The parade of Peelers, shown above, is forming up in the parade ground in the Albert Street Police Station.  The image dates from the 1850s.  The police station stood on the corner of Albert Street and Gas Street not far from the River Irwell.  Today Albert Street is called St. Mary's Parsonage.  As the map segment below shows, that corner was occupied in 1849 by the Manchester Gas Works, Reserve Station No 1.

In November of 1867, the execution took place of three men at the nearby New Bailey Prison, across the River Irwell in Salford.  The men were William Philip Allen, Michael Larkin, and Michael O'Brien, members of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, an organisation that was dedicated to ending British rule in Ireland.  The men were convicted of murder in the death of a policeman in an rescue attempt on Hyde Road while they were enroute between the courthouse and Hyde Road Prison.  Concern about the possibility of unrest at the public execution resulted in the deployment of large numbers of police and soldiers.  The Manchester Courier and Lancashire General Advertiser reported that, "About 110 men of the 57th Regiment were stationed on the railway bridges at the back of the New Bailey Prison, and about the same number of the 72nd were stationed within the walls."  The Albert Street Police Station  played its part.  "110 men of the 72th were kept there as a guard, to be called out if necessary. The men were quartered  in the large room, where a quantity of straw had been thrown down, upon which many of the men lay down to sleep; while others played at cards with a number of police officers who were off duty."

If you click on the link below, you can see two images from the collection of the Manchester Central Library, showing the police station in 1905.

Albert Street Police Station

Albert Street Police Station