 The Manchester magistrates met at 9 : 00 am , to breakfast at the Star Inn on Deansgate and to consider what action they should take on Henry Hunt 's arrival at the meeting . By 10 : 30 am they had come to no conclusions , and moved to a house on the southeastern corner of St Peter 's Field , from where they planned to observe the meeting . They were concerned that it would end in a riot , or even a rebellion , and had arranged for a substantial number of regular troops and militia yeomanry to be deployed . The military presence comprised 600 men of the 15th Hussars ; several hundred infantrymen ; a Royal Horse Artillery unit with two six @-@ pounder ( 2 @.@ 7 kg ) guns ; 400 men of the Cheshire Yeomanry ; 400 special constables ; and 120 cavalry of the Manchester and Salford Yeomanry . The Manchester & Salford Yeomanry were relatively inexperienced militia recruited from among local shopkeepers and tradesmen , the most numerous of which were <unk> . Recently mocked by the Manchester Observer as " generally speaking , the fawning dependents of the great , with a few fools and a greater proportion of <unk> , who imagine they acquire considerable importance by wearing <unk> , they were subsequently variously described as " younger members of the Tory party in arms " , and as " hot @-@ headed young men , who had volunteered into that service from their intense hatred of Radicalism " . Socialist writer Mark Krantz has described them as " the local business mafia on horseback " . 
