Fifth Generation

18. Hugh Hornby BIRLEY J. P. And D. L.^{3,14,86,87,95,148,149,150,151,152,153,154} was born on 10 March 1778 at Broom House in Rusholme, Lancashire, England.⁴ IGI also give birth place as Blackburn, but this is wrong. he was born at Broom House. He was christened on 25 March 1778 in Blackburn, Lancashire, England. He died on 31 July 1845 at the age of 67 in Manchester, Lancashire, England.¹⁵⁵ Hugh was buried on 2 August 1845 in Manchester, Lancashire, England.¹⁵⁶ In a vault where St. Peter's cross now stands, St Peter's Square, Manchester. Of Broom House, Pendleton (and formerly Mosely St, Manchester, corner of York St.) D.L. for county of Lancaster.

An Internet reference to his involvement in the "Battle of Peterloo":

Hugh Hornby Birley, was born in 1767. Birley owned a large textile factory in Oxford Road, Manchester. He developed a reputation an industrialist with reactionary political opinions. Birley was a captain in the Manchester and Salford Yeomanry Calvary. The Yeomanry was made up of local businessmen, and were used to deal with social unrest. For example, Birley had used a troop of the Manchester and Salford Yeomanry to disperse weavers marching from Manchester to Ashton-under-Lyne. During an industrial dispute at his factory in 1818, Birley was involved in a violent confrontation with his workers. This involved a group of men attacking Birley's factory with stones. According to local liberals such as Archibald Prentice and John Edward Taylor, Birley and the Manchester and Salford Yeomanry had a deep hatred of reformers.

When William Hulton heard about the planned meeting at St. Peter's Field on 16th August, 1819, he asked Thomas Trafford, commander of the Manchester and Salford, to bring his 120 men to help maintain order. Hulton and his fellow magistrates were based at a house in Mount Street overlooked St. Peter's Field. At about 12.30 Hulton came to the conclusion that "the town was in great danger". Hulton therefore decided to instruct Joseph Nadin, Deputy Constable of Manchester, to arrest the four leaders of the meeting Henry Hunt, John Knight, Joseph Johnson and Joseph Moorhouse. Nadin replied that this could not be done without the help of the military. Hulton then wrote two letters and sent them to Lieutenant Colonel L'Estrange, the commander of the military forces in Manchester and Major Thomas Trafford, the commander of the Manchester & Salford Yeomanry.

Major Thomas Trafford, who was positioned only a few yards away at Pickford's Yard, was the first to receive the order to arrest the men. Major Trafford chose Captain Hugh Birley, his second-in-command, to carry out the order. Local eyewitnesses claimed that most of the sixty men who Birley led into St. Peter's Field were drunk. Birley later insisted that the troop's erratic behaviour was caused by the horses being afraid of the crowd.

Journalists such as John Tyas, Archibald Prentice and John Edward Taylor argued that Birley used unnecessary force in his attempts to arrest the leaders of the meeting and had been responsible for the deaths of several people killed in the crowd. It was claimed that Birley's men tried to kill John Saxton and Mary Fields on the platform and several well-known radicals in the crowd. Afterwards, Hugh Birley was one of the main people blamed for the Peterloo Massacre.

When the government refused to hold a public inquiry into the Peterloo Massacre, Thomas Redford, who had been badly wounded by a member of the Manchester & Salford Yeomanry, brought a personal action for assault against Hugh Birley, and three other members of his troop. The court case took place at Lancaster in April 1822. Thomas Redford produced several witnesses that gave damaging evidence against Birley and his men. However, after five days, the jury decided to accept Birley's defence that the assault on Redford had "been properly committed in the dispersal of an unlawful assembly."

Hugh Birley continued to live in Manchester after the Peterloo Massacre. Although deeply hated by the reformers, Burley was held in high esteem by conservatives and eventually became Manchester's first President of the Chamber of Commerce. Hugh Birley died in 1845.
RESIDENCE: Of Broom House, Pendleton (and formerly Mosely St, Manchester, corner of York St.) D.L. for county of Lancaster.

Burke's: "of Broom House, Eccles...."

HISTORICAL: "...When the workers have a clear objective, they show no lack of courage. An example of this was at Birley's mill which eventually had to be protected by the mounting of artillert." (Footnote: "For the riot at Birley's mill, see Northern Star, no. 248, August 13th, 1842, p.5, col.1") p.264: "...The angry strikers showed very great self-control. They had been manoevered into this situation against their better judgement. With one exception - [Hugh Hornby] Birley, the Manchester Tory - the employers had offered no resistance to the strike, and this was absolutely contrary to their normal practice." (Footnote: "Quarterly Review, December, 1842, p. 295. For a recent account of this incident see G. Kitson Clark, 'Hunger and Politics in 1842': Journal of Modern History, Vol. 25, no. 4, Dec. 1953, pp. 362-3.")

BIOGRAPHY: . . . a cotton manufacturer . . . was Borough Reeve of Manchester in 1815; and subsequently became first President of Manchester Chamber of Commerce, and worked with Sir Robert Peel to introduce the Saturday half-holiday. He is, however, most noteworthy for the part which he played, as Commander of the 1st troop of Manchester and Salford Yeomanry Cavalry, in the "Peterloo Massacre" of 16 Aug 1819. (See "The Peterloo Massacre", by Joyce Marlow, published by Wapp and Whiting in 1970).

IGI listing includes "Hugh Homley Birley" with wife Cicely and a "Hugh Bomley Birley" also with wife Cicely. Correct middle name spelling is "Hornby"

J.P.
OF BROOM HOUSE, PENDLETON, D.L. FOR COUNTY OF LANCASTER Cicely HORNBY and Hugh Hornby BIRLEY J. P. And D. L. were married on 5 March 1822 in Pendleton, Lanc, England.³

19. Cicely HORNBY^{3,14,84,86,87,95,157,158,159} was born on 16 July 1797 in Kirkham, Lancashire, England.³ She was christened on 23 August 1797 in Kirkham, Lancashire, England.¹⁵⁴ She died on 15 January 1843 at the age of 45 in Manchester, Lancashire, England.¹⁶⁰ Cicely was buried after 15 January 1843 in Manchester, Lancashire, England.^161,162 In a vault where St. Peter's cross now stands, St. Peter's Square, Manchester. Was 5th daughter of Thomas Hornby of Kirkham

Children were: