James Harmer the French. Harmer was their choice of solicitor. In 1819 Harmer represented Samuel Bamford after the Peterloo massacre. In the Peterloo aftermath Harmer, and Henry Dennison of Liverpool, represented the family of John Lees of Oldham, fatally wounded, at an extended inquest starting 8 September 1819. Dennison, Harmer and Charles Pearson were thanked by the "Report on the Metropolitan and Central Committee, Appointed for the Relief of the Manchester Sufferers" for their investigations. William Hone's book "The Whole Proceedings before the Coroner's Court at Oldham", which exposed the use of force at Peterloo, relied heavily on Harmer's work with witness
Peterloo Massacre Fields meeting, all serve to indicate the breadth, diversity and widespread geographical scale of the demand for economic and political reform at the time. Peterloo had no effect on the speed of reform, but in due course all but one of the reformers' demands, annual parliaments, were met. Following the Great Reform Act of 1832, the newly created Manchester parliamentary borough elected its first two MPs. Five candidates including William Cobbett stood, and the Whigs, Charles Poulett Thomson and Mark Philips, were elected. Manchester became a Municipal Borough in 1837, and what remained of the manorial rights were purchased by