 Although some observers , like the Rev. W. R. Hay , chairman of the Salford Quarter Sessions , claimed that " The active part of the meeting may be said to have come in wholly from the country " , others such as John Shuttleworth , a local cotton manufacturer , estimated that most were from Manchester , a view that would subsequently be supported by the casualty lists . Of the casualties whose residence was recorded , sixty @-@ one per cent lived within a three @-@ mile radius of the centre of Manchester . Some groups carried banners with texts like " No Corn Laws " , " Annual Parliaments " , " Universal suffrage " and " Vote By Ballot " . The first female reform societies were established in the textile areas in 1819 and women from the Manchester Female Reform Society , dressed in white , accompanied Hunt to the platform . The society 's president Mary Fildes rode in Hunt 's carriage carrying its flag . The only banner known to have survived is in Middleton Public Library ; it was carried by Thomas Redford , who was injured by a yeomanry sabre . Made of green silk embossed with gold lettering , one side of the banner is inscribed " Liberty and Fraternity " and the other " Unity and Strength " . 
