The deadly riot that cast a long shadow over the city
How ‘Battle of Victoria Square’ left one dead and Lloyd George lucky to esape with his life...
IT happened more than a century ago but it became a stain on the Birmingham’s proud memory for decades.
It was one of the worst outbursts of public violence in the city’s history, and it was sparked by the arrival of the head of a growing campaign to end the Boer War – the future Liberal prime minister David Lloyd George.
The riot in Victoria Square left one man dead, 27 injured and 1,000 panes of glass in the city’s Town Hall smashed.
Among the injured, a policeman suffered a fractured skull in the mass violence that erupted during the visit on December 18, 1901. Thirteen people were arrested.
The incident sparked cries of police brutality. Peelers were accused of charging, batons raised, indiscriminately at protesters. Certainly, the young man who lost his life – 19-yearold Harold Ernest Curtin – was no violent thug.
The teenager, who collapsed after being struck over the head by a policeman, was a member of the Young Men’s Christian Association and attended Bible classes each week. The officer who delivered the fateful blow was never identified.
The ‘Battle of Victoria Square’ shines a light on a Vietnam-style backlash against the messy and longrunning South African war against the Boers. And like Vietnam, it divided the nation, with some screaming “Traitor!” as Lloyd George rose to speak.
The large-scale disorder also illustrates that riots are not a modern phenomenon. And it was certainly large-scale – one newspaper report described 10,000 protesters.
Such was the anger, the controversial politician famously had to be spirited from the hall disguised as a policeman.
The controversy rumbled on for years afterwards, with the public furious that the man who killed Curtin was never brought to justice.
The young man seemed fine in the moments after being struck, telling those around him, ‘Oh dear, I’ve been smacked,’ before he collapsed.
The police charged after a mob attempting to smash down the Town Hall door with scaffolding poles – and right from the start the local press were highly critical of the boys in blue.
Newspapers also derided the decision to give peace campaigner Lloyd George a platform in Birmingham, home to Joseph Chamberlain, one of those responsible for foreign policy in the Conservative government.
Just a day after the insurrection, the Coventry Telegraph reported: “It was, we think, a blunder to get
Mr. Lloyd George to visit Birmingham at such a crisis, when feelings run so strongly against his programme. In such circumstances Mr. Lloyd George was a modern Ajax defying the lightning of Birmingham sentiment.”
The report revealed the full extent of the crowd trouble... “The violence was such that some 27 persons had to be treated at the hospital, and one of these has unfortunately died from his injuries. The destruction of property also was very considerable.
“The whole of the windows on the Victoria Square side of the Town Hall were smashed, about 1,000 panes in all being broken. A good deal will be said about the conduct of the police outside the Town Hall, where, it is alleged, they charged the crowd indiscriminately.
“Whether they were justified or not in trying by forceful means to disperse the throng of citizens will be a matter for subsequent inquiry.
“No doubt it was very desirable – indeed urgent – that at the late hour in the evening the streets should be cleared, and further damage to property avoided.”
A Birmingham Mail reporter was present as mob defiance turned ugly.
“Outside the Town Hall thousands of people crowded and sang and cheered themselves hoarse, a band emphasising the disorder,” a December 19, 1901, front page revealed.
Inside the hall, Lloyd George rose to speak three times. Three times he was shouted down.
“A serious phase was reached when a stone crashed through one of the windows, and fell upon a policeman’s helmet,” the Mail revealed.
“After this followed the rattle of stones upon the windows. A little later there was a combined rush for the platform. The opposition reached the special platform erected for the representatives of the newspapers and clambered onto it. In a moment a large number of police came up, and the progress of the crowd was stopped.
“During this time the crowd outside continued to hail stones and bricks at the lower windows of the hall, many of which were smashed.
“They endeavoured to force entrance and doors and lower windows had to be barricaded from the inside.
“One or two persons were injured and one man treated in the committee room for a wound to his head, caused either by a piece of broken glass or stone thrown.”
Telegraphing at midnight, a correspondent said: “It seems that after Mr Lloyd George’s retreat into the committee room after the platform had been stormed, he remained for nearly an hour, not venturing to go forth and face the crowd, eager to mark their resentment upon him.
“How to get him away in safety was the perplexing question for his friends and the police authorities, as the mob had now assumed a direct attitude of violence. At length the object of the popular fury was enabled to escape in the garb of a sergeant of police.”
As Lloyd George skulked away, two officers by his side, one man shouted, “He’s the middle one”. Thankfully, the crowd took no notice and the three retreated to a chorus of “Bloomin’ coppers!”
The politician’s departure did nothing to ease the tension. Outside, running battles took place.
The Mail reported: “The police found it necessary to charge the crowd outside with their batons and a number of men have been arrested on charges of stone-throwing.
“A police officer, D33 Jones, has been taken to the General Hospital suffering from a fractured skull.
“He was standing near the door of the Town Hall when he was struck on the head with a brick. At the hospital several men have been treated, suffering from minor injuries.
“The police made several charges, and no doubt many people received injuries in this way.”