On 16 August 1819, a massive crowd of perhaps sixty thousand people gathered in St Peter’s Field, Manchester, to demand parliamentary reform. At this time, Manchester, one of the largest cities in Britain, had no member of Parliament at all. The huge population of industrial workers was totally unrepresented, and at the mercy of the industrialists and factory owners who employed them. Still, the massive crowd was peaceful, right up to the point the Manchester magistrates panicked and sent in cavalry to disperse them. Men with sabres, on horseback, charging through a tight-packed crowd in a square. Eyewitnesses said they charged at women deliberately, and certainly women are disproportionate among the dead. A two-year-old child was trampled to death outside the field by a cavalryman in a hurry. Around fifteen people were killed (accounts vary and some died of their injuries a long time later). More than 500 were injured.

There was no riot. There was no trouble until the cavalry charged in. Yet the Home Secretary sent a letter complimenting the Manchester magistrates on their handling of the situation. Nobody was ever charged over the deaths. And when the newspapers reported on the horror (called Peterloo in ironic reference to the heroic cavalry charge at the battle of Waterloo), the government’s response was to arrest the journalists and bring in a set of appallingly repressive measures designed to shut down the press and prevent any large-scale discussion of reform. The Manchester magistrates and the Government were determined to hold on to their power, and they killed to do it.

Shelley wrote a poem about Peterloo called The Masque of Anarchy in which he argues that the only defence against the powerful is mass protest. It bears repeating and remembering.

Rise like lions after slumber
In unvanquishable number!
Shake your chains to earth, like dew
Which in sleep had fall’n on you:
Ye are many–they are few.

This is the background to my Society of Gentlemen trilogy. 1819-20 was a time of wild upheaval, when a wholesale bloody French-style revolution seemed entirely likely to kick off, and the ruling class were terrified it would. Democratic ideas could see you imprisoned; writing against the state could get you transported. Regency radical politics were an extremely dangerous game.

In book 1, A Fashionable Indulgence, reluctant radical Harry Vane discovers he’s part of a noble family. He’s frankly delighted to be plucked from his risky work for a political bookseller and turned into a gentleman by the exquisite and irresistible Julius Norreys. Being a fashionable fribble is a lot more fun than risking flogging or imprisonment for a cause he never cared much about. But as the news of Peterloo breaks, Harry begins to realise that he can’t simply forget the principles he was brought up with, or the friends still fighting for reform. Harry can pass as a gentleman, but the real problem, for him and for Julius, is to find out what kind of man he really is…

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KJ Charles is a writer and freelance editor. She lives in London with her husband, two kids, an out-of-control garden and an increasingly murderous cat. Find her on Twitter @kj_charles or on Facebook, join her Facebook group, or get the very occasional newsletter.

In the first novel of an explosive new series from K. J. Charles, a young gentleman and his elegant mentor fight for love in a world of wealth, power, and manipulation.
 
When he learns that he could be the heir to an unexpected fortune, Harry Vane rejects his past as a Radical fighting for government reform and sets about wooing his lovely cousin. But his heart is captured instead by the most beautiful, chic man he’s ever met: the dandy tasked with instructing him in the manners and style of the ton. Harry’s new station demands conformity—and yet the one thing he desires is a taste of the wrong pair of lips.

After witnessing firsthand the horrors of Waterloo, Julius Norreys sought refuge behind the luxurious facade of the upper crust. Now he concerns himself exclusively with the cut of his coat and the quality of his boots. And yet his protégé is so unblemished by cynicism that he inspires the first flare of genuine desire Julius has felt in years. He cannot protect Harry from the worst excesses of society. But together they can withstand the high price of passion.

Advance praise for A Fashionable Indulgence

“If one Regency rake isn’t enough for you, check out A Fashionable Indulgence, a rollicking tale from the deft pen of K. J. Charles. I’ll read anything she writes!”—New York Times bestselling author Kate Pearce

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