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On that hot summer's day, a crowd of 50,000 – men, women and children from Manchester and the surrounding towns – gathered to hear the speakers, Henry 'Orator' Hunt and Richard Carlile. There were no signs of trouble, but Manchester's 10 magistrates, in a nearby house, grew increasingly nervous as they watched the crowd grow.
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Convinced that there was imminent danger to law and order, the magistrates read the Riot Act from the window of the house where they were stationed, then called in the Manchester Yeomanry – a barely trained band of armed traders and shopkeepers. Mounted on horses, they charged through the crowd, swinging their sabres and trampling anyone who couldn't escape fast enough. At the end of the day, 11 people were dead and 400 wounded.
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