Blanketeers

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Blanketeers is the nickname given to some 5000 operatives who on the 10 March 1817 met in St. Peters Field, near Manchester, to march to London, each carrying blankets or rugs. Their object was to see the Prince Regent and lay their grievances before him. The Habeas Corpus Act was suspended, and the leaders were seized and imprisoned. The bulk of the demonstration yielded at once. The few stragglers who persisted in the march were intercepted by troops, and treated with considerable severity. Eventually the spokesmen had an interview with the ministers, and some reforms were the result.

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• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.