The variations of political action in Manchester had been exceedingly marked. In the 16th century, although it produced both Roman Catholic and Protestant martyrs, it was earnestly in favour of the Reformed faith, and in the succeeding century it became indeed a stronghold of Puritanism. Yet the successors of the Roundheads who defeated the army of Charles I. were Jacobite in their sympathies, and by the latter half of the 18th century had become imbued with the aggressive form of patriotic sentiment known as anti-Jacobinism, which showed itself chiefly in dislike of reform and reformers of every description. A change, however, was imminent. The distress caused by war and taxation, towards the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century, led to bitter discontent, and the anomalies existing in the parliamentary system of representation afforded only too fair an object of attack. While single individuals in some portions of the country had the power to return members of parliament for their pocket boroughs, great towns like Manchester were entirely without representation. The popular discontent was met by a policy of repression, culminating in the affair of Peterloo, which may be regarded as the starting-point of the modern reform agitation. This was in 1819, when an immense crowd assembled on St Peter’s Fields (now covered by the Free Trade Hall and warehouses) to petition parliament for a redress of their grievances. The Riot Act was read by a clerical magistrate; but in such a manner as to be quite unheard by the mass of the people; and drunken yeomanry cavalry were then turned loose upon the unresisting mass of spectators. The yeomanry appear to have used their sabres freely; several people killed and many more injured; and, although the magistrates received the thanks of the prince regent and the ministry, their conduct excited the deepest indignation throughout the entire country. Those who had organized the meeting, including “Orator” Hunt with Samuel Bamford and other working men, were imprisoned.
Naturally enough, the Manchester politicians took an important part in the Reform agitation; when the Act of 1832 was passed, the town sent as its representatives the Right Hon. C. P. Thomson, vice-president of the board of trade, and Mark Philips. With one notable exception, this was the first time that Manchester had been represented in parliament since its barons had seats in the House of Peers in the earlier centuries. In 1654 Charles Worsley and R. Radcliffe were nominated to represent it in Cromwell’s parliament. Worsley was a man of great ability, and has a place in history as the man who carried out the injunction of the Protector to “remove that bauble,” the mace of the House of Commons. The agitation for the repeal of the corn laws had its headquarters at Manchester, and the success which attended it, not less than the active interest taken by its inhabitants in public questions, has made the city the home of other projects of reform. The “United Kingdom Alliance for the Suppression of the Liquor Traffic” was founded there in 1853, and during the continuance of the American War the adherents both of the North and of the South deemed it desirable to have organizations in Manchester to influence public opinion in favour of their respective causes. A charter of incorporation was granted in 1838; a bishop was appointed in 1847; and the town became a city in 1853. The Lancashire cotton famine, caused by the Civil War in America, produced much distress in the Manchester district, and led to a national movement to help the starving operatives. The more recent annals of Manchester are a record of industrial and commercial developments, and of increase in educational opportunities of all kinds. Politically Manchester was Liberal, of one or other shade, under the first Reform Act; a Conservative member was first elected in 1868, and in 1874 two. Under household suffrage in 1885 that party secured five out of six members; in 1886 and 1892, three out of six. In 1895 and 1900 five Unionists were elected, but in 1906 six Liberals were returned, one of whom (Mr Winston Churchill) was defeated at a by-election in 1908. In 1910 three Liberals, two Labour members and one Conservative were elected.
Authorities.—Although several excellent books have been written on subjects connected with the town, there is no adequate modern history. The History of Manchester, by the Rev. John Whitaker, appeared in 1771; it is a mere fragment, and, though containing much important matter, requires to be very discreetly used. The following may be recommended: John Reilly, History of Manchester, (1861); R. W. Procter, Manchester in Holiday Dress (1866), Memorials of Manchester Streets (1874), Memorials of Byegone Manchester (1880); Richard Buxton, Botanical Guide to Manchester, &c. (2nd ed., 1859); Leo Grindon, Manchester Flora (1859); Edward Baines, History of Lancashire, edited by Croston (1886–1893), 5 vols.; W. A. Shaw, Manchester, Old and New (1894); W. E. A. Axon, Annals of Manchester (1885), Cobden as a Citizen (1906); Harry Rawson, Historical Record of some Recent Enterprises of the Corporation of Manchester (1894); Official Manual of Manchester and Salford (1909); J. P. Earwaker, Court Leet Records of Manchester, 1552–1686, 1731–1846 (1884–1890), 12 vols.; Constable’s Accounts, 1612–1647, 1743–1776 (1891–1892), 3 vols.; Manchester Municipal Code (1894–1899), 5 vols.; George Saintsbury, Manchester (1887); Thomas Swindells, Manchester Streets and Manchester Men (1906–1907), 3 vols.; James Tait, Medieval Manchester (1904); Charles Roeder, Roman Manchester (1900); Sir Bosdin Leech, History of the Manchester Ship Canal (1907), 2 vols. (W. E. A. A.)
MANCHESTER (popularly Manchester-by-the-Sea), a township of Essex county, Massachusetts, U.S.A., about 25 m. N.E. of Boston, on Massachusetts Bay. Pop. (1900), 2522; (1905, state census), 2618; (1910), 2673. Area, 7.64 sq. m. It is served by the Boston & Maine railroad, and is connected with neighbouring towns and cities by electric lines. The township, heavily wooded in parts, and with picturesque shores alternating between rocky headlands and sandy beaches, stretches for several miles along the coast between Beverly on the west and Gloucester on the east. It is one of the most beautiful watering-places in America, and is the favourite summer residence of many of the foreign diplomats at Washington. The “singing beach” is a stretch of white sand, which, when trodden upon, emits a curious musical sound. Manchester, originally a part of Salem, was settled about 1630 and was at first known as Jeffrey’s Creek. It was incorporated separately under its present name in 1645.
See Manchester Town Records (2 vols., Salem, 1889–1891), and D. F. Lamson, History of the Town of Manchester, 1645–1895 (Manchester, 1895).
MANCHESTER, the largest city of New Hampshire, U.S.A., and one of the county-seats of Hillsboro county, on the Merrimac river, at the mouth of the Piscataquog river, (by rail) 18 m. S. of Concord and 57 m. N.N.W. of Boston. Pop. (1890), 44,126; (1900), 56,987; (1910 U.S. census) 70,063. Of the total population in 1900, 24,257 were foreign-born, including 13,429 French-Canadians; and 37,530 were of foreign parentage (both parents foreign-born), including 18,839 of French-Canadian parentage. Manchester is served by the Southern, the Western, the White Mountains, and the Worcester Nashua & Portland divisions of the Boston & Maine railroad, and by inter-urban electric lines. It is situated on a plain about 90 ft. above the Merrimac river (which is spanned here by three bridges), commands extensive views of the beautiful Merrimac valley, and covers a land area of about 33 sq. m. On the east side of the city are two connected lakes known as Lake Massabesic (30 m. in circumference). Manchester is known for the attractive appearance of the residence districts in which the factory operatives live, detached homes and “corporation boarding-houses,” instead of tenement houses, being the rule. The Institute of Arts and Sciences (incorporated in 1898) provides lecture courses and classes in science, art and music. Among the other public buildings and institutions are the United States Government building, the city-hall, the county-court-house, the city library (1854; the outgrowth of the Manchester Athenaeum, established in 1844), St Anselm’s College (R.C.), a Roman Catholic cathedral, four Roman Catholic convents, the Elliot hospital, the Sacred Heart hospital and the hospital of Notre Dame de Lourdes, the State industrial school, the State house of correction, the Gale home for aged women, an old ladies’ home (R.C.), St Martha’s home for working girls, the Manchester children’s home and four orphan asylums. In the largest of five public squares is a soldiers’ monument, consisting of a granite column 50 ft. high,
