Epsom riot

Delays in repatriating Canadian soldiers had resulted in thirteen riots by troops in British camps between November 1918 and June 1919.

In the ensuing fighting, Private Allan McMaster, a former blacksmith, picked up a metal bar and struck Green on the head.

[9][b] Between November 1918 and June 1919 Canadian troops rioted in British camps thirteen times, including Epsom.

Minor accounts of law-breaking—including theft and public order offences—were prominently published in the local press, harming the relationship between the inhabitants of town and camp.

[16] Many British veterans returning to Epsom and its environs were annoyed by relationships between local women and the camp's residents.

Members of the East Surrey Regiment "begrudged what they perceived to be the disproportionate praise heaped on the Canadian Corps for its capture of Vimy Ridge in 1917", according to the military historian Nikolas Gardner.

The MPs only patrolled the camp, and did not monitor the actions of the Canadians in the town, a duty left to the local Epsom police.

In the four months leading up to June 1919, tensions rose between townsfolk and the Canadian troops, and violence between the two groups was a regular, almost nightly occurrence; both sides were guilty of being instigators on these occasions.

[18][23][24] The landlord of the pub alerted four policemen who were on patrol; they arrested Private John McDonald, one of the Canadians, who, still riled, challenged them to a fight.

[29] Between 300 and 800 soldiers made their way to the police station,[30][31] despite attempts by the senior Canadian officer—Major James Ross—and Regimental Sergeant Major (RSM) John Parson to stop them.

The two managed to get the men to pause in front of the station, while Ross requested that McDonald and Veinot be transferred to Canadian custody.

Ross entered the police station with Pawley and, when he did not reappear promptly, the men thought he had also been arrested and surged forward to attack the building.

Concerned about the threats to set fire to the building, Green suggested charging the men to clear them from the front; Pawley agreed.

[35][36] In the fracas Green was hit on the head by a fencepost wielded by a teenager, Private James Connors, and was knocked to the floor.

[40][38] The charge at the front of the station enabled the remaining police to gain access to the cells without coming under projectile fire through the window.

Ross capitalised on the lull in fighting and release of the prisoner, and ordered the bugler who was present to sound the fall in, and they returned to camp.

[41] Some of the Canadians saw Green lying on the ground and realised he was in trouble; six of the soldiers picked him up and carried him across the road to the house opposite.

[42][43] Colonel Frederick Guest of the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps (CAMC), the officer commanding Woodcote Park Convalescent Hospital, informed the soldiers of Green's death on the morning of 18 June.

The inquest determined that Connors, McAllan, McMaster, Masse, Wilkie and Yerex should face trial, as should Robert Todd, the bugler.

Visitors to the town travelled by train to pay their respects and between 700 and 800 Metropolitan Police officers were in Epsom, dressed in tunics, black gloves and capes.

Many of the town's shops shut when the funeral procession started, and the staff joined the crowds lining the route, which were three or four people deep.

[50] On 26 June 1919 the body of an American serving in the Canadian Army, Private Frederick Bruns, was found in a chalk pit, near Woodcote camp.

Martin Knight, who published a history of the riot and its aftermath in 2010, writes he "is prone to lean towards some sort of foul play taking place.

[52] The seven men identified at the inquest appeared at the Surrey Assizes on 22 July, charged with manslaughter and riotous assembly;[e] Mr Justice Darling presided.

The Observer reported that the release "was based both on the merits of the cases, and the fact that Canada by the visit of the Prince of Wales had demonstrated its unswerving loyalty to the British Empire".

[61]The Canadian police sent a telegram to Scotland Yard informing them of the confession and asking if they wanted McMaster sent back to Britain.