction Liverpool 's government passed the " Six Acts " in 1819 . They prohibited drills and military exercises ; facilitated warrants for the search for weapons ; outlawed public meetings of more than 50 people , including meetings to organise petitions ; put heavy penalties on blasphemous and seditious publications ; imposing a fourpenny stamp act on many pamphlets to cut down the flow on news and criticism . Offenders could be harshly punished including exile in Australia . In practice the laws were designed to deter troublemakers and reassure conservatives ; they were not often used
Peterloo Massacre
Peterloo Massacre
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland