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Thomas Tyler was an investigative reporter who was an "old school friend" of William Hurley. He worked for a London newspaper. He liked being "in the thick of things".
History[[edit] | [edit source]]
In August 1819, Tyler came to Manchester to cover the gathering of over 80,000 peaceful protesters in St Peter's Field. The day before the protest, the Fifth Doctor hitched a carriage ride with Tyler and William and had a conversation with them.
Tyler was at St Peter's Field on 16 August, the day of the protest, observing the goings-on. He talked with Mr Hurley and Walton just before the yeomanry began riding horses through the crowd. Tyler saw the danger the protesters were in and tried to talk Walton out of ordering his men to mow them down; Tyler also pointed out that Walton's men were drunk. He was ignored.
Tyler was with the Fifth Doctor when the Peterloo Massacre began. Tyler was horrified at the way the yeomanry were dealing with the protest, describing it as large-scale "death and misery". He kept Tegan Jovanka restrained so that she couldn't risk her life by running into the crowd to try to rescue Nyssa, Cathy Roberts, and Peter Roberts. Tegan bit Tyler to escape him.
Tyler encountered the Fifth Doctor after the chaos had died down. Angered at the massacre, the Doctor asked Tyler to write down that there had been 15 fatalities and 654 casualties - this was a piece of information which would be determined by historians in the future. Tyler helped the wounded by using abandoned banners as stretchers.
Tyler vowed to cover the protest as truthfully as possible, but he knew that he would have to make some compromises so that his article would fit with the view of "the establishment". While Tyler was collecting his luggage from Hurley Hall, he heard in on the beginnings of William's confrontation with his father over the death of Peter Roberts. The Hurleys asked Tyler to leave before he witnessed too much of the family drama. On the way out, Tyler ran into the Fifth Doctor and apologised that he would not be truthfully reporting to the public.
At six o'clock, Tyler left Manchester on a carriage bound for London. (AUDIO: The Peterloo Massacre)