Station Sergeant Thomas Green
(1868-1919)
and the 1919 Epsom Riot in which he was killed
Station Sergeant Thomas Green taken from a group photo
Public domain photograph via Wikipedia.
In June 1919 – to quote from his gravestone – 51 year old Police Sergeant Thomas Green “found death in the path of duty”. Before turning to the circumstances of that, we should first note something of his background.
FAMILY BACKGROUND
Thomas was born in Billingshurst, Sussex on 8 December 1867, at least the fourth child of George Green and Emily (née Venn). Three and a bit years later, the 1871 Census records the parents and now five children living in the “Three Houses” area of Billinghurst. 42 year old George’s occupation was as a Sawyer, in which he was assisted by his two oldest children. By the time of the 1881 Census, the family was recorded at Farm Lodge Cottage (perhaps the same address as 1871). 13 year old Thomas (now working with his Sawyer father) was the oldest child still at home, and three more children had arrived.
As a late teenager, Thomas joined the Army and served for eight years in the Royal Horse Artillery. It is understood that some of this service was in India, which may explain why he is not found in the 1891 Census. On leaving the Army, Thomas joined the Metropolitan Police. His next appearance in the readily available records is his 18 May 1895 marriage in St Mary’s, Hartfield, Sussex. Thomas is recorded as a 27 year old Policeman living in St Philip’s, Lambeth. His bride was 25 year old Lilly (later “Lily”) Elizabeth Sands Card. She was originally from Hartfield, but is found in the 1891 Census in service as a housemaid in Billingshurst – perhaps explaining how the couple had met.
The Register entry for Thomas and Lilly’s 1895 marriage.
The 1901 Census records the couple – with Thomas as a Police Constable – living at 27 Derby Buildings, Britannia Street, St Pancras together with their 10 month old daughter, Lilly. By the time of the 1911 Census, Thomas had been promoted to Station Sergeant and the family – now with a second daughter, 9 year old Nellie – was living at 129 Lower Richmond Road, Putney. (The census return notes that the couple had had a third child who had died.) Before too long, Thomas was assigned to Epsom, and the family moved to 92 Lower Court Road.
OTHER BACKGROUND
Before turning to the June 1919 riot, it is useful also to note some other background matters.
First of all, you may be interested to see our general article about Policing in Epsom.
More specifically, hostilities in the Great War ceased at the 11th hour of the 11th Month in 1918. From that date, life very slowly started to get back to normal. But “very slowly” it was indeed. Many millions of men had been mobilised for the war effort from the United Kingdom and her Great Empire (which covered almost a quarter of the world’s population) and, of course, the USA. Returning all these men to their homes and civilian life presented a huge logistical problem.
Epsom had, since the start of the war, provided a home for many soldiers. Epsom Downs was used extensively to train and accommodate soldiers as was Woodcote Park. The Grandstand at Epsom Racecourse was even used as a hospital for wounded soldiers during the early months of the war, as were the asylums in the famous Epsom Hospital Cluster.
(Canadian) C and D Divisions Woodcote Park in 1915
Reproduced courtesy of Francis Frith.
The war was over and Epsom was host to some 400 Canadian soldiers. The Canadians were regarded as a tough bunch, generally bigger and fitter than their UK cousins. The had endured terrible casualties on the battlefields of France and had won ‘Glory’ for their homeland, particularly at Vimy Ridge where the huge monument to their missing was erected.
Evacuation Parade, Woodcote Park, 1917
Reproduced courtesy of Francis Frith.
Now, imagine how a group of 400 tough, fit, battle-hardened young men must have been feeling when – some seven months after having completed their part in winning the war – they were still thousands of miles from their homes, their wives, their children, and all that was dear to them. There had already been a number of fractious altercations with Epsom residents. These were a precursor for the disaster that was waiting to happen.
THE RIOT
During the evening of Tuesday 17 June 1919, some of the Canadian servicemen were drinking in The Rifleman public house when a fight broke out amongst them. The police were called and they arrested a soldier. On the way to the Police Station, another Canadian tried to intervene and was also arrested. By the time the two were in police cells, word had got round to the other 398 Canadians, and the perhaps inevitable happened. A determined mob stormed the police station, many arming themselves with fencing ripped from the Methodist Church’s WW1 services canteen across the road.
Left: The Rifleman. Photograph by Roger Morgan © 2022
Right: Map showing the principal locations mentioned in this article.
(Being a section of the 1936 Ordnance Survey map, it includes some post 1919 detail, not least the inter-war Ashley Avenue – lost in the 1980s construction of the Ashley Centre – immediately to the north of the also now lost Police Station.)
The mob did a pretty good job of wrecking the police station, and succeeded in liberating their comrades. During the brawl that took place, Station Sergeant Thomas Green was mortally wounded: among other injuries, he received a severe blow to the head from an iron bar. Thomas was taken to the Dorking Road Infirmary where he died of his injuries the following day, 18 June. While he was the only fatality, many of the other 21 local policemen were injured in the brawl – in which they had been outnumbered by twenty to one.
Epsom Police Station some years before the riot.
Photograph courtesy of Bourne Hall Museum.
Epsom Police Station shortly after the riot.
Photograph courtesy of Bourne Hall Museum.
THE AFTERMATH
Epsom was deeply shocked by the riot and, particularly, Thomas’s death. On the day of his funeral, 23 June 1919, people lined the ¾ mile route from the family’s home at 92 Lower Court Road to Epsom Methodist Church (coincidentally, across the road from the Police Station) where Thomas had been a member of the congregation. All the Epsom shops closed for the afternoon.
The Funeral procession for Sergeant Green
(This rare image – from the Epsom Herald of 27 June 1919 – was found in a scrapbook of newspaper cuttings.)
After the funeral service, the 51 year old Thomas was buried in Plot F220A of Epsom Cemetery. The grave marker pictured below, which was “erected by officers and men of the Metropolitan Police Force”, notes that Thomas “found death in the path of duty”.
Thomas Green’s grave marker (and detail) in Epsom Cemetery.
Photographs by Clive Gilbert © 2006
(The widowed Lily remained at 92 Lower Court Road, but died there on 30 November 1921, aged 52. Only a couple of years after Thomas’s death, she was buried with her late husband on 5 December 1921.)
No one was ever charged with Thomas’s murder, but five of the Canadians were convicted for their part in the riot. They served about five months in prison and were then released. Why were they treated so leniently?
Canada had been a staunch ally during the Great War, sending many thousands of her men to fight, die, and be maimed for the homeland. The Prince of Wales was about make a tour of Canada, which could be seen as a thank you gesture from a grateful home nation. The judicial hanging of a Canadian ‘son’ would doubtless have adversely affected that goodwill visit.
In 1929 and consumed with guilt, former Private Allan McMaster (one of the convicted rioters) confessed to the Winnipeg Police that he was the murderer. The confession (which may be read at that link) was conveyed to the British Police, who decided to take no further action.
In the 1990s, Epsom and Ewell Council erected one of its commemorative plaques in Thomas’s memory, as pictured below.
Photographs by Roger Morgan © 2022
(As will be seen from the map further above, the Police Station had stood on the right of the adjoining plot.)
FURTHER READING
There was, of course, substantial press interest in all this – in Epsom and more widely. Thanks to The Epsom & Ewell Local & Family History Centre, transcripts of contemporaneous articles in Epsom’s local papers may be read via the clickable links below.
20 June 1919 – Advertiser
20 June 1919 – Herald
27 June 1919 – Advertiser
4 July 1919 – Advertiser
25 July 1919 – Advertiser
5 December 1919 – Advertiser
Epsom’s Police Inspector, Charles Pawley, and his family lived “above the shop” in 1919. His 15 year old daughter, Freda, was an eyewitness of the riot. In 1993, the now 89 year old Mrs Freda Philp was interviewed about the event. Again thanks to the History Centre, a transcript of that eyewitness interview can be read by clicking the link.
For a yet more detailed exploration of the 1919 Riot, an illustrated booklet by local author and historian Bob Ferris entitled The Murder of Station Sergeant Green may be read by clicking the link.
Roger Morgan & Clive Gilbert, August 2022
(Expanded from Clive’s original 2006 article)
PS This was not the first occasion when Epsom Police Station came under attack – see our article on Riotous Epsom.