During this early period of change, Chadderton's parliamentary representation was limited to two Members of Parliament for Lancashire. Nationally, the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815 had resulted in periods of famine and unemployment for textile workers. Nevertheless, despite years of distress and unrest, major disturbances of machine-breaking did not occur until 1826. By the beginning of 1819 the pressure generated by poor economic conditions, coupled with the lack of suffrage in Northern England, had enhanced the appeal of political Radicalism in the region. The Manchester Patriotic Union, a group agitating for parliamentary reform, began to organise a mass public demonstration in Manchester to demand the reform of parliamentary representation. Organised preparations took place, and a spy reported that in neighbouring Thornham, "seven hundred men drilled ... as well as any army regiment would". A few days later, on 3 August, a royal proclamation forbidding the practice of drilling was posted in Manchester. On 16 August 1819, Chadderton (like its neighbours) sent a contingent of its townsfolk to Manchester to join the mass political demonstration now known as the Peterloo Massacre (owing to the 15 deaths and 400–700 injuries which followed). Two of the 15 deceased were from the area: John Ashton of Cowhill and Thomas Buckley of Baretrees.