Truncheon awarded after city riots to be auctioned

May 6 2008 by Mike Chapple, Liverpool Daily Post

truncheon

A POTENT symbol of one of the most violent periods in Liverpool’s history will go under the hammer at auctioneer Bonham’s next month.

It’s a rare hardwood truncheon made to commemorate the Liverpool Riots of 1919, two days of looting and destruction which made headlines around the world. It was awarded to the city’s police officers who refused to join the strike over pay and conditions.

However, 929 officers – just under half of the Liverpool force – failed to report for duty which resulted in mayhem through the Bank Holiday weekend in August.

Hundreds rioted in the streets, especially around the Scotland Road and London Road area. Looters targeted clothes shops, jewellers and pawnbrokers as the mob went on the rampage. A beer bottling factory was ransacked and drunken men, women and children danced amid the debris and broken glass.

Three Navy warships, led by the battleship HMS Valiant, were sent up the Mersey, tanks stationed on the streets and 2,800 troops were brought in to deal with the orgy of violence.

Volleys of shots were fired by soldiers and the remaining police officers and the mob responded by showering them with bricks and stones resulting in hundreds of injuries.

John Belchem, Professor of History at the University of Liverpool and author of the current bestseller, Irish, Catholic and Scouse, said that London Road at the time was described as the “Ypres of Liverpool.”

He added: “Order was restored before the end of the weekend by a combination of factors: the arrival of troops and gunboats on the Mersey; the refusal of official trade union leaders to sanction rank-and-file efforts to extend the strike and the onset of torrential rain on August bank holiday Monday.”

Striking officers were also told that they either returned to work or be permanently dismissed.

Officers who ignored the strike call received the ceremonial truncheon.

A spokeswoman for the auctioneer said the truncheon is expected to fetch between £100 and £200.

mikechapple