The Full Story
John Lees was a cotton worker from Oldham. In 1815, he fought at Waterloo, one of thousands of ordinary Englishmen who defeated Napoleon and saved Europe from tyranny.
Four years later, the country he'd fought for killed him.
On 16 August 1819, Lees went to St Peter's Field in Manchester to hear speakers demand parliamentary reform. He wore his Waterloo medal. He went peacefully, like the 60,000 others who gathered that day.
When the cavalry charged, Lees was sabred and trampled. His Waterloo medal couldn't save him. He died of his injuries a few weeks later.
At the inquest, a witness reported Lees's words as he lay dying: 'At Waterloo there was man to man, but there it was downright murder.'
The coroner tried to stop the jury returning a verdict of murder. The government pressured witnesses. The inquest was eventually abandoned without a verdict.
John Lees became a symbol of Peterloo's injustice, a soldier who survived Napoleon only to be killed by his own country's cavalry for attending a peaceful meeting.
Why This Matters
John Lees's story captures the horror of Peterloo. A veteran who had fought for Britain was killed by British cavalry for wanting a voice in how Britain was governed.