This collaborative drawing is the study for a lithograph made by Louis Haghe and published by George Davey. Muller and Rowbotham show the bloody conclusion of the rioting in Bristol on the morning on 31 October when troops charged into the crowds in Queen Square. Several Bristol artists such as Samuel Jackson, James Baker Pyne, Thomas Leeson Rowbotham and William Muller all had their accounts of the dramatic events turned into lithographs for publication.

The scene is more focused on the human violence of the events than Muller's sketches of the night-time fires. At the centre of the composition the protestors are shown running away in terror from the dragoons on horseback, with others have already fallen to the ground and are desperately begging for mercy or trying to protect themselves from the blows of the dragoons' sabres. Although greatly outnumbered, the soldiers clearly have the upper hand in the struggle. The still-burning ruins of Queen Square can be seen to the right and in the background.

The print's text shifted the emphasis to the unlawfulness of the rioters' actions:

CHARGE OF THE 3RD DRAGOON GUARDS UPON THE RIOTERS IN QUEEN SQUARE, BRISTOL, AT 6 O'CLOCK ON THE MORNING OF MONDAY, OCTOBER 31ST, 1831, WHO WERE THEN PROCEEDING TO PLUNDER AND FIRE THE SOUTH SIDE OF THE SQUARE, AFTER HAVING BURNT AND DESTROYED THE BRIDEWELL, THE NEW GAOL, THREE TOLL HOUSES, LAWFORD'S GATE PRISON, THE BISHOP'S PALACE AND THE NORTH AND WEST SIDES OF QUEEN SQUARE, INCLUDING THE MANSION HOUSE, CUSTOMS HOUSE, EXCISE OFFICE AND NEARLY FIFTY DWELLINGS AND WAREHOUSES- THE PROPERTY DESTROYED DURING THESE MEMORABLE RIOTS AMOUNTED TO NEARLY ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND POUNDS.

[From: 'Absolutely Bizarre! Strange Tales from the Bristol School of Artists (1800-1840)', catalogue of an exhibition held at the Museum of Fine Arts, Bordeaux, June 10 to October 17, 2021.]