James Norris (lawyer) aftermath of the massacre, and he was appointed as Chairman of Quarter Sessions for Salford Hundred in 1825, retaining that post until his death in 1838. Despite links with the Middleforth district of Penwortham, where he inherited a mansion built by his family in the Tudor era, Norris was the only magistrate involved in the Peterloo Massacre who actually "resided" in Manchester at the time. James Norris (lawyer) James Norris (c. 1774 – 19 January 1838) was an English lawyer, notable for his role in the Peterloo Massacre of 1819. Appointed stipendiary magistrate of Manchester in March 1818, his reports
Peterloo Massacre for parliamentary reform, organised a demonstration to be addressed by the well-known radical orator Henry Hunt. Shortly after the meeting began, local magistrates called on the Manchester and Salford Yeomanry to arrest Hunt and several others on the hustings with him. The Yeomanry charged into the crowd, knocking down a woman and killing a child, and finally apprehending Hunt. The 15th Hussars were then summoned by the magistrate, Mr Hulton, to disperse the crowd. They charged with sabres drawn, and in the ensuing confusion, 15 people were killed and 400–700 were injured. The massacre was given the name Peterloo in