The Trial of Henry Hunt, York Lent Assizes, 1820

Henry Hunt, Samuel Bamford and eight other leaders of the Manchester rally were tried in York in March 1820 on charges of sedition. The two-week trial was nationally reported and 85 witnesses appeared. The authorities came out of the trial badly and no-one was found guilty of any actual sedition, but five of the ten defendants were convicted on the single charge of seditious intent and gaoled for a year or more.