Preston Strike of 1842

[2] The strike began on Friday 12 August 1842, after a large meeting of around 3,000 cotton workers at Chadwick's Orchard – now the site of Preston's Covered Market.

The Chartist newspaper The Northern Star reported that "Before night every cotton mill was turned out without resistance—all done chiefly by boys and girls".

His uncle John and father Samuel Horrocks founded Horrockses which, by 1842, was Preston's largest cotton manufacturer.

[5] On Saturday 13 August the strikers moved into the centre of town to Messrs Paley's Mill where they met Preston officials accompanied by about 30 soldiers from the 72nd Highlanders and members of the County and Borough police.

Members of the crowd including men, women and boys gathered stones from near the canal and began throwing them at the police and military.

[3] Inquests into the deaths, by a local jury, were held in Preston at the county court where Richard Palmer acted as coroner.