Reading Peterloo as Social Practice: the Lexical Representation of Social Actors in Three London-based Papers

This article provides a keyword in context analysis of three editorials published in London-based papers regarding the events of 16 August 1819 in Manchester: one daily paper, The Courier, and two weeklies, Sherwin's Political Register and The Examiner. It aims to offer lexical evidence of the struggle for the cultural-political appropriation and representation of Peterloo 'in public consciousness'. To this end, insights from critical discourse analysis, specifically social actor theory, are used, and elements of rhetorical and argumentative analysis are presented.