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Peace Day 1919 was Britain鈥檚 chance to really celebrate the end of World War One. Whilst the Armistice, on 11 November 1918, is still commemorated annually, it was merely a ceasefire, to allow the business of negotiating peace with a defeated Germany.

Signatures on a peace treaty took until 28 June 1919 to materialise. Britain then focussed its celebratory attentions on a 鈥楶eace Day鈥�, on the 19 July 1919.

Swindon, in Wiltshire, joined the nation in preparing celebrations but became one of a handful of towns to mark the occasion with three nights of rioting, looting and burning the Union Flag. So what caused it?

According to Mark Sutton, a historian from Swindon, it鈥檚 nothing more than a flag pole.

Mark has spent years researching the town鈥檚 WW1 heritage. He says that the town council had organised various entertainments for the town, over the weekend of 19 July 1919.

鈥淏ut it was the town council鈥檚 idea of mounting a flagpole outside the Town Hall which caused the riots鈥� said Mark.

The flagpole had cost 拢250 of publicly collected money and Mark says that the choice of what to spend it on angered ex-soldiers.

鈥淭hey鈥檇 come back from four years of fighting, in some cases, and they鈥檝e come back to a land supposedly fit for heroes. But what they found was that they struggled financially, and so did their families, as a soldier鈥檚 pay wasn鈥檛 too good. Some were injured, some had lost jobs and they felt they鈥檇 come back to nothing. They didn鈥檛 take kindly to the idea of the council paying such a sum, just for a flagpole.鈥�

Mark鈥檚 research has uncovered a unique eyewitness account of the troubles: 24-year-old William Blake had heard rumours of trouble at the celebrations and later recorded what he saw.

His account speaks of thousands filling Regent Circus, ex and serving soldiers among them.

鈥淭he men were seething, anything could happen now. There were cries and shouts of 鈥榗ut the rope!鈥� It was no sooner said than done, and down came the Union Jack. This was the spark to really set things off. Someone in the crowd shouted, 鈥淏urn it down!鈥�

The fuel to do this was supplied by individuals who apparently stole petrol from a nearby car dealer and added it to timber placed around the bottom of the flagpole.

As the pole burned in the late summer evening light, the crowd sang and chanted. The local fire brigade kept their distance having been told that if they interfered, their hoses would be cut. Given the numbers involved, on duty policemen seemed to have adopted a softly-softly approach.

William Blake鈥檚 account continues: 鈥淎s if with one voice, the crowd roared, and 鈥業t鈥檚 going!鈥� and like magic, the crowd scrambled to get out of the way of the falling pole. The crowd were now very excited and noisy.鈥�

The noisy crowd then carried the pole, its embers still glowing, from Regent Circus, down Regent Street and Bridge Street to the junction with Fleet Street. There, they dropped it in the middle of the tram terminus.

Two more nights of trouble followed, including looting of shops, police baton charges and the police station being surrounded when rioters believed some of their numbers were being held inside.

Jeremy Blake is William鈥檚 grandson. He says the account of the riots is 鈥榤ind-blowing鈥�.

鈥淭he first I鈥檇 ever heard of any of this, was in my grandfather鈥檚 account. I鈥檇 been given it by my father. It was an absolute total surprise. It鈥檚 amazing to think that you could get thousands of people into Regent Circus and even more amazing to think of riots going on.鈥�

Location: Regent Circus SN1 1PZ
Image of Swindon in the early 1900s courtesy of the Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre
Presented by Mark Sutton

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