1919 South Wales race riots

June 1919 violence outbreaks in Wales South Wales race riots South Wales June 6-14 1919 Cardiff race riots.jpg Illustration of the Cardiff riots from the Illustrated Police News, 19 June 1919 Contemporary print of police and rioters in a street. In the forground one is shown holding a knife, having just stabbed another man. A police officer grapples with him while another tends to the victim. The riots continue in the background. *Non-whites Blacks, Arabs, Chinese people, Mixed-race people, Greeks, Malays Arson, murder, racism 4 killed Hundreds injured 1,500-5,000 people The 1919 South Wales race riots took place in the docks area of Newport and Barry, South Wales, as well as the Butetown district of Cardiff in June 1919. Four men were killed during the disturbances. Similar riots took place in other parts of Britain that year, including Glasgow and Liverpool. Background In the heydays of the late 1800s, South Wales docklands attracted seamen from all over the world. By 1911 in Cardiff Docks, 700 dockers were black or Asian, a proportion second only to London.Evans Neil The South Wales Race Riots of 1919 Llafur 3 1 5–7 Society for the Study of Welsh Labour History Spring 1980 en https://journals.library.wales/view/1326508/1327139/0 13 June 2020 The National Library of Wales Wages in the docks could be undercut by employing foreign seamen at a lower rate. The Cardiff Seamen's Strike in June 1911 had become focused on Chinese seafarers, with violence breaking out one afternoon resulting in all of Cardiff's Chinese laundries being smashed up. The numbers of non-white settlers was augmented when soldiers and sailors were discharged from service in World War I, increasing the numbers of African, Arab and Asian residents even further. https://www.walesartsreview.org/remembering-the-newport-race-riots-of-1919/ Remembering the Newport Race Riots of 1919 Wales Arts Review Sutton Shaheen 3 June 2020 13 June 2020 Trade on the docks picked up slowly, but not quickly enough to absorb everyone who had been demobbed from the war. Preference in employment was given to white men, though there were still many without work. There was also a housing shortage, compounded by resentment against non-whites who had bought houses and filled them with lodgers. There was also an antipathy towards non-whites who had married local white women (non-whites were almost entirely men at the time).Evans Neil The South Wales Race Riots of 1919 10–12 https://journals.library.wales/view/1326508/1327139/11 14 June 2020 The National Library of Wales Tensions erupted into riots in Glasgow, Scotland in January 1919, followed by port towns and cities in England, such as London, South Shields, Hull, and Liverpool in the first half of the year. Riots 52 -3.76 7 300 300 51.59 -3.00 Newport north 51.48 -3.18 Cardiff southeast 51.41 -3.27 Barry south 1 Towns and cities where rioting occurred Newport On 6 June 1919, rioting broke out in Newport. A white soldier attacked a black man due to an alleged remark made to a white woman. This escalated, with a mob of white men attacking non-whites or anything thought to be owned by non-whites. Houses and a restaurant owned by black people, Chinese laundries and a Greek-owned lodging house were attacked in Pillgwenlly and the town centre. Eight houses in the docks area were wrecked, with furniture from two of them being burnt in the street.https://newspapers.library.wales/view/4110954/4110956/54/ Black and White - Serious racial riot at Newport South Wales Weekly Post 2 14 June 1919 13 June 2020 Welsh Newspapers Online Cardiff Clashes took place on 11 June 1919 between white soldiers returning from the Great War and local Tiger Bay seamen from Yemen, Somalia, Jamaica.https://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/race-riots-cardiff-1919-butetown-16428953 The notorious Race Riots of 1919 in Cardiff that shamed Wales Wales Online Mohammed Aamir 16 June 2019 13 June 2020 Riots continued for three days, spreading out into Grangetownhttps://www.itv.com/news/wales/2018-11-03/one-thousand-people-came-rioting-down-the-street-reliving-a-notorious-chapter-in-cardiffs-past/ 'One thousand people came rioting down the street': Reliving a notorious chapter in Cardiff's past ITV News 3 November 2018 13 June 2020 and parts of the city centre. Ethnic minority families armed themselves and hid in their houses, some of which were attacked and looted. The main road in Butetown, Bute Street, ended up covered with broken glass and the windows boarded up. By Saturday 14 June, things had quietened down, despite huge crowds being on the streets the day before, and the occupants of a Malay-owned shop having to escape attack by climbing on to their roof.https://newspapers.library.wales/view/4427229/4427230/33/ Race riots - Smart handling of dangerous affray - Cardiff looking quieter The Cambrian Daily Leader 1 14 June 1919 13 June 2020 Welsh Newspapers Online Barry Threatening crowds gathered in Barry on the evening of 11 June 1919, following a fatal stabbing in Beverley Street, Cadoxton. Dock labourer, Frederick Longman, had been stabbed by Charles Emmanuel, who originated from the French West Indies.https://newspapers.library.wales/view/4618071/4618076/19/ Done to death at Cadoxton-Barry - Discharged soldier killed by negro seaman - Great excitement in the streets The Cambrian Daily Leader 5 13 June 1919 14 June 2020 Welsh Newspapers Online (it later transpired that Emmanuel had been told by Longman to "go down your own street" and had been attacked with a poker before drawing his knife).Evans Neil The South Wales Race Riots of 1919 14–15 https://journals.library.wales/view/1326508/1327139/15 14 June 2020 The National Library of Wales A black shipwright who lived in the same street tried to escape when the mob broke into his lodging house. The crowd caught up with him and pelted him with stones.https://www.barry-today.co.uk/article.cfm?id=128983&headline=Marking%20100%20years%20since%20Barry%27s%20race%20riots&sectionIs=news&searchyear=2019 Marking 100 years since Barry's race riots The Barry Gem 30 August 2019 14 June 2020 14 June 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20200614230246/https://www.barry-today.co.uk/article.cfm?id=128983&headline=Marking%20100%20years%20since%20Barry%27s%20race%20riots&sectionIs=news&searchyear=2019 dead The crowds didn't disperse until after midnight, but little damage was reported. On 12 June the Fish & Chip shop owned by Mr Gillespie, a black man who'd lived in Barry for 20 years and married a local white woman, was smashed up by a mob.https://nation.cymru/opinion/terfysg-yn-y-bae-terfysg-yn-y-barri-the-history-of-the-1919-race-riots-goes-beyond-cardiff/ Terfysg yn Y Bae? Terfysg yn Y Barri! The history of the 1919 Race Riots goes beyond Cardiff Nation Cymru 18 May 2021 10 June 2021 Police were reported to have formed barricades on Thompson Street to prevent the attacking mobs reaching Barry Docks. On 13 June, 300 soldiers arrived at Cadoxton and set up camp at Buttrills Fields. Deaths Former soldier, Frederick Henry Longman, died after being stabbed in Barry. Three men died during the events in Cardiff: Mohammed Abdullah, a ship's fireman aged 21, died in hospital from a fractured skull, after being attacked in Butetown; John Donovan, aged 33, died after being shot at a city centre house in Millicent Street; Harold Smart aged 20 died after his throat was slit, though it was unclear whether this was directly related to the riots. Immediate aftermath As well as the deaths of four men, hundreds of people were injured and dozens were arrested. The damage in Cardiff cost the city council £3000 to repair (UK 3000 1919 0 eq £). The vast majority of people arrested were from the ethnic minority population. In Newport of the 30 people arrested, 27 were black. A total of 18 white people and ten non-white men appeared in court in Cardiff, with the non-white victims being initially dealt with far more harshly than their white counterparts.Evans Neil The South Wales Race Riots of 1919 18–19 https://journals.library.wales/view/1326508/1327139/19 14 June 2020 The National Library of Wales Nine black men from Cardiff were charged with the murder of John Donovan and brought to trial in Swansea but, with the prosecution offering no evidence and reducing the charge to 'shooting with intent to murder', the jury did not even need to retire and discuss the case before finding all the men not guilty.https://newspapers.library.wales/view/4423381/4423382/3/ Racial riots - Coloured Men Discharged The Cambrian Daily Leader 1 16 July 1919 13 June 2020 Welsh Newspapers Online Charles Emmanuel, who had killed Frederick Longman in Barry, was sent to prison for five years for manslaughter, having been found not guilty of wilful murder. Legacy Though the riots were clearly remembered by the ethnic minority populations in South Wales, they were largely forgotten elsewhere. So much so, that when the Select Committee on Race and Immigration visited Cardiff in 1972, the police reported they had "no record of any serious disturbance involving the indigenous and immigrant population". Historians did not begin to record the history until the 1980s. 2020, there were still no memorials or plaques in Cardiff, Newport or Barry remembering the riots. ITV Cymru broadcast a retelling of the events, in the 2018 television series, 'Dock of the Bay". There was a revival of interest the riots at the 100th anniversary of the events in 2019.https://museum.wales/blog/2019-06-10/Remembering-the-1919-Cardiff-Race-Riots/ Remembering the 1919 Cardiff Race Riots National Museum of Wales Amgueddfa Blog 10 June 2019 13 June 2020 A group of Cardiff University students re-imagined the reporting of the riots, using 21st-century social media, on Twitter.https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-48611603 Cardiff race riots of 1919: What would they look like today? BBC News 13 June 2019 13 June 2020 In Barry, three centenary commemoration event days took place in September.https://broradio.fm/local-news/extra-events-centenary-race-riots-barry-1919-learning-history/ Extra events for centenary of Race Riots in Barry in 1919 - learning from history Bro Radio 4 September 2019 14 June 2020 14 June 2020 https://web.archive.org/web/20200614185854/https://broradio.fm/local-news/extra-events-centenary-race-riots-barry-1919-learning-history/ dead A nine month Heritage Lottery Project was launched at Cardiff's Pierhead Building in July 2019 to examine the 1919 race riots.https://walesremembers.org/blog/events_list/the-1919-race-riots-project-launch/ The 1919 Race Riots Project Launch Walesremembers.org 13 June 2020 In May 2021 the Welsh language TV channel, S4C, broadcast a programme about the Cardiff riots. Called Terfysg yn y Bae (Riot in the Bay) it was presented by journalist and newsreader Sean Fletcher.Megan Nisbet https://www.walesonline.co.uk/lifestyle/tv/gmb-viewers-praise-sean-fletcher-20527484 GMB viewers praise Sean Fletcher as presenter speaks Welsh on show Wales Online 5 May 2021 10 June 2021 References Glamorgan Category:Anti-Asian sentiment in Europe Category:Anti-black racism in the United Kingdom Category:Riots and civil disorder in Wales Category:1919 riots in the United Kingdom Category:1919 in Wales Category:1910s in Cardiff Category:Crime in Cardiff Category:History of Newport, Wales Category:History of the Vale of Glamorgan Category:Black British history Category:Racism in Wales Category:Race riots in the United Kingdom Category:Aftermath of World War I in the United Kingdom Category:Racially motivated violence against black people in Europe Category:Racially motivated violence in the United Kingdom Category:Attacks on shops in the United Kingdom Category:Attacks on buildings and structures in Wales Category:Attacks on restaurants in the United Kingdom Category:Attacks on residential buildings in the United Kingdom Category:Attacks on buildings and structures in the 1910s Category:June 1919 in the United Kingdom Category:1919 murders in the United Kingdom Category:Murder in Wales Category:1919 mass murders Category:20th-century mass murders in the United Kingdom Category:Arson in Wales Category:Arson in the 1910s Category:1919 fires Category:1910s fires in the United Kingdom Category:White supremacy in the United Kingdom