Sean Cooney 2025
Wikipedia: "Mary Fildes (c. 1789-1876) was a British social reformer and political activist. She was president of the Manchester Female Reform Society in 1819, and played a leading role at the mass rally at Manchester in that year which ended in the Peterloo massacre."
She was born in Ireland when the war with France began
Her father was a working man a friend to all the poor
When she married William, the bells of Stockport sweetly sang
Soon there were four children marching through the door
But hard times came a-calling, down the rain came falling
And conditions were appalling, life was like a jail
How our parents they are dying and our children they are crying
And our husbands they are trying, but we must tip the scale
So said…
Chorus:
Mary, Mary Fildes Oh Mary, Mary Fildes
From Blackburn she heard the call, come womenfolk and stand up tall
One thousand came to sign up all in Manchester one day
Come sisters of the [earth] said she, then heart in hand come stand with me
We’re here to reform society or we will hold our sway
And from the alleys of the town, from the country all around
The folk came marching to the sound of fife and drum the same
And the women dressed in white serene their arms were open, hands were clean
With banners high and courage keen, to Peter’s Field they came
And they followed…
She rode in the carriage that her handkerchief held in the air
No finer hero could compare in any fabled tale
When she climbed the hustings high, she waved her banner through the sky
On it was Britannia fine holding of the scale
And she looked like…