Readers of this blog have from time to time drawn my attention to the Kinmel Camp riots of 1919, when Canadian servicemen, dissatisfied by delays in demobilisation and other grievances, expressed their feelings through protest.
I’ve been looking at the Times report of the riot, and am struck especially by the way that the rioters are represented. The ringleaders were “not true Canadians, but men with Russian blood”, and the standard-bearer was “of Russian extraction.” What is more, the trouble was mostly caused by men of the auxiliary branches of the force – the Railway Corps, the Labour Corps, etc, and not by the fighting soldiers. There is also a strong insistence that not one of the girls working in the camp was molested.
The writer of this piece seems to be working hard to maintain the image of the Canadian soldier by marginalising the rioters as an unrepresentative minoritt, and giving them an excuse for their behaviour (dissatisfaction plus drink) while insisting that even when drunk Canadian soldiers do not engage in Hunnish practices against womenfolk. I wonder how accurate this is.
Here’s the report:
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Next month is the ninetieth anniversary of this riot by Canadians at Kinmel Camp and still there is some mystery about five of the 90 graves in Bodelwyddan Church Cemetery. Many of the others were a result of the flu epidemic but one gravestone bears the instription: “One day the truth will be known”. Still waiting!
I came across a reference to Kinmel last week, in James Hanley’s autobiography ‘Broken Water’. He had been serving with the Canadian Army, but invalided home in 1918. When recovered, he says, he was at Kinmel Camp at the time of the rioting. Frustratingly, he gives no further details.
There are a number of ways in which the Kinmel Park Camp riots may be interpreted. The ‘Times’ report, the Camp Commandant and his officers were pretty racist in their depiction of the key actors in the destruction and bloodshed. For an account that draws on other contemporary sources and advances aa critique of both the ‘Times’ and the Canadian authorities version of events, see: J.J. Putkowski (2002 edition) The Kinmel Park Camp Riots 1919 (Flintshire Historical Society)or for a military/functionalist understanding:(online) Coombs, Howard G., Dimensions of Military Leadership: The Kinmel Park Mutiny of 4/5 March 1919
My Grandfather served in the Cheshire Regiment, Birkenhead Pals and was one of the soldiers ordered to contain the riot. He said the official line was that flu killed the Canadians but in fact they were killed when their fire was returned. As a sniper my grandfather did not usualy miss and was not proud of the fact that some of the men in Bodelwyddan churchyard were a result of his shooting. As a child I thought it one of his tall tales but now I’m not so sure.
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[...] Politicus narrates in a beautifully illustrated post. And, getting back to the Great War period, Great War Fiction examines a slightly different form of fighting — a riot by Canadian troops waiting in Wales [...]