Whose history? from the Battle of Waterloo to the Battle of Cinderloo

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You know Waterloo, probably even heard of Peterloo, but did you know about Cinderloo?

The Battle of Cinderloo refers to clashes between the Shropshire Yeomanry and striking miners in Old Park in the Coalbrookdale Coalfield (parts of what is modern-day Telford) in February 1821.

In the wake of the Napoleonic Wars economic pressure led to widespread unemployment in Britain leading to popular uprising and harsh crackdowns by the Yeomanry sometimes resulting in deaths, such as those which occured in St Peter’s Fields Manchester (known as “Peterloo Massacre” in August 1819) and in Shropshire when 3,000 men and women marched against forced paycuts.

Professor Mike Haynes will describe the journey from the battle of Waterloo, to the battle of Cinderloo – which took place in Telford, on what is now Sainsbury’s car park, in 1821. The foot-soldiers came back to unemployment, food shortages, rising unemployment and increased political dissent. Many of the officers returned to take charge of the yeomanry who were used to suppress that dissent.