James Wroe (1788–1844), was the only editor of the radical reformist newspaper the Manchester Observer, the journalist who named the incident known as the Peterloo massacre, and the writer of pamphlets as a result that brought about the Reform Act 1832.
With Wroe as its editor, it pioneered radicalist popularist articles, and within twelve months was selling 4,000 copies per week to its local audience.
[1] By late 1819 it was being sold in most of the booming industrialised cities – Birmingham, Leeds, London, Salford – that were calling for non-conformist reform of the Houses of Parliament.
However, along with Thomas John Evans and Saxton, Wroe was constantly being sued for libel, and often jailed for writing articles critical of Parliament's structure.
He served on the police committee of Manchester (the predecessor of the town council) and was active in vestry politics:[8] in 1834 he was presented with a piece of silver plate for his unceasing efforts on behalf of rate-payers.
[11] In 1837, Wroe objected to the Manchester, South Junction and Altrincham Railway crossing the town by a viaduct passing close to Castlefield, which was a venue for public meetings: if there was a tyrannical government and the people of Manchester held a public meeting, "all that the military would have to do was to put their cannon on top of the railway and fire on the people.