The port towns of South Wales had attracted settlers from all over the world during the hayday of the docks in the latter decades of the 19th century.
By 1911 the proportion of Cardiff's population that was black or Asian was second in the UK to London though, at around 700, the number was quite small and confined to the dock areas.
[3] 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.
[4] Clashes took place on 11 June 1919 between white soldiers returning from the Great War and local Butetown (Tiger Bay) men of mainly Yemeni, Somali and Afro-Caribbean backgrounds.
[5] 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.
Dock labourer, Frederick Longman, had been stabbed by Charles Emmanuel, who originated from the French West Indies.
[8] 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.
[11] Police were reported to have formed barricades on Thompson Street to prevent the attacking mobs reaching Barry Docks.
[13] 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.
[16] A nine month Heritage Lottery Project was launched at Cardiff's Pierhead Building in July 2019 to examine the 1919 race riots.