A racist riot in Deptford, 1949

 In July 1949, there was a racist riot in Deptford. A large crowd of white men attempted to storm Carrington House, a London County Council lodging house in Brookmill Road where a group of around 40 black men from Africa and the Caribbean were staying. What seems to have started out as a clash in the high street was followed by hundreds of white men attempting to force their way into the hostel.   Those under attack barricaded themselves in and defended themselves and when the police intervened some of them were arrested as well as their assailants. After two nights of clashes, a third night drew a crowd of 1500 outside the hostel but the night passed off peacefully. 

'Crowd of 800 tried to get at negroes'

The men from Africa and the Caribbean had faced racism including colour bars in local pubs, and there were later suggestions that one motive for the violence was that some of them 'had befriended white girls'.  As usual in such cases the attackers justified their violence on the grounds of defending women and children from an imaginary threat.  Many of the actual women seem to have had different ideas.  Mrs Lilian Carrigan of Kings Grove, Peckham wrote to the local paper that 'The coloured boys of Carrington House, Deptford, don't get a fair deal... There are quite a lot of snobbish people about here who still feel themselves above the level of coloured people, and the colour bar in Peckham is very strong'. Another woman living opposite Carrington House told the South London Observer: 'They're persecuted. You'll find plenty of sympathisers for them round here'.

As is often the case with such outbreaks of racist violence there were predictions of ongoing race war which did not materialise. The very language of 'race riot' is misleading as it can imply an equivalence - two groups fighting like two rival football firms, rather than people from a dominant group violently harrassing minorities. 

Outbreaks of collective racist violence - what some have termed 'whiteness riots' - have periodically occurred in South London as elsewhere reflecting a deep current of racist hostility to 'others' within British popular culture. But there are other counterveiling tendencies at work including the presence of decent people who develop friendships and other social relations with people different from them and don't go along with the racist mood. Organised opposition to racism and fascism has also been important. In this instance Les Stannard of Deptford Communist Party was quick off the mark to argue that 'Incidents of this kind are the result of official policy and the Fascist mentality of some undesirable elements in the borough'.

 Following the events a conference to discuss the situation was held at Goldsmiths College with the involvement of Deptford Trades Council, Deptford Council of Christian Churches and the National Council of Civil Liberties. The 'colour bar' was denounced and there were speeches from Carrington House residents including Alghali Sillah, a lorry driver from Freetown, Sierra Leone who asked 'why he and his friends were shunned by white people living in Deptford. In particular he criticised the local police and said "They arrest the coloured boy and let the white man go"'.

Another Carrington House resident mentioned in the reports was a 'young West Indian Clinton Pius' who is credited with halting 'race war' by encouraging people to stay inside. As the 40 residents were outnumbered by 1500 people outside plus a hostile police force it seems extraordinary that they should be seen as the threat to peace.

'Coloured man asks: why am I shunned?'

(note on sources - most of these are from the local press,  I found copies of some in Lewisham archives a few years ago where they were in a file on racism. In some cases the date was written on the cuttings but not the source - I assume they would be from South London Press/Kentish Mercury/South London Observer)

Death by Dancing: New Cross (1940) and Bermondsey (1903)

A couple of tragic tales of death by dancing, hopefully those going out on New Year's Eve can avoid such dangers.  The first relates to the New Cross Palais de Danse - still going today as the Venue in New Cross Road - the second occured at a Christmas party in Bermondsey.

'Witness 'jitterbugs' at inquest on girl who fell' - Manchester Evening News, Friday 24 May 1940:

Giving evidence at an inquest at Lewisham to-day, a young man stepped from the witness-box to give an exhibition of the “jitterbug dance” to the coroner, Dr. W. H. Whitehouse. A verdict of accidental death was recorded on Virginia Guidotti (19), Wickham Road, Brockley, London, who died in hospital. She had fallen while dancing the “jitterbug,” at New Cross Palais de Danse. Henry George Cox, of Park Hill Road. Deptford, said they danced the “jitterbug,” in which he explained they did “ all kinds of fantastic and funny things.” He then stepped on to the coroner’s bench and, locking his hands, went through various movements of the dance. At one stage, he said, the girl fell backwards on the floor and he fell on her.

The Coroner: It is peculiar. It sounds to me very vulgar.

Cox said that after the fall he suggested that the girl should have a glass of water and she said that she would be all right. Evidence was given that the management of the Palais de Danse had made efforts to stop the dance being performed.

'The Fatal Thirteen - Death from excessive dancing'-  South London Press, 3 January 1903:

Dr Waldo held an inquest at the Southwark Coroner's Court on Wednesday on the body of Mary Ann Cocklin, aged 35 years, the wife of a Bermondsey labourer. John Cocklin, the husband, stated that he and the deceased went to a Christmas party at the house of a relative on Christmas Day, and kept on dancing until after midnight. Deceased then lay down to rest, but awoke in a fright, screaming that three men were after her.

Dr Waldo: Had she been drinking any spirits?

Witness: No, sir, only port wine. We had nothing but port wine, any of us.

Dr Waldo: What happened when she came to herself again?

Witness: She went down stairs and resumed dancing to the music of an automated piano organ we had in the house. I next heard she was very ill, and that she had again gone to rest, but had turned giddy and fallen down the stairs.

Dr Waldo: How many?

Witness: The fatal 13.

Susan Poore, a neighbour, stated that she heard the deceased fall. She was taken to Guys Hospital, where she died the same day. The medical evidence showed that death was due to fracture of the thigh caused by the fall, which was the result of giddiness produced by dancing. A verdict was returned accordingly'.

New Cross Speedway Programmes

 The New Cross Stadium stood next to the old Millwall FC ground in New Cross on the land now known as Bridgehouse Meadows. As covered here before, it featured greyhound racing, stock car racing  and speedway. Here's a selection of New Cross speedway programme covers

1948

1949

1950

1953

July 1963

The stadium closed in 1969 and was demolished in 1975.

Programmes from the huge collection of speedway memorabilia on sale at ebay by G.Williams Sporting Memorabilia. Click images to enlarge.

Woody Guthrie in London, 1944

It's the centenary of the birth of the great American singer/songwriter Woody Guthrie, born on 14 July 1912. As far as I know, Guthrie only visited London once, in July 1944. Guthrie had been a merchant seaman on board the SS Sea Porpoise, a ship transporting American troops to Europe. It left Boston on 7 April 1944 and arrived at Newport, Wales on 17 April 1944 with about 3,000 men on board.

photo of Sea Porpoise from Gippetti.com

The ship was torpedoed on 5 July after dropping troops at Normandy beach, and was towed back to England for repairs. Guthrie and fellow folk singer Cisco Houston, who was also on board, were dropped off and made their way by train from Southampton to Waterloo Station (as described in the book Woody, Cisco and Me by Jim Longhi). While in London Guthrie dropped into the offices of the BBC and secured himself a slot on BBC Children's Hour, where he sang two songs "Wabash Cannonball" and "900 Miles" - just a couple of days after being torpedoed at sea. After a brief stay in London, Guthrie got the train on to Glasgow to join transport home.