1919 South Wales race riots facts for kids

The 1919 South Wales race riots were serious events that happened in June 1919 in the dock areas of Newport and Barry, and in the Butetown area of Cardiff. Four people died during these troubles. Similar events also took place in other cities like Glasgow and Liverpool.

Why the Riots Happened

The port towns in South Wales were busy places. Many people from all over the world came to live there in the late 1800s. By 1911, Cardiff had the second-largest Black and Asian population in the UK, after London. Even so, the number was quite small, about 700 people, and they mostly lived in the dock areas.

Sometimes, foreign workers were paid less, which could cause problems with local workers. For example, in 1911, a strike by sailors in Cardiff led to violence against Chinese sailors, and many Chinese laundries were damaged.

After World War I, many soldiers and sailors returned home. This included more African, Arab, and Asian residents. Work at the docks slowly got better, but not enough for everyone who had left the war. White men were often given jobs first, but many people still couldn't find work.

There was also a shortage of homes. Some people were unhappy that non-white residents had bought houses and rented rooms to many lodgers. There was also strong dislike towards non-white men who had married local white women, as most non-white residents at the time were men.

Tensions grew and led to riots in other places first. In January 1919, riots happened in Glasgow, Scotland. Then, in the first half of the year, similar events occurred in port towns and cities in England, such as London, South Shields, Hull, and Liverpool.

The Riots Begin

Newport Events

The first riot in South Wales started in Newport on June 6, 1919. It began when a Black man was attacked by a white soldier. This quickly grew into a large crowd of white men attacking anyone they thought was not white, or anything they believed was owned by non-white people.

Houses and a restaurant owned by Black people were attacked. Chinese laundries and a lodging house owned by a Greek person were also attacked in Pillgwenlly and the town centre. Eight houses in the docks area were badly damaged, and furniture from two of them was burned in the street.

Cardiff Troubles

On June 11, 1919, fights broke out in Cardiff. These clashes were between white soldiers returning from the Great War and local men from Butetown (also known as Tiger Bay). These local men were mainly from Yemeni, Somali, and Afro-Caribbean backgrounds.

The riots continued for three days, spreading into Grangetown and parts of the city centre. Families from ethnic minority groups armed themselves and hid in their homes. Some of these homes were attacked and robbed. The main road in Butetown, Bute Street, ended up covered in broken glass, and windows were boarded up.

By Saturday, June 14, things became calmer. This was despite huge crowds being on the streets the day before. People in a shop owned by a Malay family even had to climb onto their roof to escape an attack.

Barry Incidents

Large, threatening crowds gathered in Barry on the evening of June 11, 1919. This happened after a man named Frederick Longman was killed in Beverley Street, Cadoxton. Charles Emmanuel, from the French West Indies, was involved in his death.

A Black shipwright who lived on the same street tried to get away when the crowd broke into his lodging house. The crowds did not leave until after midnight, but not much damage was reported that night. On June 12, a fish and chip shop owned by Mr. Gillespie was destroyed by a crowd. Mr. Gillespie was a Black man who had lived in Barry for 20 years and was married to a local white woman.

Police reportedly formed barriers on Thompson Street to stop the attacking crowds from reaching Barry Docks. On June 13, 300 soldiers arrived at Cadoxton and set up a camp at Buttrills Fields.

People Who Died

Four men died during these events. Frederick Henry Longman, a former soldier, died after being hurt in Barry. Three men died in Cardiff:

• Mohammed Abdullah, a 21-year-old ship worker, died in hospital after being attacked in Butetown.
• John Donovan, 33, died after being shot in a city house on Millicent Street.
• Harold Smart, 20, also died, though it was not completely clear if his death was directly caused by the riots.

What Happened Next

Besides the four deaths, hundreds of people were hurt, and many were arrested. The damage in Cardiff cost the city council about £3000 to fix (equivalent to £98,822 in 2021).

Most of the people arrested were from ethnic minority groups. In Newport, out of 30 people arrested, 27 were Black. In Cardiff, 18 white people and 10 non-white men appeared in court. At first, the non-white victims were treated much more harshly than the white ones.

Nine Black men from Cardiff were accused of causing John Donovan's death. They went to trial in Swansea. However, there wasn't enough evidence, and the jury quickly found them not guilty. Charles Emmanuel, who was involved in Frederick Longman's death in Barry, was sent to prison for five years. He was found not guilty of intentionally causing death.

Remembering the Riots

Even though the riots were clearly remembered by ethnic minority communities in South Wales, they were largely forgotten by others. For example, when a committee visited Cardiff in 1972 to study race and immigration, the police said they had "no record of any serious disturbance involving the local and immigrant population."

Historians only started to record the history of these riots in the 1980s. Today, there are still no memorials or plaques in Cardiff, Newport, or Barry to remember these events.

In 2018, ITV Cymru showed a story about the riots in their TV series, 'Dock of the Bay'. There was more interest in the riots during their 100th anniversary in 2019. A group of Cardiff University students imagined how the riots might have been reported using modern social media, like Twitter. In Barry, three special events were held in September to mark the 100-year anniversary.

A nine-month project, supported by the Heritage Lottery, started at Cardiff's Pierhead Building in July 2019 to study the 1919 race riots.

In May 2021, the Welsh language TV channel, S4C, broadcast a programme about the Cardiff riots. It was called Terfysg yn y Bae (Riot in the Bay) and was presented by journalist Sean Fletcher.

See also

• United Kingdom race riots of 1919